Not just a towel...

Each night on the cruise, the staff would turn down our beds, put chocolates in the room, a brochure with the next days events and make some type of animal from towels.  Don and Nick were forever grabbing extra chocolates off the carts as we went back to our room.  I took a picture each night, I think I missed only one night.

Must be Dreamin.....

More about our wonderful cruise, I could post hundreds of pictures, we took over 200!  But I wont bore you, it truly was one of the best vacations ever! 

Our last port was in Costa Maya, Mexico. We decided to head into Costa Maya and take a shuttle or taxi to a beach. We went to Tequila beach, had a blast snorkeling and swimming, it was a short day because the ship left at 2pm.  The boys LOVED the Mexican Coke, it has sugar cane for a sweetener rather than high fructose corn syrup....wow it was so sweet.

It was a great day!  Took a taxi cab back to port, we squeezed the 5 of us into a really small taxi, 4 of us in the back and Nick up front.  When we got to the port we had to go through a check point and the guard asked our driver for our ship passes which happened to be in the trunk of the car.  Our driver said in spanish to the guard, "look at them don't they look like tourist"...not knowing that at least one of us knew spanish!

Our last formal night was awesome, all the wait staff sang and danced and got everyone up to dance.  Love the faces I caught on film and the dance moves!

It was a great trip, we were sad to see it end but have so many great memories!  We are so lucky to have been able to go with all 3 boys.  Nick will be moving on to the next journey of his life as he graduates from high school and leaves for the Army this summer.  We will miss him but know that it is his time to shine!

Are we Dreamin'.......

The second day on the Carnival Dream was Easter, we spend the day at sea and enjoyed the 2 pools, 4 water slides and exploring the ship.

It was our first formal night too and I think we looked pretty good!

Our first port was Cozumel, Mexico. It was a beautiful day and everyone was excited about our excursion.

Our excursion was on a speed boat called the Twister.  The boat took you out to a private island but before you got to the island they took you on a wild ride. They played party music and did 360 spins in the boat.  It was crazy fun!! Our boat drivers were awesome.  The boat would spin in a wide fast  circle and was almost on its side and the spray of water was so intense.  You couldn't help but feel like you were on a wet roller coaster.  We were completely drenched from the trip over to the island.  Luckily, they warned you before and recommended that you wear only a bathing suit and put everything else in a water proof compartment on the boat.

Once on the island, it was all you could eat and drink.  They had water trampolines and slides, volleyball, kayaks.  It was an amazing experience.

We had another wild ride back to the port and even had time for Nick to have his first mango daiquiri.  Drinking age is 18 in Mexico and he was 17 years and 10 months....close enough!

Our next port was Belize.  We didn't have anything booked for this port but decided to take the tender boat to the port to walk around.  This was our least favorite port and dirty.  We saw a dead rat floating in the water when we got to Belize.  Boys thought it was cool, gross!!

Our next port was going to be Maghoney Bay, which is an island off of Honduras.  But unfortunately the wind was so strong the ship couldn't dock.  We watched another cruise ship out our window trying to dock and just couldn't make it.  So we headed to our next port....

Just a Dream...

Wow, I'm having a hard time keeping up, life is fast these days.  The fam took a cruise for Spring Break and had a blast. It was the first time Justin and Ryan have been out the country so we got our passports and were ready to go! Packed all the boys, Nick, Justin and Ryan in the car and headed to Port Canaveral, FL.

We went on Carnival Dream, we had our doubts whether it would set sail due to all the issues with the cruise line but thankfully it went without a hitch.  So so much fun to get away with the boys. We enjoyed part of the day in Cocoa Beach, FL and just relaxed.

The moment all of the boys saw the boat, they could barely believe the size of it and that we would be spending a whole week on the ship.  It took a while to check in and met a nice couple from our hotel that rode the shuttle with us to the cruise ship and we talked on line for the next 1 1/2 waiting to get on the boat.  They were from IN, young, no kids.  The family behind us was from Charlotte, NC and lived in Ballantyne and we saw another family whose son went to Weddington HS, a town over from us.  Small world that in FL on vacation you meet people from your neck of the woods.

We made it aboard and the lobby had a glass elevator that went up 11 floors, very cool! We had to go to our muster station and get instructions on life jackets and life boats but after that we were FREE!  We made our way to our room to take it all in.

We were so surprised at the size of the room and window.  I thought we would just have a port hole.  The boys loved it. Justin and Ryan were could fit in it and look out and read.

Had to go to the Lido deck for the set sail party.  Oh wait first a stop to EAT... and then to the 24 hour soft-ice cream machines.  It was a minimum of at least 2 a day, your choice cone or bowl. Or as Ryan said 'ya gotta have at least 4, they are FREE'!!

 

Our first night at sea was really cold and windy. Thankfully I brought sweatshirts to wear, 'cause it was cold.  Justin and Ryan insisted that they had to go swimming in the pool.  Brrr.......

And got to see a beautiful sunset!  It was the perfect 1st day!

So much to do, No time to blog.....

We have been so busy...cruise, basketball, prom, karate tournament, novel published.....I have had no time to blog.  I have closed 2 houses this month and have 1 more closing at the end of the month.  Life has been great but just really busy.....Stay tuned...more to come

Cocoa Beach, FL before our cruise!

The Living Musuem - Daniel Boone

My little guy had to research a person who was dead, who contributed to society.  He then had to make note cards and put them on a poster board and write a speech to present at the 3rd grade Living Museum dressed as the person.  Ryan choose Daniel Boone.  He chose him because his grand-mom got him a cool raccoon hat last year while in the Boone, NC.

Parents would go from station to station and each child had a round sticker on their hand which acted like a button.  When you pushed the button the child would recite their speech.  It was so great to see all the kids dressed up.  They put so much time and effort into this project.

Everyone did such a great job on their speeches and boards.  Below are some of Ryan's friends: Steve Jobs (Owen), Teddy Roosevelt (Frankie), Babe Ruth (Curtis) and John Adams (Alex).