Cruise 2010

****It's hard to not post ALL of the fun pictures we took throughout our week on the cruise, so I'm only going to post a few here. I'll make a web album that will be on the side of my blog, so please click on that to see more pictures. I also apologize for the weird picture placement on this post. The layout of my blog makes the posts so narrow, so it didn't look this jumbled when I was typing it all! :)

I'm *finally* writing about our fabulous trip! All but one of you waited so patiently for me to sort through the pictures (the not-so-patient person no doubt knows who she is....hehe....). It's been a hard to get back in the swing of things this week and I've been so busy with all of my "regular" stuff that I haven't had the time to sit and get this done. Anyhoo, some of you read Sarah's wonderful post so you know what the trip was all about. I'm sorry if I repeat some of the information she has already told you about but here goes! :)

On January 22nd, our family headed off to Florida for a long awaited cruise to Central America. This was a trip that was basically two years in the making and we were going to celebrate Chris' 40th birthday. Matt and Sarah's family, my in-laws and John and Heather all met us in Florida (they flew first class!!) where we stayed overnight before hopping on the Carnival Dream.

The kids were excited to ride on the plane...

It was Hannah's first time on a plane and Caleb's second time (the last time he rode on a plan was to Aruba when he was 13-months old). Hannah got a little bored on the flight and didn't want to do any of the activities I brought for her, but she was a happy girl the whole time, which made everything so much easier for Chris and I.

Here's a picture of our ship which was beautiful and HUGE:


Jeff and Bridget were unable to join us on the cruise, so they surprised us by having our cabin decorated for Chris' birthday.


It was really neat!

The first day on board the ship, it was a "Fun Day at Sea". We got our bearings a little bit with where everything was on the ship and that evening, we all put on our Vikings jerseys to watch the Vikings vs. the Saints on the JumboTron by the pool.



We ended up getting a call from the childcare saying that Hannah was not happy, so we took the kids back to the cabin to watch the end of the game. While it was a depressing ending to our football season (we lost by one field-goal during over-time), how can we be too sad when we have a surprise cake waiting for us in our cabin???? (Another surprise from Jeff and Bridget---yay!!)

The next day (Monday) was our first port. We stopped in Cozumel, Mexico for the day. The kids, Chris and myself planned a relaxing excursion to Playa Mia beach resort. Unfortunately, it was windy and a little bit cloudy at the beach, but heck, we're Minnesotans, so a little cloudy weather isn't enough to make us NOT put on our suits and swim in the ocean!! :) Hannah put her feet in the ocean for the first time and both kids had fun playing in the sand before we headed back to the ship for some well deserved afternoon naps.

On Tuesday, we docked at Isle Roatan, Honduras. Our little family did another beach excursion, but this time, we were surprised when Matt, Sarah, the girls, John and Heather found us at the same beach! We ended up going to their side of the beach and joining them for lunch. Caleb and Hannah had TONS of fun playing with their cousins in the sand and water.

Wednesday, our ship tendered in Belize, but since we couldn't find anything really kid-friendly to do at this port, we decided to spend the day on the ship. It was really fun to roam around the ship while most of the other passengers were off-board. It was like our own private luxury ship that day! :)

On Thursday, we were supposed to dock in Costa Maya, but the waves were too high for us to get there. We ended up having an extra "Fun Day at Sea", which was fine with us! The kids spent some extra time in the childcare (which they LOVED) and Chris and I tried our hand at some Black Jack in the casino. (No big wins this time, but no big losses either. Whew!) Did I mention that the kids got their faces painted EVERY DAY at Camp Carnival (which is the name of the childcare area)???


Thursday night was "Elegant Night", so we all got dressed up for dinner, which, of course, is something I love to do! We also surprised Chris with another birthday cake and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him at dessert, which I'm sure HE loved.

Friday was our last day on the ship and our last "Fun Day at Sea". It was bittersweet, to say the least! On Saturday, we debarked the ship around 8am and took a shuttle with the rest of the family back to Orlando. Everyone else was going to fly (first class again!!) back to Minnesota that evening but we planned to stay overnight at the Orlando Hyatt (which is IN the Orlando airport) and fly out the next morning. That Saturday turned out to be the most eventful day of the whole trip because Caleb got his hand stuck in an elevator door at the Hyatt that morning. Yes, you did read that correctly: his whole hand was stuck on the inside of the elevator door and we couldn't get it out for several seconds. I am thankful that my brother-in-law, John, and my sister-in-law, Heather, were there to help and provide support. I was also thankful that the entire family was there waiting for us as the security guy rushed us over to the airport Urgent Care so Caleb could get an x-ray of his hand. Praise the Lord, it all turned out fine and Caleb's hand is 100% right now. After the x-rays, I think the trick to making Caleb feel better was some candy from the Disney store and some swimming time at the hotel pool with his cousins. Thank goodness that kids are so resilient because, as everyone can tell you, I was pretty much having a melt-down during the whole situation!!

Our trip resumed to it's peacefulness on Saturday afternoon and we relaxed by getting a few souviniers and having dinner at the Macaroni Grill (which is one of MY favorites!). Our flight the next morning was uneventful and great, but once again, bittersweet. Of course, we got a dose of reality when we landed in Minnesota and the captain said over the loudspeaker, "It's 5 degrees here in Minneapolis..." Needless to say, we're ready for spring to arrive so we can wear the short and swimsuits we now have to pack away again.

I'll leave you with one last picture. Here's Baby Minnie Mouse saying good-bye to the warm weather and hello to winter again....