VACATION!!!

Please pardon the interruption in home decor and crafting updates for some family vacation photos!

It's been almost exactly 4 years since Brent and I took our last vacation.  Nugget was 10 months old, and the trip was an absolute disaster, in spite of the best laid plans.  He picked up a stomach bug from daycare the day we left, so the vacation kicked off with him puking all over me on the airplane, and bless her heart, the woman behind us too!  Nugget didn't eat all week.  Dad and I both got that bug eventually too, and I got quarantined in our room after calling the ship's medical staff to ask if they sold immodium.  Mom had gall bladder attacks which resulted in emergency gall bladder removal.  *shivers*  So you get the idea.  Awful trip.

So we decided to give it another shot, this time with 2 kids in tow!  What could go wrong?  Well, don't answer that.  The good news is nothing went wrong.  We had the best vacation ever!

Living in Texas, we now have pretty easy access to the Galveston cruise port so we avoid the cost and hassle of flying to Florida to cruise!  There's been family build-up to this vacation for months so the kids were ecstatic.  They got their own rolling 'luggage' for Christmas, and we crossed off the last 30 days on a calendar leading up to the big day.  It was about a 5 hour drive, and the kids did really well, which was not a given.  They've never done a road trip like that!  We got them activity boxes filled with fun stuff like ring pops (against my better judgement), sticker books, and dollar store junk that they loved.  The first "Are we there yet?" came about 1 hour into the trip, and the one and only meltdown happened 3 hours in.  :)  

We did a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Magic which sails out of Galveston, TX (about a 5 hour drive from us) and visited Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico - my long-time favorite place on the planet.   We got balconies and adjoining rooms so the kids could wander back and forth without going out into the hall. That was so key!  Nugget slept, showered, and dressed in mammy and p's room, and doodle stayed with us.  At the last minute we decided to bring her "pen"  (normal people call it a pack and play) to sleep in because otherwise my lil party girl would have been wandering the ship at 3am.  Oh, speaking of balconies, at every stop, we were lucky enough to have the pier side view, as my (wolf in sheep's clothing) mom delights to watch the "pier runners!"  Pier runners are people who either lose track of time or have entitlement issues and have to run like hell to jump on the boat before they pull the ropes in after the well documented sailing time passes!  :)  Ok, I might enjoy watching that too, but she named the activity!

OK, so for the photos, I'm going to post the professional photos we purchased from formal night, and then the rest will be chronological order of our trip.  There are roughly a million pics, so I want to make sure you at least see the gems we got of the kids all dressed up!  Most of the pics are just of us because we're pretty regular cruisers and the color of the caribbean sea doesn't really change from one cruise to another. I love it just as much every time! I hope you enjoy - we sure did!!

 

Back to the beginning... here we are settled into the hotel the day before we set sail.  This little girl sure knows how to vacation!!  She plays hard and crashes hard. 

We all wore our Patriots best getting on and off the ship, disembarkation being Superbowl Sunday!  Go Pats!!

AND AWAY WE GO!!

If you look closely you can see our reflections in that window as we were departing.  :)

The first night on the ship...

...and the morning after!  

SEA DAY #1

this is one of my favorite pics!

FORMAL NIGHT #1

The kids were calling our necklaces "amulets" like Princess Sophia.  :)

the kids could usually be found dancing in the atrium lobby with a doting audience 10 decks high!  Doodle's wardrobe all week was the talk of passersby.  :)  I can't say I blame them!

I love this picture - both the kids are showing us what it will be like when they're 12 and 14 years old and we try to take a family picture!

Nugget prefers to slow dance, but doodle, well she's more of a free spirit!

her kick looks a lot like Elaine's from Seinfeld.  :)

This champagne pearl necklace is actually an adult choker that my pop pop gave to nana a long time ago.  I hope they were enjoying this night with us!

SEA DAY #2

This was the response when it was time to get out of the pool, either for the day, or for a potty break!

MONTEGO BAY DAY - we stayed on the ship and had the pool to ourselves!

GRAND CAYMAN

FORMAL NIGHT #2

I realize we look like racially diverse, but I swear she's mine!  It just means I was doing my job keeping her sun-safe!!

you can dress 'em up but...

COZUMEL, MEXICO

worry not - it's fake!  :)

 

don't laugh - have you ever attempted a selfie with a giant Canon Rebel DSLR?

This is the view from our balcony - perfect to watch the pier runners who over-indulged at Carlos n Charlies!!  :)

LAST DAY AT SEA  :(

One bit into the "chocolate fountain extravaganza" and the kids decided they didn't like it.  We're raising aliens, but I suppose I should be proud!!

This was an educational trip from the very beginning!  When he wasn't spelling names with french fries, he was counting stairs, tiles, light bulbs... everywhere on the ship, at ALL times!  :)

Judging by the look on doodle's face, she's not pleased vacation was over!  I don't blame her one bit!  We started talking about our next cruise before we even got off the ship.  We won't let 4 years go by again.  Aiming for end of this year!!  We'll have to book it and get started on our countdown calendar!