we went on a disney cruise: day 3

 Let me just start by saying that this day was one of the best days of my whole life.  It was perfect!  When we woke up in the morning, we were docked at Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas.  We ate breakfast quickly and headed off the ship so we could secure good seats on the beach, get the two littles to the kids play area,  and get the the starting line to run the 5K.

Now, I'm not a huge runner, and normally I wouldn't run a 5K while on vacation, but when else was I going to get the chance to run a 5K on a tropical island??

Check out the views we had while running.  It was stunning!

Kade, Ky, Bart, my mom and I all ran the 5K while Krew and Everly played at the kids play area.  In fact, as soon as we were done running, I went to go pick them up, and they were having too much fun building sand castles, playing games with counselors, and playing soccer on the beach, so they asked to stay and play a little while longer.  They did eventually join us for an incredible day at the beach.

We did a lot of relaxing in these hammocks, right on the beach.

Had to get some iconic Castaway Cay photos.

We ate a LOT of ice cream cones while we were on the island.

Lots of ice cream cones!

Everly loved this dance party with the characters in their beach attire.

Swimming in this crystal clear, turquoise water was magical!

Krew and Everly played two games for hours.  The first one, they would grab some sand and tell me they were going to turn it into a rock.  They would squish it together, put it into the water, say some magic words, and then, poof!  They would have a rock in their hands!  The next game, they would find a sea shell and show me.  Then they would tell me they were going to throw it as far as they could and it would magically come right back to them.  So, they would throw it, say some magic words, put their hands in the water, and ta da!  They would have the same (or maybe, just maybe, it was a different shell) back in their hands. Magic!

More relaxing in the hammocks.

It's hard to describe what Castaway Cay is like. The beautiful beach and the crystal clear, turquoise water speak for themselves.  But, I tell people that it was a private island where everything was made perfect. There were a few awesome Disney touches like some parts that looked like a shipwreck or something like that.  But it wasn't overdone, not tacky.  Everything was perfectly manicured, but done in a way that made it believable that it was naturally that perfect.  It was honestly one of the most amazing places I have ever been!

We stayed on the island just about as long as we possibly could.  We just couldn't leave-it was just too perfect there! But eventually we got back on the ship and got ready for Pirates IN the Caribbean night!

We all dressed up in our pirate costumes and headed to dinner, where even the menus were pirate themed. 

Have I mentioned before how much I love it when a meal has a theme?  When the costumes, food, and music are all on theme?  It was perfect!

Okay, and my mom totally wins for the most amazing pirate night costume.  I'm sad I don't have another picture in better lighting, because it was amazing.  Also, in case you were wondering, yes, she totally made this costume herself. Because she is awesome!

There were two pirate shows that evening, and they were both so much fun! In between the shows, we went to the theater onboard and watched Frozen 2 (well, Ky and Kade hung out at the teen club of course).

They followed up the last pirate show with a fireworks show.  They had the most amazing fireworks set to the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean.  I was honestly so emotional watching this show.  Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite movie of all time, I love fireworks so much, and I was surrounded by my family, out at sea on a Disney cruise!  It was almost too much for me to handle!

If we hadn't all been stuffed from dinner, we would have eaten more at the pirate buffet.  It all looked so yummy!

We put the littles to bed, and my mom stayed with them while Ky and Kade went back to Vibe, and Bart and I went to watch Pirates of the Caribbean (again, my favorite movie ever!) outside on the upper deck of the ship.  This was one of the most perfect days of my life, and one that I won't soon forget!