Freedom of the Seas Cruise

In a whirlwind of fun our family set out on a last minute cruise to the Caribbean!   In less than 5 days we booked tickets, rooms, and our adventure began by flying to Florida to board the Freedom of the Seas Royal Caribbean cruise-line.     Our family of four was joined by Uncle Kai and Auntie A.   It was a great time to spend with them.     

Our adventure began out of Fort Lauderdale and we started our cruising on Mother's Day.    Couldn't beat that!  The ship was amazing.  They had a great children's program and how our children's ages fell they were in the same room together so it was perfect!   They both enjoyed the program which gave mom and dad probably the most babysitting we've ever had!     

Day 2 we were at sea and we enjoyed  spending time with the fun the ship had to offer.  We kicked it off with a Character Breakfast and the kids had a good time with that - then enjoyed the pools, an ice skating show, and relaxing.   That night was the first formal night and the kids enjoyed getting dressed up and eating the fancy meal.   Though after that meal we got smarter and we elected to feed the kids around 5:30pm, drop them in the kids area for the evening and the four of us adults enjoyed a later dinner by ourselves at 7pm for the remainder of the cruise. 

Our first stop was Labadee, Haiti.   It was beautiful and as it turned out - our favorite port.  We spent a few hours at a beach with the kids and played with them - and then we took them to childcare beach area that is provided by the cruise ship and the 4 adults went to another beach and enjoyed swimming and relaxing in some shade for another couple of hours before we gathered the kiddos and headed back to the ship.

Day 4  was a stop at Falmouth, Jamaica.  I spent the morning not feeling great so the family headed off the ship and walked around the shopping areas.  After lunch time I was feeling back amid the living and we all got off the ship in search of a beach.  We took an overpriced cab and found a local bit of sand and spent a couple of hours splashing in another beach.  It rained on us a bit and back to the ship.

Next up was the Grand Caymans where we got to enjoy swimming with the dolphins and more beach fun!

 

There was a final stop in Cozumel, Mexico but our family of four decided to stay on the ship and just enjoy the fun that was offered around the ship.     However Uncle Kai and Auntie A did get off the ship and had much fun! 

The other fun feature that we utilized throughout the cruise was the babysitting that was for a large fee - but you got 2 babysitters that would come to your room for about $19 an hour (steep, but worth it!)   So the adults on several nights were able to go out all together and enjoy the various shows, bars, etc., while the kids slept happily in their beds.  We had a good time hanging out - going to the club on the ship and generally enjoying the kid free time.  :)      A and I had met one morning Sergio a bartender who introduced us to Ocean Mimosas and aside from his tasty mixology he was really fun to hang out with - and at least once each night we found time to stop by and hang out!

Overall it was a great great time with family and a lot of fun!   We'd certainly love to do it again! 

Christmas with Family

It is always a blessing when you get to spend the holidays with family and when I am not able to be with mine - Loving Husband's is just as awesome and fun to be with.    We headed south on the 23rd a tad later than our schedule after we first dropped off Pixel at his boarding place with Christmas presents scheduled for their delivery to him on the big day.   I was a tiny sad we wouldn't be spending the official Christmas with him, but sorry, it was only a fleeting sadness.  ;-)  

We arrived at Aunt and Uncle's house which was thankfully live-tree free (a HUGE thank you for abandoning your Christmas tree and opting for a fake one exclusively to accomodate me, Aunt and Uncle!!)  and had a great evening with them and met Uncle's dad and his family that were also staying with them.  He and his wife have two kids similar in age to Ace and Mae and for being in the same house together for 3 days they did wonderful together.   

On Christmas Eve we occupied our time with Grandma Carol making snowflakes with all the kids and a few other of the adults joined in on the fun from time to time as well.   Some played Scrabble, for a while all the kids enjoyed games on various Aunts, Parents, Grandparent's phones.... it was a pleasant day and night. 

I cheated and looked on Pinterest.  Martha Stewart hooked me up on the how to. :)

Germa came over and she gave them candy canes.   Mae ate the entire thing and was the fastest AND cleanest of the four of kids.  :)  Uncle did very well to keep us very well fed as well throughout the day!

Christmas eve we went for a walk and enjoyed a stroll past houses decorated in Christmas lights.  I created a little scavenger hunt sheet for each of the kids to take with them and find the items on various houses as we walked.  They had fun with it.  Mae called it her purse and was quite upset a few times when it fell to the ground.  :)  After our stroll the kids were settled into the bed, Grandmas went home,  and the rest of us remained awake and enjoyed a semi-traditional game of Kings Cup and some Taboo as well.   It was a lot of fun.  And we enjoyed a skype visit with Gran and Pop Pop to ring in Christmas day officially.   :)

Christmas morning arrived and we ate and had slow start to the morning and then the time to unwrap presents was upon us!   It was a lot of fun with all the kids.  :)

We had a lazy rest of the morning, I skyped in to see my nieces and the rest of my family opening some Christmas, and then Aunt, Grandma Carol, and myself bid adieu to the rest of the family and headed to the movies!  Yes, we had 1:30 tickets to see Les Miserables!  Now, let me just say I absolutely LOVE this book.  I've read it three times, I've seen the Broadway play (off Broadway) three times, I own and exhausted my VHS (yes, VHS) copy of the 25th Anniversary stage production, and I have stomached through the movies that thus far had been produced (deplorable by the way)  so when I heard that a rendition of the musical adaptation was going to be produced I waited with baited breath in the hopes that this amazing work of art would be done justly.    Let me just say I was not disappointed.   I was breathless at the acting several times, the raw emotions the actors brought to the character was bone chilling in some instances and heart warming in others.   The directors choice to have the actors sing live was by far the best one ever made. Ever in film production.  Ever.     Did I like it?  I loved it.   It was the perfect thing to do and see on Christmas Day (yes I know it's kind of a downer in many respects but the beauty of the humanity and love that surpasses the bleak times gets me every time and I love it.)   We left the theater and headed home happy with our experience. 

Dinner was just getting underway as we came home: prime rib and lobster - why THANK YOU Uncle!!    It was delicious and a perfect end to the visit.   The kids said good night to their aunt as she was headed to work at 6am the next day and we were headed home around 10am and they were off to bed.    The adults finished off Christmas night watching Die Hard.  :)  

A wonderful visit and great time with some of our favorite people.   We drove home, got Pixel who had a perfect report card but was super happy to see us and we went home.   Another great Christmas for our family.   Truly a blessing.

Mae's First Flight!

When Ace was days away from turning 5 months old, we hopped on a plane and jetted off to California to introduce him to a whole host of folks that were just waiting to see him in person. Ace did great on the plane and in fact, continues to be a wonderful traveler both in a plane and by car. Last Sunday we boarded a plane, just me and the two kids! YIKES! To say I wasn't a tad trepidatious would be an understatement, but I had faith that we would survive. Honestly all I was praying for was no poop. I'm not kidding. Barf, wailing, tantrums... I'd take all of that over poop on a plane.

As it turned out - my prayers were answered! No poop! In fact, I had two amazingly well behaved kids. Ace enjoyed his dvd player and Mae enjoyed a few cat naps throughout the flight. Ace did well to drink his water during take off and landing to help pop his ears and Mae nursed and neither had any major issues with their ears. It was a great flight to California!

California!

Ace and his mommy are off on another adventure while dad is busy working! :) We are enjoying California once again. After a successful flight - Ace's first at accumulating his own frequent flyer miles - we arrive on Saturday at Grammie's house. Ace was excited to be here! Grammie has some pretty cool toys to play with and he enjoyed playing with all of them more or less on the first day.

On our second day we got to visit Grammie's church and attend her Sunday School, and a visit from Aunt Becky, whom he stole an apple from out of her purse. :) Silly boy - but man did he inhale that apple! In under 5 minutes, for sure. He loved seeing Aunt Becky, and mom always does as well! Later that night Shelley came over and watched a movie with me after Ace went to bed.

Sleep wise he is sharing a bed with me, so while he's sleeping through the night so to speak he still rolls over and hugs me from time to time - so I don't count that as the same thing. He isn't taking too much to get to sleep, which leaves my evenings pretty open and free to spend some time with my mom.
Upcoming posts to look for... Day Three which was Mickey Park day!!! And in less exciting and more discouraging news, he appears to be having a set back with his C. Diff bacteria... more on that later.

Maui!

The last getaway vacation that I went on was to Rome in 2007. So it was time to get a nice destination vacation lined up and head off somewhere tropical! I had never been to Hawaii and so Loving Husband decided to take me there, along with our son and my mom. We all had a wonderful time. We were in Maui for 4 full days and nights, and left on a jet plane from paradise early on our fifth day. While our adventures were short they were amazing, the scenery was breathtaking and the weather was perfect! I loved it! In fact I'd be ok if I was still there ;-)

We left bright and early on Wednesday morning and headed out. Our flight went well and Ace did very well for a two year old on a five hour flight. He had a few fits, mostly because he was tired... and took a 90 minute snooze. We kept him busy by playing with stickers, cars, part of a movie, and coloring books. He did great and was ready to go as soon as we landed in Hawaii. We had to wait about 45 minutes to obtain our rental car - so Ace and I chilled outside while my mom and Loving Husband were waiting in line to get the car.

Our resort was beautiful, many different pools, and gorgeous views. We got set up and walked around the grounds. Ace decided to stop and play in the kid pool - who needs swimwear? Not Ace. :) He had a good time in the sand and loved playing there - and protested when we took him out to go get something to eat. Our first dinner was at Kobe. A Japanese Steak House that Becky and I have frequented in Palm Springs many many times... so of course I had to have it in Hawaii - and it was delicious. Ace near the end fell asleep on me. He was exhausted. It was 7pm Hawaii time, but we had been awake since 5:30am PST (three hour time difference.)


It should have come as no surprise to the husband and I that at 5:30am Hawaiian time our son awoke bright and early. We kept him laying down until 6am but after that it was a no go (after all that was nearly 9am to him...) so we got up and called and corrected our room service delivery time to 6:30am. While we ate we got to see some very pretty birds coming to get their morning breakfast from us. Ace enjoyed seeing them and all their differences compared to birds back home. We invited Grandma over, who was also awake early and she enjoyed breakfast with us and brought a few presents for Ace.

We then got ready and headed to the beach. We all had a blast. The water was warm, but not super warm - it was possible to get cold after a while, but not if you kept moving. Ace was skeptical of the waves and the water rushing in and out from under his feet. However, he loved the sand and playing with all his sand toys. He and Grandma enjoyed the sand and fun and mom and dad played in the ocean.

After the fun at the beach we headed back to our hotel rooms and got dressed and ready to go get some lunch. We enjoyed lunch at a place next to the hotel - our waitress was great and that was wonderful since Ace fell asleep right after his food arrived. He napped through all of lunch and then some. 90 minutes in fact. I also ate the best cheesecake EVER at this establishment and was sad when we went back a few days later and they were out. (tear!) After we finished dining we left Loving Husband and our sleeping boy there to finish his nap and my mom and I went and did a little shopping.

That evening LH and I left Ace with Grandma and him and I headed out with Troy and Jackie who also happened to be in Maui on their own vacation. It was a nice time to go our with friends. We had a good time at dinner and then out to drinks (well for them) afterward. We headed back afterwards to find a sleeping boy. It was a nice evening.

Our second morning started at a more reasonable Hawaiian hour of 7:30am and we headed out for breakfast. Ace enjoyed grooving to the music that was playing and ate a decent breakfast. It was tasty. After we finished breakfast we headed back to the hotel to get ready and go to the beach for the second day. Fun was had again. After that we had a more relaxed and low key day. We let Ace fall asleep and enjoy a nap and LH went to get some lunch. Then it was time to get ready for the luau.


We had a great time at the luau. I snuck off to get some good shots of the sunset. The food was tasty... and it was a blast to watch Ace dance around and play. He had a great time watching the show and clapping. We headed back to our hotel to unwind and head to bed not too long after.


The next morning we headed out to do a little tourist fun and take a trip on a boat that goes around the reef and allows us to look through windows and watch the fish. It was very exciting and Ace enjoyed being below inside the boat looking at the fish and then also out on the top watching the water. I loved seeing all the coral. It was beautiful.


We headed back to our resort, had lunch, Ace took a nap and mom and dad went to a pool while Grandma stayed with the sleeping boy, and after Ace woke up we all headed out to Big Beach - where the waves are bigger. Loving Husband had a good time tossing around in them and Ace had a good time rolling in the sand (literally!) It was a good time and beautiful. We headed back to the hotel and LH and I got quickly cleaned up and headed out for our anniversary dinner (look for a separate post on this soon!)

The view and food was delicious and the company was fabulous. It was a nice evening. We headed back to find our boy still awake but quietly playing with stickers with Grandma. They were cute sitting together. We said thank you and good night to Grandma and we started to pack. As we had to leave the hotel at 5:30am the next day.

The next morning LH and I awoke around 4:30 and started to get ready to go. LH went and checked, loaded the car, and at the last second I got the boy up. We had tried a bit earlier - but that little guy sat up and then plopped right back down. He wasn't interested in waking up so early this day. Who can blame him. Since we awoke before even the crack of dawn, I was able to enjoy the sunrise. It was very pretty.

We said good bye to Hawaii and headed home. It was a wonderful, albeit short trip. I'm so glad my mom was able to come, enjoy the vacation and also help us with Ace. We all had a great trip!