barrett: 111 months old

Here's Barrett in his Disney cruise captain's uniform!  He loves wearing it on cruises, and I think it mainly has to do with the fact that when he does wear it, everyone calls him "Captain."  Including the actual captain of the Disney Magic, Captain Robert, who we met at the captain's reception!

Barrett is gearing up for 4th grade!  He loves school, not so much the homework, and we find out on Monday who his teacher will be.  He's decided to play soccer this fall instead of baseball, and I'm fine with whatever he picks, so long as he's getting exercise and having fun.  He'll probably go back to the neighborhood weekly tennis lesson, which he stopped over the summer due to swim team commitments and our vacation schedules.  Barrett loves all things Lego, and got the International Space Station set in Copenhagen - he's completed about half of it!  He's also really interested in ships, especially cruise ships, and could recognize every cruise ships in ports before we could see the names.  

                                                   

                                                   

Likes: exploring all the new cities on our cruise, waving to people in the port with his giant Mickey hands

Dislikes: jet lag

13 years old!

Dude, we've got a TEENAGER!  We were on our northern Europe trip during Britton's birthday, so our fabulous Disney cruise folks helped us celebrate.  They delivered a cake at dinner, and sang to Britton!  Our room was decorated with birthday signs and banners too.  Britton's birthday fell on a sea day, so we didn't have any excursions or new towns to explore.  Instead, we spent the day on the ship watching the new Thor movie and trying out the hot tub in the family pool area.  

Britton is starting 8th grade this week, her final year in middle school.  She's in all KAP (pre-AP) classes, and decided to stop playing the clarinet and instead take art this year.  Softball starts up in a month, and she's moved from only playing outfield to also liking first base.  This will be Britton's third season of softball, and she while her middle school doesn't have a team, she's hoping to play in high school.  She loves listening to music, especially Broadway musicals - for her "big" birthday gift, we're seeing "Mean Girls" this week at the Hobby Center!  She's also discovered live music, and loves going to concerts as much as the hubs and I do.  Britton loves languages, and really wants to learn another one - it's deciding on one that's the hard part!  She's leaning towards Danish now - I think she was inspired on our cruise.

Likes:  her new purple lunchbox, peridot earrings Memaw and PawPaw gave her for her birthday - she's hasn't taken them off, snuggling with Nella the cat

Dislikes:  not having her schedule for school yet