March 2014 - Cruise part 1

On March 6, 2014 we loaded up the van and drove to Galveston, TX to head out on our first family cruise. Ryan and I have gone on a few cruises without the kids, but this was going to be a completely different experience for us. We kept telling the kids we were going on a big boat. I don't think they had any idea what we meant. When commercials for cruises would come on the TV we'd try to explain that we were going on a boat like that and they would get really excited.

We went on the cruise with 3 other families. All 3 families had a kid Andrew's age and Bailey's age so they all had friends to play with. The lines to get on the ship were short compared to our previous cruises which was great since the kids aren't so patient and with friends to play with it made it much better than it could have been.

We got on the ship and walked up to get some food. The kids quickly learned there is a lot of food on the boat, including 24 hour ice cream!

After lunch we went and found the mini golf course. Our group of 19 easily took over the course.

We waked around showing the kids all the fun things to do on the cruise ship. The kids were excited to play in the pool later. I got comfy in a lounge chair as quickly as possible.

Goodbye Galveston!

Andrew and Bailey were in the same day care group called Camp Carnival. I'm glad Bailey was able to stay with Andrew. I was worried because she just started potty training the week before, but so far she was doing well. Andrew said he'd keep an eye on her and ask if she needed to go potty randomly and help her if she needed it. He really is an awesome big brother. As far as I know there were no problems.

Our days on the ship started with us eating breakfast together. We found an area that had larger tables for our large group to meet, so every morning we would see our friends there without planning it. Then we would play till 10 and then we'd drop the kids off at Camp Carnival. Then we'd play games or golf or talk for a while before lunch. One cool thing we learned was Camp Carnival gives the adults of the little kids a cell phone that works on the ship to call in case of emergency. Since normal cell phones don't work we were worried that we'd have a hard time finding each other if we separated. One of our friends figured out we could call each other on the cell phones and that made it so nice for us to go in groups to trivia or go take a nap and we knew we'd be able to find each other again later. It was wonderful!

We'd pick up our kids a couple hours later and have lunch with them and our friends. Then we'd hang out and play or go to the pool or something until it was time to get ready for dinner. We then dropped our kids off at the kids area again where they ate dinner there and the adults could go to the dining room and enjoy a meal with just adults.

Most cruises have a formal night on the ship where the attire for the dining rooms is more dressy than the other nights. I love having a reason to get dressed up. Here are all the adults. I really loved spending time with these wonderful people!

After dinner we would go play games, or go to a comedy show or something. Then we'd go pick up our kids at 10pm. The first night we left the kids there Andrew said "Why'd you take so long to come get us. I'm tired" The kids were asleep within 10 minutes of laying down. :)

The first night on the ship the kids area wasn't open and the kids, who were sharing a bed stayed up for hours talking/laughing/fighting. It made it a lot easier to leave them at Camp Carnival till 10 when we knew they'd fall asleep quickly. The first night on the ship we had a family dance party. That was really fun. There's video of that coming in part 2.