Smithsonians: The Last Day in my Thirties

Today is our last full day on the boat. BOO! We are at Castaway Cay today. Mike and I got up early and did the 5K run. Mike was thrilled. Haha! No, he did great and it was nice to have him run with me. As soon as we started I immediately realized that I have not been running in a LONG time! It sure does use different muscles! We did manage to run the entire thing without stopping! Slow and steady. We finished in 29 minutes and 10 seconds. When we were lined up on the starting line someone asked if we would get a shirt when we finished. They pointed to a gift shop where there were shirts you could buy. Mike said, “Disney, where even the 5K ends in a gift shop.” He got a lot of laughs out of that one. This one girl said, “I’m going to remember that line for next time!” The girl was one of the deaf interpreters. There were two of them. A girl and a bald headed man. They were amazing! Almost as fun to watch as the shows. I wonder if they have them for every cruise, or only when they are needed. I almost asked her, but lost my courage.

Stephanie and Mike ~ post 5K

After the race we went back to the boat to collect the kids. We rented bikes to ride around the island. Mike went ahead with the older kids. I stayed behind with Preston. He was S-L-O-W! It has been a long time since he has ridden a bike, so it took him a bit to not be really wobbly. Plus, he talks non-stop! It is pretty funny. I don’t think he realizes how much he talks. He will talk to himself when there is no one in the room. He doesn’t believe he does it, but it is really funny! Anyway, while he is riding the bike in his super wobbly state, these are the kind of things he is saying…. “It’s weird how know is just the word now with a K in front of it. Don’t you think that is weird?” Oh boy. This is going to be a long ride! We caught up to the rest of the family as they were coming out of the bike loop. We headed toward the beach with them, but again we got left in the dust. They had all turned back by the time Preston and I got to the end. I was so disappointed because Mike had my phone, so I couldn’t take a picture! Preston and I went to the lookout spot and it was beautiful! Man I wanted a picture! I was hoping Mike took a picture of the kids there, but they didn’t even stop to look. They were all business with their bike riding. Preston and I headed back and Mike found us right as we were entering the loop. He had helped the other kids park their bikes and got them to the beach. We rode the bike loop with Preston. It was 5,000 feet. Preston was so proud that he did it. He told many, many people about it. There was a lookout point here as well. We got off and climbed the tower. It wasn’t as beautiful as the first spot, but it was still pretty fun.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

You can see Goofy hanging off our boat.

Stockton, Maysen and Jorja

Mike

Stephanie and Preston

Stephanie

Stephanie and Preston

The view...
the other view was the beautiful blue you can barely see here.

Stephanie & Preston ~ now that is my kind of view!

Ummm, Preston...

There we go.

I do not like the picture that I am posting below. I don't like it because it looks like I am posing. I try really hard to put pictures of me on my blog, even if it embarrasses me. I know how much I love seeing any picture of my mom. Even if it is blurry and grainy. This blog is for my kids anyway.

Weird picture of Stephanie who is NOT posing!

When we got back to the beach we found Jorja and Stockton burying Maysen in the sand. Mike and I went with Preston to the water slides. The ocean water was so cold! I didn’t want to go in. Mike said, “I ran the 5K with you, you can do this with me.” It wasn’t bad once I dunked myself, but until I was brave enough to do that it was not pleasant! The water slides were simple. There were two slides. One enclosed and one open. Preston and I went down twice. When you get to the end it drops you and there is no way you can keep your head above water. Preston was required to wear a life vest. I was glad he had one.

We left the water slides and went and found Maysen completely covered in sand. Once she unburied herself we were back in the ocean. There were a ton of fish swimming between our legs. They blended in and were hard to see, but it was so fun!

Lunch was on the island. The kids were so happy when they saw the soft serve ice cream machines there! They love getting their own ice cream.

Stockton & Jorja burying Maysen

Preston has now joined in on the fun

Stockton, Preston, Maysen, Jorja

After a little more playing we headed back to the ship to clean up. The kids let me get their picture taken in front of the sandmen and with Pluto. Yay! Maysen was in the bath for a long time before she asked me for help. She said she tried to get the sand out of her hair, but couldn’t get all of it. I scrubbed her hair for a long time. I knew there was still sand in there, but I thought I got most of it out. I probably did, but there was so much sand still left. Wow.

Preston, Jorja, Stephanie, Stockton, Maysen

Captain Hook

Preston, Jorja, Stephanie, Pluto, Maysen, Mike, Stockton

Stephanie, Maysen & Jorja

I also convinced the kids to let me get their picture taken in front of the Mickey statue and the gingerbread house. I even got a picture of the kids in their jammies in front of the Christmas tree! Yes!

Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Stephanie

Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Mike

Jorja, Maysen, Preston, Stockton

We had dinner in Carabas tonight. It was Brazilian themed. I think just the costumes were Brazilian, because they didn’t have guarana. The food was, of course, delicious. This was our last night, so Preston kept hugging Aida. He sure did love her! Every time she walked by he would hug her. I had the kids write a thank you note to give to one person. Preston and Maysen both wrote theirs to Aida. Jorja wrote hers to the Chefs. We gave the note to the host, but he gave it back and had the chef come to our table so Jorja could give it to him. Jorja was pretty embarrassed, but she did it. Stockton wrote his to Ronaldo. He cleaned our rooms and made us towel animals. Jorja wanted to write another one to the Hot Chocolate lady. Every day there is a lady who hands out hot chocolate and cookies. It is so good! Jorja and I would pick up a hot chocolate before dinner every day. The others picked them up sometimes, but not everyday. Stockton for some reason never wanted to try it. I have no idea why. Today Preston filled one cup up completely with marshmallows. Oh boy. He told the lady he would share the marshmallows with his family. Preston passed the cup around and asked us each to take one. How thoughtful. I never figured out the hot chocolate lady’s name. She was always wearing a scarf that covered her tag.

The waiters sang Happy Birthday to me at dinner. My birthday is tomorrow, but I didn’t mind. Today is my last day in my thirties. I will be a lot older tomorrow! They brought me a delicious chocolate cake. I had already ordered dessert, so I did the responsible thing and ate them both. Aida showed me what they do in Spain for birthdays. She then pulled my ears one at a time, all the way up to 40. It was pretty funny. We will have to remember to do this to Aimee on her birthday!

Aida & Preston

Aida & Maysen

Stephanie & Preston with my birthday cake

Stephanie ~ almost 40!

Our table number for the entire cruise was 40. That is why I have a 40 stand thingy. It was perfect. We had great placement of our tables and awesome Adi & Aida. Sure going to miss them! Wish we could take a Spanish girl home. They are lovely.

After dinner we let the kids look through the gift shop. They were each allowed to pick one souvenir, and a couple of the kids still needed to get a present for our family name drawing. (We planned on doing that last night, but everyone just wanted to fall into bed.) Preston really wanted to get a Stitch Trouble game for Maysen. I talked him out of it. Stockton still needed to get Preston a present and decided to get that for him. Preston got Maysen a Duffy the Disney Bear that she had her eye on.

The show tonight was great! Lots of Disney characters in this one. I loved, loved, loved watching the sign language interpreters on this show! They were so good! They were even dancing with each other during the dancing parts. It was funny to watch the bald guy pretending to be the fairy godmother. Hilarious!

Maysen, Stockton, Preston, Jorja

Before bed we had the kids give their gifts to each other. We did rock-paper-scissors to see who got to give their gift first. Preston won. Maysen loved the bear he gave her. She said it reminds her of this trip and her trip to Japan. Duffy the Disney Bear is HUGE in Japan! You see him everywhere. The Japanese people go crazy over him! Plus, the bear Preston gave Maysen is super cuddly. Perfect choice.

Preston, Duffy & Maysen

Maysen gave her gift to Jorja next. She made her a key necklace in her Chemistry class. It’s a key to our Georgia house. She copper plated the key by dipping it in different things and running a battery through it…..or something like that. Maysen also made one for her. Matching sister necklaces.

Jorja gave Stockton a zum and a Disney rubix cube. Stockton then gave Preston the Trouble game. I think everyone was happy with their gifts.

Mike and I (mostly Mike) have had a busy time packing up. So sad this trip is coming to an end. We have had a fantastic time! I will end this post with a few random pictures of our room.

The pillow faced this way every morning