10 October 2021- Disney Cruise Part 1

On Monday we were in full swing trying to get ready for our trip.  Since all the kids were home for fall break, that made things a little more convenient.  Those of us who are vaccinated, which is everyone except Arlo and Jude went down to the airport to get a COVID test.  This was just a "I don't want any surprises at the dock later this week" test.  I also wanted to see how quickly they could return the results since we have to get Arlo and Jude's done later this week and we have to get results before we can get on the boat on Saturday.  After we had our brains gently scraped through our noses, we took the kids through the McDonald's drive thru for a "sorry that was uncomfortable, thanks for humoring me" breakfast sandwich.  Phil and the girls cleaned out the truck and washed it in the afternoon, which I appreciated, although I think it took longer than it should have; probably due to the fact that every time I looked up from my computer the girls were spraying each other with the hose.

Arlo had soccer practice Monday night and we took him in a mask (although I don't think it stayed on).  I feel a little bad that I signed him up to play soccer this season since he can't practice on Wednesdays because he has piano and we're going to be gone so much this fall.  Either way, he enjoyed going on Monday night. 

 I attended my Relief Society Presidency meeting on zoom Tuesday and the kids stayed home from activities, just out of an overabundance of caution.  I can't bear the idea of someone picking up something from a simple activity and our whole trip being cancelled.

As soon as Phil got home from work on Wednesday we were out and about running kids to appointments for COVID tests.  Arlo had one at the airport and one at CVS, Jude had one at an Urgent Care and a second with a friend of Phil who was willing to do one for Jude at Paradigm.  We figured if we did two each for the boys we should be able to get at least one each back before the Friday deadline.  When we got back home I took the girls out to get our nails done as a pre-trip treat.  We had a lot of fun.

Jude turned nine months on October 6th, I can hardly believe it!  He's right around eighteen and a half pounds and 27".  He has six teeth, three on top and three on bottom, and is starting to stand and wave.  He's a great sleeper and an even greater eater!  Thursday was very busy with final preparations, getting everyone's travel documents together, packing, and double checking boarding passes (oh, and I worked).  Phil ended up having to work some overtime and went in at 8AM and didn't get off until 8PM.  In addition to making packing lists and getting everyone organized I also came in just under the wire getting my second set of door magnets made.  I'm not as crazy about them as I am the other set, but they're still pretty cute.  

The highlight of the day was that all four of our COVID tests for the boys came back and all were negative.  I uploaded them to the cruise line portal and then printed them just for good measure.  What a load off!  I had piles of everyone's stuff in the family room floor when Phil got home.  We pulled out the luggage and between the two of us figured out how to fit everything in a suitcase.  I did a little cleaning and spent some time after Phil went to bed sewing some facemasks since we were going to have to wear them on the plane and when indoors on the ship.  

Friday morning started early...really early.  We met my mom at the end of the road around 4AM and caravanned to the airport.  I got all the luggage checked while Phil and my mom parked their cars.  We didn't have to wait too long after getting checked in and through security to board and then we were off!  The baby did really well.  He climbed all over me and flirted with everyone on the plane, but he was good as gold for the most part.  We had a short layover in Dallas, again enough time to get everyone off and to the bathroom and then we were boarding again.  Our flight to Orlando was relatively uneventful, although there was quite a bit of turbulence due to a rain storm in Florida as we were approaching.  We had to wait for a little while on the plane because of the rain.  Unfortunately, we had to wait a couple of hours for our luggage because they couldn't take it off of the plane because of rain and lightning.  I am grateful however it was only a couple hours wait in the airport; no other flights came in that evening because of the storm and if we had been on a later flight we wouldn't have made it in time for our cruise.  In fact there were several families that got stranded in airports on Friday night and were desperately trying to drive to Orlando before the ship left on Saturday afternoon.  We were lucky. Phil and I both agreed to pay for the travel insurance next time!

We picked up our rental car once our luggage got off the plane and then we drove to Port Canaveral about an hour away.  We stopped at a restaurant called "Gator's" right on the pier for dinner and had some much anticipated food including fried alligator appetizers.  It was pretty cool, as we were eating, our ship, the Disney Fantasy, pulled in to port so we got to watch it come in.   After that we checked in to our hotel for the night and crashed.  

We took our time in the morning since we weren't supposed to be at the dock until 1PM.  We had breakfast at Denny's and then went down to the beach for a little while to walk in the sand.  Arlo was practically furious with us that we wouldn't let him go in the water.  It was Jude's first trip to the ocean.  

At around 12:30 we turned in our rental minivan and took the shuttle to the dock.  We first had to stop at their testing tent for our pre-boarding COVID test.  I was pretty anxious to tell you the truth.  If any one of us got a positive test, not only could none of us go, but we couldn't fly home or go anywhere else either.  We'd pretty much be stuck renting a car and driving all the way home.  It makes me feel anxious just to think about it now.  They did a simple self-swab test and then escorted us to an air conditioned tent were we sat in families watching an oversized TV with people's reservation numbers.  You're number either turned "Clear to Board" or "See Staff".  Probably five minutes before our reservation numbers changed to "Clear to Board" (huge sigh of relief) a family in the tent approached the staff and their son, who was probably about 8 started crying uncontrollably as they found out that someone in their party tested positive and they wouldn't be able to board.  I felt horrible for the family.  You could see the stinking boat right out the window, it must have been so heartbreaking to be turned away.  We gathered our things and headed to the dock where they painstakingly checked our documents and we were able to cross the gangplank.  They took our picture just before we boarded.

The kids were pretty excited for them to announce the Comaduran family over the loud speaker while the crew welcomed us aboard.  We found our emergency gathering area and checked in and then found our staterooms.

The staterooms were awesome!  There was a queen sized bed in each and a separate room for a shower, tub, and sink and a toilet and sink.  Lots of storage in closets, dressers, and under the bed and we had a separate little sitting room with a couch and table.  The couch turned into a bed and their was a bunk bed that came down from the ceiling.  The room separated in half via a curtain for privacy.  The boys stayed with Phil and I and the girls wanted to stay with my mom in her room which was adjoining.  We also had a private balcony that connected so we could sit out there right over the ocean.  I told the kids to unpack and put their clothes in the drawers and closets since we'd be staying awhile.  They also used the magnets to decorate our door.

We went out on deck and got something to eat and Arlo got right on the AquaDuck to try it out.  The Disney Fantasy has a water slide that goes all the way around the ship and out over the edge.  Arlo pretty much spent most of his vacation in his swim suit on the AquaDuck.  I'm such a Disney sucker I really am.  We had taken a walk around the ship and were on the deck enjoying the first of many many soft serve ice cream cones when they announced that they'd be blowing the horn and we'd be setting sail; then the horn blows and its the first few notes of "When You Wish Upon a Star" and like the sap I am I get teary.  

Phil took Arlo to the kid's club before dinner and they fit him with a wrist band so he could check himself in and out.  Our dinner reservation for the evening was at the Royal Court a dining room inspired by Disney fairytales.  The food was amazing.  Arlo had already gone missing having checked himself out of the Oceaneer's Lab (kid's club); Phil couldn't find him when he went to get him for dinner so he was personally escorted to the restaurant when he realized it was time to eat and he didn't know where we were.  After dinner we saw the "Aladdin" show which was a Broadway caliber performance, it was amazing!  After the kids settled in for the night Phil and I went to the lounge and enjoyed a "How Well Do You Know Your Mate" game.  I ordered a Diet Coke from the bar and felt like a real grown-up!

When we got up in the morning Arlo was already gone, something we had to talk to him about repeatedly.  The girls and my mom went to breakfast together and Phil wanted to eat in the restaurant instead of the buffet, so we went to the Enchanted Garden with Jude for breakfast.  When we finally found Arlo mid-morning he was swimming at the pool, had already helped him self to breakfast and two or three soft serve cones, and had a nice tan going.  We enjoyed our first day at sea.  We did some sun bathing and swimming.  We road the AquaDuck, we played at the Oceaneer's Lab, Jude really enjoyed the splash pad and there was a great buffet lunch along with the Café that opened mid-day.  And of course the soft serve ice cream that was available all the time. 

We played the Midship Detective game, or rather Arlo did; following clues all over the ship and interacting with the moving pictures.  It really helped him to learn to navigate the ship.  We went to the movie theater and saw "The Jungle Cruise" in the afternoon.  Our dinner was a dress-up dinner at the Animator's Palate which I think was our family's favorite restaurant during the trip.  

In the evening we saw the Frozen show.  We had gone early to sit in the Mezzanine, but because we were early and there were seven of us, they let us sit in the box seats, it was fabulous!  The show was awesome, we had so much fun.

 After the show Helen and Jude hung out with Nana, Arlo was I have no idea where, and Phil and I took Felicity to Karaoke.  She sat there listening to everyone else go and eventually it was the same people singing more than one number.  We kept encouraging her to go and she resisted until at the very end when the staff member who was MCing came to the table and personally invited her.  

She picked "Into the Unknown" from Frozen 2 and while timid at first got her confidence as she went along.  She'd actually never sung Karaoke before.   I'm biased, but it was by far the best performance all night.  She got a room full of applause and the DJ gave her a little ego boost by commenting on the quiet talent hiding in the corner.  I was really proud of her!

It was a great first couple of days.  We had such a blast.  I was worried that with all the restrictions it wouldn't be as fun or magical, but I was wrong.  The ship normally can accommodate (and is usually at capacity) 4,000 guests, our trip had 1,200.  There was no waiting for anything.  There were no long lines to get food or an ice cream cone, Arlo didn't wait more than 10 minutes at any given time to ride the water slide.  There were always tables and chairs available on deck along with towels and lounge chairs.  They had hand washing stations outside of the buffet and restaurants, but I'm all for folks washing their hands before eating!

 

03 October 2021

It was a busy week of preparation.  All indications are that our cruise will go forward, in fact, they gave us a $250 credit and upgraded our stateroom from an interior room to an adjoining deluxe family room with a private veranda.  I've been making sure I have all my ducks in a row, including working on making Tee-Shirts and some other goodies for the kids.  I plan to give them a "gift" on everyday of the cruise since we can't participate in any fish extender activities due to COVID.  I have some Disney pins that I bought a while ago, I made some cute Chapstick holders for their lanyards, and I read in an online forum that we should bring our own cups, so I also made everyone a cute personalized tumbler.  I had a lot of fun making things, but it was also kind of a big mess too!  It may have just been a way to keep busy so that I didn't have to start thinking about packing a family of six for a seven night cruise.

We finalized our off-shore excursions this week too.  Since Arlo and Jude are unvaccinated, they won't be able to leave the ship unless its part of a paid excursion.  We're doing a beach party in Mexico, snorkeling in the Bahamas, and taking a glass-bottom boat tour.  The cruise line notified us that they changed our itinerary.  Instead of going to Falmouth Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, we'll be stopping in Nassau Bahamas with two days at Disney's island, Castaway Key.  Phil was a little disappointed, but I think it will be ok.  I am a little worried that with all the safety measures and changes it won't be as good an experience, but I'm holding out hope it'll be ok.  We also have to provide negative COVID tests for Arlo and Jude 72-24 hours before we sail, which means we'll have to get them tested next Wednesday and have the results back by Friday. The tough part is we're flying out on Friday morning and if for any reason either of their tests comes back positive I'd like to know that before we fly all the way to Florida.  It's a little stressful and on top of that, we're having a hard time finding a place that will test kids younger than 10 and an even hard time finding a place that will test babies.  I sure pray it works out, it feels like a lot of things have to line up just right!

Helen and Arlo spent time with their dad over the weekend and Phil worked this week including teaching fire academy over the weekend.  

Felicity and I enjoyed watching General Conference together on Saturday and we went out for lunch in between sessions.  Felicity spent quite a bit of her time sketching, she has actually gotten to be quite good and I love seeing what she comes up with.  

I finally finished up one of the two sets of magnets (now that we have two doors, we'll need a second set of magnets).  I thought it would be clever to do a marvel theme and I made some comic bubbles out of dry erase material, so they kids could pose the characters and make up their own scenes on our stateroom door.  Sometimes I don't realize that I'm going overboard until I'm drowning!  That being said I LOVE how they turned out.  The shield has a hole in it for our stateroom number to show through.

Phil was home on Sunday and we watched conference together and enjoyed time as a family.  Helen and Arlo came home in the evening and we are ready for another week.  The kids are getting excited for our trip next week, I hope it all goes smoothly!

26 September 2021

Felicity had her first choir concert of the school year on Monday and it was great!  It was so wonderful to hear them singing together and it was an enjoyable concert.  

She was pretty frazzled because during the day she attended an FFA leadership summit and there was a problem with the buses getting them back in time for the choir concert.  Disaster was averted, but Felicity was all worked up about things not going exactly as planned.  We went to ice cream after the choir concert, Phil and Felicity and I.

Our ice cream machine was a big hit at the wedding reception we did a couple weeks ago and as such, I got a request to use it for a young womens activity in the other ward.  Phil helped me move the machine Monday night and then I went to the church early, before my meeting on Tuesday, to set it up.  It was a long night.   I had a presidency meeting, the girls had young womens, and  then we had to wait around at the church for the group using the machine to finish.  Felicity and Jude fell asleep waiting.

I have been using my spare time to work on getting the kids Halloween/Pirate night costumes together before our trip, if I'm successful this will be the first time in recorded history where I finished Halloween costumes before the day of a trunk or treat or night before Halloween!  On Wednesday I crocheted a hat for Jude's costume and sewed little felt feathers to a onsie for his costume; I love the how the little tail came out.  Since the family is going as pirates, Jude is going to be a parrot.  I tried it on him when I finished and it was pretty cute!  We'll see if he keeps the hat on.

Phil was off on Thursday and had to take a trip to Pine Top to pick up a boat he bought on Facebook Marketplace.  Last weekend he found a fishing boat with trailer for sale that he was interested in, unfortunately, the boat was located in Northern Arizona.  Phil's uncle very graciously met up with the guy to look the boat over since he and Phil's aunt were already there staying at their cabin.  Everything checked out and so Phil bought the boat and on Thursday he went up to get it so that it didn't have to sit in his aunt and uncle's yard.  Arlo wanted to go with him and so since he had a 1/2 day at school Phil woke him up early to drive up to the mountains.  Phil was happy with the boat, he's pretty excited to take the kids fishing in his new toy.  In the evening Phil and I went to do sealings at the temple.  We were the only ones with a sealing appointment so it was just us the whole hour and we got a lot done.  He took me to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse when we were done, I love our date nights!  I'm so lucky!

Thursday before bed, my lovely friend Melissa messaged me and asked if Phil and I would like to join them for a couple's night out.  Their friends had tickets to see Luke Bryan in Phoenix, but were unable to go last minute and she wanted to know if we would be interested in buying the friends half of the tickets.  We made some arrangements, since Phil was working on Friday and we needed to work out babysitting, but we were able to go.  We had a great time and the concert was fabulous.  Poor Phil was so tired by the time the night was over.

I've had fun changing my nails every week lately, here's what they looked like at the beginning of the week and the end of the week.  I'm using nail strips that my friend Melissa introduced me to, and I'm obsessed with all the cute looks I can make mixing and matching them.   I have figured out how to get two full mani/pedis out of each set and they're easy enough to use I change them weekly; I sound like a commercial, but I just really love how cute this weeks' were and thought I would share!  I have amassed quite the collection of options!

Phil worked on Saturday and Felicity and I hung out together after her band practice.  I started to work on packing lists and shopping for our upcoming trip.  I can't believe we leave in a couple weeks! We enjoyed a nice Sunday and are ready for another week of fun at Two Jack Ranch.

19 September 2021

 I thought that being the mother of young children was busy.  It's not.  It's just not.  Being the mother of junior high/high school age kids is busy.  I suppose that each stage has its own challenges and you just have to love where you are.  Felicity has band practice on Mondays after school, so she wasn't home until almost 10 PM.  I will say that I'm grateful that I have older kids with the baby so that I can leave him asleep in his crib when I go to pick up Felicity.

My Tuesday was busy too.  Arlo had a church activity at one of the leader's houses; they went swimming and had dinner.  I also had my Relief Society Presidency meeting after which I had agreed to help out with an activity for Helen's young womens class.  Helen volunteered me to teach an automotive maintenance lesson.  So I taught the girls how to change a tire, check the tire pressure, check the oil and fluid levels, etc.  I doubt it was very entertaining, but they humored me.  

The kids had a 1/2 day on Wednesday and Arlo had piano in the evening.  I have been TERRIBLE at making him practice, I don't know why its been harder this semester than the last.  I need to repent and find a way to reliably get him to practice every day.  The kids also had a half day on Thursday and I had Arlo's parent teacher conference.  It went well, although I can't say that we heard or said anything different than we usually do.  Arlo is smart and loves to work at what he is good at, and he is hard to get working when its a task he doesn't like or that doesn't come easy to him.  Almost all of the things that Arlo struggles with are related to his ADHD, so we'll just have to keep working with him.

Thursday was the first home game for Cienega and the whole family was there.  It was a great game, I was on my feet a couple of times in the second half.  Arlo did a great job sitting still and watching the game.  He's become increasingly interested in football as of late so I explained what was going on as we watched.  Dad even treated him and Helen to an snow cone.  We had a great time and Cienega only lost by a few points, which was really disappointing as we rallied in the fourth quarter and almost came back from behind to win.  Oh, well.

We received notification this week that our cruise is on, however, they are now requiring all guests over 12 be vaccinated.  That part is not a big deal for us as we are, but they are now saying in addition to everyone being tested at the dock, we will have to provide a negative COVID test for Arlo and Jude 72 hours before we board, which will be a little bit of a nail biter as we are flying all the way to Orlando 24 hours before our departure.  I am still slightly skeptical we will go; so many people are unvaccinated and I doubt very many of those choosing not to will do so in order to sail.  I can't imagine Disney going ahead with the sailing at 1/2 capacity, but we'll see.  

With that information in hand I figured I needed to get to work preparing the kids' Halloween costumes as we would need them on the cruise.  We went out and about on Friday evening to the thrift in search of some items that we can use for pirate costumes.  The cruise has a "pirate night" so I figured instead of bringing a pirate costume and a Halloween costume, we'd just be pirates for Halloween.  The girls are going to reuse elements of their steam punk costumes from last year.  We ended the night with dinner out and a trip to the Halloween store.  Jude got a kick out of the zombie babies...kinda sick.

Phil taught fire academy on Saturday and the rest of us worked on cleaning up and I started some projects for our trip.  I'm going to make a few tee shirts for us to wear as a family and I have plans to make a little something to give to the kids each day of the cruise since we won't be able to participate in any fish extender activities because of COVID.  I'm also designing some custom magnets for our stateroom doors.  I should have started this stuff weeks ago, but I wasn't convinced we'd actually get to go, now I'm running out of time fast!  Felicity had a youth dance in the evening, she is really enjoying participating in those with her friends. 

As part of some of our pre-trip paperwork, we had to upload selfies of ourselves for identification purposes.  Sigh.  So I'm at an all time high weight.  If you're one of the few people that sees me in person regularly, you know this.  Its depressing and hard.  I feel terrible.  Its something I will always struggle with, keeping my weight in a healthy range; its frustrating to know that I've fought it down and I've let it get out of control again.  Anyway, pictures are stressful.  I don't want to be in them.  So I took the required selfie from a good-ish angle and went with it.  I'm hoping that after our cruise I can make some real strides towards taking better care of my body.  

12 September 2021

We were excited for a shortened work week, starting with Labor Day on Monday.  Helen and Arlo went to make tamales with their Davidson family and we were lucky to have Phil home.  He picked Felicity up  from Nana's staycation rental early in the morning.  I was standing at the sink doing dishes when they got home.  It was kind of strange, Phil's car pulled past the gate and then started backing in the driveway.  I was thinking to myself, what the heck is Phil doing?  Our driveway is really long, 100+ yards, and there's no reason to ever back down it because there's plenty of space to turn around in front of the shop, so I was really confused as to what was going on.  Then I'm watching the car rolling a few feet and stopping, turning, rolling a few feet, stopping over and over.  Then I realized that it was Felicity driving.  Phil had let her drive home from the end of the road and then wanted her to try and back down the driveway as practice.  It was kind of funny so I started to video record it.  She eventually did get the car back in the shop.

Monday marked Jude's 8th month of life.  He is such a boy, always into everything; and he's kind of a Mama's boy too, always wanting to be under my feet.  He now has six teeth, four on top and two on bottom, and he cruises around the whole house clinging to the furniture, walls, and people's legs.  He has also started mimicking sounds, his favorite is to try to make the high pitched whistling sound that dad makes, an elk call.  They are pretty darn cute together.  He is also starting to understand when he is told "no" although it rarely deters him.

I spent my day off cleaning and we started moving some items from one of the sheds to the shop.  We bought some shelves and totes and are starting to organize things, finally.  One of the items that we had stored in the shed were the shelves and built in desk from my old office (now the baby's room).  We moved the freezer out to the shop which freed up some space in the kitchen and we remounted the cabinetry in its place.  We had to make some modifications, but we now have a cute little office area in the kitchen/breakfast nook.  Unfortunately I have way too many computers, monitors, and chords to actually work at that desk, so I still have my work from home office set up on a plastic fold out table in there too.  It's fine, eventually I'll have a real office in the shop once we finish enclosing the area under the mezzanine.  Oh my gosh, we have so many unfinished projects...the outside of my house is STILL half painted.  Ugh!

 On Wednesday Jude and I hung out in the kitchen while we had the carpets cleaned.  I adore having clean carpet...for the few hours it lasts before a kid or cat ruins it.  Phil wasn't home as he was teaching fire academy.  Work has been busy and Thursday I had several meetings and after finishing a particularly boring Zoom I picked up the baby who had been hanging out with Daddy and realized he looked a little off.  I called to Phil, "did you cut the baby's hair?!".  Deep sigh, while I was stuck to my computer Phil tried to take the electric clippers to the baby's hair and give him his first hair cut.  It looked a little rough...that's me being nice.  Phil said "it would have turned out better if he would have held still".  Oh, heaven help me!  I helped him hold the baby while he "finished" and Jude now has a new do.  Hair grows back.  Thankfully.  The kids watched Jude for us and Phil and I were able to go to the temple in the evening.  

I was excited for Friday night, it was the first real football game of the season.  I finished up Jude's Cienega onsie in the afternoon and then he and I headed to Sierra Vista for the Buena vs Cienega game.  Jude slept all the way there so he was awake and happy the whole game, it was great.  We had so much fun!  Hopefully the band will be in uniform and have some of their marching show ready for the next game as they only did stands tunes this time around.    Felicity and I grabbed some late night Taco Bell for our long drive home.  

Felicity had to be back at school early in the morning for the Vail Preservation Society parade.  I dropped her off and then picked her up later in the morning.  She had a good time and luckily it wasn't too hot.  Phil came home from teaching in time to have dinner, we were feeding the missionaries, and then he turned around and had to go back to work for an overtime shift. 

We enjoyed a quiet Sabbath.  I wish I could say I was looking forward to seeing Phil in the morning, but he was going from 12 hours of overtime, to his regular 24 hour shift to teaching paramedic school tomorrow.  The man works a lot!