Author: Mom

Today we were up early again and off the ship to the Palermo and Ballarmo shore excursion.

Our bus tour guide was very good. The bus driver was INSANE. We whipped in and out of narrow traffic filled streets, stopped millimeters from other cars, nearly took our a few bazillion pedestrians. It was quite a ride! We stopped first at a beautiful cathedral where I stretched my legs and ran around for quite some time.

the square in front was mostly enclosed so Mommy just let me burn off some energy.

Actually moving so fast the camera couldn’t catch me. I ran around this potted plant for about 10 minutes.

Then I chased some pigeons. That was tough!

I finally got tuckered out and hugged the plant and said Thanks and got in my stroller for a bit.

Next we drove more through the city and had a bus tour or sorts. Then off to the Ballarmo market. Very interesting place. All the old Italian men shouting at the top of their lungs all about what they are selling. We saw a LOT of fresh fish, fruit, veggies and pretty much anything else you could imagine. Mommy kept her eye out for diapers. ((Diaper story: we opted to buy them in Barcelona but they don’t sell Pampers..just Huggies… well the tabs on the Huggies keep ripping so Mommy is going through MORE than she thought. So if you ever do this vacation BRING DIAPERS!)) Well, anyway, we found a few small packages that should last us a while. We also bought a few bananas, some bread and some cheese.

Next the tour went to a nice little restaurant where we dined on a quick plate of “Sicilian Fare”. We had a poor mans meat (made of chic-pea), an eggplant and tomato dish of sorts, a fried anchovy, pizza and olives. I ate crackers, Cheerios and a pressed fruit strip Mommy had packed for me.

More city tour on the bus and then back to port. While driving we saw a LOT of horse drawn buggies, beautiful city parks with nice amusement park type rides, and lots people getting their fares delivered way up to 5-6 story buildings in baskets on ropes!!!!

Daddy wanted to walk to the “English Gardens” when we got back from the tour. I fell asleep in the stroller and enjoyed Mommy navigating VERY well up and own curbs and across bumpy streets.

I think my stroller will need a tire change when we get home! Unlike America the streets are NOT very stroller friendly…my Maclaren seems to do well though. Mommy & Daddy really enjoyed the gardens and a gelato too!

Mommy thought the side streets were very pretty.


Then we all went back to the ship (I still asleep) and boarded for an afternoon of relaxation. Some loud people in the port elevator woke me up and then I was up and ready to go for the rest of the day. Mommy said UGH! After a quick snack in the room Mommy took me to the pool to swim for a while. At first I was very timid but I warmed up and then was all over the pool.




After swimming we changed and ran the halls. Mommy let me choose which way to go and she just chased me. Daddy/G’ma/G’pa went back to the city for cannoli and meringues. Soon it was time for dinner. We were in Lumiere’s tonight. Dinner was good, but I didn’t eat much because I was tired and cranky. The boat was leaving port as we ate and the waves were getting choppy. Mommy took me up for and early bath and to get me ready for bed. This is when the night fell apart in a major way:

I was having my bath and Mommy was sitting on the bathroom floor then suddenly there was a horrid smell and Mommy was jumping up soaking wet. “Waste” water had come UP through the floor drain because the boat was tipping so much. Mommy managed to safely get me out of the bathroom and then stripped herself, cleaned up and redressed. Daddy came in at this time…THANK GOODNESS! He got the room steward and engineering and they took care of the nasty mess. They sent Mommy’s clothes to be cleaned for free, as expected!! Mommy got me ready for bed and the ship started rocking MORE. Mommy was turning green. She set me in the crib and went to the balcony to close her eyes and get some fresh air. A few minutes later she came into the room and Daddy said she was “sick”. Mommy gets BAD motion sickness and can’t take anything for it because of my little sibling on the way. Poor Mommy! I eventually went to sleep and Mommy groaned all night long… she tried to sleep… a wet washcloth on her face helped. The ship was hitting swells of 13-20ft pretty much all night long. We would feel the boat rock left, rock right, go up and then SLAM down on the water… we are on deck 8!
Eventually morning came and Mommy was less green but still very very wobbly. There are some people down that got put in “quarantine” before the waves, we never figured out what for! *shrug* Mommy had already checked in with the infirmary when she got on board… so all is well with us.
Grandma and Grandpa relaxing before dinner.

At least they are having a good old time! 🙂

Daddy/G’ma/G’pa did not enjoy the Stem-to-Stern wine tasting. They said the wines were all sour tasting. I would probably believe them because they all drink and know their wine so well. I drink milk in my sippy cup, sometimes Mommy makes me watered down lemonade! I only took a short nap and then made Mommy chase me all over the ship until it was time for Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

Tea was, interesting. It is free so we can’t complain too much. They seated us towards the back of a section and I could not see the characters very well at all. I liked the cookies but the tea was… well NOT MILK! I like milk with my cookies.

Mommy was upset that they didn’t have highchairs and I was squirmy so she didn’t really get to enjoy tea. I think tea is more targeted at girls 4-10 years of age. Grandpa Howie participated and even got out of his chair and spun in circles! I giggled.

After tea we headed to the room for some R & R before… *shrug*

Daddy took a nap. Mommy and I watched Sword and the Stone on the TV. We all were too full and didn’t feel like a formal night tonight so we opted for a casual night, early show and buffet dinner. Tonight was the Golden Mickeys. I was very squirmy again at the beginning but once things got moving I settled in for the show. I really thought the show was quite keen. There were lots of characters and music and stageshows. FUN! I did accidently kicked the lady in front of me in the back, Sorry Lady!!! She didn’t complain. Everyone was dressed really fancy and we all felt a little out of place. Normally it is hit or miss with the formal wear but there are not a lot of kids on the ship this run so it seems that more people did the “formal” thing.

We ate a quick but YUMMY dinner at Topsiders and then I ran the hallways for a while and now I am off to bed.

It wasn’t a bad day but with icky rainy weather and back to back to back events we all got tuckered out. Mommy is doing well, no major morning-sickness and the seas have been relatively calm.

Tomorrow we are in Palermo, Sicily (Italy) and have the Palermo and Ballaro Market tour booked.

Today I was once again woken up to Mommy rubbing my back and saying “Time to go see Mickey”. We had the character breakfast today. It wasn’t as fun as I had hoped. I like it better when the characters come to your table so you can take pictures rather than the new Island Jam theme where they basically dance around and sing songs and play games. I still liked seeing the characters. No one (Mom, Dad, G’ma, G’pa or me) was impressed with breakfast. Cold eggs and cold Mickey waffles. Oh well!

Me and Grandma Jo dancing to the Jam.

My gal Minnie!

Grandma Jo and I tuckered out from dancing.

I played at the nursery today when G’ma/G’pa/Mom/Dad ate brunch at Palo’s. They picked me up 2 hours later and could barely move from all the tasty food. Mommy was sad that there was no fresh roasted garlic but she enjoyed the garlic filled hummus instead! We did a quick buss through of the Roy Suite (thanks Ron/Monica for sharing!!) where I fell asleep right as we walked in the door. Everyone got their lanyards and then went our separate ways. Mommy is watching me while I nap. Everyone else went to the stem-to-stern wine tasting.

DISers have been dropping off all sorts of candy/magnets/and other treats… I even got a little stuffed turtle!!! I LOVE turtles! 🙂

More later, hopefully they can work out the internet kinks or Mommy will be venturing downstairs to the lounge to do all of this…UGH!

Today was a busy day again. Busy waiting in lines… but not that bad. We got up early this morning, by we I mean Mommy & Daddy I slept in!

The bellhop came and took our luggage to take it to the Mickey ship and we enjoyed another WONDERFUL free breakfast at the Hilton Diagonal Mar (Breakfast is 35e/person normally… DCL included the mean with the hotel stay!!!). After breakfast we took a taxi from the hotel to the port (~9e) because we wanted to get on the ship pretty early to fix our dining time and try to get Palo brunch and high tea.

Finally we are HERE!

We met a TON of DISers… too many to name. Everyone was SOOO wonderful. I ran around the terminal until we could finally get onboard. I got to meet Mickey too!

They also had entertainment.

This was a human statue…neato!

And Dancers…

Once onboard, Daddy went and took care of the food issues… we got brunch and are #2 on the wait-list for high-tea. They said that there are over 1000 Castaway Club members on the boat this time… that is a LOT… so Palo will obviously be hard to get! We checked me into Flounders for pre-registration and verified all my times that I will go there. We also learned that there are only 33 kids under 3 on the ship this time! WOW!!!! So Mommy & Daddy could book over the 10 hour preliminary limit with no issues. We showed G’ma and G’pa around the ship and then went to our rooms to unpack. One of G’mas suitcases went missing but eventually showed up.

(there it is!!!!)

I took a quick stroller nap and then played in the room as Mommy & Daddy got all unpacked. We then took G’ma on a run of the hallways. I am a pretty fast little kiddo! Then back to the room to get ready for the life-boat drill. Just like last cruise… I HATED it!!!!

Get this darn thing off of me!!! NOW!

We finished the drill and headed to Animator’s Palate for dinner. It was a “non-show night” so the room just stayed black and white. The wait staff was trying so very hard but things were very confusing. No staggered dining meant everyone piled in at one time and AP is a muster station so they had to turn from muster to service in about 15 minutes!!! Once the meal got going things started to click in Disney style. Mommy and Daddy had Lobster over pasta. G’ma & G’pa both had the beef wellington. I had mac-n-cheese (aka No-nees at least that is what i call them!!). Everyone enjoyed their meals and deserts too. I downed an entire bowl of ice-cream Reed-stlye… GULP GULP GULP! The small spoon slowed me down a bit! hehe

After dinner a quick bath and then we headed up to the first night show. Very good… the comedian had everyone rolling on the floor. I tried to nap through a bit of it but was just too excited to see the characters. It was nice to be introduced to the executive crew members. Someday I want to be a Captain of the largest ship in the world… hehe Shows over… AWESOME SHOW… and I am heading to bed. No deck party for us tonight… I am beat.

Tomorrow is a full day for us:
Character Breakfast
Palo Brunch (I go to Flounders)
DIS meet in the Roy Suite
Stem to Stern wine tasting for G’ma/G’pa/Daddy
Tea with Alice and the Mad Hatter

I think we will be eating our way to the next port??? ugh!

Mommy’s update from yesterday: Barcelona Pre-Ship

Last night I finally crashed at 9pm (BCN time). I woke up at 1:30 shouting my normal “Mommy, Are you??? (meaning Mommy get your butt outta bed and come hug Breighton!!). She gave in…eventually. Mommy tucked me back in and then I fell back asleep until 8am when Mommy & Daddy were standing over my awesome port-a-crib rubbing my back to wake me up. (BTW the port-a-crib was overly comfy, nice thick mattress and cute teddy bear sheets and blanket)

I allowed them to get me out of bed and changed and ready for breakfast. We went down stairs to the hotel food place and had our free breakfast. I really enjoyed the waffles (now, it’s no Mickey waffle), grapes (with seeds that I instantly rejected), and ONE spoonful of yogurt. Mommy and Daddy ate all sorts of nice meats, cheese, yogurt, veggies and fruits. We met a family that is on an eight month sabbatical from life to tour the world with then 3 kids (all between 9 and 12), wow, bless their hearts!

After a nice breakfast we headed to catch the Tourist Bus (19e per adult, I was FREE). It was a short walk and then we got of the bus It was a bit chilly out so we sat down-stairs on the first bus.

We rode the bus for about 30 minutes and then switched to a different bus line (goes to a different part of town).

We were intending on making a full loop and then going back to the Gaudi Sagrada Familia, but the bus broke down (just our luck) and then unloaded everyone… it just HAPPENED to break down in front of the Sagrada Familia, how odd!

We walked around the outside of the church and got a call that G’ma & G’pa were all checked in at their hotel by the airport and were ready to go site-see. They took a cab over to meet us. Meanwhile, I found a playground and lots of neat toddlers to play with. Nothing like the playgrounds like home but there seemed to be a playground or tiny little green park on every corner. Very kid friendly! I played in the sand and got all dirty.

Soon I saw G’ma and G’pa and ran to hug them. Dad and Grandpa were taking turns with the picture taking. It drove everyone NUTS!

We toured the church and saw several DISers (people on the repo-cruise) on a tour. It was too crowded or we would have said Hola! The church was amazing to thing it was started in the 1800’s and isn’t projected ot be finished until 2025!! Quite fascinating. There were lots of people hard at work carving marble and granite.

After the Sagrada Familia we waited a but and finally all got on the bus and sat up top and tours the city. I got a bit buggy while waiting so Mommy had to walk around with me a LOT!

When we got on the bus trip was very pretty and full of neat architecture, people and things to look at. I kept telling Mommy that I saw a “fruit cow”. Mommy was rolling her eyes and then finally saw it! A fruit cow… or grape moooooo…. It was an advertisement for something! Silly I know.

We hopped off the bus and grabbed a quick lunch at “Pans”, a local sandwich chain… YUMMY. I took a nap in the stroller for a while. Then we rode the bus for another hour or so until things just all started to blur and look the same to us. Daddy let me take a picture of him. That was FUN!

Daddy thought this was cute. The sign reads “remain seated!” HAHAHA.

We hopped off and went to the ZOO… the highlight of my day. I saw so many fun animals. The zoo is deceptive from the outside. It is quite large but the animal habitats aren’t exactly PETA friendly. All the animals were VERY active, we figured since it was close to zoo closing it was also close to FOOD time for the animals. The hippos were great… they were swimming all around.

I saw so many different animals and really enjoyed this part of the trip. It is a MUST for kids who like animals!

I really enjoyed reading the map and pointing out where I wanted to go. I could name ALL the animals by the end of the trip!

This bear kept smiling at me! 🙂

The laziest lion in the world.

Grandma Jo bought me a MONKEY! 🙂 Fun!

We were all tuckered out after the zoo and caught a cab back to our hotel (G’ma & G’pa came too). I came upstairs with Mommy while Daddy found out about how wonderful it is too book your transports to the cruise through Disney. They will pick-up our luggage at 8am and then us at noonish. They will even have our Key To The World cards for is in the morning! Mommy & I got cleaned up while everyone else went and picked-up dinner. I snacked on fruit and yogurt after my bath. By the time that was done it was nearly 8pm and everyone…me especially… was past beat! I finally crashed at 9pm and could hear Mommy & Daddy playing with candy or something.

This was the view from our hotel.



I will try to post more regularly now that we will have LESS expensive internet connections. Our time ran out last night and it was $$$$ for another day. Not worth it!

Best of luck as our journey continues. I miss all my friends and family already.

NEXT UPDATE: Boarding and more Barcelona Play… I want to convince Mommy & Daddy to go to the Aquarium tomorrow!