Spring Break Part 1

Somehow, it ended up that all of Marc's family had the last week of March available for a quick family reunion. With the school schedules alone, this is nearly impossible! Trying to narrow down a location that would make everyone happy was a feat in itself. I got a phone call one day in January saying that his Mom and Dad had found some last minute cruise deals that were affordable enough to make a 3 day cruise possible for all of us. Sweet! Count me in! I think a cruise is definitely one of the best vacations out there. There is enough going on every day that people can choose what they want, meals and entertainment are all included, and when you're tired of being around everyone, you can escape down to your stateroom!

We were leaving out of Cape Canaveral which is just outside of Orlando. I really, REALLY wanted to include a trip to Disney World while we were out there, especially since it didn't happen the last time we were out there 2.5 years ago. Marc's brother works for the Air Force and had an AMAZING military discount that he could get a 3 or 4 day park hopper ticket for just over the price of a one day admission. The problem was, Marc couldn't get enough time off of work. We even flirted with the idea of taking a red-eye, arriving in Orlando in the morning and driving straight to Disney the day before the cruise. Once again, we decided there wasn't enough time to make it worth the cost of admission for our family. We would rather spend a couple of days taking the whole thing in, at our pace, instead of madly trying to squeeze everything in one day (especially not with tired, cranky kids). 

So, instead, we spent the day before we were leaving on the cruise traveling. We arrived in Orlando at 11:00 at night on Wednesday, March 27th. Nick, (Marc's youngest brother) picked us up from the airport and we stayed the night at his house along with his brother Joe and his family. We enjoyed staying up chatting with everyone for awhile and then tried to go to sleep. I couldn't fall asleep for anything that night. The cats were pouncing on our air mattress, the kids were tossing and turning next to us, and I never sleep well in unfamiliar places anyway. I think I got about 2 hours on the couch before the kids started waking up. We all felt like zombies the next morning. 

We could not get on the cruise ship until 1:00 in the afternoon Thursday, March 28. The kids were waking up at 6 (Florida time) so we had a LONG time to kill before then. Nick and his wife were gracious hosts. To have 9 extra people in our your house is really overwhelming. We were kind of surprised that they hadn't packed for the trip yet and we were leaving that day. We tried to make things a little easier on them by getting all the kids out on a walk and playing at the neighborhood park for awhile so they could have some peace and quiet for a little bit. We were ancy to get moving and DO something, but we had no car, and the port was 40 minutes away. Chris, another brother, did have a rental car, so we asked if he would help shuttle us all over to the port and we would play at the beach or a nearby park until we could board the ship. Chris drove Joe and his family, and Nick drove our family plus his little one year old to a park near the port, dropped us off, then returned to help finish packing and do some last minute shopping while we watched the baby. We met up with Marc's parents there and just hung out while the kids played with their cousins. 

Eventually, we got over to the port to eat lunch and board the ship. I'll skip the drama that was occurring this entire time. It's neither here nor there, but it effected the rest of the trip which was so unnecessary.

 The kids were SO excited to see the boat! They couldn't believe how big it was and how many things were inside it! Tyler and Bryce were staying in the room across the hall from us with their grandparents, and Lexi was in with Marc and I (There's no room that fits 5 people). We explored for awhile, got the kids all registered for Camp Carnival (the kids program), endured the muster drill (mandatory safety meeting for everyone on board), and finally watched as the boat pulled away from port.

We freshened up for dinner and headed to the dining room, eagerly anticipating what kind of amazing food was in store for us. There's several different options for each course, and the menu changes each night. I think the first night, I picked Calamari as an appetizer and Salmon as the main course. I had an orange cream cake for dessert. I hated the cake, barely touched it, and then to my surprise, some of the dining staff came out singing "Happy Birthday" to me with another piece of orange cream cake. It just made me laugh. Yes, I celebrated my 31st birthday on a cruise ship. This is actually the third birthday I've celebrated on a cruise (#8 and #16 were the first 2, we traveled a lot during spring break growing up and my birthday almost always falls during spring break).

 

 

 After dinner, we took the kids up to Camp Carnival to hang out and play while we had some adult time. The boys were in a separate room than Lexi, but she didn't seem to mind. They all had a blast! They decorated t-shirts while they were there, had dance parties, played games, etc. We watched a show with the rest of the family. If I remember correctly, the first night was family feud or something like that. The candidates were all fellow cruisers. We wanted to watch the main show (with singers and dancers), but it didn't start until 11:00 and I just couldn't stay up for it. We grabbed our kids and went to bed!