Other parts of June

And continuing the three day tradition... three days after the cruise I left to help Rachel with her new sweet baby, Lincoln.  It was so much fun to go out and spend time with her and her family.  Newborn baby snuggles are the best.  We did some good chilling, as well as a hike and painting the deck.  Fun, fun, fun!

Also in June Jayden received his Arrow of Light and Webelos awards.  He has a fabulous den leader that really knows her stuff and dos so many great things with the boys. 

Ashlyn loves this horse, and she loves her binkies.  Notice one in each hand!

I talked Devon into taking us camping the last weekend in June.  We were too last minute to find any official campsites, but Devon knew where to find some free ones up the canyon.  The biggest drawback was no amenities, but we were fine roughing it.  We brought plenty of water and the girls tested out our emergency toilet.  

Our little spot we found was a narrow spot walled in by the road, the river, and plants. At first I was a little nervous about camping by the river, but once we looked at it we could tell it was pretty low.  As long as the kids stayed on the half by us, they would be fine.  We just kept a good eye on them, which was easy because it was a tiny camping spot.  It was big enough for what we needed and we enjoyed it for our one night.  The biggest downside was that the dirt was very sooty because of all the fires that have been built there over the years, and with no official spot for the fire, I'm sure everywhere has had a fire there.  This dirt was so dirty, and Ashlyn displayed it quite well.  We used that river to rinse her off so many times!  Mostly we were just washing her hands and arms off, but eventually she got so dirty we washed her more thoroughly.

Disney Cruise: Headed home!

Going home went really well.  I had Austin and Lauren sit with me this time.  Devon had Ashlyn and Ethan, and Dylan and Jayden were together on another row. Austin and Lauren did great.  I can't believe Devon got Ashlyn to sleep! That makes things a little easier! It is so nice to have some good little travelers!

Day 8, Debarkation, Temple, and Chocolates

We were sad the day to get off the shop had come.  We had breakfast in the Animator's Palatte, though we were the only ones from the Gibson's who ate there.  

We took a quick pic with our favorite server and busboy Oneill and Josh.  They were wonderful!

All packed and leaving the boat.

It funny to watch these guys load up our stuff.  Here is just ours, Tony and Amy's, and Grandma and Grandpa's things.  That is a lot of bags!  I got in trouble for taking this pictures.  Apparently you can't be in a certain area when you take pictures.  I didn't know!

After getting off the boat we got our rental vans and headed to our hotel.  Then those who were 12 and older of the grandkids went to the Orlando temple to do baptisms for the dead.  I was happy Dylan got to go, what a neat experience!

After that we all got some dinner then went to our friend John Lanenga's chocolate shop. Its called Ferris and Fosters.  We did this the last time we were in Orlando and it was so much fun!  We were so excited to do it again!

Day 7, Castaway Cay

This is my other favorite day of the trip.  I love spending the day at the beach!  It just never seems long enough on Castaway Cay. There is so much to do, and I think we hardly have time to do any of it.  Two days would be nice! But, we sure enjoyed the one day that we had.  

This is the view from our veranda.

We ended up ready quite a while before they would let us get off.  Rather than congregate in the stuffed hallways, we headed out on deck.  I can't believe we were the only ones there.  We even watched part of a movie that was showing on the pool deck while we waited. 

The forcast was a little questionable for the day.  We did get some rain, and we did get maybe a hint of sun, but mostly it was just cloudy.  Good enough for me!

Oops, got some sea water in the mouth.  That does NOT taste good.  Sorry babe!

 I made an awesome sand fish.  I know.  I'm amazing.

Ahhh, so much fun!!  We totally wore the kids out, though. Ashlyn was alseep within probably 30 seconds of getting in the stroller and having her binky.

So tired.  Also, Lauren is cuddling her cat from Aristocats that she bought from the boat's souvenir shop, and Austin has his Stitch pillow pet.

I was a little late for dinner tonight at the Animator's Palatte because Austin and Lauren were asleep. It was hard to know what to do.  We didn't want to miss dinner, but they were so worn out I hated to wake them up!  We made it, and we even got a chance to quickly make our drawings for the animation show.











Now that's fancy for a kids plate!


The kids had fun with their make-it-yourself cupcakes.

We had been looking in the stores on the boat to see if there was any souvenirs the kids really wanted.  Ashlyn fell in love with this Pluto pillowpet.  She would even lay on it in the store.  She loved it.  I thought it was so cute to see that she fell asleep on it.