Ty on Castaway Cay in front of the Disney Dream

When we caught our first glimpse of the Disney Dream it took my breath away. I never imagined the ship would be so enormous! And it was absolutely beautiful. The rooms were much larger than we anticipated, the service was true Disney fashion (top-notch), and we had a tremendous time. We can hardly wait to go on another Disney Cruise

This is a picture of Jared, Ty, Kelsey, Ericka, Ali, Diane and Greg at Virginia Beach.  We were listening to a guy performing – he sang, played guitar, flute, trumpet and a steel drum.  Then he played two trumpets simultaneously.  Interesting!

The trip down was terrific.  Mark and Jeanne had the minivan loaded to the max with the cartop on top.  We had Ty, Jared and Ericka with us.  Diane followed us in the Tahoe with Ali, Kelsey and Greg.  The time actually flew by, and leaving on Friday ended up being a good thing.  We didn’t run into any beach traffic at all, and the only traffic congestion of any magnitude was due to an accident in Georgetown DE.  We ate at a Hardee’s for lunch – a really nice new one that had a great menu and was actually a very good experience – who knew. 

After checking into the hotel we drove over to Central Park Place in Virginia Beach.  I think that’s what it was called.  Its a very new area with lots of shops and restaurants.  They had a big parking garage with free parking.  We intended to eat at Cheesecake Factory, but it was a two hour wait.  Then we tried PF Changs, but also a two-hour wait.  We ended up at a California Pizza Kitchen – top end gourmet pizza and some really terrific menu items.  There were dozens of things I would have loved to try.  Jeanne and I split a spinach and artichoke pizza – very very good.

Back to the hotel to watch movies (The Hangover), and then an unfortunate restless night in a bed that was way too soft.

The hotel was packed with some sort of Soccer thing going on.  They didn’t have enough double-queen rooms for us, so they upgraded Di’s room to a suite, and they updated Jeanne and me to TWO ROOMS!  The first room was a very nice King suite with a couch/living area.  The second room was a full King Suite with a separate bedroom and living room.  Very nice.  They also gave me extra Marriott Reward points.  Its great when ya get a break every once in a while.

The kids have been terrific and everyone is looking forward to being with the entire family at the beach house.  Looks like the start of another terrific vacation