Cruisin' to the Bahamas! August 20 - August 24th

Royal Caribbean "Monarch of the Seas".  We left from Port Canaveral, Florida on Monday, August 20th.  We woke up on Tuesday (after enjoying our first dinner in the dining room & some activities) on CocoCay - a small private island in the Bahamas.  We took the "Tender" out to the island, and it POURED rain for about 30 - 40 minutes.  And I mean...it POURED!  But, thankfully - it finished and the sun shone down on us for the rest of the day - and the whole week!  The next day was spent in Nassau, Bahamas.  We took a ferry out to the "Blue Lagoon" (where Splash & Flipper were filmed).  There, we spent the day swimming with the dolphins.  Austin made a "special" friend!  Andy the dolphin took a special interest in Austin, and wouldn't stop trying to make out with him.  Fairly amusing!  All the boys LOVED playing with Andy!  It was definitely a highlight and worth the cost!  After the dolphins, we spent the rest of the day just enjoying the BEAUTIFUL water & beach, snorkling, and sleeping in the hammocks.

We finished the day with a little shopping (after going back to the ship for some food & a quick shower).  Cade did NOT enjoy the Straw Market - where the Bahamians tried to push their merchandise on us.  Cade ran away from some large Bahama dude, and decided that serving a mission somewhere like Salt Lake City - or better yet, somewhere in Texas, was perfectly fine with him.  He's not so keen on 3rd world countries! 

We finished the trip with a full day at sea.  We enjoyed rock climbing, watching "Belly Flop" contests, did some dancing (Blake & Brian learned the "Wobble"), enjoying some sun, and of course...TONS of eating!!!  The boys' highlights were the food - especially eating in the fancy dining room every night - and ordering anything they wanted from the menu!  Austin tried some new things:  duck, lamb, and scallops.  We all ate VERY well, and enjoyed all the deserts and the 24-hour ice cream.  All-in-all, it was a FANTASTIC vacation.  We hope that it is something that the boys will never forget!

"Sailing Away" from Port Canaveral

"Sail Away" Party!!!

Kelly & Blake

Where's Frito?

There he is!

All the boys...

First port:  CocoCay, Bahamas.  It rained for the first 30 minutes.  Actually, it POURED!

And then...it looked like this for the rest of the day!  No more rain the whole week.

Austin & Blake did a "Photo scavenger hunt".  Here are a few pics they took while on the hunt!

Mom & Dad...chillin' like villains!

Blake, Mom, Frito

SO beautiful...wish I was there now!

Happy couple

On the way back on the Tender

Formal night...the boys LOVED eating in the formal dining room every night.  Gipson was a big hit as our Waiter.

We climbed the wall

2nd Port - Nassau, Bahamas

Austin snorkling

We should have more snorking pics...too bad we forgot to bring the camera out with us!

Yes, Cade did participate!

Dolphin time...Blue Lagoon, Nassau, Bahamas

Austin did his "thang"!

Cade did more laughing and smiling, than dancing...

So Cade got this!

Austin had an admirer...

Yup...still a cheerleader!

Don't ask Cade about his experience at the "Straw Market".  He was NOT a fan!  Some big Bahamian dude is probably still looking for him!

Watching the "Belly Flop Competition"!

Farewell, Monarch of the Seas!  

Harry Potter World! August 19, 2012

Harry Potter World...Alohomora!!!!

First stop on our vacation:  HARRY POTTER WORLD!   Yes...it was worth the almost $100 per person!  There was something VERY cool about being in the place from your favorite books/movies!  (Brian didn't go - he doesn't like the books & had little interest, so it wasn't worth the $100 for him to complain all day!  So he dropped us off, ran errands and enjoyed a quiet afternoon at the hotel.)

Our only criticism of the park, was that we wished it was bigger!  So many options - it really could have been it's own park.  The butterbeer was AMAZING!  (We had a couple of them.)  We all really liked the pumpkin juice as well!  Blake refuses to rinse his pumpkin juice bottle out, because it still smells good!  The rides were awesome, and we were very lucky with our choice of days.  The longest line we waited in was for Ollivander's Wand Shop - where one lucky person is chosen to receive a wand - unfortunately, it wasn't any of us!  (The boys are still very bitter towards some kid named Peter!)  We waited about 45 minutes for that one, and about 40 minutes for The Forbidden Journey (kind of like Indiana Jones at D-Land, but Harry Potter style - and WAYYYYYYYYYY better!!!).  All the roller coasters were basically walk-on.  Gotta love that!  We also spent a large portion of our day just walking through all the stores in Hogsmeade (for all the HP fans - we went to Dervish & Banges, Zonkos, Honeydukes, The Hog's Head, Three Broomsticks, and Ollivander's).  We tried Fizzing Whizbees at Honeydukes, but I was disappointed they didn't have licorice wands!!!  The boys got chocolate frogs, however!  We tried on all of our house robes.  Austin is the only Gryffindor in the family.  Blake, Cade and I are all Ravenclaws.  We are pretty sure Brian is a Hufflepuff - but we haven't been able to talk him into getting sorted on Pottermore yet.  Hahaha...for all the HP fans, that should give you a chuckle.  Austin was disappointed because he wanted to buy a Griffindor tie (the one thing he can take on his mission with him), but they were "one size fits some" - and were not the normal tie length, so he just bought his Griffindor house cardigan (a big purchase for my frugal son - as it is a very nice Scottish wool sweater!).  He's hoping to take it with him on his mission if he gets called to Europe or somewhere cold.  So, if you happen to find a tie that could pass for Griffindor, let us know - we are on the look-out!

We spent about 85% of our day at HP World - we just didn't want to leave.  It's located inside of Universal Islands of Adventure (kind of like how D-Land is split into Adventure Land, Fantasy Land, etc.).  The only thing that was worthwhile outside of HP World, was the Incredible Hulk roller coaster (it rivaled anything at Six Flags!).  Spiderman was pretty cool too. 

All-in-all, we had a FANTASTIC day.  Blake said it was the "best day of his life".  I guess that makes it worth any cost!!!  We are going to spend our last day of "vacation" before school starts tomorrow, trying to make butterbeer, and watch one or two of our favorite HP movies!  Great way to spend the last day of summer.  :)

Hogwarts!

Hogwarts Express!  Platform 9 3/4

The Three Broomsticks

Butterbeer!  Frothy, creamy GREATNESS!!!

Heaven forbid we stop drinking to take a pic!

Blake, the ham!  Always willing to pose for a shot - especially with his beloved butterbeer!

Typical Cade...but he did love the butterbeer!

Cheers!  This one is for Aunt Tracy, Laurie & Sarah!

Another shot of the castle - and the bewitched snowman that never melts. 

Beauxbatons & Durmstrang!

Buckbeak!  Hagrid's hut is in the back.  :)

The Sorting Hat

Another view of the castle

Grabbed a few of these with the iphone.  Don't judge.  There was NO place to take a decent shot, but he was just so cute!  We are going to have our house robes made for us by a friend - we didn't want to pay $100/ea. & they weren't made as well as my friend can do it - for probably less than half the cost!

Above the crowd.  Had to get a shot of the Butterbeer sign!

View from up above!  Shot it from the top of the roller coaster (Chinese Firebolt).  :)

The Lorax!

Pretty much had to beg them to do this one for me.