Adventure In The Great Wide Somewhere

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! This Wordless Wednesday is brought to you by my favorite action moment! Kylee and Chris earning their last Wilderness Explorer Badges! Now to make them "Trust me, I'm a Senior Wilderness Explorer," shirts for next trip. Thank you to  Focused on the Magic  for hosting!

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!  

I think that the magic of a Disney vacation exists in three wonderful parts: the dreaming of planning, the pixie dust moments during trip itself and the memories you take with you for years to come. Since I can't live in the Cinderella Castle Suite or even on property year round, pictures help bring a bit of the fairytale back into my everyday life. In my enthusiastic pursuit of remembering the Magic, I take hundreds thousands of my own pictures every vacation and hope to share a bit of my experience with you.  The motion blur never bothered me any way. Tag! You're it! Actually it did drive me crazy when I got blurry shots.  I used to think that shots that included large amounts of blur indicated an immediate need to erase the picture then retake it without even looking at what I had captured. Then I realized that sometimes they provide an otherwise un-capture-able real moment with my kids.   While some are blurry because I'm lit...

Yes, Winnie the Pooh took a selfie on my iPhone. #winning #SilentSunday

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!   

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! Goofy Vacation Traditions! Like getting into the panorama on ship once for each cruise. Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee and coffee. Lounging on Deck 4 Grape Gorgonzola Pizza (and the entire dessert spread) at the Palo Brunch And a Well Timed Photobomb. For My Prince Charming...here's to all the little things I love about you! Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!  

#SilentSunday

A cruise is plenty incredible in it's own right with a ton of different activities for the whole family to participate in, however for us photography enthusiasts with a bit of a competitive streak, there really isn't anything to compare to a good old fashioned photo scavenger hunt. The rules are simple, each team must stick together and at least one team member must be in the photo with each item. Try to earn as many points as you can in a set amount of time (an hour or two or a whole afternoon if you wish) you lose a point per minute after the cutoff! Spend some time during dinner voting on the bonus points then take a tally and see who wins!   5 Empty deck chairs in a row A cast member with the same name as one of your team member A Chandelier A Giant Letter (Vote for Largest – Two Points) A Miniature Bottle of Shampoo A Permanent Sculpture (Vote for 5 Points – Be Creative!!!) A Piece of Fruit (More Exotic = More Points/Vote for 2 Points) A princess A Ship...

1.) Back up your vacation photos immediately after your vacation.  2.) iPhones do not like water 3.) If you're honest with the guys at the Genius Bar (aka, "my phone went for an inadvertent swim the other day, I tried to dry it out but it's still wonky") they can swap yours for the same model (at a very reduced rate) even if you didn't buy the protection plan.  Thank you, Apple! You made a sad experience much better.  4.) Buy a good waterproof case for your phone.  Or the protection plan. Or both. 5.) Check your photo stream.  I am so thankful that somehow, my trip photos made it to photo stream!!! Live and learn!

#SilentSunday

Hello FastPass to History Blog Hoppers! Thank you, again,  Frontierland Station for hosting this blog hop. Did you ever stop and look at the striking photographs on deck five forward? They capture various aspects of the Wonder under construction in the Fincantieri shipyards. Beautiful Bow in Progress Who did they hire to capture this momentous occasion? Turns out, nobody. These photographs mostly came from an amateur photographer with fairly nice camera equipment who basically wandered onto the yard, pretended he belonged and started taking photos. After quite a while, someone finally realized he wasn't a construction worker, imagineer or cast member they asked him to leave the premises. Black and White images from the shipyards. First they asked for his film and took down his name. On developing the film, they realized that several of the pictures were not only good, but striking. Calling him back, they asked if they could pay for the film and use it in the ...

Welcome Wordless Wednesday Blog Hoppers! L to R, Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, Alice and March Hare   #Sidekicks Thank you to Focused on the Magic for hosting!  

I think that the magic of a Disney vacation exists in three wonderful parts: the dreaming of planning, the pixie dust moments during trip itself and the memories you take with you for years to come. Since I can't live in the Cinderella Castle Suite or even on property year round, pictures help bring a bit of the fairytale back into my everyday life. In my enthusiastic pursuit of remembering the Magic, I take hundreds thousands of my own pictures every vacation and hope to share a bit of my experience with you. Sometimes the most simple way to create an interesting picture is to look around and pay attention to reflective surfaces. Sometimes surprising, sometimes funny, sometimes gorgeous, reflections go with whatever way you want to use them. Puddles, glass, security bubble mirrors, silverware, wood with a fine sheen to it, if you keep your eyes open, the possibilities are nearly endless. Doors Floors Bars Interior glass Walls Pretty muc...

Shhhhh! #SilentSunday

Ben stayed in a surprisingly good mood given how sleepy he seemed when he brought the coffee out on the verandah. Perhaps the smell of coffee and the view agreed with him?  It's hard to argue with the view. The kids woke up with the room service delivery as well. After enthusiastically realizing it was her birthday and that she turned five, Kylee got all dressed up in her birthday finery to unwrap some FE gifts. Birthday Tiara, Presents and Bows! After Ben, Chris and Diana dressed, we all spent a little more time enjoying the verandah before heading off to breakfast. This is literally the first cruise where I did not pick a single thing to do off of the navigator the evening before each day. Beautiful deep water. The easiest place for everyone to enjoy their various allergy free breakfast is Triton's. Birthday Girl After a relatively quick and easy breakfast (the tofu scramble with veggies is pretty good) we let Kylee pick what she wanted to do for he...