Goofin' Off Crossing Off Bucket List Item...Or Did I?

This update has me reflecting on whether or not I actually crossed an item off of my Disney bucket list.  First I'll give my project updates, and then maybe you can help me decide.

First off, I'll show you how Captain America is progressing.

Step III Is Complete

Step IV - A

Step IV - B

Step IV - C

And as for how our Mickey and Pirates cross stitch project is coming along, you can see for yourself. This piece will be poster-sized when completed, so it may be hard to tell at this point what is what, but since I know what the completed picture looks like, I'd say things are looking pretty accurate. We've got more of Goofy's pirate hat taking shape at the moment.

Mickey and Pirate Friends - 06/07/2017

Now where was I?  Oh, yes, last post we had just finished up with Day 3 of our Disney cruise trip report.  Well, the morning of Day 4 arrived early.  The cruise director had mentioned the night before that we would be going under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco about 6:30 in the morning. So, if we wanted to see it, we had to be up early.

Mr. Goofin' Off and I managed to get up early enough, but whether or not we would actually see it would be another story.  It was a bit foggy when we first got out, but by the time we reached the bridge, well, the fog had burned off and we had a lovely view.

Approaching Golden Gate Bridge with Fog

Getting a Little Closer to the Bridge and a Little Less Fog

We're Almost There - Fog Is Almost Gone

We had a small pod of whales, probably four or five, guiding the way in front of the ship. Unfortunately, they weren't breaching so it was difficult to get them in the pictures.  But it really set the mood nicely for the morning.

Our excursion for the day had been to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum and then see some of the other prominent sites around San Francisco.  We went with the excursion offered through the cruise ship.  I won't say too much about our guide, but let's just say she didn't seem too prepared for this tour.  She had never been to the Walt Disney Family Museum...and she was guiding a bunch of Disney nuts, so she really didn't have much to offer early in the tour.

Our first stop actually turned out to be at the Lucasfilm headquarters which is just down the street from the museum.  We only had about five to ten minutes here, so I snapped a quick picture of the Yoda statue out front.  Who doesn't love Yoda?

Yoda Statue and Fountain Outside Lucasfilm Headquarters

After a few wrong turns in the Presidio, where the Walt Disney Family Museum is at, we managed to arrive at the museum about a half hour late.  Our tour guide then went in to purchase the tickets for us, while we waited an additional 15 minutes on the bus.  We would have thought since this was a Disney Cruise tour that the tickets would have been ready and waiting...but no. When she returned with we were able to get off the bus and I was able to snap this baby...there may have been a tear or two of joy shed because I am such a Disney nerd.

Walt Disney Family Museum - Front

I snapped lots of pictures...in the first gallery of the museum, but since I'm pretty sure most of you really don't have the same Disney affinity that I do, I'll only share a couple that had meaning to me. First is the picture of the furnishings from Walt's original apartment at Disneyland.

Furniture and Furnishings from Walt's Apartment at Disneyland

The other picture I'll share is one of the Oscar's Walt Disney won.  Of particular interest to me was the one he won for Snow White.  It was a large Oscar with seven little ones next to it.  As a child, I loved watching old Shirley Temple movies, and there is a clip of her talking to Walt about this particular Oscar that always comes to mind.  Who couldn't love Walt and Shirley Temple?  

Walt's Oscars - Snow White Oscars Front and Center

Now visiting the Walt Disney Family Museum has been on my and Mr. Goofin' Off's Disney bucket lists for long, long time.  While, technically, we did make it to the museum, we wound up with a little less than an hour and a half there. The tour had to move on.  The museum has 17 galleries, and we only made it through 3 of them.  We didn't even begin to see the things we had wanted to.  So one has to ask, did we or didn't we check this item off our bucket list?  Please let me know if you think we did below...seriously, I'd love your thoughts (or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize another trip).

The tour moved on.  We tried to go to Twin Peaks, but the road was closed, so the bus couldn't get there.  So...another strike against our unprepared tour guide.  We diverted to some park so we could at least get a potty break.  Then we headed to Lands End Lookout.  I have to admit, there were definitely some beautiful views here.  

Lands End Lookout

Lands End Lookout - Seal Rock

From there, we headed to the Golden Gate Park.  We had a few minutes here, so we snapped some pictures, did a very short hike, and grabbed a snack.  

Golden Gate Bridge as Seen From Golden Gate Park

Alcatraz As Seen From Golden Gate Park

We left Golden Gate Park and headed back to the cruise ship.  Mr. Goofin' Off and I admittedly came away from this tour a little disappointed. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the top deck of the ship and catching a little sun. We didn't see very much sun the entire cruise, so it was a nice treat to grab some Vitamin D. Then we had dinner, went to the show, and came back to our cabin for a good night's sleep. It had been an early day, and I am pretty sure I zonked out early.

So here it is a few weeks later, and we're still deciding whether or not we can say we can cross this off our bucket list.  I think I know Mr. Goofin' Off's thoughts because he was already researching a trip to San Francisco before we even got home.  

Thanks for dropping in.  I love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.  

I'm linking up with Midweek Makers

Goofin' Off With Projects and Disney Cruise Trip Report Day 3

I keep plugging away on my projects.  Sometimes they seem to move slow as molasses depending on what all I've got going on.  At the moment, each one of them continues to bring me smiles as I work on them.  Captain America is bringing me the biggest smiles.  I have begun laying out the blocks to see what they will look like - and I really, really like it - but I'm not sharing just yet.

During the latter part of the week, I finished these little sub-units...

Step III - D Units

...which came from these sub-units.

Step III - C Units

And for a stitching update, I am beginning to see a little of the actual picture begin to show on Mickey and Pirate Friends cross stitch.  Goofy's pirate hat is emerging...it's the oranges that you are seeing.  It's always fun to see the details emerge when working on such a large project.

Mickey and Pirate Friends Cross Stitch - As of 06/04/2017

Thanks for all the nice comments and e-mails I have been receiving about my trip report.  Always feel free to leave comments or questions below or e-mail them to me.  I love to talk quilting, cross stitching, and Disney...especially when I know someone else is planning a trip.  Now let's see...where did I leave off with the cruise trip report?  Oh, yes, we're beginning Day 3.

Day 3 was our first full day at sea as well as "pirate" day on the ship.  All of the character meet and greets were with the various characters dressed up in pirate attire...very similar, actually, to my the attire that will appear in my cross stitch picture.

We began our morning with breakfast at Cabanas buffet.  From there we decided we would participate in "Anna's Chocolate Scavenger Hunt"...Anna being the Anna from the movie "Frozen." It was actually an odd day for them to hold the scavenger hunt because there was a "Frozen" day later in the cruise, and it would have made more sense to do it on that day.  There were symbols from the movie "Frozen" hidden all over the ship.  There were clues as to where you could find them.  If you found them, you could add them to your "Chocolate Chase" paper and leave your paper on your bed...and then, voila, this little baby would magically appear in its place while you were out.

Prize for Anna's Chocolate Chase Scavenger Hunt

I mean, seriously, it was like the chocolate fairy was coming to our cabin all the time and would leave us chocolate...all...the...time.

After the scavenger hunt, we headed to the movie theater for a movie.  One of the unique things about a Disney cruise is that they show first-run Disney movies in their movie theaters.  Every movie that Disney had released during the past year (including Marvel movies and Star Wars) was shown in the theater.  It was a nice way to catch up on the movies I had missed.  The movie we watched this day was "Born in China".  I absolutely loved it despite the fact that I didn't follow my own rule of not getting too attached to the animals in a Disneynature movie.  Well, the circle of life, you know...I won't give away any spoilers in case you haven't seen it yet...but don't get too attached to the animals no matter how adorable they are.  Here is the official trailer:




When the movie was over, it was time for lunch already.  It felt like we just ate.  We hurried to the buffet for a light lunch then went and watched "The Great Dubois".  It was a live show featuring magic and a few aerial acrobatics.  In case you're thinking, Wow, they sure were inside a lot for a cruise...yes, we were.  Our days at sea were all overcast, gray, windy, and chilly, so we did a lot indoors.

After the show, Mr. Goofin' Off and I walked some laps on the track outside.  We had to work off breakfast and lunch because it wasn't going to be too long before it was dinner time.  At dinner, everyone was encouraged to dress up like pirates...even the waiters and assistant waiters were dressed up.  Here is a picture of our nephew dressed up in his pirate attire for the night.

Pirate Night in the Dining Room

Mr. Goofin' Off even noticed the menus were printed specially for the night.  

Pirates in the Caribbean Dinner Menu

After dinner, it was time to head to the show for the evening.  Tonight's show was "The Golden Mickeys".  It's a take on the The Oscars awards show.  Various Disney Broadway-style musical numbers are performed as Mickey receives awards in different categories for the various Disney movies.  It's fun to enjoy listening to some of my favorite music from the Disney movies while watching them being performed live.  

After dinner was the "Pirates in the Caribbean" party up on the top decks of the ship.  There is a dance party with the crew all dressed up as pirates.  The dance party is followed by fireworks off the ship accompanied by various pirate music.  It was very chilly outside that night, so everyone was bundled up in blankets on deck.  It didn't stop me from enjoying the fireworks, though.  The fireworks off the ship are one of my favorite things about a Disney cruise.  

After the pirate party ended, we returned to our room where we found this on our bed:  

Pirate Night Towel Folding by Cabin Steward

It looks to be some sort of sea monster and/or pirate.  Did you notice the chocolate gold coins for the eyes and embellishment?  Yes.  More chocolate...always more chocolate waiting for us in the cabin.  It's a good thing I love chocolate.  

Thanks for following along with my adventures.  And as my friend Tigger always says:  "TTFN...ta ta for now."

Goofin' Off With Disney Cruise Trip Report Day 2 and Project Updates

In my last blog post, I left you at the end of Day 1 on our Disney cruise, poor measuring skills requiring the need of more Captain America fabric, and a lot of dark browns with the Mickey and friends cross stitch project.  So let's get this Disney-related saga started again.

Disney Wonder - Photo from Wikipedia

First of all, I got as far with my quilt pieces as I could while I waited for the fabric to arrive.  I managed to do this...

Step II - Units B

...and this...

Step III - A Units

...and this...and then I needed to stop until the new fabric arrived.

Step III - B Units

When Mr. Goofin' Off got home from work last night, he brought the mail in with him.  He had this baby in his hands.  Yep.  Captain America has been been arrived and is awaiting me to cut into it. Hopefully, I'll cut it right this time...measure a bazillion times, cut once. Right?  I'm not sure I could find any more of this precious fabric if I don't get it right this time.

Yay!  My New Fabric Arrived from Etsy - So Quick!

I was able to make a little more progress on the Mickey and Pirate Friends stitching.  There is a little more color emerging...even if it is more variations of browns, reds, and oranges.  I hope we'll be seeing Goofy's eye appearing before the end of June.

Micky and Pirate Friends as of 05/31/2017

Now for the update on Day 2 of our Disney cruise. Day 2 is actually the day we boarded the ship. I'll blame the fact that I didn't take many pictures that day due to an injury...yeah...it was the injury's fault. Mr. Goofin' Off had headed down to tour the USS Midway during the morning. He had anticipated being back to the hotel room before checkout...well, best intentions can go awry when you're traveling with a big group.

Unfortunately, he didn't quite make it back, and the maids were knocking on the door, and I didn't want to pay for another night so I foolishly decided to haul three stuffed suitcases and two stuffed backpacks down to the lobby and wait for the rest of the crew there. In the process, I tweaked something in my back. It was quite painful for the first 24 to 48 hours but a boatload (do you see the pun there?) of ibuprofen helped dull the pain as I worked out the kinks for a couple of days.

After we all gathered in the lobby, we headed out to the ship. Some of our crew took taxis, and some of us walked. Mr. Goofin' Off and I walked. It was a beautiful day, and it wasn't but four or five blocks to the ship. The walk was nice, and I hoped it would work out some of the kinks.

After arriving at the terminal, we waited in line to drop off our bags...and waited in line to check in...and waited in line to board the ship. If you've ever been on any trip to Disney, you know Disney has line waiting down to a science.

Just Like at Disneyland - Disney Cruise Has the Line System Down to a Science

We all boarded the ship at different times, but somehow we all managed to run into each other at the buffet. Yep. We did a lot of that...running into each other...and eating.

After lunch was the muster drill.  I always get a chuckle because they always say to put the short ones in front of the line at the muster drill.  I was definitely the shortest person in our line, but after saying they wanted us ordered shortest to tallest, they stuck me second from the back. I was glad when they finally had what they needed and released us from the muster drill because I was getting a bit claustrophobic.

Shortly after the muster drill, it was time for the ship to leave port.  And not long after that, it was time for dinner because we had the early seating for dinner.  Truth be told, I don't think many of us were that hungry that night because we'd just finished stuffing our faces at the buffet less than two hours before.

Our dinner that first night was in the Tiana's Place restaurant. I think that was the best food we had the entire trip, and we had a lot of wonderful food.  I just wish we'd had more time between meals. Here are a few pictures of the restaurant.

Tiana's Place Restaurant - New Orleans Decor

Tiana Singing Along With the Jazz Band

There was a jazz band playing during dinner and Tiana and Louis the alligator from the movie "Princess and the Frog" came around to the tables to visit and for picture opportunities. This is one area where Disney really excels if you've got little ones. There are so many photo ops and meet and greets with the characters.

After we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant, we hustled down to our room for a quick refresh and then on to the show that night. The show for the evening in the big theater was titled "Be Our Guest". The show was really a preview of the shows that would be available the rest of the cruise. It had musical numbers from the three Broadway-style shows as well as a quick preview of the magician and physical comedy duo that would be performing.

Quite frankly, after the show we went back to our room and collapsed into a deep, deep sleep. Mr. Goofin' Off had said he was going to stay up and read for a little while...but was out after about one page into his book. The next day was "Pirates in the Caribbean" day on the ship. Stay tuned to hear more about that.