What a FaNtAsY is made of...

For the last few years we've talked about getting my side of the family on a Disney Cruise together but the logistics of picking dates that work for everyone and then actually lining up airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, etc. can be quite a job but finally we made it happen! As much as we would have liked it to have been a family reunion with all my side of the family we knew with the crazy "ex" that my brother has to deal with, this would be asking for too much. And of course it was, but we didn't let her selfishness affect our plans. So us, my parents, my brother Gary and his family, and my brother Steven did the Eastern Caribbean on Disney's newest ship the Fantasy. What a great time we had!!!

I think everyone in the Roddy fam would agree that the best part wasn't really the cruise itself but rather the excitement our kids had sharing the experience with their cousins B and P. My kids still talk about how much they loved when my parents surprised them at the port a couple years ago to go on the Mexican Riviera cruise with us so what a treat it was to not only have my parents there but some of their cousins, uncles, and aunt!

So here we start with the first photo... a bunch of kids who look like they haven't seen the sun in years! ha! Just as I went to take this first photo they said the sun was in their eyes so I said everyone close your eyes and when I count to three, instead of saying cheese, open your eyes!" And this is what I got:



It's very hard to narrow down five hundred photos to a few to plug into a blog but hopefully I can capture some of the highlights:

Here are a couple from the first day! It is a rare thing to have two Disney ships in port on the same day so this first photo is looking out onto the newly refurbished Disney Magic which had to sadly cancel it's cruise for this same weekend due to not being ready in time. Thankfully we weren't on that ship as those poor people only got four days notice that their cruise had been canceled!




Meeting some friends...Sadly the boys are no longer interested in photos with the characters but Sage still loves visiting with the princesses!




Fun times at the dinner table! From entertaining us with magic tricks and brain teasers to cutting up the kids' food, we will sure miss our wonderful waiters Norah and Noel!



Days at Sea were very kind to us with picture perfect weather in the mid 80's! We felt so lucky. I was nervous to book a cruise in Oct but it was equally as nice as the weather we had in May. The kids enjoyed spending the days at sea playing foosball, swimming, eating ice cream non stop, and for the first time the boys actually spent a couple hours in the tween club! Of course I was happiest enjoying a couple hours every now and then in the adult only section with Jack!



Nightlife on a ship full of kiddos included shows, movies, swimming, the slide, big screen TV, ice cream, more ice cream, pirate night, Halloween fun, game show, shuffle board, dancing, and a whole lot more...



The highlights for me would have to be the ports of call! I was really excited about the boat we had chartered for our St. Maarten excursion. We zipped around on a speed boat, went from the dutch side of the island over to the french side, went to a couple small outer islands, swam with turtles and fish, enjoyed some beautiful beach time, ate a fabulous lunch, and boated some more. The kids LOVED speeding around in the ocean waves!



After St. Maarten it was on to St. Thomas. Here we all jumped on a ferry from St. Thomas to St. John (since ships can't port at St. John) to do an island tour which I knew was something my parents would enjoy! Since we had vacationed on St. John last November it was fun to share with the family some of our favorite parts of the island!





A family favorite, Castaway Cay...



Just a couple favorite shots of the ship and our balcony...




Since none of our flights departed until the late afternoon we decided to hit Cocoa beach for some shopping and lunch! Of course we couldn't leave without experiencing the beach. Who knows when the next time will be!



What a wonderful time we had! The only thing missing is a photo of the rental car they gave us for the return trip back to the airport. Coming to the port we had a big Expedition for our family but somehow for the return all they had for us was this gigantic silver PASSENGER van that could have seriously fit everyone in our group had we known. Not a mini van but a passenger van! It was hysterical. Although I felt they should have paid us to drive it Jack found it to be quite the cool thing to drive.

So there you have it! We have now officially made "gold" status on Disney Cruise Line!!!!

Connor's special day with daddy!

Connor has been a Green Bay Packers fan for quite some time. Specifically he loves Aaron Rodgers. So when Jack had the opportunity to take Connor to see the Packer's play against the Bengals, he took it. He knew he needed a fall game as Jack's not a fan of sitting watching an NFL game in freezing weather so we pulled Connor from his own game that day and surprised him with this special trip with his Dad! Because the camera queen of the family wasn't in attendance at this game, the photos are limited but here is our sweet Connor making some amazing memories with his dad! They had perfect weather, fantastic seats three rows back on the 40 yard line and a tight game. Unfortunately the Packers lost but the memories are forever there!

Another birthday...another wrinkle...

What started as a simple day ended celebrating with the people that matter most! And I'm happy to report that my new goal starting this year was to be ok with whatever Jack bought me. Instead of my frequent response of "But I don't need that!", I'm slowly learning to just enjoy the mementos that he and the kids give me. They never disappoint, are always lovely and from here on out I'm going to be more gracious about accepting! This year Jack and the kids surprised me with a beautiful bracelet which meant even more once Jack explained the steps he had taken in choosing it. Of course my birthday wouldn't be complete without my favorite....angel food cake. I also feel grateful for all the wonderful voice mails, notes, lunches, and flowers from dear friends and family! I felt very loved.

Five on wheels!

Although we don't have as many cool attractions to see around here as we have in other places we've lived we have learned that we do have some beautiful bike trails and when you combine nice trails with nice weather, you get one beautiful way to spend a Saturday! Apparently the Little Miami bike trail is known for being the fourth longest paved rail trail in the country. After doing a segment of it with some friends and enjoying it so much I decided it would make a great family activity but this time I chose a segment that would include a nice pit stop midway through...Miranda's ice cream shop! Not only does the trail follow along the Little Miami River but we also passed by a small lake which the boys loved hiking around. I was nervous about how well Sage would do on an extended ride but she did great. It started a little rough when within the first five minutes she had a wipe out when her front tire caught the edge of the trail and she over corrected but after some prodding and reminding her that half way through the ride we'd be stopping at an ice cream shop, she was determined to make it. By the end our sweet girl had made it ten miles and was all smiles!!!



So here are a couple shots from when me and my girlfriends went! The photos don't do the trail justice as it was so much prettier in person!

Look who came to town...

It had been a while since we had seen Grandma Roddy but finally we were able to get our schedules aligned and get her out here for the Labor Day extended weekend! Being that there isn't a whole lot of tourist stuff to see here we were only left with our good old standby for those visitors that come during the summer...Kings Island/Soak City. So off we went for an afternoon at Soak City. I'm sure she'd tell you the highlight was trying to get on the raft in the lazy river...  definitely a missed photo op!!! After visiting with us for a few days we rented her a car so she could take a road trip to Pennsylvania to check out where she grew up and do some genealogy. She was very excited about this and we were happy she got to do it as it was something she had been wanting to do for some time.