Turns Out I Already Found the Most Wonderful Place on Earth

Warning: I'm going to condense 7 days into 1 tiny little living space blog post (Can you name that Disney Movie line?)

In true THAT family fashion, we pulled over on the side of the road, stopping traffic in the process, to take a picture of the ship we were about to board:

This pretty much sums up the week:

We are big Disney fans (we lived in Florida for awhile and visited often). Our favorite part of the cruise was the slower-pace. It was nice to enjoy the amenities, but we didn't feel rushed. Several times, my kid's noticed some of the other passengers had perks we didn't, much bigger rooms, free gifts, etc. (My kids were over-the-top thankful, but they have no idea about the value of money, although this trip taught them a lot!)

And that's when I taught them all about Last-Minute Deals that ships offer sometimes to sell the last couple of rooms. "We paid about 1/4 of what all the other passengers did," I explained.

My older daughter summed it up, "We're just lucky to be on the boat. Who cares about a window in the cabin or a free keychain!"

Exactly.

We did get a little seasick and partook of little white pills offered to those with our shade of coloring. It didn't stop us though:

There were Disney characters all over the ship! I just knew that would be my toddler's favorite part (this was her first Disney experience). But she has the same forlorn (freaked out, maybe?) look in all the pictures. She enjoyed the ice cream a lot more!

The ship docked in the Bahamas and we were free to spend the day how we pleased. My kids were really nervous about being in a different country. (If you've ever visited, you know that there are many helpful people who would like to be paid for their assistance. It can be a little overwhelming. 

A lady asked if my girls wanted to be Bahaman princesses (she was very smart and coercive) and have their hair braided.

I asked, "How much?" (I kept catching myself talking in a loud voice, very slowly. It was purely for my benefit, because their English was perfect).

"$3" she said as she led us to an open market.

I'm thinking Oh, this is going to be fun! What a deal!

I couldn't believe my toddler was willing to sit so still. 

At some point, my hubby (he's the one with the common sense) asked "What will the total be?"

"$80" one of the ladies said, never looking up.

"Each."

And that's when I HAD A HOT FLASH.

We'd only been in The Bahamas fifteen minutes and we'd have to leave one of our kids AS COLLATERAL to pay for HAIR BRAIDS.

"Okay. I think we have enough braids now," I said, trying to get their nimble fingers to STOP.

Because y'all, that's ONE-HUNDRED-AND-SIXTY-DOLLARS!!

"Oh, but don't you want your girls to be princesses?" the lady questioned.

Nope, not really. It's totally overrated and OUT OF OUR BUDGET, I think to myself and give my hubby a look that screams DO SOMETHING!

He negotiated, paused a lot, and bargained a reasonable price. But we did tip the ladies well (they both had 7 kids, each!)

The Bahaman Princesses

Of course, if I had known HOW EASY it was to wash and go braided hair, I probably would have paid a little more. Just avoiding brushing out tangled hair was WORTH GOLD. GOLD, I tell you. [Funny little detail: One of the beads on toddler's head (unknown to us) was a glow in the dark bead. It was hilarious in the middle of the night to catch a glimpse of that lone bead in the darkness!]

A Day at the Beach 

(our cruise ship and The Flying Dutchman pirate ship from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean in the background).

We had a wonderful DREAM vacation and a Thanksgiving we'll never forget.

I kept telling my kids, savor this, I can't imagine we'll do this again. But I did remember that I don't have to travel all the way to DisneyWorld to find the most wonderful place on earth. 

I already found it.

It's called home.

p.s. I have a VERY FUN giveaway planned for Tuesday!