jenseib

We continued down Main Street. We decided we needed to check out the shops before leaving. I don’t think we end up buying anything though. They already had a few Christmas items out too. We headed back out. A few more scarecrow shots As we walked by the town hall I asked Claire if she wanted to see the princesses and she said no. I really wish I would’ve insisted on doing so. After seeing Carey’s photopass pictures, I am very jealous of the shots she got. I tried to get a picture of the “See Ya Real Soon” pumpkins, but it didn’t turn out too great. We had been carrying “Flat Ben” all night and just plain forgot to pull him out for a picture, so we did get one shot before leaving. We went to the locker and retrieved our things and then back to turn in the key. We were thirsty, so we pulled out 2 pops to purchase which basically came to the same price as what the locker deposit refund was. Out to the bus stop and our legs were starting to hurt. We did get a seat, but the bus was pretty crowded. It made a stop at Kidani first and then to Jambo where we got off. Claire was dead tired at this point. She was wishing I would either carry her, or that she would sprout wings so she could fly back to the room. Neither of those things happened! I guess I had enough energy to take a shot of the lobby. And then the long hallway to our room. It did not take us long to get ready for bed and go out. It had been such a long day, but a very fun one too. We made new memories and new friends and we couldn’t have asked for better weather either. I laid my head on the 2nd pillow of the trip so far. In 2 days I had slept in 2 different spots. “Oh the Places We go”.

My Buddy Chip! Here come the Villain’s! Another great segment! After reading the Kingdom Keepers she just seems a bit more creepier! I don’t know what I did, but I evidently made the Evil Queen mad! Time to breathe a sigh of relief! Goofy is coming to save the day with lots of Candy! They were handing out suckers and Claire got quite a few …and they were tasty! This parade was absolutely awesome! I am so glad that I finally got to see this in person. If you EVER get a chance to see it, do so. It has great music and is just a lot of fun! After the parade, I believe we headed over near the jungle cruise and hit the jack pot of trick or treating. They had 2 lines and they were competing on how much candy each side would give the kids. The girls were happy about that. At this point, I think Carey’s family decided to head up front and try to see the princesses, but Claire and I weren’t quite ready to leave, so we said good bye and headed off on our own. My favorite ride is Pirates of the Caribbean, so I convinced Claire to head that way. It looked like it was on fire with an orange glow around it. I took some pictures on the ride, but most came out just too dark. We did see the new mermaid additions and that was exciting to us. We had pretty much had it after this. The lack of sleep was catching up to both of us, so we headed to the front. This is Claire’s treat bag. My wonderful Dis friend Lisa (mickeystoontown) made one for Claire and Kadence and sent them to us right before the trip. It was a huge hit with both girls. As we approached Main Street, we noticed it was lit up for the party as well. We stopped for one last photopass of the night.

Parade time! The rope went back up and Carey threw them girls right to the ground! They squished right in and let a few others in next to them and we stood behind them. Thank goodness for Carey!!!! And on to the parade!!!!! I can hear the music as I post these pictures! Pirates!!!!! Doesn’t this guy look like Nicholas Cage? Tick tock! More pirates! I swear it looks like Barbosa is looking directly at me …it’s kind of creepy. And there is my boyfriend. SHHH! Don’t tell Skip! The Grave Diggers were just so cool! They were making sparks with the shovels and they just look really neat. I didn’t get too many good pictures though. And the Hitchhiking Ghosts! They were too cool! And the cowboys! Um ,they looked REALLY good …….So much so that I only took a couple of pictures. I might’ve been wiping drool off my chin in the meantime.

Our turn on the “new” Little Mermaid ride! Woohoo! Our omnimovers moved us left and right, front and back and even titled at times. We started out on land and then it gave us the feeling we were going under water. Carey and family are in this car! We were tilted back and looking up you see Ariel swimming above you. At some point the ride stopped. We panicked a bit again. As nice as it is to be on the ride, we were not stopped in front of anything great. In fact my view was the back of Carey’s car. And we still had a lot we wanted to do yet, including the parade. Luckily after a few minutes we got moving again. Under the Sea! Poor Unfortunate Souls! Sha la la la la la la laaaaaa! Kiss the Girl! That’s my favorite song from the Little Mermaid. Everything works out Great for the happy couple! That was a big hit with us. We really enjoyed this ride. Now I wouldn’t wait for a long period of time to ride it, but I don’t like to wait long for ANY ride. It is worth riding and checking out though. Probably the best dark ride in the park right now in my opinion. We headed out once again. It was time to go find a spot for the parade. I like Liberty Square area, as it is usually less crowded there, so that’s the way we headed. As we were walking a noticed a Photopass photographer doing nothing, but clearly had something set up. I asked Carey and she wasn’t sure what it was, but we figured magic shot so we made a quick stop. Claire and I went first. I love these shots!!! Carey’s family was next! And then we quickly made our way to Liberty Square, where it was a mad house! I was surprised how busy it was. I always go by the rule the 2nd parade is less busy. In fact for Spectro and MSEP many times we walk up about 15 minutes prior and find a spot to sit with barely anyone around. This WAS not true for tonight. Carey noticed a spot that was a walk through and we positioned ourselves to stand near there and throw the kids there when the rope went up. A lot of people had this same idea though, unfortunately. Luckily the CM kept telling people to back away, but we were at a spot that we should be OK to make the dash. Soon they roped it off and the Headless Horseman came through. The kids sat and had a perfect spot. Unfortunately after he went by, they unroped the walkway again and they had to stand back up and move out of the way. UGH! We got separated, and Claire stood with Carey’s family. I trusted Carey to get them in position though. She was eyeing people and letting them know not to mess with her. LOL! This CM was out there dancing away and just having a great time. I really think she loves her job!

We headed back to the room and took our showers and got ready for the evening. I also spent some time out on the balcony. I just LOVE the balcony. I don’t know if I could go back to an inside room after having one 3 times now. They are just wonderful! There had been a Carnival ship in port at Cozumel as well, but further down at a different pier. We left about the same time and we could see it almost the whole way back to Galveston. I played around and took some different pictures. I can never get enough of the blue water. Soon it was time to head up to Palo. We were the first to arrive. We decided we wanted to take a picture of each of us by the sign, but a server from Palo came out and took one of both of us together. We stepped outside while we waited for the other girls, but it was REALLY windy up there so we headed back inside. They told us we could have a seat at the bar and wait for the other girls. So we did just that. We got a pose of one of the servers as I lifted my camera. We felt obligated to order a drink while we waited. I just felt like it would be rude to sit there and not order anything. Soon the other girls (Brook, Carolyn, Shelly, and Susan) arrived and not long after that we were taken to our table. I basically got a lot of not so good pictures. And our drinks. I believe Lisa had a mudslide. I had an amaretto sour.

I headed back down towards the pier. That’s quite the walk and a lot of people were using the biker carriage things. A little bit of Goofy’s backside! I headed back to the room, and if I remember right I found Lisa there or she came in right after I did. We decided we needed to get some lunch. She told me about her day. She had hung out at the pool and there was a bee problem and they ended up closing the pools down since it was such a problem. One lady got stung and they were going to charge her basically $200 just to have it looked at. This is one thing I don’t like about cruises. They have a Dr. onboard, but to actually use him, you pay through the teeth. Her and Susan also decided to go ashore together for a while, but didn’t do too much. Mostly just walking around. We headed up to Topsiders to get some food. We found a seat and soon Brook, Carolyn and gang all joined us. Lisa said she was able to call home today, it actually went through. I wanted to try, so we decided after we ate, we would head back to shore and try calling. I also was going to bring my kindle along as I knew Jimmy Buffets had free wifi, so I could at least send an email to my MIL and let her know how things were going if I couldn’t call. We had a fun lunch and soon Lisa and I left. I did not get a signal when we got off the ship, so we started walking. As we got to the end of the pier my phone perked up. SIGNAL!!!!! I did the 2 way beep to Skip. At the time we had Nextel and used the direct connect feature all the time. We since then had to switch to completely Sprint as they are doing away with Nextel. He and his brother chose to keep direct connect through Sprint, but I went with an iphone and I haven’t looked back since! I wasn’t sure if Skip would answer. It had been days since I talked to him and he probably figured at this point that I couldn’t call. He answered almost immediately and he didn’t say hi, how are you, or any of the normal pleasantries. He answered with a vulgar statement about missing me. YEP, I married a guy with pure class! The thing is, when using 2-way, it’s like a walkie talkie and everyone around could hear what he was saying. Lisa and I both gasped and Lisa said, “He can’t say that kind of stuff here”. I quickly let him know I was in a public area and he behaved after that. He updated me on how things were and things were going pretty smoothly. He had taken Claire to school and picked her up a few days when he could. I had that arranged with MIL and my friend Kelly, as I didn’t want him to gripe at all about having to do anything while I was gone. After a few minutes of talk, we said good bye, and I let him know that I probably wouldn’t talk to him again till we got back to port. We, well mostly me, decided to look around just a little more. I was on the hunt for something for my niece who had turned 3 that week and her family party was going to be the day after I got home. I ended up finding a cute little tiny leather purse. I think it was $15 apiece. But you could get 2 for a cheaper price, I decided to get one for Claire too. And they talked me into the next size up, which was a better price for 2. I think only $5 more. We just wandered a bit and ran into these girls. I was just standing there, kind of zoned out taking pictures and a girl said something to me and I almost didn’t hear it. Then I heard Lisa say something like, I was in a zone and didn’t notice her. I looked and it was Erin, one of Mary’s friends. So we chatted a bit as we both took pictures. They had done a snorkeling adventure that day and she said she loved it. She highly recommends it. After a bit, we decided it was time to head back to the ship. It was really hot out today. As we headed back to the ship, I took lots of pictures once again. I just love this blue water! I love how Disney gives you cold wet wash clothes as you come back. We headed back on the ship and I think we went up near the adult pool and talked a bit and had a cool drink. I then had a light bulb moment. My phone still had service and Claire was at my friend Kelly’s that day. (It took me awhile to figure which day of the week it was first. LOL). Kelly had Nextel as well and we were linked for direct connect. So I beeped her and she answered. She said all was fine and then she had to pull Claire away from playing with her daughter. Seriously, Claire was not all that happy to have to stop playing. She mostly gave me yes and no answers and not much more. Then she told me she needed to go back and play. So much for missing her mother! But when I did get home later that week, she was waiting up for me and VERY happy to see me. We decided then to go for a swim. Well I said I would sit in the hot tub, and Lisa does more laying out. I got in the hot tub and holy cow. When it’s hot outside, the hot tub is HOTTER! Burning hot! I moved over towards the pool and sat on the edge under one of the waterfalls next to a lady. That water was even hot, but not burning hot. We started talking and come to find out, she was the lady that Lisa had told me about earlier. They had talked and her Daughter in law was the one stung by a bee. Lisa had ran back to the room for something and once she arrived back, she jumped in and we all talked a bit. After a bit, Brook, Carolyn and gang had joined us at the pool. We didn’t swim ,but just either sat on the side or bobbed around in the pool. The water was very high today, so you had to kind of jump around to keep you head above the water line. Soon a band set up and started playing. This girl was really into her act. A little short video. And then they announced that the horn was going to go off soon. I got my camera ready. I had been trying to record that sucker the whole trip and now was my chance! No mistaking it this time. I GOT it! And it was LOUD! We now were sailing away once again. This is the waterfall thing I would sit against. It was one of my favorite places on the ship. The band kept playing At one point as we were all bobbing around in the pool, Carolyn made the comment, “we are on our way home now”. UGH! A guy nearby said to us that he could’ve went the whole cruise and been happy never to hear that phrase! LOL A view from the pool. And someone lost a balloon! We spent a good amount of time in the pool and we all had so much fun just talking and joking around. But all too soon we realized we should probably go shower and get ready dinner at Palo and the show that night. The show tonight was Dreams and it was one I had wanted to see. Our Palo reservation was going to make us cut into it a bit, but we had hoped to get there in time to see most of it.

A few last pictures of the beach area before we had to go back to the bus. There were a few vendor stands there by the road and I got a couple of quick shots before I boarded the bus. And we were off again. We actually saw some work going on with the new road. Our last stop was at the oldest town of Cozumel. Though wouldn’t that technically have been our first …..at the Mayan ruins? This was pretty much a bummer of a stop. You could tell they were very poor here. It was kind of dirty and just icky feeling there. I think these guys were trying to sell pictures with the horse. The highlight of this stop was to show a Mayan Temple next to a Catholic Church. With the lens I had on the camera at the time, I couldn’t get a picture of the 3 together. I actually couldn’t even really get the temple in one shot. We headed inside the church to take a look around. I didn’t stay in it very long because it had a bad odor. It was kind of musty. The lady in the green is the one I thought looked like Bonnie from the Biggest Loser. After we looked in the church, we had a little bit of time to look around. This place was small and not much to really see. Most of us just headed back towards the bus. I stopped off and used the bathroom. YUCK I should’ve held it. It was dirty and they had napkins laid out to pick up on your way in. Also a tip box. They got no tip from me. I did my best not to touch anything in there and got out fast. My tip is they need to do some cleaning!!!!! For some reason there was a family that lingered there and we all were waiting on the bus for them to get back so we could leave. Finally they causally strolled back and off we went! Next stop was back in town. I took a few last pictures as we approached town. We decided to do a little bit of shopping before heading back to the ship. I looked at quite a few things, but I think I only ended up getting a magnet. I was having an awful headache at this point so I said goodbye to the girls and headed back towards the ship on my own. I had to walk over the road again and I took some pictures of the view.

This area was just pure heaven. Brook took my pictures. Actually she took a bunch and I couldn’t figure out what she was doing. And then I found out. She wanted a big spray of water behind me. LOL Brook taking pictures. I took a picture inside one of the holes and sadly there was a bit of garbage in it. I actually saw garbage here and there on the beach. Brook wanted me to get some pictures of her, so she went up to the top of the arch. We had to wait for people to get out of the way. And then I took a couple, but I had to crop them because there was still some lady standing to the side. You can see she is looking at us and stopped, but she wouldn’t move further back. In one picture she was actually pointing, like she knew she had to wait. LOL. I honestly couldn’t stop taking pictures. It was just so beautiful. I even left feeling like I didn’t take enough. I loved the different colors of the water as you looked out at the ocean.

I headed outside and took a few more pictures. Our new bus had arrived and we all loaded onto it and set off once again. We now were going to go to a beach, not to swim, but to get a few pictures and just look around. We passed some beautiful scenery on the way. What’s with all the cows just out by themselves? It was home was calling to me. You can just barely make it out, but there was a horse alone in this picture too. You can see his brown back side. Over on the other side, the water side, Caesar had told us about the turtles that are protected and the nesting areas. We got a glimpse as we drove by. This was a new highway next to the road we are driving on. I guess it has been in the works for a VERY long time. 10-20 years. It was supposed to be completed already, but it wasn’t and they have once again started on it. An unfinished area. I have no clue what this place is. Soon we arrived at the beach! Was this place EVER gorgeous!!! Just stunning. I took about 5 zillion pictures. I just loved watching the waves crash on the shore. Brook and Carolyn picking up shells.

It just amazes me how old this place is, and yet it still stands, even after the forces of nature. I don’t remember why, but we did talk about this flower. It totally escapes me why now though. Then he handed it to me and said I could keep it. Once we went back up front though I just set it down. I surely didn’t want to get in trouble for taking plant life off the grounds and I am pretty sure I probably couldn’t take it back on the ship nor take it off when I got home. We then got to wander just a bit on our own, basically working our way back to the front center. One thing they had mentioned in the booklet about booking this excursion was bug spray. We didn’t bring any, nor bought any in the local stores onsite there. I did notice towards the end that I was getting bitten though. So you should probably get some if you take a tour like this. I used the bathroom and browsed a couple of the shops. I think I got Claire a little doll in one and then headed back to the bus. They were offering water and coke as we came back, I think I had some coke, but I can’t remember for sure. Anyways, I have heard Mexican coke is different and if I had some, I don’t remember a different taste. Soon we were loaded up and on our way. As we drove towards the tequila factory, Caesar talked some more. Then all of a sudden the hum of the AC stopped. What! It was hot out! We were on a brand new bus too. Caesar said they would call in for a replacement bus once we got to the factory. Thanks goodness ! Soon we arrived and this is the sign that greeted us. I thought it was so funny. Thank GOODNESS they have a free “peepee” station! The driveway to the Tequila factory was kind of long, but scenic. We parked behind the building and all got out. This was our tequila tour guide. And see the lady in the green shirt. She’s the one I swore was Bonnie from the Biggest Loser. I believe this is the agave, which is the fruit that makes tequila. One thing we learned was that tequila can only be tequila if it is from a certain area, like champagne in France. So I don’t remember all the rules, but they did not officially grow the Agave here to use to make it, and I can’t even remember for sure if they were allowed to make it here either or just sell it. Honestly, our guy was kind of hard to understand, so I was only picking up pieces of what he said. Looks like something fun was going on here. We then headed inside. We each were to pick up a couple of little cups for the tasting. I was trying to take pictures too, but our dude said to wait till it was over and keep moving on for now. I am not really a fan of tequila, so I was worried how much of this I would like. The first couple were the basics and pretty gross. But then he pulled out some flavored ones and some of those were pretty darn good. After the official tastings, we were allowed to go and taste others, but I had had enough. I don’t drink a whole lot in my “older” age, so I didn’t want to be falling down after a few too many tequilas. I went around and took a few pictures instead. I did use the free “peepee” station as well. And just because it was free, doesn’t mean it was the nicest. It wasn’t too bad actually, but it could use a little loving care.

Thanks. I've been slacking. I have a bunch of updates written, I just need to get them posted.

As we gathered around we got some info about this area and the ruins here. I was a bit camera crazy, I’ll admit it. I discovered a hidden Mickey here too! See it? Those Mayans were some smart people! There were quite a few of these guys all around too. Moving on. There was a lady in our group who was asking some questions. She looked so familiar and sounded familiar. I got to talking to her a bit and she wasn’t from anywhere that I would know her from, but it bugged me. Finally it dawned on me. I swore she was “Bonnie” from last year’s season of Biggest Loser. She even had a cane, and Bonnie had knee issues. I really thought it was her, but when I got home I asked Bonnie on facebook. Yeah, I have biggest loser people as my friends. LOL! And she said no, it wasn’t her, but she wished it was. I thought this arch was so cool! Ceasar told us about the Mayan roads and about the culture and a bit about his own culture too. He was an excellent guide. He talked about the Mayan Calendar and compared it with the Aztecs. Now this was back in Sept, so we were all still waiting on the ending of the Mayan calendar at that point. Ceasar said his belief was that we would just have a new beginning. And being that we all are still alive, I am thinking he was probably right! We then had a few minutes to take pictures and Brook and I took pictures of each other. And on we went. This tree was kind of creepy as every so often you would see an iguana poke his head out. We learned what some of these areas were and represented, and I have to admit I no longer remember much of it.

Continuing our walk down the peer into Cozumel. It was kind of funny as this family was walking with us. I assumed he was part of the group and we stopped for a bit to wait for our guide, Ceaser. This family realized that we were a group and then took off. It was kind of funny. We went through a shopping plaza to get to our buses. It was kind of funny all the stores advertising drugs for sale. A popular sign we saw was for Viagra. You can get this over the counter here. I joked that I should get Skip some for a souvenir. We went up over the road and then back down. I got a quick shot of this guy. I think he really wants you to tip him to take his picture. And of course we had many vendors asking us to come into their shops. I guess they really don’t have a clue what a group adventure is. Are we really going to stop and buy while the rest of the group goes on? We made it to our bus and it was already hot and steamy out. We met Ceasar and he talked the whole way out to the ruins. He was a very good guide and he was very passionate. He also told us the Corona and Dos Equi beers are what Mexicans consider the cruddy beers and pass them off to the Americans. LOL! A picture of our ticket. As we drove, I tried to get shots out the window. Carolyn was kind enough to let me have the window seat. This would’ve been such a cool shot if I actually got it in focus! A glimpse of the ship as we drive along. More shots as we drove to our Mayan Ruin Destination. And we have now arrived! A little taste of Disney with the shaped topiary. We were given about 10 -15 minutes to walk around, and use the bathrooms. This is the bathroom roof. It was actually really clean in here. When we met back up, Ceasar told us about some special gem stone they sold here. Of course we were able to get a special discount if we wanted to buy one. And then it was time to head out to see the ruins. This kind of stuff just fascinates me!

Sept. 27, 2012, Thursday, Day 7 Today’s navigators. I had not slept well the night before and I think I just gave up around 6 AM. I got up and dressed and made my way to see if I could sign up for the Port Adventure. I just knew after a sleepless night, I was meant to go on this excursion. I can’t remember if the desk was open this early or not, or if I came back a little later, but I am thinking it was. I do remember the girl I had to sign me up was not real quick at doing it. Even though I had the paper with the one I wanted circled, she seemed to have issues finding it. But I finally was signed up. Time to watch us pull into port. It was such a beautiful morning and the sunrise was so nice to see. A few cast members were excited about our arrival too. There were more people out on deck this morning too. I really enjoyed watching us dock. The sky was just beautiful. I took a couple of shots of the sports deck, as I wasn’t sure if I had taken some earlier in the trip. When you take as many pics as I do, you do forget what you have taken. Around 6:40 I went and got a quick bite to eat. And then I went back up top. I then went back to the room to gather my things and let Lisa know I was going to head off the island. She was going to stay on the ship and then when I got back the plan was to get back off the ship together and look around. I went to our meeting spot and waited for the other girls. Brook, Carolyn and Shelly all arrived soon after. They said Susan was going to stay on the ship today as well. A round 8 we headed out. They had these bike carts to carry people back and forth, for a cost, of course. I turned back to get a picture of the ship, but got my friends in there as well. Ah! There is one!

Claire just LOVES Ariel, so this was another wonderful thing. And you must hug before you leave. And we exited and Stephanie and her son Jack were waiting for us. It was so nice to meet up with her finally. Jack was the complete opposite of Kadence. He NEVER stopped talking. He was just too cute. Claire kept talking about him too the rest of the trip and kept forgetting his name, so she would call him pirate boy, since he was dressed as a pirate for the party. I got a couple of shots of the kids. And then I let Claire take a picture of us. I was a bit nervous, as this was my good camera and made sure Claire had a good hold of it. Not too bad! Jack also wanted to use my camera, but I passed on that offer. LOL We headed over towards the Little Mermaid ride once again, but it was still not running. BUMMER! At this point in time I was starving. I was to the point of getting a headache and I knew I would become grouchy if I didn’t eat some real food soon, so we headed towards Gaston’s to see if we could scrounge up something there. We all got in line and they seemed to be moving super slow. Stephanie was just going to get one of the brews for Jack. Our line was moving very slow, so I went over to the next one. BIG mistake. Stephanie got served and others did too and I was still waiting behind the same people. They didn’t understand the dining plan and also had some cash in the transaction and lots of money was going back and forth. I seriously was about to flip out. I think part of the problem was the cashier too, as she seemed to be a bit clueless when we finally had our turn. Claire and I got the pork shank and a drink to share. We found Stephanie and Jack and had a seat and we just totally dug into the food. Poor Stephanie probably thought we were savages. LOL I didn’t even think to take a picture till it was almost gone. Sorry for the devoured picture. I had heard from others that had gotten to try it during sneak previews that this was very good and a big portion. It was very good, but we must’ve drawn the short straw as ours was really small. I think we could’ve easily eaten another, but for the price, and the long wait, I wasn’t about to order more. I tried to get a few pictures before we left, but people were in my way and the place isn’t very big, so I only got a few. There was a big chair that I wanted to take a picture of, but these teen kids kept switching and taking photos and I just decided my patience wouldn’t last long enough to wait them out. Obviously they didn’t see me standing there with my camera. We left and I got this shot of the restroom area really quickly. And one last try at the statue in the dark. We decided to head out of the new Fantasyland for now and trick or treat. We were talking away and Jack was REALLY talking away. He was so funny and he just cracked me up. As we were walking out, guess who we ran into? ….Carey, John and Kadence! We all decided to trick or treat at a few places and then head to the dance party. I think Stephanie decided to go on her own at this point. Jack wanted to change out of his costume. We told her the area we had planned to be at for the parade and told her she was welcome to join us then too. She never did make it though. I think they were about to leave when the parade was on and they just watched it near the front if I remember right. If you are keeping track, meeting up with Stephanie was now meet number 4. Oh the People We See! So the plan was to trick or treat and then head off to a dance party. Carey said that was a big highlight for Kadence the year before, and I knew Claire was one who liked to dance too. One trick or treat area was by the River boats, but this one seems to be connected to the dock with its decorations. I guess it wasn’t up and running. We got quite a bit of candy in just the few stops we made and then off to the dance party. At first Claire was shy again. UGH. I know she loves to dance, but she seemed like it might be embarrassing to do it now. I tried to dance a bit with her, but that was even more embarrassing. Finally the 2 got their groove going, yet, they weren’t about to get too close! As time went on, they started getting a bit closer to each other. I have no clue why Claire is making such a face. And finally success. They now were dancing officially together and they were talking! You will notice I did a really good job at getting the back side of them. I swear no matter how I tired, I couldn’t get their faces in the pictures. And the few I did were blurry blobs. Every time I tried to do a little sideline dancing, I got a dirty look. The DJ started playing Hammer Time. I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying, and when you are supposed to yell out “hammer time” I did so, and was the only one. I think it was partly because many kids had no clue, and then I think the other part was we were supposed to wait for his cue to do so. LOL. Yet I couldn’t seem to catch on to that and kept yelling it. Oops. Finally we decided it was time to pull the kids away from dancing and do some more party fun. We headed over towards Splash Mountain/BTMRR area. I think the plan was to trick or treat there and then ride the ride, but the ride itself was not running. The queue was decorated so cute. It actually had a pretty long line that split at one point to have 2 lines for the same station. It moved fairly fast though. We did notice that the Dwarves were NOT out this evening. I was hoping to get a glimpse of them, but it wasn’t meant to be. After we got another large handful of candy we continued one and Hallow Wishes had just started. Another thing I had forgotten about. I tried to take a couple of pictures as we walk. We saw this guy dressed as Jack Sparrow as we were walking. He looked AMAZING! Honestly we were questioning whether he was the real one or not, he was that good. Perfect mannerisms and everything! Some people were stopping off and asking him to take a picture with him. But he ended up joining a scary looking bride eventually, so we knew it was a guy in costume, but Wow! He was great! We made another pit stop at the same trick or treat station we had been to earlier and then over towards the Haunted Mansion for some Magic shots. Holy cow! Look fireworks are going off right behind the Mansion! How cool is that? While we waited in line Carey and I just kept shooting. It was just GORGEOUS!!!! Soon it was our turn for the Magic shot. Claire was a little iffy about this, but I told her we would be fine and no ghosts were going to show up at the moment. Carey and family went first, and then it was our turn. We moved on. We saw this girl a couple of times. We loved her braid. She was with a guy dressed as Flynn and he was pretty much dead on too. And they had a friend dressed as Jasmine. I really liked how they went all out. It makes me a bit jealous that I am not so talented. We headed back to the New Fantasyland. We had to check on the Little Mermaid ride once again. It’s really hard to get a picture of Eric’s castle in the dark. It was open! Score! I think it listed the wait as 5 or 10 minutes, but basically it was walk on. BUT that queue is REALLY long. Extremely long. I would hate to wait in that! And I have heard since it has opened, the wait times have been just awful. Carey and I were snapping away as we walked through the queue. We finally got up to the omnimovers. It stopped for a second and we panicked that it might be broke down again, but it quickly restarted.

We headed straight back to Be Our Guest. I asked if they were serving food and the CM told me yes, but only to those who had a reservation. How the heck do you get one of those????? Oh well, BUT we were allowed to take a quick tour. That surely is better than nothing. Now I am a little mad because what the CM did not tell me was that at the podium they were taking walk up guest and giving them pagers to wait for a table. I would’ve done that in a heartbeat had I known. My pictures are just AWFUL. This place is soooo dark. The whole new Fantasyland area is dark and the interiors aren’t much better. These are for ordering the quick service lunch. A view into the dining room. I was so jealous! Claire and I were just so excited to be able to tour it. Claire kept saying how special we were because this part wasn’t even officially open yet. I have taught her well. And then we headed over to Gaston’s. We were really hoping he would be out …and he WAS!!!!! I asked where the line was for Gaston and the CM said there are no lines for Gaston, he just picks who he wants to see next. I did not like this idea and Gaston was moving all over the place. Claire did NOT want to see him, but I told her she had too. I don’t usually force her to do many things, but sometimes you just know when they need that push. I told her I would be with her. So she reluctantly followed around as he kept walking and finally he chose her. This guy did the character well. He is so funny and arrogant. Again, this area is so dark that pictures are awful and even the photopass are not good. Mother knows best! Claire was so happy we did this meet. She was talking a mile a minute again about this and how special and lucky we are. As we left he said "so glad you could meet me" and she thought that was pretty funny. We headed over to the new Ariel ride; this was a must for us. Unfortunately they had some technical problems and the ride wasn’t up right now. They had some cute saying, but I forget what it was now. So we headed over to the Ariel meet and greet next and again the line was not too bad. I really think not many people knew this area was even opened. You went into a cave and it was pretty darn dark in there. A view of the waterfall from the backside. Stephanie had still been texting back and forth and she was now back in the new Fantasyland as well and she said she would just wait at the exit of the meet and greet for us. Isn’t this little cave bug creature so cute? Soon it was our turn to meet the Fish Princess. I think I am getting eyed here, making sure I am taking pictures.

We didn’t have to wait too long and then it was our turn to see the Great Goofini! Goofy then gave Claire a spin. Claire LOVES when characters do this. Sadly the photopass photographer didn’t even take one picture of this interaction. I really liked this picture. We had to wait a few seconds for our turn with Donald. Then it was our turn! We said a final good bye to Donaldo. We noticed that Carey’s family was just getting to Goody as we were leaving. I believe we waved goodbye and headed out to the dump shop once again. Claire wanted to wait for Kadence, but if I remember right, they were taking a bit longer than we expected. Even the flooring here is themed! We really loved this Dumbo stuff, but we knew it would just collect dust, so we didn’t buy anything. I wish this nightgown came in a real dress and slightly bigger. I believe we gave up on Carey and headed out, texting Stephanie once again too. As we walked it out of the Big Treat Tent, we noticed a lot of CM’s in their Halloween party uniforms. I think they had just come from a meeting. A nice look at Dumbo and his tent. The Mine Train Crane. Yeah it’s a new ride. LOL We thought about riding Pooh. Actually before the character stop, that was our intentions, but the line was too long and it was now nearing 7 PM, so we decided to head up front and get our costumes out of the locker and change. We spotted the Wishing Well. And Claire had to jump in. We spotted the Brave meet area. It was starting to get dark ….fast! Now this was one of my dumbest ideas ever. I knew that at 7ish Main Street would be busy. We had guest exciting and others coming in for the party. If I was smart, I would’ve made it up front before 6 to change. I knew this info a head of time …but I just didn’t apply my knowledge to myself. LOL! We struggled to get to the locker and there we a ton of people doing the same thing and standing in the way and changing right in the locker room as well. We grabbed our stuff and headed off to the bathroom to change, where we found many other people changing as well. Claire refused to change in front of others, so we crammed into a small stall and changed. I was literally working up a sweat trying to do all this. I was cursing myself here. Finally we got finished and headed out. Claire and I both dressed up as Mary Poppins. Her dress used to be fantastic, but she has really outgrown in and this was our last chance to wear it again. I was very basic, but it made Claire happy to think we were both the same character. And it was crowded. We swam upstream and finally made it to Fantasyland area. Again, we had to try our luck. We made our way straight back to the new Fantasyland. Now for you professional party goers, you are going to cringe, but I didn’t do much party research for myself. I had planned to do it closer to my trip, but I just didn’t have enough time to do it. I did know basics though and what I was about to do was not what a pro would do. I did not even think about anything to do with the party and went straight back into the new Fantasyland and I was going to explore back there before I even gave another thought about the party going on over on the other side of the walls. And yes, we were allowed back. We just had to show our party bands. And we saw the incredible Beats Castle!

We decided to go in and see Minnie and Daisy. The line wasn’t too long. I texted Stephanie again. We had been texting back and forth about meeting up and I let her know we were making a stop here first. The line moved pretty fast and soon we were meeting Miss Daisy. Lighting in here is not too great and it’s hard to get decent pictures. Daisy has always been a hit with Claire. One year we had to get up extra early to find her at DHS. Claire was not about to leave without seeing her. Luckily we found her first thing that trip. I have to admit something dumb here. I had thought the characters were already dressed in their Halloween costumes. It was till we went back outside and I saw the signs that I realized they dress this way all the time. Oops! Next up was Minnie. I like that you can see 2 characters, but only wait in 1 line. Minnie’s area was even worse for lighting. And many of our photopass pictures came out bad or just a complete blur. We said goodbye to Minnie and headed out. Surprise, Surprise! We were let out into a dump shop! It was really neat in here though! And this is when I realize that the characters are dressed for a theme and not in a Halloween costume. Claire had noticed basically no line for Goofy and Donald at all either, so we went back around, and yes you have to go outside to get back in, and got in line ….only to find them gone! But we were told they would be out soon. We also sent out another text to Stephanie to let her know we were seeing more charaters. Next thing we know, we see Carey, John, and Kadence come walking in. They were only a few people behind us so we chatted a bit while we waiting. Of course Claire and Kadence were both excited to see other and showed it by eyeing each other up and down. LOL Soon it was time for the Great Goofini and Donaldo! Do you see what I see? TaDa!!!! The Great Goofini! Notice Donald’s giving the thumbs down from behind the curtain in this next picture. Donaldo was NOT about to be outdone. You know how that duck loves attention. And then he noticed I had a camera and came over to ham it up. And then he saw Carey and hammed it up for her. Don’t believe me? Here’s her shot! Finally Donaldo settled down and went off to his spot to wait for us humans.

This is the night we got the full Animators Palette show too. Our servers said we could move a little closer to the empty table next to us. It darkened a bit and they had some things playing on the screen throughout the room. The servers marched out. And Mickey joined the fun. That guy is one fast mover. He was up and down the aisle and I really had a hard time catching him. That was a lot of fun, but it went pretty fast and honestly I don’t remember a lot of it already now. I will need to see this again to take more in. Raphael and Luis posed for a few pictures then. These guys were just great and so much fun. Luis was giving us some wise advice. After dinner, Lisa headed back to the room, but I wasn’t ready yet, so I set out on my own. I went and checked the weather on deck 4. It was no longer raining, so I headed up top for some more night time shots. I just love seeing the ship all lit up. It was pretty quiet up here again tonight. I love the Moon. I think I roamed around for about 30 minutes or so and then headed back to the room. As I opened the door I saw a piece of paper on the ground. As I picked it up I saw it had a note on it. It was an excursion sheet and Brook and Carolyn had left it for me and said they ended up signing up for the Ruins and Tequila tour for the next day. They had it circled and told me to get to the desk early if I wanted to go and sign up for it. I was sure at that point. It sounded fun, but yet, I don’t really drink much, especially tequila. Lisa was sleeping, but woke up when I came in. I told her about the excursion and she told me she didn’t want to go, but she didn’t care if I went. I decided I would see if I woke up early enough in the morning and then go from there. Of course that left me thinking about it all night and I slept so badly. I kept waking up thinking I missed getting up, only find that only 20 minutes had passed. I should’ve just told myself yes from the start and I am sure I would’ve slept better.

After watching the show I think we just kind of walked around a bit before dinner. It was raining out now. On deck 4, even though it’s covered, you still got whipped by the rain and wind, so we headed back to the room for a bit. We had a new friend waiting for us tonight. Soon it was time to go to dinner, which was in Animators Palette. Tonight we were getting the full show! The menu. Bread was served. Garlic and Herb Foccacia Bread. I tried to take a lot of pictures through the room tonight to document the changes. Someone took a picture of Lisa and I. OOOOOHHHHH! A change! Carolyn and Brook told us they were thinking of doing an excursion the next day in Cozumel. We had originally planned to wing it, but they said they kind of wanted to do something real. I told them I was also kind of thinking about doing one as well. Lisa said she wasn’t too sure. We decided that in the morning we would go to the Port Adventures Desk and see what was still available. Mary grabbed herself a roll and look what she pulled out! When I made my order this evening, I decided to try some new things. I told Raphael that I would like the Rock Shrimp and Caramelized Onion Cheesecake. I have heard mixed reviews of this and I just wanted to try it. He immediately said no, ….not good. LOL. I said really? Is it that bad? And he told me he rarely sees anyone like it. Ok then. I had planned on the Wild Mushroom Risotto as my main course, and again he told me no, it wasn’t big enough. Ok, strike 2. So he had me order the risotto for my appetizer and something different for my main course. Soon the appetizers arrived. Here is my risotto. Wild Mushroom Risotto and Porcini Twist, Served with Parmigiano-Reggiano. And he surprised me and also brought out the Sesame-flavored Rock Shrimp and Caramelized Onion Cheesecake with Asian barbecue sauce and topped with Micro Greens to sample. I am going to tell you now, it was pretty good. It actually reminded me of a cheese ball and would be really good to eat on crackers. Raphael was surprised. I told him that I certainly couldn’t eat the whole thing, but a little amount was good. They really should serve a side of crackers with this. If I ever get it again, I will ask for crackers. Lisa and I both had the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup with bacon bits and chives, I believe. And I believe Lisa had Confetti Tomato Salad With Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Olive Oil, Jerez Vinegar, and Herb Dressing. We enjoyed our appetizers. I continued to take pictures around the room as color changed. Dinner soon arrived. Brook and Carolyn were going for the Gusto tonight. I believe they order 4 meals between the 2 of them so they could sample several things. Here is what they got. Ready to CHOW!!!! I ordered the Lemon-Thyme Marinated Chicken Breast On top of Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Root Vegetables, and Grain Mustard Jus. Again this was very good. I think I had this on the Dream in 2011 as well. I don’t have a picture of Lisa’s plate. She most likely got the same as I, or the Salmon, as that was one of her favorite things this cruise. She kept saying she should order something different, but I said get what you like and be happy! More pictures of the changing room A couple of videos too. After we stuffed ourselves silly, the dessert menu came out and we made our selections. And soon that arrived at our table. I believe I got 2 tonight and I can’t remember for sure, but I think I got the Buckled Warm Apple Crumble with ice-cream. And Animator's Sweet Temptations , A Trio of Strawberry Sable, Cranberry and Orange Cheesecake, and Double-Fudge Chocolate Cake. I am sure Lisa got the sweet temptations too as she got this almost every night. If I remember right, we liked parts of it, but it seems like one thing wasn’t a hit, but I can’t remember which one. And again, I took more pictures of the room changing.

After our Magic shots, we continued up to the hub. There we stopped and waited for Carey and her family. I think we sent a few texts back and forth. While we waited, I took a few pictures of the area. Claire jumped in some of them. Hey! There’s Tomorrowland! Looking to see if we see Carey. Nope! We decided to get in line for a photopass picture here then. Not long after the picture we got a text from Carey saying she too was near the Partners Statue. Hunh? So are we. So we walked around and kept looking, and there she was in plain view! It was so nice to meet her. We met on Dis a few years ago and hit it right off. She loves to take pictures, which was one of the first things that drew me towards her. She also has an older daughter that is close in age to my older DD Paige. Then her younger DD, Kadence is about a year older than Claire. Claire was super excited to meet Kadence. She had seen pictures of her previous trips online and we have talked about her a LOT! Claire knew that this trip was a complete surprise for Kadence. (I think Claire was secretly jealous about that part) Claire and I will take walks to get in shape, and often on these walks we have to talk about every detail of our upcoming trip. These walks included a lot of talking about Kadence. So the big moment has finally arrived. According to Carey, Kadence was very excited to find out she would be meeting up with Claire too. Well this big moment, was a DUD! Both girls immediately became shy. Almost hiding behind us. Seriously, after all this planning, you are NOT even going to talk to each other! Well that didn’t matter, as Carey and I started talking right away. I had a gift for Kadence that we gave her and they had one of Claire as well. Claire kind of peeked in the bag, but I think she was too shy to really take a look, same with Kadence. Carey pulled out a journal from the bag she gave Claire and said it was for me. She said it was a gift from her and Janet (The dress maker who we were borrowing outfits from). OH Gosh! There was no need for either of them to do that. But it was so nice! I have to admit, I have only written about half a days’ worth in there and I need to get at it and finish it up. She also made this very cute autograph book for Claire. I loved it, and so did Claire. But as the trip went on, we forgot to bring it with us on a few key days and it only got a few signatures in it. I may take this with us again next trip. It’s too cute to waste and it has spots to put pictures in too. Now it was time to get a group shot. We made Carey’s husband, John, take our pictures. Carey warned that he is not the best picture taker, but they came out OK. The first one looks like we are cringing. We are probably smiling and giving him instructions on how to use the cameras. LOL And of course we have the bright sun in our eyes too. We chatted a bit more and then it was time to head off. We would be meeting up in a week’s time, as our girls were going to do the Wonderland Tea Party together. Claire and I headed back towards Fantasyland. We stopped and asked if the new part was open for previews, but no such luck. I did ask if it would open during the party and she gave me a knowing look and said to check back then once it started. It was time for a snack. We weren’t quite ready to eat dinner (and honestly we were hoping to eat in new Fantasyland), so we went to get a Dole Whop Float. This is a new favorite for us, just having our first try of these last March. We got in line and it was moving kind of slow. I think the guy we had was new, because he seemed to not understand what we wanted at first. In line I said we should share one now, but Claire was insistent that she needed her own. She said I was a pig and would eat it all. LOL. So we decided that she would get the pineapple one and I would get the orange one. It took a while, but we finally walked away with one in our hands and took a seat across the way, Claire obviously is mad that I made her wait for a picture before she could eat hers. They were darn good! A picture of our view. After a bit, I asked Claire if I could have a bite of hers and she could have one of mine. This actually worked out great, and we ended up trading then. We got half of one we loved and then another half of another we loved. After we finished up, we headed out again towards Fantasyland. As soon as she spotted the sword, we had to stop. She learned about this on our April 2011 trip. She knows it “may” pull out for some lucky strong kid, and she wants to be that kid. She kept telling me she could feel it move and was sure it was ready to come out. Anyone out there? Help me!! We had no such luck, and we headed off again. After our failure at trying to get the sword out of the stone, we moved on. I did a quick check to see if we could get into the new Fantasyland, but it was still a no. I did ask them for a shot though, as they had the cutest outfits on. So we headed off to Storybook Circus. We had been lucky to already visit parts of this last spring when we spent the day here on our Universal trip, but more has been added since then. Only 1 Dumbo was running and Barnstormer was up and going then as well. This time around it was pretty much completed, though I suspect that more may be added or enhanced in the next year or two. We got in line for Dumbo. The wait wasn’t too long. This was the first time we went into the tent with the interactive stuff, which we passed by and just glanced at. I still haven’t gotten the gist of how this works. I guess you can ask to play and then you get a pager when it’s your turn to ride? Correct me if you know how this works exactly. Anyways, just passing by this play area, it was unimpressive to us. The first thing Claire said was that it looked like it was for babies. And I have to agree. It really seemed to be more geared towards younger children, not for the very mature 7 year old with me! LOL But again, we only glanced in and we might have missed something good. The longest part of our wait was actually back outside, so in all the wait time in whole was not bad at all. And then it was our turn. Claire gave me strict instructions! She would be controlling the flying and I was not allowed to touch it at all. I told her she better get us up high, as I wanted to take pictures. She failed! For some reason she just wasn’t getting us very high. I did find out one disturbing thing. They planted trees all around this ride. TALL trees!!!! It’s impossible to get any shots of the rest of the park with trees in the way. I gave up on that idea real soon. When we got off we walked over near the new splash train. I am not impressed with this either. Now on a very hot summer day, I am sure Claire would like it, but for the rest of the year, I could see her getting wet and then complaining all day long about being wet. If you plan to visit this area, bring along another outfit to change into as kids appeared to be getting soaked! Claire wanted to ride Barnstormer next. I don’t remember the posted time, but I do remember the line looked longer than I cared for, but we still jumped in. The theming in the queue is very cute. We stalled out for a few minutes so I looked back and took another shot of the train. And we got moving again. These would provide shade on a hot sunny day ….though not much. I believe at some point in time I texted Carey and asked if they wanted to sit together and watch the late parade and she said sure. Also another co-worker of mine, Stephanie, was at the World this week as well. She had spent the day at Epcot with her son and some friends. She was coming over for the party and had just arrived. So we were sending texts back and forth as well. We planned to meet up at some point too. We had never officially met in real life yet, as we both do our jobs from home and online, so though we talk daily, we have never seen each other face to face. More theming. And finally it was our turn. I tried to get a few shots as we were rolling all around. It’s fun, it’s fast, and it’s way too short. As we walked off I got this shot of a car going up. I thought it was neat and I had a poser in there …see the guy smiling for me! I am still kind of curious what they will end up doing with this area. Right now it has fast pass machines for Dumbo and Barnstormer. But it’s a big area for just that. And when the new system takes over I am not sure if it will be needed for that anymore either. We headed towards Pete’s Silly Sideshow and for a moment I had a brain freeze and couldn’t remember what this area was for. Then it dawned on me …character meets! And we came across some water art too.

We changed our clothes and then headed up to get a bite to eat. I guess I felt the need to take this elevator picture. We decided on tacos. The guy kind of insisted we have fries with it too. Who am I to argue? LOL Isn’t this just so cute? The tacos were pretty good and filled the void. After all it had been at least 2 hours since we last had eaten! I took a few pictures while we sat there. Then I believe we headed back to the room to freshen up. It was now getting close to time to leave, so the camera was out again. I had wanted to get the horn, but I missed it by just a few seconds with my video. A little bit of video. And some more video. This one was funny as this guy was running down the pier but waving and I waved back. At one time he did a little dance, but my video skills here are pretty bad. And one last video. So we had showered and gotten ready for the evening. While getting dressed, Lisa suggested I wear one of her dresses. I swore it wouldn’t fit, but she insisted I try it on, and it actually did, so I went with that dress for the night. It was fun wearing something different. I had planned to go to the show tonight, but it just didn’t sound appealing to Lisa, so she was going to stay back and miss it. The show was John Charles, the guy we had followed on board the day before in Grand Cayman, who was carrying a guitar. It was listed in the Navigator as “Featuring the Music and Comedy of John Charles”. I was now ready to head out and decided to use the bathroom before leaving the room. As I walked in, Lisa asked “so you are just going to go and watch some guy play a guitar?” And I hollered back, “well I think he does jokes with his music”. I came out of the bathroom and Lisa had her sweater on and standing there waiting for me, like she planned to go. So I asked if she was now coming and her response was “I LOVE Comedians with Guitars! You didn’t tell me that part”. And then I just burst into laughter. It was the way she said it and it was so random I couldn’t stop laughing. Throughout the rest of the trip, we would randomly say it again and just start laughing again. So we went to see the comedian with the guitar and he was GREAT! He played songs that we knew, he made up songs that he said our crew would sing, and it was just so much fun. We were both so glad to have gone and seen it. So much so, that we vowed to see his adult show the next night.

There is our beautiful Ship again. And then I spotted it. Hair braiding! Now I have mentioned before that I like this. I have had it done in the past on some trips and I love how easy it is to take care of the hair and also I like the look. I know it’s not for everyone, but for me, it is so fun. So I approached the lady and asked a price. She was working on 3 little girls at that point and they were so cute. I think she quoted me $25 or $30, I can’t remember now. Ok, the price wasn’t bad, but I want less. They always tell you higher than what they will take. I kind of quietly asked the Mom of the 3 girls what price she was getting it done for. She seemed to hem haw around and not want to tell me, but eventually she did, and I think it was $35 for all 3 girls. OK, I got room to work. So I told the lady that I if she could do it for 15, I would get it done …….Deal! While we waited, these guys walked by.. Then it was time to pick a bead color out. Lisa took pictures of me holding different colors to my head. We kept laughing, because we couldn’t make up our minds. I would ask her for suggestions, and she would be convinced on one and then change her mind, and I was doing the same thing. I ended up with that blue color. Lisa took quite a few shots of me while they did it. While I was getting braided, this guy walked by and Lisa took a couple shots. All Done! I was a happy camper then! Before we headed back to the ship, I had one other thing I wanted to do. I wanted to look for the pyramid that was on the map they left in our room. So we went in search of it. WELL, this is on the outside of the gated area and we were too scared to go out there, so we just took pictures from inside. While I was standing there taking pictures, I kept saying my back felt wet. It was really weird, but I just knew somehow I got wet. So I took off my backpack and sure enough, I was wet. I carry a bottle of hand sanitizer on my backpack and the lid had twisted off and it leaked all over my backside. And it was green. Who knew this stuff would stain, but I now know it does. Oh well, I took the bottle off and there was still a little left and I just put it upright in a pocket in the backpack, and we headed back into the plaza. Wouldn’t you know, we barely got very far and there was the lid sitting on the ground. We couldn’t believe I actually found it. Going back towards the ship now, we did a little more browsing/shopping. I can’t even remember what we ended up buying this day. I remember a maraca for Claire, a magnet for me, and a few other trinkets. I might’ve gotten Claire a T-shirt here too. As we walked back, I was lagging pretty far behind Lisa. I was trying to get a few more coastline pictures. Walking back to the ship, still trying to get that perfect coastline shot. Our beautiful ship, once again. I did not take this next picture, but one of my fellow passengers’ did from my facebook group. (and she said I could use it) I believe it was a bit later in the day. It is such an awesome picture. There is a rainbow and look where the “Pot of Gold” is! As we got closer to the ship I was taking a few artsy shots again. Well this one isn’t artsy. I played with some focus points here. Look at the bottom of the ship though. She’s a little rusty. Needs a little bit of paint here and there. Our room is up there behind that crane. We headed back to our room then. I got out the telephoto lens and took a few pictures from our balcony.

We kept browsing, looking at all the “junk” for sale. I found this top, and I really liked it. Lisa took a picture of me wearing it, so I could see how it looked. Well it doesn’t look good with shorts! The price was too high too. I tried to haggle, but they wouldn’t go down enough. I told them I would think about it. I ended up getting a top like it in pink a little later, only mine was a tank top version. The guy haggled with me and I set my price and kept saying no to his. He finally agreed, and then he said he wanted a tip for lunch too. Here’s my tip, don’t drink the water in Mexico! LOL. Seriously, I was not paying a dime more than the price I said, and he seemed kind of irked about it, but I got that dang thing, didn’t I? We went out exploring some more. We looked at a lot of these dresses, but the price was never right for Lisa and she didn’t find a style she was in love with. There was this huge pool here in the plaza and it was free to use. Lots of families did use it too. We decided we each needed another picture. I brought my kindle off with me, as I heard at one time they had free wifi here. No such luck. I gave it a try, but couldn’t find a network that wasn’t password protected. These chairs totally “cracked” me up. Our beautiful ship in the distance. And more shopping. And look who we ran into. Brook said they had taken a taxi in through town. She said I was just ok, neat to see, but nothing great. A little fun area for sprinkler running. It did start to sprinkle at one time, so we stayed in a few stores till it stopped. We also noticed a few stores were closed. Later we found out that it was some sort of Holiday and the “big” stores (like the jewelers) were closed because of it. They had a dolphin swim area. We checked it out a little later and it was very small. If I was going to do a dolphin swim, it wouldn’t be here. More roaming around. This was a ceiling in one of the restaurants. We kept walking around the plaza area and taking pictures. I found the dolphin swim area, and it was TINY. I felt bad for the dolphins, because they had very little room in there to actually swim around and play. We watched this a bit and I walked around and tried to get some coast shots. Our ship! I looked up and out of my camera and noticed I was standing next to a couple of military guys. They didn’t say anything, but I almost felt like they were watching me and making sure I didn’t go too far out. I moved a little further away. Lisa said she watching to be sure I didn’t get in trouble. LOL Our ship! We walked a little ways in the other direction and took some more shots. A look back towards the shops. Trying to get artsy again. And then we headed back towards the main plaza area. Stopping for a quick shot! These were neat.

On our way to Costa Maya! The pier to the plaza is kind of long. They do have a trolley going back and forth, but we chose to walk. A look back We thought this was kind of funny. A lot of people can’t read, because many stepped across the red line! And there is the Trolley leaving pretty darn full. I thought this looked so pretty. As you can see it was a bit windy today and cloudy. But it was still warm out. We finally made it to the plaza! Immediately we had vendors asking us to come in their shops. This can be annoying as you tell them maybe later, etc., but they really pressure you. Do they really think you will buy something if they harass you? We had to stop and get a quick picture. Yay! I was happy to see that they did sell lots of touristy junk though. Lisa was on the lookout for a dress, but she never did find one she liked enough to buy. This sign totally cracked us up. I thought this was so cute, especially since we live on a dairy farm, but getting it home wouldn’t be easy and honestly, what the heck would I do with it?