• Stories from the Porch in October

    ByKristin Porch Stories
    16 Comments

    Well, it’s fall, y’all. I know that’s not news, but it actually feels like fall now in western Kentucky. We closed our pool, we’ve been wearing sweatshirts and jackets, Ben wrapped up his soccer and running club seasons, and our two favorite college football teams are having great seasons.

    Highlights

    Rachel keeps asking to go back on the “big, big Mickey boat,” so, obviously, our Disney cruise was certainly the highlight of our month. One of my favorite things about Disney vacations – the parks, the cruises – is the hospitality. I had to put some planning in before we went, but once we arrived on the boat our time truly felt like a vacation. For a mom who spends her days coordinating details for people, an actual mental vacation while on vacation is sweet.

    That photo of us is from our stop at the top of a gondola ride at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. I like soaking up porch views from all over the place!

    Greg and I also spent an afternoon and evening in Nashville recently so we could have a date and see Ben Rector is in concert. I didn’t love our seats at the back of the main floor at The Ryman, but I loved seeing Ben Rector live and having time with my husband.

    Favorite things

    Partners in Care Foster Closet – I’ve had an idea to have a foster care closet for quite a while now. Greg and I have talked about it periodically, I’ve mentioned it to other people, but it just hadn’t been the right time to move forward. Until now! We’ve gotten to team up with a local foster mom to make this happen. It’s a new project that’s still coming along, but we have donated space, thanks to an area social services supervisor, and some donations of hanging racks with clothing for various sizes, toys, shoes, diapers, some medical equipment, and baby accessories. Partners in Care is operating as a project of our adoption and orphan care ministry at our church, so any donations are tax deductible. As foster families have new placements, we’ll be able to help provide them with some materials to make the transition a bit smoother. (You can learn more at Partners in Care on Facebook.)

    Shellac fingernail polish – I feel a little unlike myself admitting this new obsession, but it’s true. Before I went to Washington D.C., I got my nails done for the first time in many years. I just wanted to because it made me feel fancier and more put together than my normal life. I got talked into shellac polish by a few other women in the salon. Y’all, it LASTED weeks, and really the only reason it needed to be redone a month or so later was I had chipped one thumbnail and the polish there. Plus my nails were growing out so much (another win for polish that keeps me from picking at my nails!) that there was an unpolished portion beneath the color that was starting to look strange. Anyway, that’s the story of how I came to love having professionally shellacked nails.

    Chris Tomlin’s “Holy Roar“– This new worship CD takes me right to the throne of God wherever I’m listening. I reviewed the CD earlier this week and am giving away a copy, so be sure to enter to win by Thursday evening.

    From the bookshelf

    “A Secret to Die For” by Lisa Harris – I’ve been a fan of Lisa Harris for several years now, and her books keep getting better. This one is a fast-paced suspense novel with a touch of romance. The whole book takes place over just a few days, which kept me wanting to turn the pages. In addition to the case at hand, this novel touches on the value of vulnerability, processing grief while still living, and how God isn’t afraid of our doubts and questions. I like when fiction novels don’t shy away from important real-life messages and Harris does that well with this story. (I reviewed this one in a previous blog post.)

    “Whisper Me This” by Kerry Anne King – I got this one for free several months ago, thanks to Amazon Prime’s monthly free book choices, and I really enjoyed it. I actually added some more books by this author to my to-read list, which is forever growing.

    “The Almost Sisters” by Joshilyn Jackson – This fiction read had a lot of layers to its story, but it was well written and enjoyable.

    “Hope Your Heart Needs: 52 Encouraging Reminds of How God Cares for You” by Holley Gerth – This is a new devotional I’m happy to have around here. (I also wrote a review of it earlier this month.)

    “The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home” by Russell Moore – This is my current read, and I get the feeling I’ll be sharing more about it around here. Stay tuned because I’ll share more about this one.

    On the screen

    “Suits” – We finished the seven seasons on Amazon Prime. Obviously, if I’m willing to binge watch that many episodes without quitting it, I recommend it to you. Now I’ll be waiting for season 8 to be included with Prime.

    “New Amsterdam” – A friend suggested I watch this one, and I’m glad I listened. Ryan Eggold (aka Tom Keen from “The Blacklist”) is the main character who drew me in.

    What have you been watching, reading, and loving this month?

    *****

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  • Cruising with M-I-C-K-E-Y

    ByKristin Disney, Porch Stories
    12 Comments

    Years ago Greg and I talked about going on a just-us trip between our 40th birthdays, which are about a year apart from each other. Well, that in-between time is now. (My 40th isn’t until May 2019, for the record!)

    We were discussing this idea earlier this year and kept coming back to wanting to go on a cruise. Then we talked about another Disney Cruise after going for Thanksgiving 2016. But then we would want to bring the kids and my mother-in-law. We considered other options, but we kept coming back to cruising with the only mouse I’ve ever liked.

    We spent the past week cruising the eastern Caribbean Sea on the Disney Fantasy. Happy (belated) 40th to Greg and happy (early) 40th to me. Oh, and happy Fall Break, kids.

    I’d say on average, we fly once every few years, if that. The point: We don’t fly often. But we have flown four times in the past five months. Whoa! The adults and two big kids flew to Guatemala in June. We all flew to upstate New York in July. Greg and I flew to Washington, D.C. in September. (Our Washington, D.C. trip was a sweet surprise, like God knew we actually needed a just-us trip after we planned the family cruise at the beginning of the year!) Then we all boarded another plane to Orlando for this trip.

    This is also the year our rewards credit card offered to reimburse the $85 for us to get TSA Pre-Check clearance. We did that between our June and July trips and it’s been worth every penny we didn’t actually pay. (But I’d venture to say if you fly more than we usually do, then it’s actually worth the pennies you pay!)

    I don’t regret for one second flying all the times this year to all the places we got to go. I don’t regret bringing the kids on what started as an idea for an adult trip.

    Yes, traveling with kids can be complicated and more stressful than the alternative. Yes, kids require stuff that takes up room in suitcases. Yes, bedtimes were pushed way back, dessert was consumed more than once a day, and I was constantly counting three heads (although it was mostly the youngest who kept me alert).

    But I have a phone full of photographic memories and a heart full of family memories.

    As I was eating peel-and-eat shrimp from Cabana’s buffet on the ship, I remembered sitting in a condo in Perdido Key, Florida, probably not much older than my oldest kid now, as my dad boiled shrimp for us to share.

    I want my kids to remember seeing the British Virgin Islands in good spirits but still obviously recovering from a devastating hurricane 13 months earlier. I want my kids to remember the times they played on the beach together in Saint Thomas and again at Castaway Cay, picked which complementary Disney movie to watch next, and posing with beloved costumed characters. I want to remember how even with their age gap, all three kids were excited to meet costumed characters, play on the sand, and snuggle new stuffed animals.

    I want us all to remember we are in this life
    together and taking a break is refreshing.

    {Tweet that.}

    Now, back to “normal” life around here after two trips in three weeks with the toddler’s Fall Break thrown in the middle. Perhaps I’ll find the bottom of those laundry baskets.

    *****

    I took a bunch of pictures, which I’m sure surprises no one. I shared most of them on Facebook recently, so feel free to browse that album if you want to see more of our trip. This was our second Disney cruise, but you can read about our first one.

    *****

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  • Aboard the Disney Dream

    ByKristin Disney
    4 Comments

    disney-thanksgiving

    So, how was the Disney Cruise? People have texted that question, commented on Facebook pictures, and asked in passing. Depending on the circumstances, my answer has been something along these lines: “So great! We loved it!” or “I could have a stayed a few more days!”

    Those short answers are true. We did absolutely love it and we could have stayed a few more days. But people want to know more, and, of course, I want to share more, so here I go.

    The basics

    We took a four-night cruise aboard the Disney Dream. We boarded in Port Canaveral, Florida, and then sailed to Nassau, Bahamas and Disney’s Castaway Cay, also in the Bahamas. We spent Thanksgiving aboard the ship. Because of flight prices home, we ended up spending most of Friday and Saturday in St. Augustine before flying home out of Jacksonville.

    “We” means my family of five – including kids who are 9, 7, and 1 – plus Gran-Gran, who is my mother-in-law and the best travel companion around!

    disney-boat

    The ship

    Disney Dream is larger than two of Disney’s older ships – Magic and Wonder. It’s 1,114.7 feet long and 137 feet wide. The ship has 1,250 staterooms, carries up to 4,000 passengers, and has 1,458 crew members. There’s an awesome water slide – AquaDuck – that goes out over the water. It’s a 765-foot water slide with a four-deck drop and a course that winds 13 feet.

    Our party of six shared two connecting staterooms, which was perfect! Each room had a queen bed, a set of bunks that could be set up using the sofa and a twin bed that pulled down from the ceiling, and a murphy bed. The murphy bed would be in the way of the balcony, so my mother-in-law slept in one room along with the two big kids who were on bunks. Greg and I slept in the other room, where Rachel had a pack-and-play.

    There is shuffle board, nine holes of mini golf, a basketball court, table tennis area, a walking track, three pools (one of which is for adults only), a hot tub, two theaters (one for Broadway-style performances and variety acts as well as one that shows first-run Disney movies), and a 24-by-14 foot LED screen that actually showed football on Thanksgiving Day.

    There are three themed restaurants, two adult-only restaurants, a buffet, and multiple bars and quick-service stations. There’s a rotating dining plan that allows passengers to have scheduled dinner times at each of the three themed restaurants – Animator’s Palate, Enchanted Garden, and Royal Palace – with the same servers each night.

    And speaking of restaurants, our servers were among our favorite parts of the whole cruise. They were funny and kind. Blake from India did magic tricks each night while Dorian from Jamaica bonded with Rachel and remembered what we all liked to drink.

    disney-atlantis

    The ports

    At Nassau, Bahamas, we went to Atlantis Resort, where we interacted with dolphins and enjoyed the water park. The shallow-water dolphin interaction was on everyone’s list of favorite parts of the trip – and why wouldn’t it be? Especially because Rachel kissed a dolphin.

    As Castaway Cay, which is Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, we fed, touched and snorkeled with stingrays – which was really neat but slightly terrifying, according to my oldest. We also enjoyed the beach, which included more water slides.

    The entertainment

    We ate at 5:45 each evening, and then went to that night’s show, which started at 8:15 or 8:30 p.m. Yes, I know that seems late for little ones – and two of three usually are in bed by 7:30 p.m. – but there’s an energy that keeps them going, plus the shows were excellent and worth staying up to watch. Each night we had a little time between dinner and the show so we usually played a trivia-type family game in another lounge on the ship.

    There were three Broadway-style shows with many songs – “Villians Tonight,” “The Golden Mickeys” and “Believe,” which was my favorite of the three. The other night “Moana” premiered on the big screen – and we all enjoyed that!

    disney-aboard

    Overall

    Like when we went to Walt Disney World, Disney vacation planner Jennifer Hart helped us make a reservation. She always does a good job asking questions and helping as much or as little as you want as you prepare for your vacation. (Read about our trip to Walt Disney World and why you should use a vacation planner.)

    We loved the relaxing pace and all the ways Disney took care of us. The Disney Cruise was everything that’s good about a vacation – and we hope to board again one day.

    *****

    I have many, many more pictures I’m sure will show up on this blog at some point. And I’m happy to answer any other questions you have.