On The Ship

Who needed excursions? I mean they were fun and all, but there was so much to do on the ship itself that you could spend your whole time there. In addition to the shopping, poker, and casino that they had we spent a lot of time with the food, water slide, pools and spa. The ship activities definitely kept us busy. It was a big ship with so much to do that I was constantly getting lost *I know that's not saying much, but trust me it was a large ship*.

The boys sent all the girls to the spa for some relaxing treatment. They set us up with something called the Aroma Spa Ocean Wrap & Massage. This massage touted it's benefits for lasting up to 6 weeks by "combining the richness of the sea and aromatherapy". "You will be smothered in exotic warm aroma sea weed & then cocooned in a weightless foil". Unfortunately what they forgot to mention to Dave is that the "exotic warm aroma sea weed" is laced with Iodine (which I am allergic to) and is toxic to unborn children. Armed with this information, I opted for the Pregnancy massage , a much cheaper alternative and healthier for Kiya and I. There is nothing like a good massage - thank you boys. :)

The Spa
Yes, Clearly I need a tan to hang out with these ladies. Might I add it was the FIRST day of the cruise
The Massage Chair
Massage Rocks

While the girls were off at the spa, the boys took the kids to Build-a-Bear on the ship. Caiden had a blast stuffing his new bear which he has fondly named Mrs. Tina Bear. As you see, he REALLY got into the stuffing part of the whole adventure.
Caiden Picks his bear
Caiden stuffs his bear
He REALLY puts some elbow grease into it. He takes pride in his work.
All Done!
Testing to make sure it passes the huggably soft test...yep...sure did!

The water slide was a lot of fun. Pam & Jacob were hard core. They even went on the water slide when it was cold and the rest of us had towels wrapped around us. We all took turns going on the water slide. Yes, even I went, although I was careful about it - as you can see I was carrying my sunglasses the whole way down. :)
This is the view form where the water slide was
And of course...the waterslide!!
Pam, Dave and Jake waiting in line for the waterslide.
Dave coming on down
And Dave's splash!
Jake on his way down prepares by holding his nose
Jake's splash...one of these trips down Jake's splash got a lady waiting on the side all wet!! She was not happy - but she should have moved. You can clearly SEE the water slide.
Sue coming down the waterslide - glasses intact!
Pam looks like she had a lot of fun
This is me emerging...of course I had my sunglasses in hand, but I was more worried that my top might have come off. Thankfully, it didn't. The water ending was a surprise because it seemed like a longer journey.

After the water slide it was time for some fun in the sun and the pool. The kids loved the kid-size pool that we found, and we kind of took over and made it our own. :) I of course, was a bit embarrassed as I was wearing a bikini and I was 4 months pregnant. I spent most of the time covering my stomach...Dave said people wouldn't know I was pregnant...that was MY point. They would think I just needed to do some crunches. So here I am in a bathing suit four months pregnant.
The kiddie pool was a lot of fun
Jake and Caiden
Caiden swimming in rough waters...the jacuzzi
Pam and Jacob enjoying the sun
Me in a bathing suit...4 months pregnant. ugh!

At dinner, we ate everything in sight. Micah and Caiden entertained themselves by playing in the window. The servers really got into their jobs as they would dance and sing for us. It was a lot of fun. Wendy and Micah got up and started dancing with the servers one night, but Caiden chose to groove by the window. Very cute.




Cousin bonding time

Every night after dinner we would take in a show. And of course, we could always create one of our own. Here is Wendy, Micah and Caiden dancing. Dave and Caiden closed their eyes and counted to 20 before they went to find Wendy and Micah during Hide and seek!



Wendy, Micah and Caiden getting their groove on
I believe Caiden was channeling Elvis here...either that or Forrest Gump :)
Caiden and Daddy counting before they try to find Wendy and Micah

Sometimes we would meet in one room and play some games.




And of course every night after the day's activities we would come to our rooms and there would be a towel animal. Below are a few of the animals that the crew made for us. Sometimes they were accompanied by smiling cookies :)

The elephant
The monkey
I think this is a rabbit

If after the end of the day we still had some room leftover they would have MORE food. Here is a midnight buffet.





So as you can see there was PLENTY to do before we even GOT to port.