We recently went on vacation. Just the 3 of us. Our first big vacation with just the 3 of us. This was my 3rd cruise, hubbys 2nd and Gabe's 1st. I really just wanted to take it all in. Wanted to enjoy our family time together. Wanted to cherish my son at 11.5 yrs old and the awesome person he is. So we went with no plans, no excursions planned, no dress clothes in our bags, no fancy dinners, just us being us.
And part of just being in the moment means leaving your camera behind. I took it out on deck now and then but for the most part left it in the room. And my boys are not big fans of having their picture taken, so I didn't bother much with the challenge. But I love me some landscape pics, so that's mostly what I came home with!
This was the view from our Ft. Lauderdale hotel room! Pier 66 and the marina just across the parking lot, my boys were in heaven!
That building is our hotel, The Hyatt.
The building with the blue roof behind Gabe is the Pelican Landing (very good food!) where we ate dinner outside. We heard that the second yacht back on the left side is owned by Steven Spielberg!
We boarded the ship, Royal Caribbean Allure of the Seas! Currently the largest cruise ship...I think!
Yes, we have to go thru that channel with this huge ship! I would have liked to have seen it from the shore.
This was while our ship was backing up to leave. Other ship is Princess. There was also a Carnival ship in front of us. Our hotel was the tall building on the right.
Florida beach with the Hyatt in the background.
It's fun to see all the people in the yards and on the beach waving to us!
Are you still with me?!! We've just barely left FL!
Nassau, Bahamas and Atlantis
Disney ship was docked next to us! See that clear water tube/slide that goes around the top deck? We were totally jealous of that!
Gabe on the Flowrider!
1 of the 3 or 4 pools on deck.
The best time to swim is when we're at port and most people have left the ship! Gabe LOVES swimming and spent most of his time in the pool. I know he would have loved a ship with a waterslide, these pools were pretty boring!
Big round hot tub next to the pool. And behind that is the frozen yogurt machine that we really enjoyed! One day I think Gabe had 3 or 4 chocolate cones all before lunch! But it's okay because it's vacation!:)
As the week went on I had to go from sun chairs to shade chairs! The Caribbean gave me quite a sunburn and a new layer of skin!
St. Thomas
And we did have a few rainy days with clouds.
That's most of my pics! Nothing too exciting but we did have a nice and relaxing time together! I do think Royal Caribbean was much nicer than Carnival or Princess that I've been on before.
Highlights:
*I found my spare camera battery in my suitcase when I opened it on the ship! It's been missing since we came back from vacation last year!
*After we left Florida, we were unplugged for the week! No phone, email or internet! Kind of nice for a change!
*The watch sales! Waiting in the crowds for the $19.99 watch sale on board and then searching and reaching for the perfect watch!
*Then later in the day I found a $9.99 watch sale and couldn't pass that up either!
*Frozen yogurt anytime!
*Introducing Gabe to people from other countries that work on the ship and learning about their lives and culture.
*Gabe loving the buffet and putting one of each dessert on his plate!
*Watching movies together! We watch a lot of tv shows so it's nice to watch movies together. We watched 3D movies in the theatre (The Croods and Madagascar 3), James Bond Skyfall on the outdoor theatre one night and some movies in our room!
Not so great memories:
*Me getting seasick even though I was taking meds.
*Long travel days. There is just no Good way to get from Oregon to Florida or back!
*Too much sun = me getting sick. Like now, get me out of this elevator, make way because I'm going to pass out or throw up on you! Luckily our room was right by the elevator and some rest and downtime was all I needed! But thank you honey for conditioning my hair while I was sick in the shower!
*Group of ten older ladies traveling together who pissed me off in the airport on our way home! I had just been drama free for a week and these ladies decide to cram in next to me in the airport lobby seating! Ten of them all talking at once, can't figure out their cell phones, where's the coffee shop, call Jimmy, want to play cards, check with June she has some of those in her bag, where did you get your suitcase, Julie had her baby...Oh My God! I wanted to pull my hair out! Luckily the boys were strewn across the dirty airport floor plugged into the dvd player, didn't hear any of it but Christopher was getting the evil eye from me and he didn't know why! We ended up finding new seats!
*San Francisco airport...nothing good to say about that place. We barely made connections to and from because of their stupid terminals being so far away!
And I should just stop here while the good out weighs the bad! Ha!
I did journal the whole trip so I'm sure there is some I'm missing but I'll spare you the details tonight!
Bless your heart if you made it to the end!
