Castaway Challenge Trip - Disney Dream Day 4

The time has come for the final installment of our Princess Half Marathon and Castaway Challenge recap! I love re-living memories made during fun trips we've taken and I thank you for coming along on the journey with us!

Missed a previous recap? Here you go! :)

• Disney Dream Day 3 & Castaway Cay
• Disney Dream Day 2 - Nassau
• Disney Dream Day 1 - Boarding the Ship
• Princess Weekend Day 3&4
• Princess Weekend Day 2
• Princess Weekend Day 1

When I last left off, we were at the end of Day 3, our Castaway Cay day was complete as was the Castaway Challenge.

 
Our 4th and final day on board the Dream was an at sea day. We began the morning with breakfast in Cabanas which included a bowl of muesli for me (I love that stuff)! 

Around 10 a.m., we made our way over to Animator's Palate for the Anna and Elsa greeting that we booked when boarding the ship. (Please note: This is a "free" event but does require a separate ticket. Tickets can be accessed on embarkation day at the Excursions desk. It also fills up really fast, so if you're interested, it's important to get these tickets right as you board the ship.)

I loved how they transformed Animator's Palate into the Ice Palace! It was beautiful!

I wanted to take a picture with these two for 2 reasons - I dressed like Anna for the 10K (and had a ball and I never had the opportunity to see them in Disney World. It worked out perfect for me that they were available on board the Dream!

They both loved my medals, especially the 10K medal because of the snowflake! :)

For lunch, we decided to do something different and enjoy a brunch style menu at the Royal Palace (vs the buffet in Cabanas). I was pleasantly surprised to see my favorite Strawberry Soup on the menu!! (I might have had two bowls throughout the meal...whoops.)

Jason's favorite duck, the #1 duck of the sea! :)

Despite being an at-sea day, the ship was oddly quiet! We enjoyed walking around, enjoying the animated pictures on the walls, and taking in the ship! It really was a relaxing day!

I love the chandelier in the lobby! It's gorgeous!

Before dinner, all Castaway Challenge runners were surprised with a reception in their honor! It was supposed to last an hour and they pretty much had to kick us out of the room because no one wanted to leave. It was a lot of fun!!

 When we returned to our room, we were sad to documents with instructions on returning to the real world.

However, the sunset was gorgeous which totally made me smile again! :)

Dinner on our final night was in Animator's Palate. I guess I didn't do my research because I didn't realize that it was a complete "Turtle Talk with Crush" experience! He came to the table right next to ours and talked to them which was hilarious! They were all adults and apparently "work for a mouse" if you catch my drift. When asked what they did for the mouse, they responded "we feed him cheese".... Yall, Crush's expressions and responses had us all rolling with laughter! It was a great experience!

For dessert, I had a Mickey bar! :)

On our way out, our table mates said they were going to the "See Ya Real Soon" farewell in the lobby. We were as well, so we hung out with them for a while. I can't tell you how happy I was with the table placement by DCL. They paired us with a great couple (who were also there for runDisney) and we looked forward to dinner every night! After saying goodbye, we exchanged social media info and have kept in touch! Love it when that happens! :)

As part of the "See Ya Real Soon" farewell, characters come out in various locations throughout the lobby and pose for pictures. 

Why I felt the need to stand like that every.single.time, I'll never know! :)

This is a fun little farewell - we always try to see it on each cruise we take!

The map of our trip! Look at how the ship looped all around near Castaway Cay! Too funny!

We made a mistake and forgot to put our luggage outside our stateroom door before dinner. Whoops! This means we had to lug our suitcases and carry-ons off the ship on our own the following morning. Thankfully, Disney allows for such instances and had a time slot of debarkation for those who wished to carry off their own luggage. It wasn't terrible like I thought it would be. It's definitely not recommended but I'll be honest, it was nice not having to search for our suitcase in customs the following morning!

Bye Captain Mickey! Until next time, see ya real soon!

My final thoughts? If you're on the fence about booking the Castaway Challenge, I say do it! We had so much fun with so many exciting experiences along the way - runDisney really added a lot of special touches!

What do you think? Would you be interested in participating in a future Castaway Challenge?

Friend Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, Jason and I spent time with our friends in Mandeville, Louisiana! This trip was planned for a few months and we were looking forward to getting away and enjoying time with friends.

We left after work on Friday afternoon and arrived at Heather's parents late, which means I didn't get to meet this sweet little girl until the following morning!

We had so much fun playing together! She's so sweet!! 

Bella loved to play, too! :)

This is what usually happens when I let Jason have the camera! 

One of my favorite parts of the weekend took place on the patio outside where we spent time laughing and enjoying the company. We had a blast!! 

A few of our eats from the weekend included:

Homemade Dole Whip with almond milk (it was so good)!

Sno Balls from Ziggy's

Hamburgers and delicious Mac & Cheese

Birthday cake for Bobby - Doberge cake at that....it was so good!

Breakfast at the Broken Egg Cafe

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye all too soon.

We always have so much fun when we're together! Now there's a new addition to hang out with us, too!

Oh, those boys!

Driving home, we met some CRAZY rain. The drive over the Baton Rouge bridge was incredibly eerie because it didn't start raining until we reached the other side - we were literally driving straight into a storm!

Thankfully we made it home safe and all was well!

I was sad the weekend came and went so fast, but I had so much fun hanging out with our friends! Lots of new memories to add to the list! :) 

How was your weekend? Did you race? Any fun plans?