Reenactment and Result

Kari (Ann's sister) sent this reenactment picture of 'the incident',

The fall...

...and the result.

The cast (ooh, it matches his shirt!)

The Cruise Continues....

So when we last left our intrepid travelers...

After leaving Cape Canaveral, we spent two glorious days at sea. Here are some highlights:

The kids spent an afternoon in the Mickey pool. Yep, that's Jacob, right in the middle.

Although it was only about 14" deep, the kids had way too much fun in Mickey's ear!


Both Jennie and Jacob had a blast on the slide. Here is great shot of Jennie.

Unfortunatly, this is the best shot of Jacob. (That's him behind the splash!)

To make up for the above photo, here he is in his best J.Crew/GQ pose.

Stay tuned for more!

Falling a bit behind, and a new blue cast

I know...I have us on the cruise...now nothing! Sorry.

I'm in Boston for a couple of days on business. Ann and the kids flew to Chicago on Thursday, and they leave for Sweden tomorrow night. Oh, and Jacob fractured his arm!

While playing Wiffle Ball with his cousin Eric, he fell and suffered a 'buckle fracture'. He will be sporting his new Dodger blue cast for the next 4 weeks, the bulk of which will be on the trip.
Ann says that he is being a real trooper, and the cast is mostly a precaution due the traveling that he is doing.

I don't have any cruise pictures on this computer, but I do have a few from the first part of the trip at DisneyWorld. I'll do my best to continue with cruise picture when I get back.

7 Days of Sun and Fun on the Disney Magic - Day 1

July 4th

We got up early to go over for a last visit to Epcot. Unfortunately, our park hopper passes had expired the day before :(

We left the Beach Resort and boarded our bus to Port Canaveral.

Jacob took a little snooze on the ride over to the ship.

Once we arrived at the Port, we checked in with customs and headed aboard.

Jacob and Jennie in front of a very cool 'cut away' model of the Disney Magic.

Proof that I was, in fact, on this trip!

Trust me, the views from the deck get MUCH better!

Once on board, we headed to the main deck for the 4th of July party/send off.

Jennie showing her spirit.

Took a bit, but even Jacob got into the moment.



Just us and 2700 of our closest friends!

We headed to our stateroom, our home for the next 7 days. Here are a couple of pictures:

No cruise can start until everyone participates in the traditional 'put an orange toilet seat cover around your neck' party, otherwise know as the lifeboat drill.

I know it is important, but there is no way to look even remotely cool wearing these things!

Coming up next, our first day at sea!

Our Disney Trip - The Rest of the Story*

(*with apologies to Paul Harvey)

So, where were we? Ah, our second day at Disney World.

July 2nd

I don't know what they are looking at, but at least they look happy!

Due to the time change and the long day before, we slept in until almost 9:00. Our room came with access to the club level suite. This area had food and drinks available all day long, starting with a nice continental breakfast. Jacob's favorite were the cinnamon rolls, and Jennie enjoyed the mini muffins. Once we had filled our tanks, we headed over to Animal Kingdom. The first stop of the day was Expedition Everest. Although a thunderstorm rolled in and closed the ride for a bit, we stayed positive and didn't leave the line. We were rewarded by an amazing roller coaster. Super fast and parts even going backwards, I was smart and had grabbed fast passes so we could enjoy it again later.

The mighty Mt. Everest - Disney style

Slight walk down memory lane to follow:

In the dinosaur village in Animal Kingdom - 2009

Same spot - 2004

We then went on a short safari and saw elephants, gazelles, lions and ostriches. A quick bit of lunch then back over to Everest. Phew! We decided that we wanted to go back to the hotel for some time at the great sand bottom pool. Unfortunately, by the time we got our suits on, the thunderstorms were back, and they had to close the pool. Bummer! We got dressed and headed over to the Magic Kingdom for a couple for attractions, on our way over to our dinner at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review. Good food and a very fun show, with songs, dancing and jokes.


July 3rd

We weren't taking any chances with the weather, so we got up and went straight to the pool. All of us went down the Pirate slide at least twice, and some of us went down many more times.

The sand bottom pool had some neat features like a quick sand area and a lazy river section with a small current to drag us around. A quick shower, then we were off to our lunch at the Prime Time Cafe.

2009...1950 - as long as there is a TV, the kids are content.

Sure, its black and white...you got a problem with that?

Jennie checking out the desert menu

Jacob takes a look as well.

From the Formica table top, to the plaid wall paper, this place was 1950's all the way!

It cost me $5, but Jacob gave our waiter Mark bunny ears!

Our waiter Mark was in no mood for any funny business, as he made sure that we all kept our elbows off the table, and didn't waste his time. He kept us all laughing.

We went to the fireworks at Epcot, with a stop at Mission: Space. Ann bowed out, but the kids and I flew to Mars with Jacob as commander and Jennie as the navigator. Great ride! Back to pack up at the Beach Resort (with a quick bite at Beaches and Cream Ice Cream Parlor) because we were headed out to Port Canaveral in the morning to board our ship for the 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean!

We're Home!

Ok, Ok, Ok,..... I'm a total slacker! The blog did not get updated like I wanted it to, but I will do my best to get some pictures and words up today (while we unpack,pay bills and do laundry (ok, so that is mostly Ann) .

To whet your collective appetites, (and get you all off my back - and you know who YOU are!), here is a taste...

The Disney Magic and the Flying Dutchman (we sailed on the ship on the left)

The Great White Family Adventure of 2009

July 1

Los Angeles to Denver

3:30am is EARLY! The alarm went off and the first day of our vacation was underway. We got to the airport, spent some quality time with the electronic check in system and then onto the plane. During the flight, the 'Two and a Half Men' episode that Jacob worked on was shown. Of course, you couldn't see him, but it was still fun. The kids are becoming pretty good travelers, and settled in for the 2 hour flight to Denver.

Denver to Orlando

I think it is a travel axiom that, the distance to your connecting flight gate increases when the time between flight is less than 30 minutes, you have 2 kids in tow, you all need to use the bathroom and there was no food service on your previous flight.

We made it to the gate with enough time for me to grab a muffin and croissant for us all to share. On this leg of the flight, I sat between the kids, so that Ann could get a bit of rest.

Jacob's Two and a Half Men episode was shown again – not as exciting the 2^nd time in less than 2 hours.

We splurged and purchased a couple of the 'snack boxes' to share. Nothing like $12 for some apple sauce, bagel chips and a fun sized Hershey bar.

Fine dinning at 30,000 feet

Beach Resort

We landed, and got on the coach to the resort. After we checked in, we went over the the Hollywood Studio – straight over to the Rock n- Roller Coaster. It was a bit of a wait, but totally worth it! We then went over to a favorite of Jennie's :), The Tower of Terror! It is a bit different that the one at California Adventure, but the drop is still as scary.

The victorious rockers!