What Happens When Daddy Has The Afternoon Off...

The children get to make fresh wontons for dinner! Malcolm made the stock from scratch with pork bones and cooked fresh blue swimmer crabs for the wonton filling. Delicious!

Jan 21 - Disney To Delta, A Rough Landing

It was a rather uneasy sleep overnight as I knew that when I woke up it would be time to go home...I did not want to leave the ship. The past 14 nights have been so magical and it was hard to believe that it went by so quickly. All 10 large pieces of luggage were already tagged with Daisy Duck labels and placed outside our stateroom overnight. All we had to take to breakfast were our five carry ons and the stroller. I was glad to be able to say a last goodbye to Sonia, our warm and lovely stateroom hostess from Jamaica.

And so it was, that all 20 of us had our last breakfast together as a group at Animator's Palate. We donned our Simba disembarkation stickers and waited at Studio Sea for our cue to be able to walk off the ship. The non-US citizen line was relatively empty at the port of LA. This was fortunate as immigration, though very friendly , took a LONG time. However, it took close to no time to pick up our luggage. Customs, thankfully, was also a walk through. We parted ways and said our goodbyes to Sharon, Samuel and the Parsons.

We were relieved to find our shuttles already waiting for us outside. They took us to the Travelodge at LAX where we had booked ourselves some day rooms with free wi-fi. At $49 per room it was a bargain. The shuttle drivers very extremely helpful and friendly, and we didn't hesitate to use them for our outing to come.

A view of LA at dawn

Trying to work out where to go

Our minivans

We made the trip to scenic Santa Monica to spend the afternoon. We were blessed with superb weather. We started at Third St Promenade. Our first priority was lunch, which was at Barney Bean's. After browsing through our newspaper menu (which took us a while to find and figure out), we settled for a chilli burger, Texas chilli with Spanish rice and clam chowder in sourdough bread. Yummmm!!! As we made our way to the pier, we took the opportunity to stroll through the shops for some last minute shopping. We visited Zara, Crocs, and of course, the Disney Store!

At the Pier, we indulged in some ice-cream whilst people watching. All in all, it was a lovely way to spend our last day in the US. The pick up time for our shuttle came around too quickly.

Third Street Promenade

Reading the newspaper...er menu

We headed back to the Travelodge for some re-packing, a quick shower and dinner at Denny's. We wanted to the make the most of unhealthy dinners, something we would have to stop doing as soon as we got home! Besides, I had to have those yummy American fries one last time

We caught the free shuttle provided by Travelodge to LAX. We made it there in 1 shuttle which was handy and this was when our horrible experience began.

Check in at the self check in booths was a disaster. It wouldn't work on many counts. The Delta staff were completely unhelpful. There was one particularly rude lady whose only obsession was to stand at the start of the line directing people where to go. There were NO other staff nearby to ask for assistance!

After a painful saga of going to multiple places and speaking to various staff, we eventually managed to get our boarding passes. We then had to go through the usual security which happened relatively smoothly. After that, we were back into the drab and sparse terminal where we entered the country over 6 weeks ago.

As we sat and waited to board our flight, we reminisced about the memorable experiences we've had over the past 45 days. It was hard to believe that our wonderful adventure had come to and end. We have truly been blessed to have been given such an amazing opportunity to see the world with family and friends. I was torn with mixed emotions. On one hand , I was eager to see family back home but on the other, I wished our trip didn't have to end. My one consoling thought was that our next Disney trip has already been booked.

Hong Kong Disneyland here we come!

We made it home in one piece!

Jan 20 - Our Last Day At Sea

Malcolm and I moped about the whole day today. We were depressed. We don't do the end of holidays too well. Today was our last day at sea. Tomorrow we head home. As we closed in on Los Angeles, the weather had turned cold. This necessitated jeans which I discovered had become a rather snug fit...I made the most of our last buffet breakfast and savoured the ability to have breakfast without having to make it myself. I am going to miss Triton's and BBB immensely.

I tried to start packing with little success. My heart was just not in it. I decided to finalise our photo purchases instead. Having completed this, I went back to the stateroom for my second attempt at packing. I was saved by my need to pick up Jonah for some lunch. This short interlude was much appreciated before I had to pack some more. We took another breack and watched the children do their little show on stage. Even though we had seen the same show on the Magic, it was still so special to see the excitement and joy on the children's faces to be up on stage. We packed some more and then had dinner. Our servers had saved us the menu from the Panama Canal crossing and had written little messages on it for us. It was so sweet! We took the opportunity to give them our tips. We finalised our accounts, filled in our comment cards and let Elliot swap a pin with a cast member. And then it was straight back to the room to complete the task. Yes we had a lot to pack! Being spread across two cabins and having sleeping toddlers didn't make the job any easier. The deed was finally done and we could go to bed.

Our last sunset...

Jan 19 - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

We woke up to the most beautiful view of Cabo San Lucas! Along with the Parsons and the Kohs, we made it in time to board the first tender off the ship. As we pulled into the marina and walked off the tender, we were confronted with an endless number of tour operators spruiking their services. We bargained our way to our glass-bottomed boat for our morning expedition to the famous Land's end. Daniel was our guide for the morning. The view looking out of the boat towards Land's End was spectacular... sea lions, rock formations, uninhabited beaches... but the kids were transfixed by the semiopaque "glass" bottom of the boat which revealed the occasional white fish. It was only when the barking of an entire sea lion colony and the squarking of all the pelicans started to compete with their volume that they looked up and finally became excited about that too. The real excitement, however, was yet to come.

A view of Land's End from our balcony at dawn

Wake up sleepy heads, we have a tender to catch!

The tender process

The Statendam, also moored at Cabo San Lucas for the day

Looking back at the Wonder

Whale

Views coming into the marina

On the glass bottom boat...oh so sunny!

Enjoying their life vests

Spectacular rock formations

Secluded beaches

Abundant wildlife

Daniel dropped us off at Medano Beach, a haven of beach side activities, busy cafes and luxurious beach front resorts. Eight Albanys and Kohs bravely donned life jackets, handed over valuables and excess offspring and jumped on a slippery inflatable banana. We managed to communicate to the speedboat driver that thumbs up meant go faster and thumbs down meant slow down. The boys and girls had very different ideas about what they should be doing with their hands. The speed and spray had us all squealing but a little too dry for the driver's liking. With an evil grin he hung it to the left with venom and tipped us all in to the frigidly cold waters to be eaten by sea lions. Just as we were all about to be submerged we heard the familiar warcry from the Koh boy, "Awesome!". The girls watched us from the back of the speedboat for the rest of the trip.

Give me one of those!!!

Medano Beach, you can just see our afternoon hang out on the left

We spent the rest of the morning at "The Office", a restaurant made up of a multitude of umbrellas set up so close together by the beach front that they formed a "roof" and provided the much needed shade. We indulged ourselves with smoothies, and corn chips with salsa and guacamole. Daniel picked us up right on time and too us back to the marina. We wondered around the shops at the port. With the Statendam at port as well, it was busy and full of atmosphere. We decided to head back to the ship for lunch. We showered the sand and salt water off everyone and dropped the children at the kids club. It was bliss to be able to enjoy ice-cream on pool deck and watched the ship sail away from the port.

As we went for dinner, I realised that I had left my camera up on dec! Doh. I frantically went back up to search in vain. My faith in human kind and Disney magic was rewareded with the appearance of my camera at Guest services before the end of dinner! All decked out for our last formal night, we took up our seats at the Walt Disney Theatres for the much anticipated award winning show, Disney Dreams. It was awesome! As always, the music, the set changes, the costumes, the details were all phenomenal. It was a show I could watch over and over again. I took the opportunity to some last minute shopping and went to bed feeling very happy. What a wonderful day!

The girls never fail to love dressing up

The poor child pushed to exhaustion again...

The award winning Disney Dreams

Cinderella about to be transformed!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!

The Little Mermaid singing Part Of Your World with the most beautiful harmony I've ever heard

Belle

Look at her gorgeous gown!