The morning before we went to the cruise ship we spent some time at the pool.
Avery swimming with Grandpa.
After we got on the bus to head to the cruise ship.
Avery waiting for the ship to set sail.
It started to rain so the sail away party got cut short. So we enjoyed some ice cream and taking cover from the rain.
On our way to dinner we ran into our server from our last cruise over 5 years ago. That was fun to see him.
I always look forward to the food on the cruise. This was probably my favorite dinner of the cruise!
Avery enjoyed her Mickey Mouse Bar. The Animator's Palate is a fun restaurant on the cruise. They have screens all around and it is interactive. It was fun to watch.
My dessert create your own pie. Yum!
We all enjoyed the view from the window seat.
And Avery's most favorite spot of the cruise ship "Nemo Slide" It was a fun little splash zone for toddlers. We would ask her what she wanted to do and this is always what she would answer.
A little toddler play time with some toys and coloring.
Enjoying one of the many ice cream cones on the ship.
This picture cracks me up. I don't really remember if she ended up hitting her, but it sure looks like she was going to.
Formal night. McKenna with cousin Rachel.
That night we ate at the Enchanted Garden. The garden was day when we got there then as dinner progressed it turned into night at the garden. It was fun.
I had a delicious cucumber wrap for an appetizer.
Dinner time was always a little hard with McKenna. It was nap time for her.
Another scrumptious dinner!
Avery got a delightful strawberry shortcake.
Avery had lots of fun with her cousins. After she ate she danced with Kate. The servers were loving it. One server had a little squeaker and would squeeze it by their ear. They got pretty confused where it was coming from. Avery even lifted up her dress once to try to find where it was coming from. I couldn't stop laughing and the servers thought it was pretty fun too.
A picture of all of us after dinner.
Even tried to get a picture of all the cousins together. This is the best one I got.
Heading back to the room.
Kenna enjoyed the towel animals at night.
The girls did pretty well at night for all of us sleeping in the same room.
After a day at sea our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico.
We first went to San Gervasio to see some ruins. It was really fun to see. We really wanted to go to Tulum, but it would have involved a long bus ride and ferry ride that we didn't want to do with kids. San Gervasio was still great though!
If I remember correctly this was the fertility bridge. I did not walk under it, we are not needing another baby.
After the ruins we headed to a beach. It was my favorite beach. The sand was so soft and water was great. I want to go back! I wish I remembered what it was called. It also had a restaurant on it and we enjoyed some yummy chips and guacomole. There was a little band going around playing for people so we even got to enjoy some fun music that Ben requested. We had a lot of fun!
A fun little towel/blanket bunny.
We also bought some dresses for the girls in Mexico. It was a fun day!
The next day we were at Grand Cayman. We just enjoyed the 7 mile beach. The kids enjoyed some time just playing on the beach and in the ocean.
In the afternoon we did some snorkeling in two different groups. We were a little worried about time, but glad we did it. We were able to go out to a reef and a shipwreck. It was fun and I love snorkeling. The water was amazing. The color was so blue. There were some cool fish as well!
We wore Avery out. She was so tired that she fell asleep standing up on the bus ride back to the ship.
We had another dinner at Animator's Palate. That night we were able to draw our own cartoon and then watch it in a little movie they put together. That was fun.
Avery's dessert to decorate your own cupcakes.
The next day we were in Jamaica.
We all crammed into a van for a long ride to Dunns River Falls. There we got into two groups and hiked the falls. I had done it before and loved it and was excited to do it again. I don't have any pictures, but Ben posted a little about our cruise in an earlier post and that has some video of it. Then we just hung out at the beach and walked around the shops. The salesmen will get you there. They will start carving your name into a wood figurine so you would feel guilty and want to buy it. We luckily got out of there without buying anything. On the way back our van got a flat tire. We were in front of a little shop with a guy making stuff on the front porch. He made Avery a little flower and then we bought Avery a little purse and fish. We almost made it to the ship without getting sucked in to buying something :)
That night was pirate night on the ship. We had dinner again at the Enchanted Garden.
After dinner the kids enjoyed watching a little show on one of the top bunks.
Avery really liked the towel monkey when we got back from dinner.
Each night they have a little show. This night they had a pirate party on the pool deck. Avery loved it. There was also fireworks later that night, but it was a little too late for me and the girls so we didn't get to see it. Ben was able to though.
The next day was another day at sea. Which was kind of nice and relaxing after three days of getting off the ship. On the first day we got tickets to meet Elsa and Anna. Avery was pretty shy around the characters so she made me go with her.
Avery was a little missionary on the cruise ship :)
It was fun to go on the cruise in November because they decorated it for Christmas. Here we are in front of a real gingerbread house. Each day they would add more to it. It was pretty cool.
They also had this huge Christmas tree in the Lobby.
We also got tickets to meet Cinderella, Ariel, Tiana, and Jasmine. Daddy went with her this time.
The rest of the day we spent just hanging out at "Nemo's Slide" where Avery could have stayed all day long. Then later we went up and played miniature golf. They had a pretty cute course.
Ben had to play a little ping pong in the middle of our golf game.
One of the great views on a cruise ship. So beautiful!
Another awesome blanket animal.
Last stop Disney's private island Castaway Cay.
They even decorated the island for Christmas!
We were able to meet Daisy and Minnie on the island.
Before the cruise we bought a little excursion which included tube rental and a bike ride around the island.
Cute little lady in her sun hat. Snoozing away. She did really well on the trip!
Such a pretty island!
The island had lots to do. There was a water slide and park in the water. There was a little splash pad that we took Avery to for a little bit. They had a bbq lunch for everyone as well.
We took Avery on the bike ride with us and I don't know what happened to the picture, but Avery fell asleep and her head was kind of just hanging off to the side of the bike seat. It was pretty funny. The bike ride was fun and saw some great views. We were done early with the island and wanted to take Avery to "Nemo slide" one last time. I'm glad we did that.
Then of course we had to meet Captain Mickey!
The yummy last dinner we had at the Royal Court.
Dinners were long for the kids. Some nights it was hard to entertain them until the very end. This night Kate and Avery were hanging out under the table for a good amount of time. Silly girls!
Oh I miss the yummy food and treats!
We had excellent servers. They were great with the kids!
Aves loved hanging out in the windows!
The finished Gingerbread house. It was amazing! I had fun seeing it everyday.
The cruise was so much fun! It is my favorite way to travel. Some other fun things that I didn't get pictures of was the AquaDuck. Loved that thing. One night my sister Brooke and I went on it after dinner I think four times. It was fun with the lights on, but pretty cold. I can't remember how many times I went on it, but I was able to enjoy it in the day at sunset and at night.
They had a little Bippity Boppity Boutique that Avery wasn't old enough to go to, but I wanted to see how cute it was inside. Their was a girl working in there that was super sweet and put Avery up on the chair and put glitter in her hair Avery loved it!
And of course Santa visited the ship! They had a fun little Christmas show/sing-a-long in the Lobby near the beginning of the cruise and had Mickey and the gang and Anna and Elsa. Elsa even made it snow in the Lobby then they lit the tree. It was fun.
Some of my favorites of each place:
Cruise: "Nemo Slide" (I could watch Avery all day on that thing) and the AquaDuck
Cozumel: The beach and it's yummy guacamole!
Grand Cayman: Snorkeling at the sunken ship
Jamaica: Hiking the waterfall
Castaway Cay: The bike ride and just relaxing on the beach!
It was such a great trip! Lots of great memories were made! Thanks everyone for the great time!
