Well, the cruise that my parents so generously gave to us as a Christmas present, which seemed like an eternity away in December, has come and gone! I can't even believe it. It's a trip I will never forget...Some wonderful memories were made! We packed up our car on Saturday, July 7th and headed to Cracker Barrel where we met the Waynes and my parents. We started our caravan across I-75 and we weren't 10 minutes into the drive when Adrey said, "Mommy when are we going to be there it's taking a wong time" and that was just the first of about 300 times he said that!! We talked about this trip so much leading up to this day he couldn't WAIT to get on that ship! When we got to Miami and could see the skyline, this was the conversation we had:
Me: Look at the buildings, Adrey, we're in Miami!
Adrey: Where, Mommy, where's your "ami"?
Me: No, Adrey, not my "ami", it's a city called Miami.
Adrey: Well, whose "ami" is it?
Later when we met up with the Waynes...
Aunt Sarah: Adrey, are we in Miami?
Adrey: No, we're in Mommy's "ami".
I kid you not. We were laughing so hard! But if you think about it, at 3 years old that would be a little confusing!
Adrey and his cute little passport!
It was actually an exceptionally easy process to check-in and board the ship. I was expecting it to be a really lengthy ordeal but it was fine!
We got on the boat, checked out our room and got unpacked and then did some exploring of the ship. Prior to departure all passengers had to meet at their assigned "muster station" (deck) and we had to watch the little safety schpeel they give in the event there's an emergency. By this time it was 4:00, the boys had been in the car for two hours without a nap and they were quite restless. Charlie did NOT want to be held, but preferred to lay down and roll around in the aisle where the crew had to walk. They kept nicely asking me to move my kid. And Charlie was doing everything in his power to annoy Adrey... something he is perfecting with each passing day... poking, pushing, leaning, grabbing, pulling... anything to get a rise out of his napless brother!! Twas a fun 20 minutes!!
The ice cream machine on the ship was definitely in the boys' top 3 favorite things of the week. Charlie has NEVER had an ice cream cone. He was handed the cone and he had no idea what to do with it. I had to demonstrate how to LICK it! LOL!
But he caught on pretty quickly!
And at the end of each day, there were chocolate stains on all their clothes!
The boys were up bright and early each day. The Ritcheys were up about 6:45 each day, out the cabin door by 7:45, done with breakfast by 8:15 and in the arcade by 8:30!! By then, the Waynes were starting to roll out of bed!
The first morning we ran in to Boppa on the main deck!
Sunday, the 8th, the ship went to their own private island in the Bahamas. We anchored and there were smaller boats that caravaned the passengers to the island. It was just a beach (which we can go to anytime at home) and it was an hour and a half wait to get on the smaller boat, so we decided just to stay on the ship which we basically had to ourselves!!
So we hit the pool!!
There was a HUGE water slide on the ship. Adrey couldn't wait to go down it. We trekked up three flights of stairs to get to the top of it and then Adrey got cold feet and said he didn't want to go. He'd watch KK and Allison go down and then get the nerve to go and as soon as he'd get to the front of the line he'd chicken out. This happened about 5 times. The last time, the crew member that was patrolling the slide, picked Adrey up, set him on the top of the slide and gently pushed him down. I was in shock because I didn't know he was going to do that! I raced over to the railing to watch Adrey and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole way down! He freakin' loved it!! I was so glad the crew member did that because as his mom I NEVER could have done it! As soon as he got to the bottom he started heading right back up those stairs and did it again. And again. And again. We spent the day going up and down the slide probably 100 times!!
Us adults had some fun on the slide too!
That night we went to the main show. They asked for volunteers from the audience. John was picked! The cruise director ("Karl here" we called him... in a British accent... because that's how he'd announce himself whenever he came over the loud speaker) told a "story" and then the volunteers had to make the necessary sound affects! John was DEFINITELY the funny guy on stage! He got a lot of laughs from the audience!
And "Edge" was the main entertainment... he was so AWESOME! It was a great show... all the kids loved it too. He did all sorts of tricks and was hysterical. Kerry volunteered to participate in one of the tricks where he was given this apparatus and had to catch another odd shaped yellow apparatus with it! Kind of hard to explain, but he caught it and made us proud!!
Each night when we'd get back to our room there would be an animal made out of towels awaiting us on our bed. It was always exciting to come back to the room and see what our surprise was!!
Our housekeeper for the week (the one that makes the towel animals) was a really cool guy named Celio. He was SO nice! The first day we were there, Celio had a bandaid on his arm and Adrey asked him what happened. Celio told him that he cut his arm. A couple days later, totally unsolicited, Adrey said, "Hi Celio, how is your arm? Is it better?".
That was a proud moment for Mommy and Daddy!!
Lots more cruise pictures to come but I'm doing it in segments because there are SO many memories to share!!
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