Disney Cruise and a BIG Surprise

The day that we all had been waiting for and working toward finally arrived! We asked Gabby why we were going on a Disney Cruise and she proudly and consistently stated, "We're debt free!!" She hadn't flown at an age where she remembered; Gabby traveled very well with the layover and waiting the ten hours to arrive in Florida. On the flight she asked, "where are the unicorns and unicorns with wings?!" We looked but never found them. O our first stop we found something even better, Grandma and Grandpa!! We all flew to Florida together (although we never actually sat near one another).  

Finally we woke up and it was time to get on the cruise boat.  We arrived and were literally second in line to get on the boat.  After arriving in the terminal where you wait we sat for hours waiting to board.  The anticipation was too much for one little traveler.  We tried to entertain her.  Daddy took her to the balcony and showed her this really cool Mickey statue (dressed like "Fantasia) at the very back of the boat literally hanging over the edge.  She was fascinated by it!  I studied the agenda for the day and made a plan for when we boarded the ship.  

Once we were all finally on board we had to wait for our room to be ready.  We made the best of it and all ate lunch.  Then Daddy was kind enough to wait in line for tickets to see all of the Disney Jr. characters and all of the princesses at a later date.  While daddy's away, the girls will play! Gabby and I changed into our bathing suits and explored the Nemo splash pad and the slide she was tall enough to ride alone.  The first day on the boat was busy and relaxing.  

At dinner we were all dressed and went to dinner to meet the family we would be dining with.  Besides, us, Grandma and Grandpa, we had a family of three.  Gabby instantly became friends with the little girl named Leah, which made all of the dinners more fun! We all really enjoyed the theater at the end of the night.  It was a wonderful first day, but the best was yet to come!

 Our second day on the cruise we woke up in the Bahamas to a sunny, breezy 85 degrees. Since we were positive we were going to make it to our excursion, we sat Gabby down on the veranda and told her that we were going to swim with the dolphins (something she had been begging us to do for years). Her reaction wasn't notable but once we got there (after miles of walking) she was ecstatic to get in the water with our dolphin.

We squeezed into our wet suits on and headed into the water to meet our dolphin, Noah. Noah was a 14-year-old dolphin who was very small. Gabby was the second one to meet the dolphin, directly after Mommy. She had no fear. She kissed the dolphin, fed the dolphin treats of fish, hugged the dolphin, and pet the dolphin. She loved clapping for Noah as he performed his tricks for us with his fellow dolphin friends.  All of the other young children were scared of the dolphin, but Gabby was all about it. She's been dreaming of doing this since the first time she saw the video of Mommy and Daddy swimming with the dolphins on our honeymoon. I don't think her experience could have been any more perfect! 

After telling Noah good bye and buying a few trinkets as souvenirs we stopped for a quick lunch while watching others swim with the dolphins and then we enjoyed Atalantis' beautiful aquariums and we decided to pet a starfish. 

That was the main event of the second day. We also went to a fancy dinner with Grandma and Grandpa and a theatrical performance called "Villans." We joined a Halloween dance party with the characters and went trick or treating on the boat. We were surprised with a bag already filled with candy and a bag for trick or treating when we arrived to our room. It was a wonderful fun filled day!