With the holidays behind us, we quickly turned the corner to Sawyer’s birthday in January. Emily, who never shies away from a good theme, had her heart set on Sail The SEVEN Seas with Sawyer for Sawyer’s birthday this year. Of course, a Disney Cruise would be the perfect thematic accompaniment to this idea, and Emily was laser focused on getting the five night Marvel cruise out of Miami. We religiously checked for months for a discounted rate on the cruise and were about to give up, when a last effort call resulted in success! Locking in the early January date in late December gave us just under a month to get outfitted and packed for our five night trip to Key West and the Bahamas. Oh yeah, and there was that little Christmas event in between! In case you don’t know what Emily’s packing methodology looks like, check out the photo below (mind you this is a five night cruise)!
Emily and I agreed that we would save the cruise surprise for the boys’ last weekend of their holiday break so that they had something special to look forward to as they geared back up for school. In typical Hayes household fashion, we put together a scavenger hunt for the boys when they returned home from their Grandma and PopPa sleepover. As soon as we handed Sawyer his first “birthday clue,” Hunter declared, “It’s either a staycation or a cruise.” The scavenger hunt took them around the house where they found their next clues, with each clue building on the next. When they were finished they needed to assemble all of the clues they found to determine the secret code (check on the clues below). As the boys worked out the puzzle, their jaws dropped when they finally realized what they were spelling out (see clues below). They had been wanting to take a Marvel cruise ever since they saw that it was a possibility, and now they were leaving on one within the week.
Scavenger Hunt
Mom and I thought that it would be cool
To do one more fun thing before going back to school.
A scavenger hunt to for you both to enjoy
One created for the next birthday boy.
Ready or not, Hayes brothers let’s start
Our clue finding mission where you both play a part
Via the kitchen you’ll find your first clue
Near the place where we keep all our shoes
Easy enough, like Dr. Strange you have found
Your first clue to the puzzle that is quite profound
Like the scavenger hunts you have taken before
This one is quite different, of this I am sure!
Don’t understand what I mean, then let’s stay on track
Hopefully this puzzle with make you laugh just like Drax
In the Christmas village with the Rockettes you may find
Your second clue just might be hiding behind
Sensational work, you two have followed the plan
And navigated your course like the great Spiderman
Now don’t lose your focus for the end is quite soon
And don’t lose your temper like Rocket Raccoon
Ever wonder how Star Lord finds his way through space
And manages to do it with a smile on his face?
Your next clue is located in a space where we stash
The game controllers used to do the Hulk Smash!
Congratulations, you collected your clues in a hurry
And completed your mission like the great Nick Fury
Return to the kitchen island and you will soon see
How the story unfolds like the great Stan Lee
Understanding this puzzle takes teamwork and smarts
For the surprise lies in your grasp and it has from the start
Iron Man would be proud of your cleverness and cool
Unlike the crazy antics of the silly Deadpool
Sail the Seven Seas with Sawyer for his birthday this year
Where you will head only you two can be clear
Everything you need is in bold before your eyes
Arrange all of your clues to reveal your surprise!
You’ve completed your mission and solved the case
But the fun isn’t over one more challenge to face
In order to locate your last fun surprise
Locate a cruise ship fit for Ant-Man’s size
Travel Day
We all agreed that it was the longest six days that we could remember, from having told them about the cruise on Saturday to finally departing for Miami on Thursday afternoon. I worked from home so we could hit the road after we picked up Hunter from school. Emily had dropped Peach off earlier in the day, which was her first overnight stay at the doggy day care center. Lucky for us they have a webcam in the play area that Emily and her mom Kee spent a few hours monitoring throughout the day.
We hit the road around 4:30 and had relatively smooth sailing on the Florida Turnpike after getting out of Orlando. The drive was just over three hours as our destination was set for the Polynesio Restaurant and Bar in Miami, a tiki type restaurant that Emily found online, hoping it would get us in the vacation vibe. After only one bathroom stop, a personal record for the Hayes clan on a road trip of any length, we arrived at this so-called “tiki” restaurant.
We pulled into the location which was a strip mall just off one of the main streets on the outskirts of Miami. The windows were lined in red lights which were just missing some steel bars for the perfect prison motif. Although we were questioning our decision we proceeded because we were hungry, and the hotel was not far away, so we would have a relatively easy night. We walked in the door at around 8 pm on a Thursday night, just like the scene out of a comedy as we were the only family in the 25 table restaurant. The owner and one server were in the back corner by the tiki bar and the rest of the place was empty. I was trying to dodge the tumbleweeds that were rolling through the restaurant. Frank our server (again, the only server), was such a nice guy. He told us he was a musician born in Cuba but had lived in Sweden and was now living in Miami. He admitted he was still working on his English but we were able to work together to get our order placed. Emily had read about the Fried Rice plate which she was excited to try and I ordered the Chicken PoBoy. The boys were both eager to try the Pizza-getti which was half a plate of pizza and half spaghetti.
As we waited for our food we admired the decor and ambiance of our tiki destination. While there were hints of tiki throughout the location it also had some Asian influences as well as a Cuban vibe. The menu was a bit all over the board and they tied up the theme nicely with some Kenny-G playing in the background. We did find it a bit ominous that the first full song we heard was Kenny-G playing the Song from Titanic, being that we were boarding a ship the following day. The food ended up being pretty good, though unfocused, and the service was as well. We finished up our meal with some tiki churros before making our way for the door.
Emily booked us a room at the Residence Inn by the Turnpike which was only ten minutes from the restaurant. The checkin process was a breeze which was perfect as we were all ready to retire for the day. I got a funny look from the front desk employee as I rolled our seven suitcases to our room for our one night stay. (We had one bag packed for the night, but Emily didn’t trust me leaving our week’s carefully curated outfits in the car.) The room was perfect for what we needed, a small suite with two beds and a pullout couch. We got out our strategically arranged clothing and toiletries for the evening and settled in for what would be a short winter’s nap. We were all excited to board the Disney Magic the following day for day one of our five night Disney Cruise with Marvel Day at Sea.
