Day 1 - let the Magic begin!

We were up earlier than I thought.  We had to have our bads ready for pick up.  We headed down to the atruim of the hotel and into the shoping area of the airport to get some "breakfast".  For the first time ever my kids refused McDonalds!  Huh - who would ahve thought?  I personally think its because they werent getting a "toy" with breakfast. However I talked them into some pancakes with sausage and thank goodness for Starbucks.  The famiyl was happy.  We were able to sit still for a little bit before heading to the "Disney Magical Express".
We made our way the the check in counter and onto and bus with windows just like large port holes.  IT would be a 50 minute ride to the port.  They kept us entertained with trivia questions, short cartoons and a short movie of the boat we would be cruising on. 
We made it to the port and once up stairs we saw Mickey first thing!! And Pluto came out next.  We had to wait for our boarding group which thankfully was #6.  We walked up the gang way (which was a large yellow mickey head) They took our picture and than annouced to the entire ship "Welcome Haase Family".  Ok - I cried - I was so over whelmed that we were there and really going on this cruise. 
Although our room was not ready for another 2 hours we headed up stairs by a pool and had pizza.  Maddie ate 4 pieces - Zach -1.  Dan and I enjoyed a bahama mama!! Now - thats a great start to a vacation!  We headed to the oceaneers Lab and Club and got the kids checked in and got their bracelets on.
We roamed around the boat some more and got into our room around 130. Our luggage would not come til around 5pm.  So we decorated our room and headed up for a late lunch at Top siders beach blanket buffet.  Even the water cups had mickey heads on them. 
We had our emergency drill at 4pm and than headed straight to goofy's pool stage for the "kick off party".  Now this was fun.  We danced with the kids, they us all streemers to shake around. And they brought out all the characters!  We staryed and danced a bit more (although Zach was in Dans arms almost the entire time) and Maddie got right up there and danced with Daisy Duck!  We had tocome back down to the room and get ready for dinner at 545.
Tonight we ate at Animators Palate. We have a nice family from Canada dinning with us.  This dinning room is made to start out as black and white and turn into a colorful palate with lots of Disney pictures on the walls coming to life.  After Dinner we checked the kids in at the oceaneers kids club and Dan, Krissy and I did some shopping.  But we only had 45 minutes before we checked them out of the club and headed to the show.
the show was about a young boy who was going on a disney cruise and wanted to be a captain some day.  They also had a couple of the comedians there to give you a sample of their show that you could go see later in the week. 
We had 2 very tired kids and so we headed back to our room and ordered milk and cookies for all!  After all - it was 1045p!! And we have our character breakfast at 8am tomorrow!! What a fanatastic day!

Arrived in Orlando!

We have arrived here in Orlando.  So excited.  We did have a rough start with Zach "feeling sick to his stomach" most of the day.  We traveled with zip lock bags at his side.  However we got on our flight from Den to Orlando and he was perky and even napped for a almost a hour.  Phew!  So we have had dinner and are all tucked in our room here at the Hyatt and bathed and ready to start the fun tomorrow!  We will catch the shuttle around 1030am headed for Cape Canaveral.  Here are some fun pictures taken so far today.  Cant wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow! 

back at it again!! There must be something on the horizon?

So here I am agian!  another almost 2 years later - posting! I even struggled to be able to sign in! I am hoping to be able to keep up with this a little better.  I also want to record our newest adventure - A Disney Cruise-7 day eastern carribean!! We leave this coming Friday and are so excited.  I will be re-sending this link to our families so that they can see what we are up to if they want.  This will be a vacation of a lifetime! I am rushing around to get this prepared. I made the kids autograph books, journals and all the decorations for our door to our room. hopefully I wont be so tired that I sleep through our vacation - ha!  Ok - now that I got back on and I can post here again - I will keep it all updated.  Good night - for now! xoxo

Time to start over....

it's been almost a year since I have posted here and I have been inspired by my friend to update and keep it updated. :) She shares so much on hers and it helps to keep me connected to her.

We are now in Monterey CA and my kids are all about to start school. Kristina will be starting High school and Maddie will start Kindergarten - ohhhhh. Zach will be in pre-school M/W/F 9-12 - so I will still have one here with me for the next 2 years. Ahhh......

Dan is going to school to. He is in the Systems Engineering class at NPS (Naval Post Graduate School). He has started up basketball again and is looking for a softball team. He seems to be up late working on homework and we dont seem to have much time together just the 2 of us. But we will find our groove here and find that time (we may have to make the time).

I am still unpacking a few of the boxes we have left here and trying to get my scrapbooking space setup in the garage. Then I will need to work on getting my business back up and running. I have had 1 lady contact me about CM - which is exciting.

Blog you later......

Wednesday August 22, 2007

Today we were not up until 8am!!! Ahhhh.....this is the life. Got up and got the coffee going - Dan went to the gym to lift weights. Soon papapa got up and Krissy was wakened because....well her bed is a Murphy bed in the living room. Lucky her! And soon after Zach, Maddie and Mamama were up too! It was a beautiful morning. The sun was out - no marine layer existed and the heat was incredible. Krissy and I ran to the Mini Mart and got a few breakfast supplies and we got breakfast going. We were at the pool by 10am again - and you could just tell by the heat outside that it was going to be hot!! Today is Krissy's first day of school too!

Papapa stayed up in the room for a little while - but he soon joined all of us. Dan and Krissy played water volleyball most of the morning and Mamama and I were with the kids. I had a Chi-Chi by 10:30 am.....boy - this is the life - you just swim up to the bar and order!! :) I am thinking I should put a pool in at home??? Of course with a swim up bar!!

Maddie was grumpy and stopped listening and was not being nice to her "friends" so I promptly took her and Zach up to the room...Krissy joined us followed by Mamama - and the kids were STARVING!! Of course it was 12:55 - no wonder! Boy time sure does fly when you are having fun. Daddy was still into his volleyball game - but came up shortly. There was strong odor of "paint fumes" in our room and I called down to the front desk to ask how to air out the room - since the kids would be napping. Dan grabbed a bite to eat and headed back down to the pool - papapa was there and holding our "spot" around the pool. Mamama and I got the kids down for a nap and Krissy and I went back down to the pool. Dan was playing poolside BINGO and it was 2:30pm....30 minutes to happy hour...2 for 1 chi-chi's for me!! :) Dan then joined in on a Texas hold 'em poker game... I still haven't asked how he did.

I went up at about 4pm to check on Mamama and the kids since we never did hear back from the front desk. All was good...I did take her a Chi-Chi to enjoy! Kids were still asleep so I went back down and got papapa, Dan and Krissy and all the gear to go up and start dinner.

We had Cornish game hens with rice, corn and peaches. Dan did a wonderful job....he is really sun burned and miserable - but he made dinner for all of us. We went for a "night swim". This is were we go when the pool is no longer in the sun and we swim until the lights come on in the pool. The kids love this....it's so fun to point out to them that the lights come on - they really light up. Zach had his first pool side "accident".....but thank goodness it wasn't in the pool. the couples there got a chuckle out of him putting his knees together and whimpering as he wet his swim trunks....but the sweet little guy wanted to go up to the room as soon as that happened. Dan took him up and got him ready for bed. Krissy, papapa and I played some water volleyball. We all headed up stairs - it was 9pm......another 2 hours at the pool.

Today was so hot that you couldn't step on the stones around the pool without feeling as if you were burning your feet. But to look around at the beauty and see the moon in it fullness shine down was breath taking. Another day with family that could never be forgotten.

Tuesday August 21st - Cabo

Well today was a great day. We started off by not getting up until 7:45am - and well - that was just me. :) I made coffee and headed out to the deck to journal. There was a marine layer that cover the view of the ocean, but none the less the view was beautiful. The rest of us stirred soon after. We slowly moved on to breakfast and got ready to head to the pool. We did decide to head to "lovers Island" on Thursday. A small island where one side has rough water and the other is smooth.

We got to the pool and secured a spot under the umbrella's by the kiddo pool. Dan is feeling a little better today so he got in with us too. Krissy and Maddie painted today at the wagon. All us girls got ankle bracelets and Zach found a turtle whistle. We swam for about 2 1/2 hours and then Mamama took Zach up for lunch and Dan headed up with Maddie about a half hour later. Krissy and I stayed down and swam and laid out in the sun the rest of the afternoon. There was a boy there in the afternoon that was checking Krissy out - I cant believe that we are at that point already. Happy Hour came and mommy got here Chi-Chi's. Krissy had her Mango smoothie.....it's 2 for 1 - cant beat it right? Mamama came down around 5pm and we decided to pack up and get ready for the "Fiesta Night" at Mama Mia's - we had made reservations to attend - Maddie was still asleep - so there was not going to be any afternoon swims for them. Krissy had been playing water volleyball with some girls - so she decided to stop and come up and get ready with us. I was glad to see her have some girls her age to hang out with.

We all got ready and headed to the fiesta. We got a group picture that turned out beautiful and the food was wonderful.....or Fabulous as mamama puts it! :) They had a great DJ and MC - the kids got to bat at a pinata and they had some traditional dances. I took Zach up early since I was worried at how hot he was...Zach and I did get to see the fireworks from our balcony - but we missed out on Daddy and Maddie dancing for everyone at the fiesta. The MC had many "dance compettions" and so Maddie went to daddy and told him she wanted to dance on stage....when they got there everyone left.....leaving Dan and Maddie there dancing together with a older couple. Krissy rushed and got some pictures - but I am disappointed to have missed it. Maddie got a "prize" like all the dancers too! Well - they are all up in bed so I better sign off and we will see what tomorrow brings. We are blessed to have such opportunities to do things like this... and to have family to travel and enjoy life with. God Bless!

On our way to Cabo!!

August 18th - 5am



Dan sets his alarm so that he can go for a run before getting ready to head to airport. However when the time comes - he pushes "snooze" until about 5:45am when he decides that traveling with 3 kids to Mexico would need all of his "energy" to accomplish. :)



We get to airport about 8am and get checked in. We traveled "lite" so 3 suitcases for 5 of us isn't that bad right? Well after transfer some items from our suitcase to the kids, we were finally under the weight limit. We grabbed a quick bite and headed through security. This was probably the funniest scene to everyone else. After finally getting all the kids shoes off and all the carry on gear into those gray trays - we attempt the security arch....Maddie first - she drug her hands along the sides, so she had to do it a second time. Then Zach - he was fine, and finally mom - because Dan and Krissy were still trying to get all the DVD players, DS's and cameras out to the trays. Maddie continues past the scanners - thankfully there was a security person who stopped her and brought her back - because I was - well, trying to get Zach back through security since he went out again. Ugh!! And we are not even out of San Diego.



We all made it through security, shoes and all and on to the plane. Maddie, Zach and me where in seats D,E,F - Maddie had the window, Zach the middle and I was on the aisle. Dan and Krissy where across the ailse in B and C. We left 50 minutes late and the little ones where excellent on the take off. They quickly settled in with movies and sticker books for our 1hr 53 minute flight. They each used the bathroom a couple times on the plane - wait - this is our first trip without diapers!! Hallelujah! Our landing in Cabo San Lucas (which is how Maddie prefers to say it) was a little rough - there was a small rain storm coming in. We walked off right on to the tarmack and into immigration. Breazed through that into customs and out to meet Mamama and Papapa. They got there before us!! We finally figured out that we were 1 hour ahead of San Diego - which made sense. We had a short wait then got on the shuttle to the resort.....I was not believing the we were anywhere near the water - since all I could see landing and from the airport was desert!! But we dropped down a small hill and there was the water - the white stucco houses and I was so very excited!



We got off the shuttle and needed to wait a few minutes for our room to be ready so we head off to the "cantina" for some lunch!! It was fabulous! I had the Chicken Fajitas and Dan had the fish taco's, krissy chicken tacos. The kids - grilled cheese. Smoothies all around.



We got to the room and settled in. Mamama and kids and I headed straight for the pool and swam for about a hour. Then we went up and enjoyed our deck with a beach view for a while - there was live music starting out at the restuarant and it was beach side. So Dad, Dan, Krissy and I went down to check it out. Zach was crashed out asleep so Mamama and Maddie stayed in the room.



We finally headed to bed around 10pm and slept ok - Zach was up and down all night but at least it was sleep. We will see what happens tomorrow.