Caribbean Cruise 2019 - Part III

On the last full day of our cruise, we woke to a nice breakfast in the casual dining area - Kade and I were impressed by all the carvings.... Brock was only impressed after he got some food in his belly - he gets hangry! We also had fun spelling with the words "Mousse" and "Moose" (see breakfast desserts below in champagne flutes! Fancy!!)

We dropped the boys off at Adventure Camp to have a morning on the boat ourselves. Took a peek at the Solarium - an adults only indoor pool. It was nice and quiet in there - although the boys would have loved the elephants! 

Brent was too funny. He's such a sea-man! One of his daily checks was on the current sea conditions - he saw the gale-force winds coming two days beforehand! He knew Friday was going to be a bit bumpy! 

Here's Brent giving his best weatherman/sea-person forecast: 

Shortly after that, Brent left to put in his time at the gym and I FINALLY grabbed my book and found a chair in the shade to read. Easily one of my top five favorite moments on the cruise. 

Okay, back to reality! Picked up the kids because Brock really wanted to try the climbing wall. The boys suited up with special climbing shoes and harnesses. 

Go Brent, Go!

It was high! And Brock did a great job for only trying once. He got discouraged though, and didn't want to try again.

Brent and Brock decided to venture to the Arcade to lift Brock's spirits and Kade and I wandered over to the Mini-Golf.

Kade did a great job sticking with it and finished all 9 holes! A few greens he even asked if he could help me with my final stroke in the hole. Perhaps he'll be ready to join the big kids this year playing mini-golf at the beach?!??

Alas, it was time to pack as the boat was getting closer to Tampa! Brent took the boys back to the Arcade (haha our favorite place?) while I stuffed everything back in our suitcase!

Including this gem.... ;)

Specialty dinner #2 = Chops Grille, a fantastic steakhouse with a gorgeous sunset view. (The waves were starting to pick up then!)

Cheers!

Selfie on Deck 12, in the wind, at night!

Thank you kind stranger, but seriously - I wore heels to all these dinners and no one wanted to include my new Sam Edelman shoes?!??

Holy crap that was a long drive home again. We are totally flying next time.

Final thoughts on the cruise - we had fun, mostly. Kade's schedule has been so up in the air with school/nanny/school/nanny that he was undoubtably anxious to these new sleeping arrangements/schedules/family vacations. Brock picks up on that and uses it to his delight. It made for some tiring parental moments as both boys felt the need to test, and test, and test us. Kade is still learning table manners and volume control - two things at a more formal style dinner that would make anyone uncomfortable, let alone an OCD parent. I think if I were to do it again, eating at the buffet for dinner with the boys would have been a much better option instead of a sit-down three-course meal (but I pushed for it...).
There was some funny and sweet moments - The look on their faces when they first saw the ship. Brock helping Kade with counting the decks. Brock sharing his new Key West shark with his brother. Both of them looking out for each other at the splash park. The date night dinners were so relaxing and delicious! The Casino was good to me - WON $80 on my second pull on the slot machine! We had fun, but happy to be home!

Caribbean Cruise 2019 - Part II

On Thursday, we landed in sunny Cozumel - a high of 86 and low of 76!

The boys got to pick anything out in this souvenir shop - and they both decided on colored sand in a little glass bottle! 

Look at that clear water! I just wanted to jump in right there! And our boat looks really pretty too!

We decided to purchase the Deluxe Playa Mia Beach Resort package as our shore excursion in Cozumel. Sandy beach and amazing splash pad area and pool WITH unlimited visits to the buffet and unlimited local alcoholic drinks!

After trying out the ocean a bit, the boys decided the splash pad and pool were a little more their speed. Fine by us - we found a great spot (chairs right behind the dolphin in the picture below) and watched our kids while getting drink after drink. Hmm... that doesn't sound so safe... but sounds super relaxing! Ha!

Brent and Brock on the water slide - Brock went about 18 more times on his own! (Not exaggerating)

They made Kade and Brock a non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri - Brock loved it a bit more than Kade.

The boys stopped for snacks (piles of french fries with ketchup and watermelon) and lunch (sorry, only remembered to take pictures AFTER the meal), then went right back to it!

Brock had fun showing off his amazing swimming skills in the pool!

Here's an underwater video from the GoPro!

Kade enjoyed the water in other ways.... HAHAHA! (Yup, he's enjoying the feeling of that water spray on his backside!) Funny guy!

Cool pirate ship in the middle of the spray area - and Brent decided to get all artsy when I asked him to take our picture and took it through a wall of water. Oooh fancy!

Kade did not stop! He just kept playing and enjoying everything water!

It was a 5 hour "excursion", but for our little guys, it was plenty of time to enjoy the water park. There was so much more to do that we didn't get to (kayak rentals, ocean obstacle course, snorkeling), I'd go back if we were to ever stop there again!

Fun day in Mexico!

Cute picture of Brock showing off the boys' favorite dessert item.

My three boys watching the waves while a Carnival ship passes us in the distance. 

Caribbean Cruise 2019 - Part I

Oh my goodness, that was a long ride there. Whoever made the decision to drive to Tampa is fired (oh, oops, that was me...). Yeah, 11 hours through the night is a very long drive - especially when just about the time the kids fall asleep, one of the adults had to pee from all the Coke/Mello Yellow we were drinking to keep us awake!

But we made it!! Easy process to board the ship and we were waiting in line for a drink at the pool by noon.

Once our cabins were opened, we dropped off our stuff and Brock and I walked around to explore (and to sign up for the Adventure Ocean Kids' program!)

Bye Tampa!

After the always fun Muster Drill, we watched the tug boat get in position to help us out of port.

Advice to those who haven't cruised - unpack your stuff in the drawers, then store the suitcase under your bed. It will feel a lot better when you're not living out of a suitcase! Also - if you have kids especially - decorate your door! It makes it so much easier to find down a corridor of doors!

While I was taking a very much needed shower, Brent was watching as we headed out to sea!

Photo credit to Brock!

Dinner time at our family style table....with two other families. I will make note, I did not quite enjoy this aspect of it. We had our own table on the cruise to Alaska and we liked it much better.

After getting about 1.5 hours of sleep the night before, we all headed to bed early that night - asleep by 9pm. Ha! We definitely slept more than usual this trip since almost every night we went to bed the same time as the boys! Haha!

Good thing too - by 7am, the boys were up and ready to go! Breakfast at the buffet, then off to grab chairs by the pool for the boys to swim!

They figured it out quick that this was a saltwater pool! And also that the hot tub was a little nicer at 8 in the morning than the same-temperature-as-the-ocean swimming pool!

Sidenote - thank that lifeguard for rescuing Kade. I had just explained to Kade that surrounding the pool was a nice ankle-deep depth, but to be careful because the middle part is DEEP and he should not go in there without mommy/daddy. I returned to the room to grab the boys' goggles (leaving Brent at the chairs) and Kade apparently needed to test my warning. He simply stepped into the middle section and down he went. The life jacket worked like a champ and the lifeguard simply grabbed him up from the vest, but his head definitely went under - (thankfully?) he was a little more wary of the edge after that. 

We headed back to the room to get cleaned up for a quick lunch......

...because by 11AM, we had arrived in KEY WEST!!

I'm glad we didn't plan anything to do. The boys were still acclimating to the new "schedule" and it was a bit humid that day. The boys immediately complained of the temperature after exiting our bus, so after a quick souvenir shop, we headed back to the ship.

No nap for the boys.... so off they went to Adventure Ocean! Yay - Date night started early!!

One good-looking husband!

While in Key West, I had to wear my Lilly Pulitzer dress!

Two nights during the Cruise we signed up for "Specialty Dining" - another way for the cruise to get more money from you, but whatever - it was a more intimate restaurant and offered a better menu selection than the main dining. Tuesday night we headed to Giovanni's Table - delicious Italian while leaving Key West with a really pretty view.

We actually docked at the Naval Air Station in Key West and got to check out this ship from our dinner window

No pictures from dinner, only dessert - Brent asked for THREE cannolis!

I think the boys had fun - that's one happy (and tired) face!!

While Kade and I were getting ready for bed, Brock and Brent headed up to the Arcade!

Day Three was a Full Day at Sea! This time we secured some chairs THEN went to get breakfast. After some time in the big pool, we headed to the kiddie pool/splash area. A much smaller area, but I think they both had more fun here.

We used lots of sunscreen that day!

Brock was one of the first kids on the "big" slide when it opened that day!

What a cool thing to do on a ship! Kade and I went down twice together too!

That may have been one of the slowest slides I've ever seen!! Haha!

After a super fun time at the pool, we headed back to the room and both Brock AND Kade took a nap! Good thing too - so they could look all spiffy for Formal Night!

Dinner that night... good thing I like sesame seeds! ;)

Special moments with the wait staff - they were so sweet (and patient) with my boys!

Special treat as Royal Caribbean was celebrating their 50th Anniversary!

The boys liked the lollipops more than the cake! (Topper of the above cake was the lollipop)

My handsome guys - after the meal (with lollipops in hand).

I got my wish - one decent picture of all of us! (You'll have to forgive the quality - it's a picture of a picture!) :)