Day (9/28/11) - Disney Day Four

Our last full day on the Disney Dream was spent at sea enjoying all the activities (and food!) the boat had to offer.  We were on the pool deck soon after breakfast and spent hours standing in line and going down the Aqua Duck and Mickey slide, swimming in the Mickey pool, and splashing around in Nemo's Reef.
  

Once we had enough of the water and sun, we dried off and visited the Arrgh-cade a final time.  I'm not sure if Gavin realized that we never paid for him to play an actual game.  He was content to sit on the different vehicles and watch the screen, never realizing that "push start to play" was constantly flashing across the bottom!  Below, he sits on a Harley making his tough guy "game face" to scare off any competition (or any other kids who actually wanted to play the game!)

Then we attended the Sea Ya' Real Soon! farewell event in the Lobby Atrium where we got to meet some of our favorite characters.  This was another one of those times when I realized how grateful I am to be a boy mom.  All of the girls we saw were absolutely adorable, but looked like they had spent hours getting ready to meet their favorite princesses (e.g., fancy dresses and matching shoes, curled hair and tiaras, painted fingernails and toenails, and sparkly makeup).  We went with damp bathing suits and clothes, smelled of chlorine and suntan lotion, and had unbrushed, unruly pool hair!  And, while the lighting and clarity of some of these pictures is less than ideal (we had to rely on others to take the pictures), they are some of my favorite family photos from the trip because they represent the real us - laid back and sporty!

After bidding the characters farewell, we returned to our room to relax and start getting cleaned up for dinner.  While Mike and I got ready, the boys watched old Disney cartoons. They giggled at all of Donald and Goofy's silly antics, proving that classic cartoons are equally, if not more, entertaining than the newer, flashier versions.  We just enjoyed listening to them giggle.  Little boy giggles are contagious!  We couldn't help but stop what we were doing and smile and watch them giggle at the TV!

This is what three over-tired boys look like!

The final show was called, Disney's Believe, a touching story of a "workaholic father who–through the power of Disney magic–reconnects with his daughter and learns a valuable lesson about what is most important in life" - a powerful reminder as we were about to return to everyday life the next day (not that I think we needed it since we try to always put family first and maintain a healthy work/life balance).