Travel & Vacation
Travel & Vacation: Dinner and A Show
Brina listening intently to the conversation…completely forgetting that it is not ladylike to put her knees up on the table!
We spent the day heading over to Grand Cayman, exploring the island, taking a boat ride out to swim with the stingrays and snorkeling. After we were back on the ship for the night we went to the Family Arcade Night, ate dinner, and went to the evening show before officially crashing for the day. It was a fun day packed full of wonderful memories for the entire family!
It was a super fun filled day. Karlie crashed for a power nap in her seat at dinner. Although she did perk up again when they brought the dessert menus around. 🙂
Happy Birthday to my little brother Josh! It was great getting a chance to celebrate with him this year. Earlier that day we went swimming with the stingrays so that’s not something we get to do everyday!
Nicko enjoying his dessert, a chocolate chip cookie. Watch out for Cookie Monster!
Karlie all smiles and now awake!
Nicko decided to try and pick all the chocolate chips out of the chocolate chip cookies. Too funny!
Daddy and his girls heading to the show!
They got front row balcony seats with the birthday boy – Uncle Josh
Travel & Vacation: Adventure Ocean’s Family Arcade Night
Found a fun one to play together!
Earlier today we were able to take a ferry off the boat to visit Grand Cayman Island, explored the island, took a chartered boat ride, swam with the stingrays, and snorkeled. When we got back to the boat later that day we had fun with all the activities on the ship. The older four kids really enjoyed the time they spent at the Adventure Ocean’s club specifically for kids their age. Normally, when we took the kids to the club activities you had to walk through a room full of arcade games (which you had to pay to play).
Tonight they had Family Arcade Night and all the games were free. Yippee! Since the girls had been wanting to play a few of the games we figured it would be a fun activity for them. They had a blast playing the games both by themselves and even a few together. It was a lot of fun having the girls with us on the cruise this year. We were able to do some different activities that we had never participated in while on other cruises. Little activities like this were a lot of fun for the kids and parents both!
Brina concentrating on her game
Look OUT Karlie!
Brina Bee playing a racing game now!
Karlie is concentrating hard and Brina looks concerned (maybe Karlie is about to crash!)
Daddy and Brina playing a game together!
Teamwork!
This one just makes me laugh! Brina and Karlie playing an arcade game together.
Travel & Vacation: Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas
Our ship was the biggest one that stopped at Grand Cayman today
We have been on three Royal Caribbean ships in the past few years. The Independence of the Seas is the biggest one that we have been on. I didn’t realize how big it was until we stopped at Grand Cayman next to several other boats and ours was the biggest one. The girls enjoyed looking at the other boats too, they spotted a Disney one as well as one that had a face. Since we couldn’t dock directly at the Grand Cayman Island we took a ferry over which gave us a chance to look at all the other neat boats that day.
Look Mickey Mouse is in the Grand Cayman Islands! The Disney ship was right next to us when we stopped for the day. It was smaller than our boat, but they did have a pretty neat horn (instead of a horn it played Disney music).
That circular piece in the top left of the picture is actually a hot tub hanging out over the ocean. Yes, when we were in it I was thinking about how far it would be if we dropped!
We were in a water taxi looking up at the boat. You can see how little the people look on the balconies. The yellow items are the life boats. Thankfully we never had to use one!
Our big boat – Independence of the Seas
A view as we are leaving the boat and heading to Grand Cayman. The little ferry boat beside ours holds 200 people and it looks so tiny.
Passing in front of the boat, I wouldn’t want to get in its way if it was moving!
The girls thought this boat was pretty funny next to us at port because it has a face. The eyes and lips are awesome!
A view of our boat next to the Disney one from Grand Cayman’s shoreline.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Explore with a good attitude, look for fun, and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Travel & Vacation: Road Trip Snack Bins
Karlie and Brina’s travel snack packs
When we go on a road trip I pack the girls snack bins and put them on their seats the night before. They always enjoy checking out the goodies in their snack bins as soon as they get into the car. The nice part about having snacks always in the car on road trips is it saves time and we don’t have to stop as often along the way for a bite to eat.
Items that we packed for this road trip:
- Homemade Popcorn
- Dried Cranberries
- Chocolate Covered Raisins
- Fresh Pecans
- White & Pink Flowered Shaped Marshmallows
- Foot Long Fruit Chew
- Mint Chocolate Marshmallows
- Raspberry Chocolate Covered Pretzels
- Fresh Cashews
- White & Pink Heart Shaped Marshmallows
- Chocolate Covered Cherries
- Seasoned Peanuts
- Graham Crackers
- Mini Oreo Cookies
- Fresh Almonds
- Cheetos
- Fruit Flavored Marshmallows
- Whole Shell Peanuts
- Ginger Snap Cookies
- Mini M&M’s
- Cheese & Peanut Butter Crackers
- Mixed Berry Granola Bar
- Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Bar
- Strawberry Nerds
- Pez Candy
- Orange Starburst
- Fruit Punch Powdered Drink
- Fresh Pistachios
Goodies for a road trip
Travel & Vacation: Always Something Fun to Do
Brina hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma before breakfast
We had a blast on our first full day on the ship. The girls were up early before breakfast even opened so we hung out with Grandpa and Grandma a little bit. We went swimming, ate great food, went to the Freeze Frame Show, had our first formal dinner, relaxed, attended the Once Upon A Time Show, and not long after that the kids crashed. They were sound asleep within minutes of getting back into the room, cleaned up, and into bed. Thankful for a great time with family during our time on the boat.
Where is Karlie?! Oh, there she is up in her bed reading a book! Karlie loves to read. She finished a couple chapter books while we were on the cruise.
Relaxing for a few minutes before taking off to the next activity of the day
Pizza and fruit were always a hit for lunch at Windjammers!
Reading “Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing” to the girls while we wait for the rest of the group to get ready
Travel & Vacation: Once Upon A Time Show
Once Upon a Time Show
The first full day on the boat was packed full of fun activities from swimming, playing, Freeze Frame Ice Show, our formal dinner together, and more! After dinner we went to the Once Upon a Time Show. They re-told a lot of the traditional fairy tales from Cinderella to Snow White to Pinocchio and more. The kids were fascinated by all the action on the stage!
They even had fairies flying around!
Fascinating to watch
They even had Cinderella
Some of the outfits made me laugh!
The girls loved this show!
Once Upon a Time Show – Rapunzel
Travel & Vacation: Our First Formal Night
Karlie and Brina all dressed up for our first formal night
Earlier that day we went swimming, played, and went to the Freeze Frame Ice Show. Now it was time to get dressed up for our first formal night on the ship. The girls wore their red dresses for the first formal night on the cruise ship. They looked so cute! We took a family picture but I thought you would enjoy some of the snap shots we were able to get while waiting for our family picture. Everyone looked really nice for dinner that night.
Our little ladies
This one cracks me up…..they have obviously spotted someone they know, ha!
Brina taking a picture of Jake and I
A snap shot of Jake and I on the trip
Grandpa and Zach are ready for their picture
Karlie girl all dressed up
Nicko looking sharp
Brina, Nathan and Brandon ready for their pictures
They look thrilled
Uncle Josh looking all snazzy too
Travel & Vacation: Freeze Frame Ice Show
Yay for the Freeze Frame Ice Show!
After some time swimming we all went to the Freeze Frame Ice Show! It was so neat seeing all the people zooming around so gracefully on the ice. The girls thought they made it look really easy. We tried ice skating later that week and it wasn’t as easy as it looked when these guys were flying around!
Karlie super excited to watch the Freeze Frame Ice Show
Brandon, Brina, and Jeremy are ready to watch the ice show. We got really good seats too!
Karlie thought it was cool they had stars on the ice with the skaters
All the kids on the edge of their seats watching the show
One of the couples in the show
I lost count how many times they switch outfits in this program!
Brina’s comment…..they make it look so easy
Now that takes talent
Amazing
The Freeze Frame Ice Show was really neat
Travel & Vacation: Pool Adventures
Fun times at the pool
Our first full day on the cruise we had a full day at sea which was really nice because we got to do a lot of fun activities on the boat. The kids started the day early (at least our kids did), they were up at 6 am and ready to go! After eating breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma the kids thought it would be a good time to go for a swim in their pools. The adults caught up on conversations as the kids went swimming. They were bouncing from splash zone to pool to hot tub. Much to our surprise most of the pools on this boat were chlorine, in the past most were salt water. The kids tended to sit more still when they were in the jacuzzi so I noticed we got more of those pictures, ha!
One of the kids favorite places to swim. It was a circular pool with moving water. The kids loved it. Brandon, Nathan and Karlie are in this picture. If you look at the back of the picture you can see the ocean out the ship’s window (the water’s about the same color too).
Karlie loving the extra time swimming
Brina, Karlie, Brandon and Nathan getting warmed up in the jacuzzi next to the H2O Splash zone
Brina having fun
My nephews Brandon and Nathan. The girls had a blast hanging out with their cousins for the week!
Brina and Nathan in the jacuzzi
And there off to the next great adventure…
Someone’s tired…Zach did a good job keeping up with the group. Thankfully he can sleep almost anywhere!
Nicko playing in the pool!
Travel & Vacation: First Cruise Dinner & a Swim in the Pool
Nathan and Brina ready for their first dinner on the cruise! The girls were excited to have some extra time with their cousins.
After getting on the Independence of the Seas, exploring it, and waving goodbye to Fort Lauderdale, Florida we headed to find our assigned seats in the dining room for our first evening meal on the ship. Everyone was excited about the cruise and thrilled that we were off. The kids had a blast enjoying the amazing food and afterward a group of us decided to try out some of the neat pools on board too.
Karlie so excited to be on her first cruise!
Nicko, Becky, and Amber ready for the first dinner on the boat
Always an adventure….Leo being silly….
Amber, Nathan and Brina at dinner
Brina and Brandon at dinner – all smiles
Jeremiah
Someone’s all tuckered out after a busy day! Jake has always been good at getting little ones to sleep!
Karlie and Brina so excited to be on vacation and cruising!
Best way to end the day….according to Karlie….is to go for a swim at night before bed!
Our sweet Brina Bee relaxing in the jacuzzi!
