Dear Hannah and Nathan,
We just got back from a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean and I've officially decided that with toddlers, cruising is definitely the way to travel. Our itinerary started in Houston with 2 days at sea before we hit Cozumel, Belize City, and Roatan, which we spent a day at each and then it was another relaxing 2 days back to Houston. Nathan, you told me at the end of the trip that you wanted to stay on the ship forever. But like all good things, our vacation ended and we are now safely home. We made lots of good memories, which you guys probably won't remember too much, so I'm going to record them here as best as I can.
I'm going to divide this entry into 5 themes: exploring, water, animals, kids club, and food. Which I think pretty much describes all the things that we did on the trip, not to mention early morning wake-ups.
Exploring.
From the moment we arrived at the port, there was exploring to be done. Simply waking on the promenade and watching the vastness of the ocean was pretty exciting for both of you.
Hannah loved watching the waves and both of you guys loved running against the ocean wind.
In the mornings, it was always exciting to open up the port hole to see what sights were outside. Sometimes we saw oil rigs, sometimes we saw other cruise ships or a new port, but most of the time, it was just clear, blue water.
The first morning, we explored all parts of the ship. We walked up to as high as we could go and spent some time just soaking in the vastness of the ocean.
It was super windy, so everyone had to hold on tight.
Later in the afternoon, we walked up to the bridge to watch the captains hard at work.
We spent lots of time on the elevator, which was often really crowded.
And by the end of the trip, Nathan was pretty much the elevator porter whenever we were riding. As people got on the elevator, you would ask them which floor, and push the button for them. You even held the "open door" button to make sure no one would get crushed by the automatic doors. You captured the hearts of everyone who rode the elevators with your little sayings and explanations of just random things, from the boo boo on your pinky toe, to why we shouldn't press all of the buttons.
We learned lots of useful skills like towel folding, and napkin folding.
And Nathan, you even joined me for a dance class. All the ladies commented on how good of a dancer you are. You danced alongside me for about 50% of the 45 minute class, sitting out during the super fast songs, or the super slow songs that "make you sleepy."
Hannah, you were not as charismatic as Nathan was, as you reserved your smiles for the most gentlest of souls that you encountered. But you loved exploring different things on the ship, feeling the textures, taking in the music, and watching people just do crazy things.
You two even managed to get some shuffle board practice in.
Each night after dinner, we would return back to our room to find a new special friend on the bed.
As you guys started to notice the pattern, Nathan mostly, would start to look forward to seeing what animal would be on the bed tonight. Most of the time, they were very recognizable and cute,
But there were a few that were a bit on the ferocious side.
But most of the time, you guys loved them so much that if they got knocked over, tantrums quickly followed.
As you can see, Hannah is a bit more cautious around these towel creatures.
But on the last night, Hannah, you were the first to want to reach out and touch the penguin.
Our favorite port was Roatan, Honduras. Even though I ended up with a classic case of heat exhaustion, the trip on the island was still memorable in a good way.
We visited Gumbalimba preserve and went on their tour. At first Nathan was not too excited about the trip, but after entering into the pirate's cove, and seeing the treasure, you told me, "I like this place now."
There was also a shakey rope bridge that was scary even for me to cross. This picture was taken early on before I decided that I needed to hold on with both hands. This bridge was about 100 yards across so in the middle, things got a bit wobbly, but Nathan, you were able to cross the toughest parts, by simply holding Daddy's hands.
And then we visited the insectarium where Nathan, you found a display cases of butterflies that are your favorite color.
Hannah, you were so tired towards the end that when I asked you if you wanted to sleep, you simply just nodded at me and fell asleep as soon as I put you on the stroller.
I'm really glad we decided to get a room with a view because you two really liked to hang out by the window. This picture was taken this morning as we were packing up and when we turned around, we saw that Hannah had climbed up to the window by yourself. We all wondered how you got up there.
Water.
What would a Caribbean cruise be without some fun in the sun? In Cozumel, we hailed a cab from Punta Langosta to Chankanaab National Park and spend the afternoon there. We spent some time at the small beach, but most of my time with Hannah was spent napping at the hammocks towards the edge of the park.
Since kids were not allowed in the big pools on the ship, we spent a lot of time at the kiddy pool, which was perfectly fine for you guys.
At both Belize and Roatan, we had to ride tenders (boats that took you to shore), as opposed to simply walking on a bridge to get onto land. Nathan really enjoyed riding the "little boats" and even asked if we could just stay on it.
I'd say we probably spend less than average time in the water as most of our time outdoors was spent exploring jungles, which leads us to the next theme...
Animals.
At Belize, we ended up lucking out and got a private tour of the Belize zoo, which is similar to Austin's zoo in that it is a sanctuary for rescued animals. I think it ended up working out well because when you wake up at 4:30 in the morning, I don't know how you both would've done in a large group setting.
It took Nathan awhile to become excited about looking at the animals. You just wanted to ride in the stroller, but as soon as we gave you the map of the zoo, you started to get a bit more excited.
We saw howler monkeys, and spider monkeys, which we thought were both pretty cool, but our family favorite would have to be the howler monkeys. They were just a bit cuter. Hannah can even say "Monkey."
And then we saw a real big bird. It was a stork whose wing span reached 4 feet. We had both of you stand next to the sign. Perhaps we will visit it again and can take the same picture.
At the zoo, we had the best red beans and rice that I've ever had and our tour guide even took a family picture for us. I think this is one of 2 family pictures that we took on the trip.
At Roatan, we saw lots more animals, even closer up, perhaps a bit too close at times. Below is the green iguana, which apparently changes colors as it gets older.
There were Macaws that would perch on your shoulder.
The talons were a bit intimidating for Nathan to try, and Hannah was not a big fan of having a feathered friend perch so close.
And I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but this is a mommy monkey carrying a baby monkey on her back...hmm, kind of like someone I know.
Nathan was pretty excited about giving a monkey a hug and this was as close as you got to "hugging" a monkey. They were pretty cute.
Again, Hannah was NOT a big fan of me carrying another monkey on my back. If your little hands are any indication of the complaining that you expressed, you made yourself pretty clear.
I think it was a pretty cool experience to be able to be so close to animals that we can't even see here in the states.
Splash Acadamy (AKA: The Kid's Program)
The kids' program on the ship was pretty phenomenal. The daily themes were very age appropriate and when we were at a port, the themes went along with what you can see/do at the ports. The face painting was also pretty awesome. Nathan got his face painted 3 times. The first day, he was spiderman.
The next night, he came back to us a pirate, and the third one, I'll show you a picture later.
While we could drop Nathan off at the program, Hannah, being too young, hung out with us, but they also had lots of fun stuff for kids her age to do too. Each day, there's a short program for the little ones. In the picture below, Hannah is painting with chalk, which apparently is edible, but not too delicious, according to Hannah who exclaimed "Yuck!" after putting the yellow one in her mouth.
And here, Hannah, you are making a handprint and footprint.
One day, Nathan joined in on the fun.
On the second to last day, the kids program had all the kids perform in a circus themed show. The 3-5 year olds performed a little tiger show where they all lined up and jumped through hula hoops. Nathan was the last in line and had a special little number that he did. Instead of simply jumping through the hoop and roaring, the counselors had him take the hula hoop and attempt to turn it around his waist. It was pretty cute.
Nathan, you became quite the celebrity among the counselors. On the second day, when I was picking you up from the kid's club, I walked up and asked for you. The counselor told me, "I'm not his counselor, but I heard that he's really smart. He's the 3 year old that beat 6,7,and 8 year olds at the Wii. Now, the day before, Nathan, you told me that you won at Wii, but we both just shrugged it off, and we hastedly acknowledged that you "won." but when I heard that from another person, I was a bit shocked, actually.
Oh, and here you are after the show. I am very proud of you to have done such a great job in front of so many people.
Food.
When people said that you will never go hungry on a cruise, they were not lying. You can get all sorts of food 24 hours a day. Hannah's favorite (besides the dessert) were grapes. You asked for them at every meal!
And I can't finish this post without mentioning Washy washy guy. This guy's job is simply to sanitize people's hands as they entered into the buffet area. But he does this for hours, with just as much enthusiasm at hour 5 than at the start of his shift. He became some sort of a celebrity by the end of the cruise. Everyone knew who he was. It's pretty inspiring to see how a person's attitude can be so contagious. His job was to spray people's hands with a spray bottle and he did it so well and with so much gusto that he became famous for it in such a short time. I'm sure he's set out to do great things.
Nathan, you were sure to finish your plate each night so that you could order a fancy dessert, or get some swirly ice cream with sprinkles.
And here is Hannah, again, with more grapes.
This was our dinner view each night. Beautiful, ain't it?
One night, I thought it would be fun for us to have some teppanyaki. This is where the chefs cook the food in front of you, while performing fancy tricks. Well, we should've saved this for last, because every night afterwards, Nathan, you would ask if we could eat at that place again. I mean, who wouldn't want to eat at a place where they throw eggs in the air to make fried rice (which is your favorite) and also serve edamame beans for an appetizer?
There were a few nights were we ate at fancier restaurants (despite Garden Cafe, which is the buffet, was Nathan's favorite place to eat). You both did pretty good at the table for about an hour and 15 minutes. Anything beyond, table tea lights start to become attractive and high chairs start to become jungle gyms.
Bagged cereal were favorite snack items. Hannah, if you weren't playing or swimming, you pretty much had a bag in your hand at all times.
Here you are showing us that your bag is empty...and why it isn't full.
Both of you guys were also a huge fan of the bread that was served at the fancy restaurants. In the picture below, Hannah, you didn't not want the slice of bread, you wanted what was left of the loaf!
Nathan found a new favorite way to eat pizza, over your hand, with lemon juice sprinkled on top.
And here we are at Nathan's favorite: Garden cafe kid's section.
On our way home, we turned Hannah's car seat around. After riding in the front of a van with Hannah in Mexico, or in the back of a SUV with both kids sans car seat, we both decided that turning Hannah around to face forward in the car seat to make her more comfortable and happy in the car isn't the end of the world.
Both you guys don't usually don't sleep much on car rides, but at 11:30 am, both of you conked out in the car on the drive home from Houston.
We had such a great trip. Not only was it your first cruise, it was also Mommy and Daddy's first cruise as well. We hope to be able to go on more cruises in the future. Hopefully Hannah won't be freaked out too much by shower heads and you guys will be able to sleep in the same room without waking each other up before 6:30 in the morning, which really was the toughest part of the trip, (which really isn't bad at all). Who knows when or where our next cruise will be, but I know one thing for sure, this will not be our last one.
