Cruise/Florida Vacation 11.27.15-12.14.15

So, this blog has come to be a vacation blog for us. I seem to always have too much going on to blog about day to day life or even month to month. I have other forms of journaling that are working well for me and takes less time that blogging. But I love keeping track of our vacations on here so that we can remember all the details with pictures.

We had the opportunity to go on a 17 day vacation December 2015! I know, I know, we're the luckiest people on the planet! We've been planning on going on this Eastern Caribbean cruise since March or April 2015. We went with two other families in Darrin's family and brought our two older kids while leaving Caden who's 15 months and wouldn't fully appreciate a vacation of this magnitude. He got to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Simon and Aunt Chrissy and had a wonderful time with them. (THEY ARE AMAZING!)

Here's the day to day details of the trip:

Friday: spent the day traveling since 4am. The kids loved the planes and were great. Spencer kept saying how his Bear loved the airplane :). It took quite a while to get the rental car but then we drove to pick up dinner and go to Darrin's co workers house to stay with his family for the night. It was a massive house that was still under renovations. It was fun to get to know them and it was really nice of them to let us stay the night!

Saturday: woke up at 4:30am to drive to Miami parking lot to get to the cruise port. We arrived at the parking lot at 8:40am. Then they told us they couldn't park us until 10:30 or 11!! So we waited and waited. Apparently they lost a whole box of keys of the people who were just coming back from their cruise!! So, we didn't get to go until 1 and didn't get to the port until 1:30! It cut it really close seeing as how we were supposed to be on the ship by 2pm. But we made it! Then we ate, explored the ship, did the mandatory safety explanation, registered the kids with kids club, dinner, and then went hot tubing and watched some of "The Rookie" and came back to our room for snacks and bed. The boys LOVED their beds and loved to jump from bed to bed.

Taking off

Sunday: slept in until 10am!! Even the kids!! It was so dark in the room that we didn't know! Then we went to breakfast, did mini golf, and did the ropes course including walking the plank and ziplines. The kids went to kids club, we went to make pizzas, then back to our room to get ready for dinner. We went to family fued, picked up the kids, went to dinner with rich and Dani's family. After that the kids went back to the kids club, we went to a comedy show and the newlyweds game snow where Darrin and I were contestants. Super embarrassing but fun and we got some prizes :). Then we picked up the kids and had snacks in our room. 

  

Monday: ate breakfast, then Darrin and I did the ropes course again with rich, Brooklyn and Jenna while the kids were with Jacob and Jillian in the water park. Then we took the kids to the kids club while we went down the water slides again and again and again :). We picked the kids up, got ready for dinner and ate at the Taste restaurant. After dinner we went to a show called the million dollar quartet. It was FANTASTIC!

Walking the plank 20 stories up

Tuesday:

Today we stopped in St. Thomas. We caught the dollar bus to a beach and did snorkeling there. It wasn't the best snorkeling. The first time going out the with the kids we saw literally a few fish, a clam, and some live conchs. Then we played on the beach, made a sand man. a snowman in the sand :), and Darrin went back out snorkeling. He told us to come back out, we did and saw some turtles and Darrin saw some stingrays. The kids loved playing on the beach. Then we headed back on the dollar bus back to the ship. Lunch. Played at the kids splash pad, dinner, Comedy show. To bed for the night. 

Gorgeous BLUE water!

Mr. Sand Man

On the dollar bus 

Check out the sweet water slides and ropes courses at the top of our ship :)

Wednesday:
Stop at Tortilla. We took a taxi $20/each way (super nice taxi-also didn't have us pay until we made it back to our ship) to the beach. We went snorkeling. It was OK. Some pretty coral and lots of large schools of fish. Nice calm water. The kids had a great time playing and digging in the sand. When we got back we went to play at the kids splash pad. Got ready. Comedy show. Hilarious. Went to dinner after at the Manhattan with Rich and Dani's family. Then back to our room for the night. 

Thursday:
Slept in again :). Then breakfast, fun at the pool, a q&a with the captain- that was interesting, the kids did a circus performance (the boys were tigers :)), lunch, the ropes course again, the kids ropes course, boche ball, came back to our room to get ready for dress up dinner, went to "after midnight" a musical while the kids were in kids club, and then to dinner with Rich and their kids, then to the glow in the dark party for a bit which was fun!

Dress up Dinner

My FAVORITE food of all the cruise. I got so many of them...Hot Lava Cake

Jenna Plankin' it

Rich Plankin' it

Kids circus performance

GLOW PARTY!

Friday: breakfast, Dodgeball, Wii dance, q&a with entertainment staff, got off at Nassau, Bahamas. Walked to the beach about a 15 minute walk, cloudy, played in the soft soft sand, played catch in the ocean, buried people in the sand, went shopping, got kids t-shirts, walking turtles, back onto ship, shower, dinner at the Manhattan where we sat right next to the live band, Spencer asked them to play Christmas music, then shopping, the international crew talent show, kids fell asleep, went back to our room, I brought up late night snacks, packed up and slept. 

Cruise ship behind us

Watch out for the SHARK!

Mermaids in the sand

Saturday:
Went to a sit down breakfast on the ship, took our time, went to disembark, got pulled to the side for security since Darrin's identity was stolen, got off, it was POURING rain, the shuttle picked us up about 20 minutes later to get our car. They had our car waiting for us which was a huge answer to prayers seeing as how on the way out it was such a hassle and fiasco. We drove the 3 hours mostly in the rain to Orlando. We went shopping for groceries at Costco and Walmart and then headed to our resort. It's super nice and has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining area, and full kitchen. We got this place through Patti for like $35/night!! It also has activities, 2 pools, hot tubs, mini golf, games, shuffle board etc. So we rented a movie, watched it with popcorn, and then went swimming and hot tubing. Then the kids went to bed while Darrin and I watched another movie. 

Last meal of the Cruise :(

Sunday: church. 1 hr 45 minute drive to the beach. Clearwater Beach was amazing today. Found SO many cool shells, sponge, a huge starfish, fast moving crabs, Spencer got his Peanut Butter and Jam sandwich stolen right from his little fingers by a gang of greedy seagulls (poor buddy :)), sand castle making, sand angels, perfect temperature, coolest texture of sand ever (felt like that moon cloud sand stuff), and coolest of all was seeing a dolphin swimming so close! It was closer than the buois and came up probably 8 times. Ahhhh!!! Check that of the bucket list :). Then back to the hotel for dinner and swimming with Jason and Patti's family.  

Lookin' cool at the beach after church

Shells, Shells and TONS more SHELLS!

Just before the seagulls stole that sandwich from him...

 Monday: Hollywood studios. Took the shuttle there. Tower of terror x2, toy story x1, rock n roll coaster x2, star tours x1. Lots of fantastic shows including beauty and the beast, an incredible stunt show, Indiana Jones, little mermaid, frozen sing a long, and more! Then we walked through their Christmas light display which was incredible and complete with "snow", then we watched the fantasmic show and took our first uber ride back to the hotel.  


Toy Story


Partying with Minnie


This RollerCoaster was AWESOME!
The Lights here were incredible and it was WARM! So cool and strange :)

 Tuesday: Universal Orlando. When we got there we were able to get right on our first rides which was awesome. We got to meet tons of characters, play, see some great shows, explore Harry Potter world of hogesmade which was absolutely incredible! Fear factory live was way cool to watch. Their kids play areas were super fun-especially the ball play factory play land! We had a great day here and it certainly topped Disney this time! Then we stopped at Walmart for some more groceries and home for dinner and a movie.  

He was SO realistic! Talking, moving and interacting

Butterbeer was delicious! Worth $5/cup...questionable. Very similar to cream soda. 

I spy a grown man and a boy who's experiencing pure JOY :)

 Wednesday: Island of adventure universal studios today. We got to ride every ride in the park and many multiple times. Highlights include: harry potters Hogesmade and Hogwarts. Parker and Spencer got to do many tricks with our wand, they had a roller coaster that even Spencer was tall enough for that we rode I think 6 times, Daddy and Parker getting soaked on the rapids ride, Spencer getting terrified with our encounter with a raptor, the Posidens fury show (SO great!), the Grinch mas musical show which was SO good, and getting to meet a bunch of doctor suess characters 

Hogwarts

His want just wouldn't work...lol

SO strong!

Thursday: Such a great day at animal kingdom today. Highlights include: the safari (soooo cool! We saw leopards, a bunch of hippos, elephant, giraffes (including baby ones), crocodiles, birds and much more), Finding Nemo the musical (I cried. And it was simply incredible! One of the best musicals I've seen. Ever), Everest expedition (super fun roller coaster that Parker is tall enough for. The best he's been on. He got to ride it 8 times), the lion king show (like a circus and musical in one. It was great!) 
Safari Hippos
Look how close we were to the animals on the Safari. So neat. 
Train Ride
Petting Zoo


This tree was absolutely incredible!
Favorite ride at animal kingdom! Expedition Everest! Parker got to go 8 times!

 Friday: universal studios Florida for the second time. Highlights include rock n roll coaster, the mummy ride, transformers (all incredible rides), FEAR FACTOR LIVE (Darrin was a contestant and did great! There were 5 competitor's. He didn't win the whole thing but got to do some super awesome stuff including hanging 60 feet off the ground holding onto that little yellow bar, grabbing bean bags out of an aquarium full of eels, AND handling and catching rancid jellyfish! That's my man!! So exciting and crazy intense! I was also in the show doing their critter challenge! Parker got to spin the wheel to see what creatures they put on my head. It landed on scorpions! He was a bit bummed because he wanted the tarantulas on my head! But he was still excited :). So, they put 5 of the deadliest scorpions in the world on my head while my head was in an enclosed box with ear plugs, a mask for my mouth and goggles and boy were they crawling! I can't even explain how they felt crawling on me. My whole face was TINGLING! But I survived and it was a crazy incredible experience! It was cool that we both were able to participate!) The Christmas Macy's parade was also awesome!! Best parade we've ever seen! There was Santa, dancing people on stilts, a great middle school marching band, gigantic floating balloons and lots of characters. Spencer absolutely adored the E.T. ride and woody the woodpecker ride. After we were done at the park we went home, had dinner and went swimming.  

HILARIOUS!

Darrin hanging 60 feet in the air

Scorpions...on my head!

His partner on the show. They didn't win but had a great time, were REALLY good at itm and were extremely entertaining to watch. 

Saturday: today we drove an hour and a half to go to St. Pete to go on a dolphin and snorkeling boat tour. We went with about 10 other people (not crowded at all). We saw tons of DOLPHINS with their little families and even babies. Eek!! Dream come true! We all LOVED our day today! It was $120 total tip included and so worth it! We went to an island called Egmont key. We found a bunch of awesome shells, saw some tortoises and we all including the kids got to see a stingray who kept coming up to our feet just walking along the shore. Cute little guy. 

Look how close we were!

I think this one is my favorite. I hold so much love for them!

Sunday: We were all sick so we stayed in our room being sick. Then got enough energy to go swimming. Then rested more and packed up. 

Monday: Went to Gator Land and saw hundreds of gators. Parker got picked for one of their shows and got to choose the gator that they wrestled. He was super close to them. Then they gave him an aligator tooth for participating :). We then headed home from 85 degree weather to a massive snow storm. Also, we forgot to wear pants and came home to at lease 18 inches of snow....only 10 more days till Christmas!



















So, as you can see, we had a FANTASTIC vacation! I feel so blessed to have been able to make such wonderful memories with my family. We couldn't have done it without Grandma and Grandpa Simon and Aunt Chrissy! And a special thanks to my mother who drove us to and from the airport. My family is amazing!