The most amazing family vacation EVER!

So we just returned from a vacation and it was absolutely AMAZING! The dream vacation that we have always wanted to do-my whole family (parents, siblings and spouses and all their kids-yep, all 28 of us!), on a Disney Cruise, in the Caribbean and Bahamas in super amazing concierge suites! (This was an awesome surprise gift given to us from one of my generous siblings and spouse so we didn't even have to pay for it!)

The whole crew, all 28 of us, at church on Grand Cayman-love all of these people so much!

CAR, PLANE, BUS AND BOAT
Getting there...

The 3 Musketeers insisted on sitting by each other on the plane

Grandma was amazing and had both of the babies on her lap on the airplane for awhile!

Our hotel shuttle taking us to get on our boat! We filled  up almost every seat

OUR SHIP-THE "DISNEY WONDER"

http://www.nedcruise.info/disney%20wonder.htm

The shops

1 of the many pools and at this one you could watch movies at night on the huge screen!

 The kids loved the Mickey Pool and it was hard to drag them away.
The Mickey Pool aboard the Disney Wonder in the Bahamas / Photo: Chrissy Pierce

McKenna dancing with Grandma to the live piano music in the Atrium while we waited to meet more Princesses. The piano player was super talented and didn't use any music!

Our ship also had this really nice movie theater where they played all kind of fun movies that are currently in theaters, we watched "Into the Woods" and "Big Hero 6" while we were there.

Natalie and Aya 

It was so fun to get a big group together and go to the shows after dinner every night. My favorite was "Disney Dreams"

 One of the highlights for the girls was of course meeting Elsa and Anna! They were so cute and fun and talked to each of the girls for awhile, answered there questions like "where is Olaf?!" and admired their Frozen art work so they were in Frozen heaven.

More Princesses!...

I love Kimberly's Elsa pose 

Grandma and Gradpa with the 2 oldest grandgirls about ready to board the ship


This picture say so much-I love it!

 


OUR SUITE

Our amazing 2 bedroom concierge suite! When Glenn & Lynda (our awesome personal crew members whose job was to take care of our every need-no seriously!) found out about our birthdays coming up and decorated our door for Hana and I!


This is the floor plan, pretty amazing! (the girls room was set up with 2 twin beds though, instead of the queen that is shown here) http://www.themagicforless.com/disneycruiseline/cabins.shtml

View of our front room and dining room with the veranda on the right

I loved having this veranda! I'd never even had a porthole on any of my previous cruises so this was AMAZING to be able to sit and look out over the ocean and listen to the waves, one of my most favorite sounds :) Some people in our group saw pods of dolphins and watched them playing and following the ship!


The super comfortable queen bed in the master bedroom. The towels folded into animals is always so fun on cruises! Our bedroom had doors that opened onto the veranda and was connected to an awesome bathroom with a jetted tub, separate shower, 2 sinks and a walk in closet!

The turtle towel was my favorite, of course

This is the girls' bedroom, it had 2 twin beds and one that pulled down from the ceiling which was perfect for cousin sleep overs! They also had a TV, walk in closet and private bath with a nice, deep tub!

AMAZING FOOD! 

Bushmans love to eat and we all enjoyed the endless supply of yummy food 

At the "Animator's Palate" dining room on the first night, table 1...

...and table 2

All the kids loved the "Mickey bars" and ordered them for dessert pretty much every night.

Aya's love of ketchup went up even higher when the waiter made her a ketchup Mickey!

Pirate night-these 2 are wild!

Breakfast at "Triton's"

 Hana's pick from the buffet one morning, she took this picture with her camera

Aya discovered something she loved-Sprite!

Since a third of our family has birthdays in January (Jacob Jr., me, Mom, Oliver, Kimberly, Dallin & Hana) we had a birthday celebration one night at dinner. Our waiters brought out birthday tiaras and hats and these delicious little birthday cakes.

The birthday cousin twins, Hana & Kimberly. They were born only 1 week apart.

Finishing up at the "Beach Blanket Buffet"

All this good food and excitement can be exhausting!

One night all of the adults went to the fancy adult only restaurant "Palo" while the kids ate at the kids club or with the older nieces, it was delicious and fancy and so much fun!

Loved spending lots of time with my boy!

My brother and his wife and their oldest daughter who bravely decided to join the adults since she's old enough now!

My cute and amazing parents

My younger sister and her husband

My older sister and her husband

My youngest sister and her husband

The best calamari I've ever had!

This chocolate souffle (with vanilla bean ice cream, cream and fudge sauce) was one of the best things I've ever eaten! We ordered several to be brought to our room the last night of the cruise and secretly invited the adults over so we could eat them again!

GRAND CAYMAN ISLAND

On Sunday we were on the amazing island of Grand Cayman and it was so cool to attend the branch there. After church we headed to a sea turtle farm!

This is us being tendered to the island to go to church. It was so fun to be surrounded by my fun, crazy family the whole week. Also, doesn't Aya look so much like her cousin McKenna? The cute twinners.

 All 28 of us at the LDS church building on Grand Cayman

On to the turtle farm...

Sea turtles are my most favorite animal so being able to hold a baby one was a dream come true-such a cool experience! I loved how soft their skin was, kind of velvety.

It was hard getting the kids out of the pool with the turtles!

 

THE DISNEY PRIVATE ISLAND "CASTAWAY CAY"


http://www.fitzness.com/blog/disney-cruise-line-making-wonderful-fit-family-magic-on-the-high-seas/disney-wonder-at-castaway-cay_2/

View of the island from the ship

Geoff and Captain Jack! This Captain Jack was hilarious and very much in character

 

On the Disney private island, named "Castaway Cay (Key)" the being pampered and spoiled continued as we had private cabanas right on the private beach!

Outside of the cabana on the ocean side

Inside of the cabana, where we all hung out during a huge rainstorm

 

And of course, the beach!...my favorite!

Savannah getting a mermaid tail

 

AND BACK AGAIN...

We took up a large section of the airplane

On our way home! We did pretty awesome to not lose anyone (or our sanity) with all 16 of our children, two of them being toddlers!

Many thanks goes to the older nieces who each had a little buddy or 2 that they kept excellent care of! I wish I had one of them at my house full time! Love you Savannah, Samantha, Marianne, Evelyn & Brooklyn-you ladies are the best!

Until next time...