Monthly Archives: June 2023

Bloggings, Travel

Heading home

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Lucas woke up again around 6:15. We packed and played store again a bit. We sat on our balcony and then we had breakfast at the hotel. We had a little bit of time so Don found a little free space history museum next to space x. A worker named Larry greeted us. He gave Lucas a scavenger hunt that had like 12 pictures on it. That was fun and he got a pin and a patch for it. Don also bought a little stuffed Astronaut for him. 

Then we made our way to Orlando airport to drop off the car. It was pretty easy. We had Chinese for lunch. Lucas was choking /gagging on an egg roll and spit up into his lunch. Luckily, we were pretty much done. Then we went to our gate. Storms were moving in so gates were getting switched and delayed. After boarding our plane and getting it loaded up with our stuff we were sitting on the plane for an hour. Lucas fell asleep during this time. He slept most of the flight thankfully.

Traffic was horrendous on our way back to our house. We decided to have dinner at Brownstone. We also talked about how we needed to plan another trip!!

Bloggings, Travel

back in port canaveral

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Lucas was up early again! This kid is an early riser. We had to be up early anyway for breakfast in the dining room at 6:45. It was an ok breakfast but not as good as the previous days. I really missed the eggs benedict!! After we finished they announced we could get off the ship. The line was long and winding but it surprisingly went very fast.

Once off the ship we got to our car easily and there was no traffic! Seriously so easy. We called Hampton Inn to see if was possible to check in early and it was only 8:30 am, surprisingly they had a room ready! The room is so spacious and great with a balcony.  

So we got in and Lucas played a bit while we got settled and then we got our swimming suits on and went to the pool. Lucas tried his snorkel some more but he gets frustrated. Eventually we got him to just swim and we had fun. He was swimming really well with his goggles and puddle jumper. He even jumped from the steps a few times.

For lunch we ordered BBQ and brought it back to the room. We watched Bluey. Lucas was so cute and tired. He laid his head on my legs while he finished his food. 

He quickly fell asleep in his pull-out sofa bed for his first really good nap of the trip. We all napped. After nap we went to Golf and Gater. We held a baby alligator; Lucas was not sure about it and the picture shows! Then we fed them. There was a mineral treasure hunting that Lucas did. He loved it. He asked the worker if he was a pirate because he had treasure. It was crazy hot here. I don’t know how people live in Florida. 

Next we went to the boardwalk at Cocoa Beach. We got a candle for Gigi. Lucas got a baby turtle hatchling and a little keychain with his name. We looked at the beach and watched people surf. Then we went over to PizzaVola.  We had a cesar salad and pepperoni pizza. It was absolutely delicious. It was NY style pizza. We came back to the hotel and Lucas played for a bit. We all fell asleep pretty early and we go back home tomorrow.

Bloggings, Snorkeling, Travel

Castaway caye

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Lucas woke up around 4 am with a bloody nose but went right back to bed. Then he was up again at 6. No sleeping in on vacation even with small or no naps. We had a lazier morning because the ship was having trouble with the weather. We had breakfast again at Marceline Market. The Eggs Benedict is so good. Then we walked around and explored the upper decks a bit. The winds were very strong at Castaway Caye so we docked about an hour later than scheduled. Then the sea and wind conditions were too bad for our glass bottom boat excursion. That was a bummer, but we got refunded and we ended up having a good beach day. 

We walked off the boat to castaway and found a tram to take us to the beach. Since we had a lot of stuff this was ideal although the walk is not long, maybe 10-15 min if that. We got dropped off at Pelican Point and got lucky with a beach stroller. Then we made our way down to the water. We got an umbrella and 4 chairs in the first row. Lucas wanted to try snorkeling again. He isn’t a fan of the fins so after trying them again and him wanting them off I took him out to see if we could see anything. 

He used his snorkel a few times, but he was scared. It was very windy, and the waves were a little big so we went back to shore. Don stayed out to see if he could see anything. Visibility in the water was very low though due to the weather. Lucas played in the sand a long time. We had brought a shovel from home, and we had a popcorn bucket from the cruise theater. He loved it and he had so much fun. He also loved making “soup” with the washed up seaweed. He also really enjoyed taking the seaweed from the beach and cleaning it off in the water. It was fun to see him get more brave as he played near the water. Eventually he wanted to get in the water and play more and that made me happy.

Then it was lunch, and it was provided at Cookies BBQ. The food was ok, it was hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs, salads, cookies, chips and ice cream. We took the stroller so after lunch hopefully he would sleep. After lunch we took him to a small splash pad, but it started to get stormy so we went back to our chairs on the beach and got all of our stuff. Then we got Lucas in the stroller, hoping a walk around would put him to sleep. He really wanted to buy something, so we looked around but didn’t find anything. On the walk I saw a woman who looked familiar, and I was sure I worked with her at NY Presbyterian. I had to ask, and sure enough we worked together! Her name was Melinda and she precepted me. That was wild to see someone on the cruise that I knew! Eventually he fell asleep in the stroller.

Don got 2 Pina Coladas and we sat on the beach in the shade for a good 45 min. The wind felt great, and it was getting cloudy like a storm. This was the first relaxing nap of the vacation, until some really loud people came and sat behind us and Lucas woke up. The whole beach was empty, but they sat behind us, yelling at each other. 

We decided to walk back to the ship and on the way we took pictures. We got back just in time for a downpour. Then we got ready and left for dinner around 5. We had some time to spare so we stopped at a show that was like a video game, but Lucas was afraid of the witch. We waited for the doors of the gift shop to open. It was kind of cute because there were a few other kids there waiting. You would hear their parents say, “you can pick one thing”. Lucas found a Captain America. He brought his wallet and wanted to pay with his coins. It was very cute. The cashier let him pay with my card.

We had our last dinner in 1923. It was an ok dinner, but it was a bummer it was not a show like the previous 2 nights. We walked around after dinner and saw Donald Duck. Don got a cool Spiderman watch. Then we decided we really wanted to try to see a show, it was Aladdin. We got popcorn. I felt bad for Lucas because he kept saying he was tired and wanted to go to bed. Then the show was just way too scary for him, so we left. When we got back to the room, we packed up our luggage. After Lucas was asleep we sat on the balcony and watched some more lightning.  

Bloggings, Snorkeling, Travel

blue lagoon bahamas

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Lucas woke up at 545 to pee and never went back to bed. Our lockbox stopped working and maintenance fixed it in like 15 minutes. Disney is on it! We had breakfast at Marceline Market. The Eggs Benedict were on point. I think breakfast is my favorite meal on the ship.

After breakfast we went to the Oceaneers Club to let Lucas look around. It was pretty cool. There was a Star Wars themed room and Chewbacca was there. Lucas was afraid and wanted nothing to do with Chewbacca.

We spent some time in a Hero themed room and I heard talk of Spiderman showing up, so we got in line. The line was pretty long and we had to be ready for our excursion to Blue Lagoon at 9:15 so I was little nervous.  With 5 minutes to spare to get there Lucas saw Spidey and loved it. He got to hug spiderman. Lucas was wearing Cars swim trunks so Spidey asked if he liked Cars and Lucas kept messing with his trunks and showing his legs. Spidey asked if he had fast legs. Then they posed shooting webs together. It was a really great experience, we were at the right place at the right time!

We made it to our meeting place for the Blue Lagoon on time, people were later than us. Then we got on boat to the Blue Lagoon. Once we got there, we really didn’t know what to do or which beach was best. We chose an umbrella closer to the restaurant. There were inflatable things kids could climb and jump on, but we decided to snorkel first. Lucas was really excited to use his fins. He was a little scared though. He does a great job with the snorkel, but the fins will take some time.  So we put on water shoes and tried to snorkel again. We saw some fish and a crab. Lucas wanted to stop snorkeling. He told me people were laughing at him. That made me feel sad that he felt that way. No one was laughing at him, and he was the only badass 3 year old out there snorkeling in the ocean!

We decided to try the inflatable area so we all got life jackets. It was not easy! I don’t know how people were getting on this thing because you had to pull yourself up without being in water that was shallow. Don had to hoist me up. It was fun at first but when we went to a different part and a girl helped pull Lucas up but neither of us could get up. Then he ended up falling in and a woman got him out. He didn’t want to get off of this thing but then a dark cloud was coming in and a huge lightning came down behind him, so I told him we had to get out and he jumped to me. It was a little scary.  

It got windy and rainy, so we got some food. The weather didn’t look great after, so we decided to take the 1 pm boat back. Lucas slept about 20 minutes in his stroller, but the boat was like a party boat, and he got woken up. He was tired and would tiredly clap his hands whenever other people did it was so cute. The rain got pretty bad on the boat. It was crazy to see the clouds and lightning. When we got off it let up, so we went to a gift shop. Lucas picked up a little gift for our neighbor Barb.

The walk back to the ship was crazy! The wind was so strong if I let go of Lucas’s stroller it would keep going on its own! We got cleaned up when we got back to our room and the captain announced for everyone to stay inside due to the winds and the storm. During this time Lucas played store. Don got him a little coin pouch at the gift shop. He lines up his toys and tells us which we can buy and how much. It’s really cute.

We went to Hyperspace Lounge and got drinks. It was pretty cool. Our drinks came with smoke bubbles and Lucas was a little afraid of that, but it was fun. Then we went to the toddler section in the Oceaneer Club. Lucas played with things there for a bit but then it closed. We saw Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy but all their lines were long. We tried to watch the new Guardian of the Galaxy movie to pass some time but the theater was full. So we went into a different theater that was playing a new Disney movie, I think it was called Element. We made it through the previews and a short Up movie but then it was time to go to dinner.

Our dinner was at Arrendelle, a Frozen themed restaurant. Lucas got a picture with Elsa. The food was ok here. I got a ribeye. Don had the sirloin steak which was much better. Lucas had a corn dog with mac and cheese. The dessert was really good. I had a mint chocolate chip sundae. Don had an apple dessert and Lucas had a smores dessert.

We went up to the deck and saw the Mickey Pirate show. Lucas was afraid of Captain Hook. There was a dance party after the show and Lucas had fun dancing. He wore is Woody pajamas tonight so it was funny. Many people were dressed up as pirates, but our son was a cowboy.

Once we got back to the room Lucas fell asleep around 9:30. Then we went to the balcony and watched lightning and the fireworks show.

Bloggings, Travel, Uncategorized

we are going on the big ship!

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We woke up today again around 6:30; Lucas doesn’t allow sleeping in even on vacation! We got our bags all situated for the cruise and we noticed a Royal Caribbean ship outside our hotel room!  At breakfast in the hotel Lucas got chocolate milk to go in a coffee cup and kept saying it was his coffee. That was pretty cute, although I felt the older lady at the hotel front desk was judging me. Maybe she thought it was really coffee.

I planned for us to go to Romelia Farm and Petting Zoo before we had to embark on the cruise. On the drive there we saw the Disney Wish and Lucas said, “that’s our ship it has a mickey mouse on it!” It was an exciting and cute moment. We have been talking about “the big ship” for so long!

At Romelia’s Farm we did a tour on a tractor with 3 other people. The tour was nice and informative. Lucas was afraid of most of the animals, but he did feed some goats. We bought feed for the horses also, so at the end of the tour we did that. It was a little intimidating to feed horses, they are big and have pretty big teeth. Lucas just held onto my arm to help feed the horses. Before we left we got ice cream. Then we drove back to town and got some lunch at Subway. We had some time to spare so Don found a dive shop to pick up some antifog for our snorkels. We are ready for the cruise!!

Then we made our way to the Disney port. The parking was easy. Waiting in line took awhile but was pretty efficient. Our port time was 1:30 but we got to our line around 1. Lucas wouldn’t nap despite being in the stroller, too excited. When we got on they announced us and said “welcome the Gopez family”. Then we got wands. Lucas really wanted to put his name on his. We made our way to our room. It’s great. It feels so much more spacious than I expected. We have a balcony; I don’t think I can ever go back to no balcony.

We decided to put on bathing suits so Lucas could get in toy story splash pad. He was there for maybe 10 minutues but then it closed for the safety drill. We all had to go to our designated safety spots for the drill. Lucas was asking a lot of questions like “is it a fire drill?”. He was scared of the loud alarm the ship made. Then it started raining, like a downpour. It was also crazy windy. Many people left but we took cover with a few other people under a ledge. Don said, “wow they really make these drills realistic nowadays” and people laughed.

After the drill we went back in to relax before dinner. We tried to get Lucas to nap but with no luck. We watched the boat take off from the port from our balcony. That was a very cool experience.

Then we had dinner at Marvel. We were seated with another Filipino family from Canada but the mom got really upset. She didn’t know you were seated with other families for cruises, and she demanded they get their own table. It was a little awkward and I felt bad for the older kids but we had a great dinner. Lucas had pizza, mac and cheese, and veggies. Don had mushrooms, salad, soup, and beef tenderloin. I had shrimp and chicken schnitzel. We had a cupcake for dessert. The food was pretty good, but the best part of the meal was the show. The avengers had to save the ship and we had to participate. Lucas loved it. Spidey showed up and Lucas got to meet him. Lucas would not stop talking about spiderman and saving the ship. He did want to know why the bad guys showed up to the ship though. Part of the video showed bad guys taking over the ship and destroying parts of it, so there were lots of questions about “did they clean up the mess yet, is the ship fixed?”.  It was a really awesome dinner.