Saturday when we got on board the boat, we immediately went to have some lunch and wait until our room was ready. The kids were super anxious to see our room. They've been excited about the idea of "bunk beds" for weeks. If I had known that was all the wanted, we could've bought a set of those for home. LOL
Here is a shot of our SPACIOUS accommodations. As you can see, we had a lot of room and the kids got to sleep over top of us. :-) I think its a very good thing none of us suffer from claustrophobia!!
Saturday night, Alex and I woke up to some major rocking. We've never been on a cruise so we weren't sure if this was normal or what. Neither of us slept much at all and when we woke up we decided to head upstairs for some breakfast and check it out. While I was in line, I got to talking to a man and he told me that he'd been on forty cruises himself and never experienced anything like this. It was rough!! They closed the upper decks and most of the outside areas due to the strong wind so we were fairly limited to what we could do. The kids were getting bored, so we took them up to camp carnival to do some activities. Maddie wasn't thrilled about it, but she had a great time. Her and Ashton were in different classes but they both to color shirts to keep (as you can see in the picture).
Each morning, our room was cleaned up and beds made. During dinner, they would come back and turn the bed down and lower the kids bunks. While they were there, they would make a new towel animal each night and leave chocolate mints. The kids got excited each night in anticipation of what the animal would be next. So, we got a picture of our animal each night before we moved them. :-) The first night we had an elephant.
Sunday night, we all got dressed up and went to the "formal" dinner. It was great food. Alex thoroughly enjoyed ordering LOTS of seafood and other foods he doesn't get to eat at home. I don't think he had just one appetizer and entree a single time.
Here is a picture Ashton took of Maddie and I and then one that Hector, our water waiter/bust boy took of us. We had two of the best guys that took care of us. Maddie really liked Carlos, our actual waiter. He was very nice and Alex loved him calling him Sir Alex all week. :-)
Since Ashton took a picture of us, Maddie wanted to take one of them. They had to make it silly though giving each other a noogy. LOL
By the time dinner was over the rocking had really calmed down and the upper decks had been opened back up. We went for a stroll outside and took a few pictures. Ashton wanted to show us some of the new dance moves he learned at camp carnival and so most of my pictures turned out to be silly ones.
I love these two kids!
Ashton loves getting his picture made with "the girls" as he calls us. :-)
And we can't forget about our frog to end the night. Maddie loved running in to grab the mints, especially since she typically ended up with Ashton's too since he doesn't like them.
Tuesday morning, we docked in Jamaica for the day. We arrived around 8:30 in the morning and had the entire day to spend there. Alex decided that we wouldn't book an excursion and we'd just see what was available when we got to land. We did a shuttle that took us a few places around the island and then back to the boat.
This is a couple of shots from the boat on our way in to the island.
One of our stops was a little market similiar to a flea market for us. Here is a shot from outside the fenced in area.
We let Maddie get her hair braided.
Another shot of the market from the inside. Alex took this while we waited for Maddie to get finished.
Our girl with braids sitting on the beach.
The boys doing a little snorkel practice before heading out to the deeper water. Ashton loved it. Maddie wasn't so sure about trying out there.
All four of us in the super clear water.
Ashton and Maddie
Our view from where we ate lunch beachside.
The kids posed with the balloon guy after we finished up our lunch.
Ashton and Maddie
Miss Diva
This is after school let out and they kids were all walking home.
We had a nice time checking out Jamaica and the beach there was wonderful. We spent a couple of hours there and then ate our lunch and head out.
And our animal for the day. :-)
Monday morning we got up with a plan to relax and just play all day. Here we are having breakfast on the back of the boat before hitting the pool. :-) Alex and I each read on our books by the pool while the kids played and then I took a little nap and they all played until time for dinner. We let the kids go to camp carnival for dinner and we had a dinner with some friends that were there we played baseball with a couple seasons ago. It was nice to just hang out as adults and chat. After dinner, this showgirl was out posing for pictures with guests and I snapped this picture of her and Alex.
Ashton and Maddie standing there in front of them.
Ashton and Maddie practiced their snorkeling in the pool before we called it a night for some dinner and of course, SHOPPING for Mommy. :-)
