Yes, we splurged. Yes, we did the unthinkable - a cruise with 4 kids. Yes, Grandma and Grandpa came to keep the adult/kid ratio in control! And yes, we had a FABULOUS time. I have over 250 pictures, and I still need to get more pictures from Lara and Grandpa - but here's what I captured on our AMAZING get-away.
The procession, from one place to the next - we are quite a troop.
Checking out the city that floats - Cole was smiling until I pulled out the camera.
See that Disney cruise over there, yeah.... that wasn't ours.
Our boat did have a water splash pad and water slides though!
We also found a hot tub - look at all those cute boys!! I'm so LUCKY!
Our living quarters - Shayne and I had Skyler and Danny with us. Grandma/Grandpa had Hunter/Cole stay with them. It was cozy - but doable!
Our first port was Freeport, Bahamas. It was suprisingly a very dry, desert (rather ugly) port. I was surprised. We took a cab to "Paradise Beach" which was a slot of land that someone decided to call paradise and charge every person $3 for going there! The beach wasn't impressive, but the snorkeling turned out to be a big success! Shayne, Cheryl, and I went out first (Grandpa was happy to keep Skyler happy in the shade) - we saw amazing fish, coral, plants and then I saw a HUGE stingray! I thought it was a stingray - but it didn't have a pancake flat nose - it was deep. So we decided it must have been a manta ray - but when I look up images of manta rays, it doesn't match. Whatever it was, it was HUGE, and a HUGE tail too. Just swimming around and around. I also found a couple turtles - but they saw away rather quickly. Shayne took Hunter and Cole out snorkeling next, and they found some turtles too - but they swam with them and even got to touch them. That experience was definitely a highlight for the boys!
Hunter made this sculpture
Danny, Grandma, and I went exploring along the shore line. There were HUGE conch shells everywhere - and we got to see the creatures that live in them - reminds me of a bat, snail, and crab all in one. It was WEIRD!!!
Danny is holding a sand-dollar, and that creature is trying to get away from him!
Look at that beautiful couple!
The gang and our boat in the background.
Our next port was Nasau, Bahamas. This is the same place where "Atlantis" resort sits - and it was a beautiful place. Much more of what I expected to see on this trip! We took a taxi to the beach by Atlantis and spent the day enjoying the waves, sand, and even the seagulls.
Back on the ship, they had activities for kids and Danny LOVED his "class." Every night he'd come back with painting on his face and prizes. They had great employees in the kid area.
Now about the food, the best part of the cruise is definitely the eating, and eating, and eating. The fancy dinner at night always provided opportunities to order 2 or more entrees and plenty of desserts too. Hunter regularly ordered 2 shrimp cocktails every night - his favorite! Here Cole is eating 3 different dinners - during this week, they never heard Mommy say "eat your dinner." I figured they'd eat if they were hungry and I didn't have to prepare it - so it was my vacation too.
Hunter is too full to even touch tonight's meal.
After our cruise, we went straight to Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure. We love this park and we were SO excited to take our family there! Shayne and I had been there in 2004, and the newest addition is the Harry Potter section. It was AWESOME - seriously, awesome. Hogsmeade was perfect - in every detail. The Harry Potter Broom ride (not sure of its technical name) was a blast. And the line to get on the ride, takes you through the castle - I should have had a camera with me to snap photos on our way in, I'm positive I missed more than half of it.
Hey, look who showed up in Hogsmeade!! My sis and her fam! What are the chances?!?!
I should frame this, ALL FOUR ARE SMILING AT THE SAME TIME!!!
If you look through my 200+ photos with me, you'll see that Hunter and Cole are CONSTANTLY doing bunny ears - ugh. CONSTANTLY. Well, Spongebob got Cole back - love it.
Our family favorite - the Simpson's ride.
During the parade, MANY of the dancers stopped to talk with pretty Julia and Skyler too -yeah, we think our babies are cute too.
Cole enjoying a Butterbeer (Harry Potter specialty)
Shayne is helping Danny grow a couple inches here - to go on a water ride. He made it! Thanks to napkins and long pants covering up the raised ankles!
We all wanted a stroller to do this...
We couldn't have done all the rides without the amazing help of Grandpa - he did not want to do the rollercoaster rides, but was more than willing to stay with babies in strollers and sometimes, even the 4year old. We LOVED having Grandma and Grandpa with us - everything is twice as much fun with them around. And we loved having Aunt La-La and Uncle Greg meeting us there too! They were soooo willing to do what the masses (kids) wanted to do and we led the gang around and around those parks till our feet fell off!
Now for a vacation from the vacation....
