Spring Break Cruise

We decided that this year would be the first year to have a big family vacation. This decision came after a great deal of deliberation. You see, Joe and I will be celebrating 10 years of wedded bliss in a few short days (thank you, thank you), and we were planning to take this spring break to travel somewhere together. As I did more and more research on Caribbean destinations, the option of a cruise kept coming up. The problem with a cruise is that you are basically unreachable, unless you're willing to pay big bucks (which I'm only willing to spend on drinks). And I know for a fact that being unable to reach my kids to make sure everything is okay is completely out of the question. I'm still not ready for that.
Besides, Joe and I will have many, many years in our future to keep each other entertained without the charming company of our two children, so why would we start trying to escape from them now? Stop laughing. Yes, I know they are precocious and a handful and not given to allowing their parents to relax at anytime. But, I'm not able to relax anymore - with or without my children. I'm a mother.
After looking at the children's activity options available on the various cruise ships, departure ports, itinerary dates, prices, and on and on and on, I became overwhelmed and hired a travel agent to take care of it (thanks, Joanna). We settled on a 5 day Royal Caribbean cruise sailing out of Tampa. The distance was manageable, the price was reasonable, and the dates fit within our spring break restrictive guidelines. Plus, the boat had several attractive kid-friendly attractions - splash pool, small water slide, supervised kids' program for Jacks's age group, parent supervised activities for Nealy's age group. We were sold.
Not to mention the cost of the trip covered all the food we could possibly eat. I mean, this week has probably cost me some major setbacks in my year long quest to lose the baby weight (to mild success), but I got to have amazing three course meals every single night of my trip with no regard for how much they cost. I never get to look at a menu and choose items without thinking of the bill coming at the end. It was GREAT.
We had a blast. And what's even better? My fake college son, Luke, and his girlfriend, Amber joined us on our tropical vacation (he's only fake because he's not really my son, he's real AND he is really in college - just to clarify what fake college son means). I could not have chosen a better pair of travel companions. They are fun, relaxed, easy to talk to and get along with, plus the kids love them. Well, Nealy has an irrational crush on Luke, and although she talks about him when he's not around, she is unable to look him directly in the eyes in his presence and she starts crying when he attempts to talk to her. I keep hoping she'll get over it. And so does Luke. I worry it's starting to hurt his feelings.
In addition to enjoying all the fun stuff on the cruise ship, we got to spend 2 fun beach days in Mexico. The first day was in Costa Maya, which was a short day and relatively non-eventful (plus I got a little sick and was unable to join the group), and the second we splurged on an excursion in Cozumel to a family friendly beach at a National Park with lots of fun things to do. We enjoyed a huge lunch buffet, open bar, endless soft serve ice cream cones, sand castle building, splashing around in the water (sea AND kid pool), shopping for touristy junk, lazing around in beach chairs under the umbrella (tans are nice, but come on, folks - this was Mexico and I'm whiter than white. That sun will kill me), and tons of other great beach activities. And there were clean bathrooms. The cost of the excursion alone was worth it for the clean bathrooms.
I would have loved to take a trip to see the ruins in either port, but the kids are still a little too young to enjoy a day like that. Lots of riding in buses, lots of walking, too many hours spent on things they don't care about, yet.
This was a perfect family vacation. I think we'll definitely be planning another one in the future. Let us know if you'd like to join us next time. Cruises are always more fun with lots of friends.
And as always, please enjoy a barrage of pictures from this amazing week that I still can't believe is over.

Here's the little ones enjoying the kids' pool.....

Formal dinner night......

An attempt at a family picture on formal dinner night - Jacks was uncooperative since he was made to wear a collared shirt.

How good looking are these two?


Our stateroom attendant was an expert at "towel art"


Here's the obligatory, "here I am on a Mexican beach with the cruise ship in the background" picture in Costa Maya......


Nealy was not as thrilled with her obligatory shot......


Nor was she so happy to be in a Mexican bar.
Jacks seems to be a natural when he bellies up to the bar.


Here they are on the beach in Cozumel.


Jacks loved playing in the sand.....


While Nealy preferred the pool (she takes after her mama).....
You will see this picture turn up again on someone's senior yearbook page (also known as blackmail material). But look how happy they are - they're just so overwhelmed!


Jacks was thrilled to be in the sand, the pool, or laid up in the chair.....


Nealy found herself to be done with the beach after a while.....
Until she got some ice cream......
They had guys walking around the beach with parrots and iguanas. You could hold them and have your picture made. Jacks just wanted to touch this one's tail. You should have seen him jump when the bird squawked when Jacks had barely put his fingertips on that tail feather.


Seriously, way too good looking.....


This one was just happy to be there.....


A good family picture on the last night.

As you know, this selection of pictures was just a drop in the bucket. If I find some more that are worthy, I'll do another post.

I came home with a miserable cold, so I've spent most of today in bed with a throbbing head and lots of time to think about the great time we had. Work tomorrow will be a mighty rude awakening after this week of fun. I hope I don't spend tonight tossing and turning stressing about it.