We are in a Disney mood

Cathy over at Noble Pig asked me about our upcoming cruise -- and I'm happy to share the excitement! We are cruising on the Disney Magic and will be stopping twice at Disney's private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay, and we'll also be stopping in both Cozumel and Grand Cayman. I am quite stoked as I've never been to either Mexico or the Cayman Islands. I am very lucky and I know it -- this is my third Disney cruise. My third cruise ever, actually. I've only done Disney. My first was in 2006 when a girlfriend in the travel biz scored an amazing deal on an 11-night Southern Caribbean Disney cruise for the two of us. We could fit three in our room on the Disney Wonder but can you believe that we couldn't find a third person to come with us? The price was amazing but the catch was we had only three weeks to plan! I had never before planned something so major with such little preparation time. The first night onboard I knew this was the type of vacation perfect for the captain and me. I put a deposit down on a cruise for the two of us almost immediately -- they give you a discount while you're still onboard so it's very tempting to book another cruise. So we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary last year, his first cruise ever, on the Magic. It was an interesting cruise in many ways, partly because we got stuck with some of the effects of Hurricane Noel. Can you say rockin' and rollin'!

And this year we'll be doing it again, this time with my MIL as well as my SIL and her hubby. Well, not the hurricane part. We hope. My MIL was on an Alaskan cruise last spring, but it's a first for the other two. It's going to be a blast! We are all very excited.

Above is a photo of the towel animal (a cobra) on our bed the last night of our cruise last fall, with one of our luggage tags hanging on it. Why Minnie Mouse? It's a code. When we disembarked, we went to the Minnie Mouse area to find our luggage. This towel animal is my contribution to Photo Friday this week, where the theme is spiral. Fitting, eh?