The Cruise!

We just got back, and while we had a good time, we're happy to be home. Thanks to Tay for house and dog sitting, and to Mom and Dad for giving us rides to/from the airport.

S0, first off, check out the super cute new suit with matching hat that I got Aria. I love Gymboree's stuff. Too bad they're so expensive!!

She didn't sleep very well the night before we left, I think because she was so excited. I was worried how the day would go, but she did great on the airplane! I was SO relieved. 

Being silly in her stroller while waiting to get on the plane. 

First airplane ride!

And.... she's asleep! She did eventually lay down on my lap. That position doesn't look comfortable! 

We got into Ft. Lauderdale late Friday night. We were all pooped. Even though the hotel set up a pack n play for us, Ari ended up sleeping with us, which did not set a good precedence for the rest of the trip. She wanted to sleep "snuggling" with mom the entire time. 

At dinner on our first night. She loved the bread and butter every night. Mostly the butter. She licked her knife clean. She LOVES her butter.

She started doing the "foody dance" while on the trip. We'd be eating and she'd start dancing. This a still shot of her mid foody dance.

They were showing "Tangled" on Lido deck the first night, so we got her ready for bed, and let her watch it while drinking her milk. It lasted all of 10 minutes, but it was fun. 

Dancing on deck. We spent LOTS of time with Ari since she decided that Camp Carnival was not for her. We would drop her off, and they'd call us 30 minutes later telling us she was freaking out and we needed to come get her. By the end, we were able to get an hour out of her, but it was because they bribed her with candy and just dealt with her crying since they felt bad for us. 

Again with the fists.....

Our firs stop was at Cozumel, Mexico. We spent the day at Paradise Beach, and it was beautiful. This was Ari's first time playing at the beach and in the ocean. 

So glad that Nat brought stuff to play in the sand. 

E and Ari playing

Ari playing with Daddy in the water. This beach was pretty rocky, so you couldn't get very far in before you started cutting up your feet. It was beautiful, though.

Since the beach was so rocky, we headed for the pool. It was the perfect temperature.

There was a shallow lip all around the pool where they had lounge chairs in the water. That's where we spent most of our time. Ari loves the water. We've noticed she sticks her tongue out when she is concentrating.

She's thinking hard about what she'd doing with those blocks!

I spent about an hour trying to get her to take a nap, and she finally passed out when Ryan and I were rocking her back and forth in the hammock. Cute bug. 

A moment of relaxing, alone(ish) time for mom and dad! Wahoo!

I had to be sneaky to get this pic, but doesn't this guy look like a skinnier version of the yoga dude from  the movie "Couples Retreat?"

This is from the day we went to Belize. There are no pictures of us actually in Belize, because we didn't do anything. There were no beaches close by to go to, and the city is pretty scary, so we just walked around the shops where the boat was docked. It wasn't too impressive. Because Ari wouldn't go to Camp Carnival, Ryan and I weren't able to do some of the excursions we were planning on. Ari also came down with a cold a couple of days in, which made her even more grouchy and clingy, so she came to dinner with us most of the trip. 

This is us killing time before dinner, letting her dance on a little stage in the comedy lounge. It was hard for her to be so restricted in what she could do. She's used to having free reign at home. 

Ari decided that she needed to feed me at dinner. This is her doing the "airplane"before putting it in. 

And in it goes. Lucky mom. 

She spent an hour at Camp Carnival and they learned about pirates, and painted their faces. When I picked her up, we got lots of funny looks as we walked around the ship. She even said "Arrr!" to a few people. She also LOVED the towel animals we got each night. The first night we got a seal, and she had to sleep with it. 

Our third stop was in Mahogany Bay in Honduras. This is where we'd planned to do some diving, but had to scratch that idea with Ari, so we went to the little beach that was just off the ship. The sand here was great, and you could go out in the water pretty far and still touch, which was great. She loved the sand and being in the water. As soon as you'd bring her out, she'd yell, "Daddy, back in the water!"

This turtle was at the beach. She named him Turtle. Creative kid. ;)

This is after we came back to the boat. We spent a lot of time in the room with naps and all. She likes to bounce on Ryan. 

Love Daddy snuggles!!

Our last stop was Grand Cayman. We found a local company that would let us take Ari to see the sting rays, since the excursions through the ship wouldn't allow kids her age. I'm so glad we did it. She LOVED it! She giggled the entire time she was in the water, and was all about touching the sting rays. The guys from the boat had to tell her to not poke them in the eye and put her hand in their blow holes. ;) She even fed one! There were iguana's all over the place where the boat was docked, and she tried to chase those, too. I love that she has no fear. 

Gotta get your picture with Black Beard!

She really wanted to touch Black Beard's parrot. Letting her was a mistake, because her hands were FILTHY afterwards. Yuck!

Putting on my fins on the ride out to the sandbar.

 They say if you kiss them, you'll get 7 years of good luck. I must have done it wrong, because Ari and I both came home sick, and we discovered on Saturday that our dishwasher is broken. Lame.

 This is an awful pic of us, but I love the look on Ari's face.

 I wish somebody had told me that my hair was all crazy and Medusa looking. 

 They even let her try to hold the sting ray, and give it a kiss! 

She was tuckered out after playing so hard with the sting rays, so she crashed on the boat. I didn't get to snorkel at the second stop, but that was fine because I got to snuggle my cute girl. 

Later that night, she went to Camp Carnival so we could go to a comedy show, where they learned about fish, and painted her face like a snorkeler. We also got a frog towel animal that night, which she was excited about. She's got a thing for "ribbits."

This was debarkation day, when we were chilling on the deck, waiting to get off the boat. 

It was a rough day because our flights didn't leave until nearly 4, and we got off the boat at 10:30, so we had A LOT of time to kill. Add to that the fact that I was feeling super crappy, and Ari was grouchy..... not the best day. We were at a layover in Denver and I was waiting in line with her in her stroller at McDonalds. She was yelling over and over, "STOP IT, MOMMY!!" It got to the point that random strangers tried to tell her that mommy wasn't doing anything, and she just freaked out, while I tried to get our food an ignore her. Then a guy came up to me and told me that I was a very strong woman, and that he couldn't do it. Gee. Thanks. She then had a melt down because she wanted to open something.... what, I never figured out, and then I had a meltdown, and started crying in the airport. Luckily, Ryan was able to calm her down and get her to eat, after which she was happy for the rest of the trip. She was VERY happy to be home, and especially to see grandpa at the airport. She had a great day yesterday, playing with her cousins. She is glad to be home and back in her routine. We're both trying to get over these colds before we have to go back to work and the baby sitter tomorrow.

Overall, it was a good trip. It wasn't quite what I'd expected, but it was fun, and I was so glad that Ari has such a fun time in the ocean and on the beach. I wish Ryan and I had more alone time together. Most of our alone time was spent hiding out in the bathroom trying to get Ari to take a nap. :)

I think we are going to have to wait a while before our next big vacation. :)