Disney December 2014

Zach has his Oswald ears ready for the big trip the next day!

Heading to Florida for our 17 days of Disney!

We ordered pizza at our hotel the first night and it was HUGE!

Hooray! We made it on the ship the next morning! The lobby is beautiful.
Kate, Ellen, Brooke, Carolyn

Kate, David (6), Mike, Gabe (2)

Zach and Minnie

Our first lunch on the ship! Buffet.  We saw lots of mac and cheese on this trip.

The first character we saw was Aladdin.

We checked out the kids' clubs first thing and David and Brooke's club look pretty cool.

The ship is ready to set sail with this sendoff party!

Our kind waiter saw that Mike couldn't cut his steak with Gabe asleep on his shoulder, so he stepped in to help!

David got called up in the magic show and got money pulled out of his ear!

A beautiful gingerbread house in the lobby.
David (6), Kate, Gabe (2), Mike, Brooke (8)

Lots to do on the deck: mini golf, ping pong, foosball, basketball, swimming, ice cream cones

Beautiful days at sea

More mac and cheese! And always the "Mickey ketchup."

Desserts with the perfect flair.

Running into Aladdin again.

Our first excursion on St. Maarten's island. We took a high speed boat 1/2 around the island to a good snorkeling spot.
Brooke and Terri

Nicholas (13) and Zach (11) loving the boat!

After snorkeling, we rode to another part of the island, jumped into the water and swam to the beach and played there for an hour.  Nicholas, Joe and Zach

Done with our fun excursion day. (Mike stayed on the ship with David and Gabe.) Behind us is our yellow high speed boat and our cruise ship is the 2nd from left.

Brooke and Nicholas with our cruise ship.

Gabe enjoyed the splash pad on the ship.

Perfect for his age.

David enjoying the hot tub with a great view of the ocean.

Nicholas and Mike chill-axing by the pool with their unlimited sodas.  They were in heaven.

One night Mike told the waiter he wanted "nothing" for dessert (probably because he had a Mickey ice cream bar for an appetizer pretty much every day) and that's exactly what they brought him! Written in chocolate.

Each night there were cool towel creations with chocolate coins.  We found this one monkeying around our room.

The humongous Christmas tree in the lobby.

The next port stop was at San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Brooke, Rosie, Gabe and Mike, Joe, Zach, Aaron and Rose.  Mike carried Gabe pretty much the whole 17 days.

We visited this historical site that used to be a fortress during the Spanish/American war.

Heading to the fortress.

Brooke on the fortress where they kept the guns.

Back on the ship - the amazing mural on the cafeteria wall.

David and Gabe enjoying the windows.

Hanging out with Daisy in the lobby.

Fun show on the deck.

Mike happened to lose his glasses due to a big wave in Puerto Rico.
But regardless, Gabe still liked to sleep on his shoulder. This was pretty typical the whole trip.

Brooke meeting Ariel.

The princesses in the lower lobby, greeting children.

David and Grandma

Dress up night.

Cute Mickey strawberry shortcake dessert.

Our last day - port stop at Castaway Cay.  Disney's private island. We were the only cruise ship there, the beach was lined with chairs and lunch provided.

You had to swim out to the play structure.
Gabe, Kate, Brooke, Nicholas

And the end of the port day, Nicholas and I went parasailing!

We went tandem, up in the sky with our Disney ship in the background.
It was amazing! And so fun!

Last night on the ship, I finally got my family in one place at one time for a picture.

Everyone in our group - David, Kate, Carolyn, Gabe, Mike, Nicholas, Ellen, Brooke, Zach, B, Rose, Joe, Marvin, Terri, Aaron, and Rosie.

The last night show - a glow in the dark juggler!
Besides the very well-done shows in the theater.

Saturday morning we got off the cruise ship and headed straight to Animal Kingdom.
We met up with Terri's brother, Steven and his family. The wrist bands are our park ticket, room ticket, and credit card.
Here we go!!

Since Zach didn't get enough to eat on the boat (haha), he started off with a huge turkey leg!

Peter Pan ride.

Nicholas and Zach are Busted!

Ahhh...

David getting a Mickey ice cream bar.

The shows are awesome!

A parade where Terri hi-fives Doc!

We all got Mickey ears.

Mike and Kermit

Beauty and the Beast show

 "Dancing" Osborne lights set to music in Hollywood Studios.

David found his favorite character, Stitch!

Check out this crazy guy in France (Epcot) on FIVE chairs atop a table!

Artistic bushes and boys with muscles

On The Little Mermaid ride with Zach and Nicholas.

Little Mermaid ride with Jevon, Joe, Rosie, B, Carson, and Steven

Carousel ride

7 Dwarves Mine ride - our group filled this whole section of the train.

Brooke and Mary Poppins

Yay! Finally a family picture! On Tom Sawyer's Island.

Dinner at The Beast's Castle

Beast's Castle

Awesome fireworks! As usual!

Downtown Disney

Downtown Disney

Make your own Potato Head (Brooke's is a mermaid with Tinkerbell hair and Mickey hands) at Downtown Disney.

Awesome parade on our last day.

Santa even showed up! 

The rest of the pictures are from the PhotoPass, professionally taken while at Disney World.

1900 Park Fair Restaurant
Our family and Grandma, Carolyn and Kiley

All 23 of us!  Mike and Aaron did a fantastic job organizing this whole trip.

Toy Story ride.

Space Mountain

Splash Mountain

Rockin' Roller Coaster

This really is my favorite picture.  It shows everyone's emotions perfectly!

Tower of Terror.  Love it!

Hollywood Studios

Splash Mountain

Mike and Belle

All of us again.  Carolyn, Grandma and Kiley had gone home by this point.

With the Beast

7 Dwarves Mine
Aaron trying to keep Gabe happy.  haha.

Epcot