There are just a few things that weren’t worthy of the previous vacation blog posts (or that I forgot).
Not only did Rusty learn to pull up and cruise along the furniture, but he also cut his first top tooth while we were gone. He was an excellent traveler and made friends with the people we sat by on the plane. One woman was from Montana and just couldn’t get enough of him. She taught me that a blanket over a couple of trays on the airplane is much more convenient for changing diapers than the tiny bathroom. And Rusty did like eating sand. He didn’t mind putting handfuls in his mouth one bit! He wasn’t crazy about the ocean. In Jamaica when I tried dipping him, as soon as his toes hit the water, he curled up into the fetal position, grabbed on to me for dear life, and didn’t relax until we were back on shore.
We had a balcony room on the 9th floor and loved it. We knew we’d enjoy the extra room with 5 of us sharing and the room was perfect. The big boys slept toe-to-toe on the couch and Rusty had his own little pup tent type bed.
Uncle Tim and Aunt Kym were in the room next door.
Kevin had fun trying to take pictures of the seagulls flying by as we left Miami.
The boys really enjoyed the time we spent at Paradise Beach in Cozumel. They would have stayed all day – Ricky playing in the water and Billy playing in the sand. I brought along an empty formula bucket and it was worth gold that day as no one else on the beach had any type of sand bucket. We had to guard it carefully!
Our second port was Grand Caymen. We weren’t there very long and decided the boys would enjoy an adventure on a pirate ship more than anything (although they probably would have been happy with another day at the beach).
Ricky was very excited and enjoyed the interactions with the pirates. Billy was timid and enjoyed his view of the happenings from Kevin’s lap. The pirates checked the kids for lice and fleas, made them swab the deck, tied one mother to the mast and dumped ice cold water on her, and had the kids swear a pirates’ oath. The very first thing we did though was sail the boat around our cruise ship and fire several cannons at our ship. Kevin and I were just enjoying the sailing but Ricky was paying attention to the people sitting near us who were talking about our cruise ship sinking because of the cannons. The next we know, Ricky has great big crocodile tears running down his cheeks and a quivering lip. Ricky then said, “But what about Max and Penny?” His favorite stuffed cats were on the cruise ship and he was very concerned about them. We tried to comfort him but his next comment was, “And what about our suitcases?!” Ricky does have a tender heart.
The final activity was getting to swim in the Caribbean Sea. The pirates put out the plank and gave people the choice to jump off it or climb down the ladder. Kevin and the boys went right for the plank.
We did some shopping before heading back to the ship for a nap!
On Thanksgiving we stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We went with most of the family to Dunn’s River Falls. We took a boat that sailed the coastline (and only spewed a lot of smoke) and landed by the Falls. It is a waterfall you climb, but there are also stairs along side for others. I sent Ricky and Kevin up the falls and my mom and I took turns sitting on the beach with Rusty and Billy and climbing the stairs to see our family climb the falls. I took a lot of pictures, hoping to catch something good and these are the best of them. It at least gives a feel for what they did. Kevin and Ricky aren’t in most of them – I already posted their best ones.
Our last full day on ship was a rainy day, but Ricky insisted on swimming in the pool. Kevin is never one to turn down a chance to swim, so he took the big boys in. I think they spent more time getting into their swimming trunks then they actually spent swimming in the pool! It was a bit cold!
And that about covers our adventures. I’m sure I will think of funny things the boys said or did and have to add them later. Like Billy, who learned to use the word I instead of Me. Now if you ask, “who wants some soup?” Billy will reply, “I!” Or when Uncle Tony asked Billy where his food went and Billy answered as though Tony should have already known, “It went down my froat!”