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Cruise 2009
Our family went on a cruise during the first week in March.
We went on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and we cruised in the Eastern Caribbean.
The trip included Kate, Anna, Mommy, Daddy, Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Kellie, Aunt Stacie, GiGi, and Ms. Debbie (GiGi's friend).
We left Huntsville on Thursday afternoon and drove to Atlanta, GA.
We did this because it was MUCH cheaper to fly from Atlanta to Miami than to fly right out of Huntsville.
The girls were great in the car, and it helped that Aunt Stacie rode with us in the backseat and was there to entertain as needed.
We stayed in a hotel near the airport Thursday night, and then our flight left around noon on Friday.
After breakfast at the hotel, we packed up and went to the airport.
It was a rainy morning, but we were looking forward to going on the sunny cruise!
We got checked in for our flight and had plenty of time to spare before boarding the plane.
Anna took a little catnap as we waited to board, and Kate kept herself busy too.
She decided that she needed to make a ticket for each of us to get on the airplane.
She got a little notepad and wrote several things on it, including her name.
She said she had to give the lady her ticket before she could get on the plane.
As we boarded the plane from the jet bridge, the pilot and a flight attendant were standing there.
Kate tried to give her ticket to one of them, but he said to go into the cockpit and give the ticket to the other pilot.
Our shy Kate walked into the cockpit and handed this man her ticket.
The pilot was a good sport, and he made a big deal out of it.
He asked her what her name was, and she even responded!
She was very proud to have been able to give her ticket to the pilot.
We had a direct flight to Miami, and the girls were so excited to see Mama, Papa, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Kellie when we arrived at the hotel!
After a relaxing evening at the hotel and breakfast the next morning, it was time to catch our shuttle to the pier.
Kate was so excited about going on the cruise.
We had been talking about the cruise for several months, and we showed Kate several pictures and videos from past cruises.
Now the time was finally here, and she couldn't wait.
We took the shuttle to the pier and saw the BIG ship.
Although things moved very quickly and there were no lines, it seemed to take forever before we got on the ship.
We finally got on the ship, and the first thing we did was go to lunch at the Windjammer.
This is when Anna became clingy (and she didn't stop the entire trip).
At lunch the very first day Mommy had to hold Anna because she wouldn’t go to anybody else and wouldn’t eat her lunch.
She did finally decide to eat a fruit tart and pumpkin roll…which she LOVED.
She also made quite a mess with her first lunch on the cruise!
After lunch, we were able to go to our rooms. Anna slept in Mommy and Daddy's room in the pack 'n play, and Kate slept in Mama and Papa’s room on the sofa bed.
She thought it was pretty cool to sleep on a bed that pulled out from the couch!
The first thing Kate wanted to do after lunch was go swimming.
This ship had an amazing water area for the kids, and all Kate wanted to do was go play.
Of course, it was rather breezy in Miami that day, so the excitement of playing in the water was short-lived.
She played for awhile and then decided that it was too cold.
Since we had woken up early that day, it was a good chance to get both girls down to the room to take a little nap.
Kate usually doesn’t nap anymore at home, but with all of the excitement, she napped almost every day on the cruise.
Anna took a good nap in the room every day, and she also had several smaller catnaps throughout the day in her stroller.
Naptime was a nice time for us to sit on the balcony and relax/read, to take a nap ourselves, etc.
Kate looked forward to going to dinner every night in the dining room.
Most of the nights she ordered a fresh fruit cup, fish, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for dinner.
I have never seen this girl eat as much as she did on the cruise!
Several nights she even told the waiter by herself what she wanted for dinner.
The only night she didn’t have fish was on our second formal night.
Kate’s expensive tastes came out, and she ordered lobster and shrimp like the rest of us did!
She ate the whole thing!
Anna, however, did not eat quite so well.
She was very clingy at dinner, usually wanting to be held by either Mommy or maybe even Daddy.
Several nights one of us had to take her out to walk around the ship just so the rest of us could enjoy our dinner.
She even slept through part of dinner on some nights.
On the nights that she did eat, though, Anna had a fresh fruit cup, and various things like chicken breast, ravioli, etc.
One thing Anna loved were the rolls.
Kate enjoyed the rolls also, and she typically had a whole roll with dinner every night.
They are definitely their mother's daughters when it comes to bread!
We spent our days at sea near the pools.
This particular ship had a special pool area for babies to play in.
The water was about 2 inches deep, it had a fountain, and the water was really warm! Anna loved to splash in this area and crawl around under the fountain.
She had such a good time here!
Kate enjoyed playing in the “hot pool” (or hot tub).
Since the H2O zone was oftentimes too cold, she loved to sit in the hot tub with whoever would take her.
She even thought that was neat because she could get in there without swimmies.
She also enjoyed swimming in some of the bigger pools as the water seemed to warm up during the cruise.
There was also a frozen yogurt machine by the pool area, so every day (at least once) we went to get ice cream.
We played miniature golf on the cruise, and we even got to watch Daddy and Uncle Tim try to surf on the Flowrider!
We had one day at the beach when we stopped in Labadee, Haiti.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate that day, and it rained/poured off and on throughout the morning.
Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Kellie, Aunt Stacie, and Uncle Tim rode the Dragon's Breath zipline that morning (it's the longest zipline over water), so we were actually on the beach during all the rain.
Mama waited to bring the girls onto the beach until it seemed to clear up a little bit.
Kate was so excited to finally be at the beach, and she couldn’t get in the water fast enough!
She had fun floating in the water, playing in the sand, and having Mommy turn her into a mermaid in the sand.
Anna also loved splashing in the ocean.
She didn’t care too much for stepping in the sand, but she loved it when we took her into the water and she could splash in the small waves.
We only had a couple of hours on the beach before it started raining again, but it was well worth it!
That evening, we had ordered a birthday cake for Kate that was to be delivered after dinner.
The waiters came and sang Happy Birthday, and Kate just sat there (didn’t even crack a smile).
She wouldn’t blow out her candles because everybody was watching her.
Then our waiter came and sang a special version of Happy Birthday, to which Kate said was the wrong way to sing the song! :)
We all enjoyed some yummy cake, and Kate got a couple of really cool t-shirts from GiGi and Ms. Debbie. Thank you!
Kate may have been shy at her mini-birthday party, but she wasn't always shy on the cruise.
Kate loved to dance in the Royal Promenade in the evenings, especially after dinner when she wore her fancy dresses.
One night she had been dancing for quite awhile and had drawn an audience.
One of the Royal Caribbean employees offered her a free airbrush tattoo, but she turned him down.
Anna seemed to have fun also, especially if Mommy and Daddy were not around.
We had a couple of date nights, after which I heard that Anna was an angel baby.
There were a couple of other times when somebody was watching Anna for us.
When we would get close to her, we could see that she was smiling or laughing.
Well, as soon as she saw Mommy, that little face scrunched up and she’d start screaming. Aaargh! At least I know she loves me! :)
All in all, we had such a wonderful vacation, and we were all sad to leave the ship.
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