the BEST part of the cruise:)

So, there were definitely a few moments on the cruise vacation when we wondered (to ourselves, aloud...) why on earth we chose to take 2 year olds on a cruise. Then there were A LOT of moments when we were having so much fun, our kids were so curious/entertaining, I was stuffing my face with the chocolate dessert, hanging out with the fam, etc. that we realized this was the best choice of vacation! It really was so much fun. Sorry for so many pics, but this is my own personal version of a scrapbook & I wanted to have it all.  So, here are some pics of the entertainment.

Lily & Anderson went to ""Camp Carnival" one night where Lily was dressed like a pirate for the theme night. Anderson didn't need to play dress up because he is a real pirate, of course. This was the night he pooped on himself in there & was too traumatized to stay. He was not a huge fan of the Camp situation because he didn't approve of their truck selection (mostly Chuck stuff-he prefers the real ones) & a lot of it was very art/craft oriented. It was pretty fun the bits that we did get him to stay and it is such a fun idea.

I am pretty sure Anderson is kicking Lily here. One of the themes of the trip. Lily is eating a pear. Another theme of the trip.

I am telling Lily a story about Rapunzel the Monster (had to throw that in to get Anderson to listen) using the decorative thing at the end of the bed. I have no idea if it has a name.

Sometimes we failed miserably at entertaining.

A toy store in Key West. Found some trains.

In a last minute decision, I bought a 5 pack of "City Worker" matchbox trucks at Kohls. Thank goodness because "play with my trucks" became yet another theme of the trip.

He occasionally thought about sharing the pink one with Lily. Then, he needed it back immediately.

Giant chess game. Trying to bring some education to the vacation.

The trucks. Lemonade in a fancy glass.

My mom had a bag of goodies (and that patience thing) so she was awesome at keeping them entertained.

One of the few times he would actually stay at Camp Carnival he made a magnet and candy! Huge shout out to GG for the wardrobe. Love this shirt with the glasses & the A. Speaking of, we did NOT get an A+ for keeping the patch on, which is a story for another day.

ha ha!! I love this face!

Making due with sand before we actually made it to the beach.

Anderson loved these lions that were outside of a bar on our way to dinner. He & Lily put their hands in them & roared. The night we got home Anderson told me he wanted to go eat chicken at the place with the lions.

One game was called "Stand in front of the color". Very original.

Really, really giddy about the thought of our kids staying at Camp Carnival. Pretty sure the phone they gave us rang right after this to tell me Anderson pulled his patch off, went to the bathroom or was hungry. We were all shocked on the hungry one but Mom figured out he was asking for "Bobble" & they probably thought it was "Bottle" !

Mom is playing ball Lily & I have created train tracks in the sand so Anderson and I can run up and down as trains. Room.

Anderson just attacked Lily (a love attack, I'm sure) & then ran off as Lily remained traumatized.

Trying to console her after he attacked her. He really is obsessed with her. It is precious. 

the to and the fro

 Part 2 of the Spring Break trip: the traveling.
 We were on 4 different flights due to layovers both ways, which meant a lot of time to keep Anderson entertained confined to a seat that he could very easily unbuckle! He was so, so excited about the airplane, the big ship, all of the "trains" (shuttles), the fact that he didn't have to sit in a car seat in the Bahamas & ALL of the construction that we passed as we  rode around the islands. The boy does love his transportation. He has a cute airplane shirt on for the ride. Love a theme. 

 

 

We traveled to Orlando & spent the night before boarding the ship the next day, which happened to be St. Patrick's Day (happy birthday, Jeannie!). You know this boy loves his green, so this was a big day for him. It would have been even bigger had he not woken up at 4:30am as this put in him a Grumpy mood for a chunk of the day. But, not at this point! Love these guys:)

The hotel we stayed at was right next to a Waffle House so he made the kids get a part time job to cover their share of the trip. It was about time.

Push ups after dinner. We are pretty sure they thought this was the vacation. Look at the second round of airplane travel attire-Nicole bought him these appliques on Etsy and I love them.

The only pic of the 3 of us on the trip.

Playing with trains in the Orlando airport.(We missed you, Jack!) I stockpiled a few things during the after Christmas clearances in anticipation for the trip.

Lots of Mickey propaganda

After a 15 hour day on the way home he finally crashed at the airport. He was so tired that he slept the entire flight home! So thankful for my parents who helped keep him entertained/

This super nice woman at Wendy's was super sweet & gave Anderson one of each of their kids' meals toys. (I will work the patch sympathy when I need to...) One of them was a "Create your own monster" kit! This, along with fruit snacks, m&ms, a bobcat & Brandon's ability to draw very detailed construction equipment allowed the passengers around us to not go crazy. 

Waiting for our shuttle. I think we left with 20 little boxes of cereal. It's my hoarding gene. 

In Nassau, having a GREEN snack, watching construction. Forget the fact that there was a view of the ocean on the other side. No, we had to watch the backhoe. Also, the green ice cream was pistachio almond. I kept trying to convince him to get chocolate but he actually ate almost a whole scoop of the green!

Cruisin'

 

We went on a cruise over Spring Break! It was SO exhausting fun! This post had so many pics, I divided it into 3 parts-the traveling, the cruise and the constant, never ending attempts at keeping our kids entertained on a ship/plane. These pics are not going to be in any order and I have very few captions, but I think they are pretty self explanatory. 

Literally the best one of the 2 of them in their matching shirts.

Mparents love a game of any kind so they jumped in on every one offered on board.

My parents, us, the Hughes' fam and parents-a  big group!

Nassau, Bahamas!

Since it was March, it was definitely a bit chilly. We couldn't afford the summer prices and really it was nice to not worry about sunburn and melting from heat.

Apparently the Bahamas don't believe in car seats.

Don't be deceived. This was about 1% of the trip.

Key West, FL was our first stop. They are making shark faces.

We kept our phones turned off because it was super expensive and Emily is due any day now with my niece, Stella, so we just knew she was in labor while we were gone. So, we had a few beers in her honor! However, as of posting time, she is still preggers! Come on, Stella-we are ready for you!

Love the towel animals.

The only souvenir we bought was a $2 bulldozer candy thing in a store in Freeport. It was wonderful because it provided some major entertainment on the plane ride home.

Anderson went to bed about 9 every night and was up at his normal time (5:30-6) every day with a few quick naps sprinkled here and there. I have to think, again,  that a kid who sleeps would be crazy (crazy=easy). It really is the game changer. The positive thing about the cruise ship was that when he woke up early we could take him to the deck and let him run around because nobody else would be up for a few hours. My awesome mom did keep Anderson 2 nights for us and I slept until 7:30!! I had no idea that existed.

We celebrated Lily's birthday a few days early!

A glimpse of the other 99% of the time when they weren't holding hands.

Apparently our faces didn't get the memo that we are identical. Also, I realize I need a haircut desperately, I have just been crazy busy the last few weeks. It will happen soon.

We are such huge nerds & our favorite things about the cruise were the constantly available coffee (both our kids are early risers. Lily needs even less sleep than Anderson does. Shudder.), the oatmeal bar and the comfy beds.