Half Moon Cay and At Sea Day

Each day in the afternoon the kids club would have a family activity. For the most part we were the only ones who always participated. This day they had relay games and Eric ditched out. Man was he lucky. They had us go to the sports deck, which was very windy and cold, and do things like the crab crawl and the bear crawl and running without shoes on. We are way competitive but we got our trash kicked. The kids had fun though and that is what matters right.

We played our last game of trivia and we did the worse we have ever done. Go figure. My very first cruise ever we played Trivia and we kicked everyone's trash. I guess we have gotten stupider with age instead of smarter.

The next day was another day at sea. The night before Ryan only slept like 7 hours and had kept pulling on his ear. So we took another trip down to the dr. Mind you the ship dr. ain't cheap. Just the visit itself is $85. Hopefully our insurance will cover it. While we were down there one of the workers from the 11th floor was there and saw Ryan and got all worried about why he was there. He was one of them that loved Ryan. We just told him it was his ear. It ended up being nothing except maybe teething which I was glad about. By the time we got back to our room, my mom told us that she had been stopped to ask how Ryan was by one of the workers on the first floor. Turns out the worker that saw us down there spread the word about Ryan and so we were stopped alot that day asking how he was. We were even stopped by fellow passengers asking how he was. Man he was loved on this trip.

That night was another formal night and the kids weren't happy to be in their clothes just for pics. Dang them but I like how Eric looks in this pic.

Sarah and Mike's cute twin girls. They are so adorable and chubby as all get out. They are four months younger than Ryan and only a few ounces smaller than him. But shorter than him by far. One looks exactly like Sarah and one looks just like Mike. Aren't they lucky. They did really well the whole trip too.

That night was also the chocolate buffet. Lexie kept calling it the chocolate factory. They had all sorts of cakes, and chocolate covered apples, and fondue. And my favorite chocolate covered strawberries. I don't know why Lexie was excited since she doesn't like chocolate. They did have jello cups that she went through, though.

Josh with his chocolate covered apple.

Our last full day of the cruise we went to Holland America's private island Half Moon Cay. It is breathtaking. We were just playing on the beach and so we were in no rush to get there. The kids club was actually taking the kids for an hour and a half while we were there. The beach had a kids play area with trampolines out in the water and water slides. Josh was so excited for the slides.

Once again the kids loving the water. It is so hard to come back from the Caribbean and enjoy California beaches. I know that sounds so spoiled and it is but this beach is just gorgeous and California beaches aren't so much. At least in comparison. But I am grateful we do live by the beaches so our kids can play in them.

Ryan was finally worn out and crashed on Rose in like 5 seconds. What a sweet kid.

The tender ride back to the beach. Lexie wearing my glasses and look at the water behind us. There is no photoshop there. Man it was beautiful. I was so sad to leave this place because of how beautiful it was. We usually go back and shower and take naps but since this was our last day we went back and showered and then hung out in the crows nest with my parents.

Lexie playing kids boggle by herself.

Us playing Boggle. I kick Eric's trash every time, but I had a handicap in a sleeping kid in my arms.

One of the favorite things for the kids was riding in the glass elevator. They loved it. This is one of the handful of times I was in an elevator. The view from it is worthy of the ride.

And that night for dinner they put on a show somewhat and each of us diners were suppose to wear the hat above. Mine wouldn't stay on because of the clip in my hair but Eric wore his all night. His head shape was perfect to it. And that ended our week on our cruise. So sad but so fun.

The next morning we woke up at 8 because we got to be the last ones off the boat since our flight wasn't taking off until 5 that night. We were ready to get off since the kids had hit their wall and were just grumpy and whiny. We got to the airport at 11 and we couldn't even check in until 1 so we just sat out by the escalators waiting. The kids rode them up and down up and down. Finally we were able to check in and we were waiting to get through security to get food to find out the only food they had where we were at was a pork place. I had to go back through security to get chili's to go for me and the kids and then we waited until 4:30 before we loaded the plane. Right after take off Ryan was screaming for like 10 min. but he finally fell asleep and slept for the next 4 hours, it was great. Once again we had all the snacks we could eat and drinks to drink. Josh slept for a few hours but Lexie didn't. The first 3 hours I read a book and then the last 2 I watched Lord of the Rings. It was great having tvs right on the back of the seat. So worth it. We got home at 10 and the kids crashed only to wake up at 7 the next morning. Dang them. We had a really good time and we were really glad we could go. The kids keep talking about going again but I don't think I will take our kids on a cruise again for 10 years. Or at least not start it with a red eye flight.