Last Day!!!

Well this is day 7 of the Cruise, our last full day.  I feel like there is not that much to write about...but I promise it was jam packed full of fun. And if a full day was not enough.....Matt and I kind of got in the habit of taking advantage of the late night kids camp.  You had to pay extra for this and it was kind of pricy, but we figured we didn't have to pay for food or entertainment or gas to drive our car to wherever we wanted to go....so whats a few more dollars ....or a hundred dollars :) on child care.  So for the last few nights of the Cruise, we looked like this going back to our room at night...or the wee hours of the morning. Dinner that night Cody got the frog legs as an appetizer. They were a little chewy, but not bad.  I took a picture of the ever so famous Warm Chocolate Melting Cake....I know....HEAVEN!!!!!  Also the kids loved the monkey towel that was hanging around for us when we got back to our room after dinner. Oh also there is a picture of Elena with her face painted as a butterfly.  The next morning I woke up early and we were already ported in Long Beach and had a beautiful sunrise to welcome us. We stayed back and hung out with Grandma and Grandpa as they did not debark until almost the end. The kids were excited to get back to the car.  We said our good byes to Grandma and Grandpa and dropped them off to that airport.  Then we headed home.  And if stuffing our face for a week wasn't enough....we stopped and got some treats for the way home.  And how pathetic are we that we ate just about all of them.  Now that we have been home now for two weeks, it is fun to hear the kids still talk about the cruise and reminiscing about the great times we had.  It was a such a great experience, one in which we can't wait to do again.

Cruise Day 6

 As our cruise begins to come to an end and we start our way back to the good old USA, we found the weather to turn a little colder and wind to be a lot windier. This was kind of a bummer as we hadn't really taken advantage of the pool or water slide and now...it was too cold.  I was really bummed that I couldn't run up on deck.  I went running around the track one morning and it was my best run EVER!!!  I felt like I was on top of the world!!! I was running super fast, feeling a perfect breeze and really fresh air and the unbeatable view!!!!  AMAZING!!!!!  Too bad it only happened one time.  My pictures for the rest of the time are all pretty lame...just a little bit of randomness here and there.  I did take a picture of a couple of the theaters on the ship. I thought for those of you that have never been on a cruise might find it kind of interesting.  Also lots of picture from off our balcony...pictures just can't capture the real beauty.  There is a picture of the kids playing cards with Grandma and Grandpa and you gotta love Matt in the back ground eating ONE of his MANY soft serve ice cream cones. We had our last formal dinner and had our waiter snap a picture of us.  We sat here ever night, we also kept the same seating arrangement each night, as the kids were separated and could not fight.  Dinner was always amazingly pleasant.  Here's Cody eating his cheese pizza that he famous of ordering each night.  But to go along with that pizza he again tried the fancy appetizer.  Tonight....Escargot and Elena even got in on this one.   And sweet Elena dancing with one of our waiters. It was another great, wonderful, amazing day!!!!

Our Cruise Day 1

We drove the 6 short hours to Long Beach CA, picked up Matt's parents from the air port on the way and we were ready to board the Carnival Splendor!!!  It didn't take long for the fun to start.  We of course immediately started in on the food.  Got the kids signed up for the Camp Carnival. Checked into our room and got all of our stuff put away. It is amazing the amount of storage space that is in such a small room.  With four of us in there for 7 days, it never felt cramped or crowded.  I wished I took more pictures in general, but especially of our cabin, and the bathroom. (I found a picture of the bathroom on line that looks exactly like ours, so that worked out well) But, seriously the bathroom didn't look like much, with a counter top, a stand up shower and a wimpy looking toilet. The toilet was one of the first things I looked at and I immediately had my doubts about Cody's poop being able to even begin to try and fit through that hole.  But man that toilet packs a punch!  I think it used the same forces Santa uses to fit down the chimney...Magic!!!  We decided to pay a little more and get a balcony room and I am SOOOOO glad we did!  It was seriously amazing!!!  We all loved sitting out there and enjoying the fresh air, the beautiful views and the privacy!  It was awesome!!!  That night while we were at dinner, they came in made up the kids beds and pulled down Cody's bed from the ceiling. The kids thought it was the coolest and there was lots of jumping and craziness until the novelty thankfully wore off.  The rest of the week in the morning when they would make up the room, they would fold Cody's bed up into the wall.  A+ on great use of space!!! And of course the kids (and us) all loved the animal towels and chocolates that came with our evening turn-down. I Love this last picture of Elena at dinner with Grandma keeping her warm with a hug and a napkin. (my one complaint...dinning room too cold.) We loved being able to spend sometime with Matt's parents, it was so fun having them there with us.

Cruise Day 2

A day at sea.  That is what they called this day.  To tell you the truth all the time we were on the boat is all starting to blend together for me, so I am basically just looking at the pictures that I took and going off of those dates.  But like I said...I really didn't take too much in the way of pictures.  This day was our first full day on the boat.  We ate breakfast and ditched dropped the kids off at the kids camp.  Now don't get me wrong....WE LOVE OUR KIDS...but the smiles on our face after the drop off were like no other.  And I am sad/happy to say it, but the drop off only got easier as the week went on.  A cruise is the perfect amount of family time and ALONE TIME.  The kids camps were always fun and pack full of great things to do.  And for us adults there was always great things to do too.  It took me sometime to loosen up enough to actually sit and enjoy some of the activities....I think being non drinkers it is harder to slip into that state of mind as quickly as those with a glass of who knows what.  But we had a great time going to the cruise ship's version of the Newly Wed Game, Family Fued, and some dance classes and lots of other stuff.  On this particular night it was the first formal night for the dinning room.  We got all dressed up and had some pictures taken. They are crazy about taking your picture. It is all free until you want to purchase your pictures.  I can pretty easily pass on a picture that has me in it...but you put the kids in it and...Seriously!!!! look at them.  ADORABLE!!!! The kids actually LOVED eating in the dinning room.  And I am not sure who this boy sitting next to me was.  For real, Cody hardly eats anything at home, but he ate a whole cheese pizza almost every night of the cruise.  Not to mention he tried a ton of other exotic foods.  Elena would order a cheese burger almost every night...she would peal the cheese off and eat that and that was about all she ate.  And of course they ate ALL of their nightly banana split.

 

Cruise Day 3 Cabo San Lucas

The next morning when we woke up this is what we saw.  Breath-taking right?  So beautiful!!!  This is Lovers Beach and the Arch from our balcony in Cabo San Lucas.  We relaxed and took it easy in the morning.  Took the kids down to breakfast and then decided to drop the kids off at Camp Carnival for the day.  This way we could scope things out and not have to drag the kids all over with us. We walked all over the place and just enjoyed seeing the town.  We were trying to decide if we wanted to pay the money to do an excursion or just go and enjoy the beach. We decided that after our day of walking all over, sinking our feet in the sand sounded pretty nice.  It was wonderful to just lay there and relax.  At dinner that night, the waiters pried Cody out of his seat and got him to dance with them.  Here is a video of that and also of the kids on the balcony in the morning time. Elena was waiting for me to take a picture and took her a while to figure out I was filming her.

Cruise Day 4

We had another day in Cabo San Lucas.  This time we all stayed together.  The kids had an absolute blast!!!  Probably their most favorite of the whole cruise.  They loved digging and finding sea shells and being in the beautiful clear water.  It really was a perfect day!  That evening we had to be back on the ship as it was leaving around dinner time.  After dinner we took the kids to Camp Carnival and went out and enjoyed the shows.  The shows on the ship were amazing!!!  The dancers were fabulous and the costumes were incredible!!  They had an hour show non stop singing and dancing, each night. I loved it!  Here is a picture of the theater where the main shows were at.  When we picked up the kids, Elena had a pirate face and Cody made a cool key chain.  We had already changed Elena into her PJs when I thought to take a picture of her cute face.  That night we decorated grandma and grandpa doors with hearts.  The kids thought that was so fun!!!  We actually decorated it again on the last night we were there, as it was Grandpa Birthday.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was pretty much the same thing, just with cutout balloons and stars and a happy birthday sign. We love that it gave Grandma and Grandpa a lot of attention there on their floor.