Family Vacation 2014

We just got back from our family vacation.  We took a 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean.  It was beautiful.  Just wish the weather cooperated.  We got stuck in the tropical depression that formed when we were on the way to Cozumel.    

On the drive to Port Canaveral. 

We drove down on Friday Oct 17th.   We let the kids miss school that day.  We left the house at 7 am and drove about 7 hours to Port Canaveral.  We stayed at Comfort Inn and browsed the area the night before.  We did the stay n cruise package.  So we took a shuttle from the hotel to the port.

At the hotel - there was a fish pond behind the kids

in front of the ron jon surf shop

The kids playing on the playground

Kayla is waiting in the lobby for the shuttle.

Braden is ready to go!

The kids are all waiting to board the shuttle to go to the boat.

Caden is ready to go!

We see our ship!!!

waiting to board our ship

 We got there around 930 and found out that we had to wait to board till about 1230.  They did the ebola screening since the day before it was discovered that a nurse was on another cruise ship.  Once we got on, we went to our room to drop off our stuff and went exploring on the ship.  The 1st things the kids wanted to do was go swimming.

exploring the room

the kids are happy

we are on the balcony

kids swimming

Kayla is about to jump in the pool.

Caden is checking out the water slide.

Weeeee

A view towards the back of the ship.  You can see the big screen where they played movies at night.

The Disney Ship was in port as well.

We are leaving the port.  Looking out on our balcony.

our view from the dining room table the whole week

This is the 1st night in the main dining room.  Braden was enjoying his banana split.

Travis enjoying the melting chocolate cake.

I took the kids swimming again at night.  We swam and watched some of the movie playing.

Selfie!  You can see the waterslide behind me.

I was actually up early enough to watch the sunrise. 

Never knew just how fast it rose.

all of us watching the sun rise.

Braden needed a nap halfway through the day.  He was becoming Mr. Grumpy

The 2nd day was a sea day. We just spent the day at the pool, going to camp carnival and browsing the ship some more.  That night was elegant night.  Everybody got dressed up and ate fancy food in the dining room.

Kayla in her pretty dress

This is the only shot I got of Braden in his nice clothes.

Caden in his nice clothes

Picture of Me and Travis

Every night the room steward would leave us a towel animal along with some chocolates.

Every night after dinner we would take the kids to camp carnival to play with other kids and do activities.  It was a favorite part of their day.  It also gave us alone time to watch shows or go to the casino.

Braden one night after getting him from camp.  I think he had a blast

The 3rd day - we got to Cozumel.  We were planning on going to the beach that day but the weather had other plans in mind.  We just got out and walked around the port to the various shops and then came back on ship.  The kids swam, went to camp and had a good time till we left for the next port.

me and the kids on the little bridge

Travis and 2 of the kids

Caden checking out the bridge

View of the ships from Cozumel

Trying out samples they were handing out

The kids being silly

Liberty is on the left.  Elation on the Right.  You can see how much bigger Liberty was.

Caden being goofy

Kayla got this painting on her arm at Camp.  Thought it looked so cool!

This was a ship that was in port the same time as us in Cozumel.  It was so much smaller than the ship we were on. 

The pier to to shops

A long view of Cozumel. 

Just hanging out on the balcony - people watching. 

Kayla

Braden messing with the divider between rooms

This is an zoomed in shot of the other 2 ships that were in port with us on the other side.

This is a shot of it not zoomed in.  Can you see it??

The 4th day we stopped in Belize!!  There wasn't a lot to do there on your own unless you did an excursion.  We decided not to do an excursion because I wanted to do something through Carnival since we would be guaranteed to be back on the boat before it left.  It was a good drive away to various places and we just didnt feel comfortable using an outside excursion company.  We just planned on just walking around the pier and taking in the shops.   Belize was a tender port - meaning we had to take a smaller ship to get to the island.  

Long shot of the sea as we were coming into Belize.

some random island in the middle of the sea with a house on it.

View of the Liberty as we were headed away from it.

The kids on the smaller boat - they all look thrilled don't they? 

This is a view of another ship that was in port with us that day. 

Can you see both ships in the distance from the pier?

Travis taking a picture

View of Belize as we were getting off the small boat.

The boys were being little shits that day as you can see from the picture.

Kayla on the small bridge over a pond. 

The older 2 with the Belize sign.

More pictures of Belize

There was a restaurant at the end.  Looked good.

Headed back to the ship - leaving Belize behind.

Caden loved the boat.

Braden loving the boat ride back to the ship

Kayla - not so much on the other hand.  She wished she had a hair band with her. lol

Caden being silly

Kayla being silly in the dining room.

Caden keeping himself occupied during dinner.

We went and got the kids from Camp Carnival and let them pick out some sweets from the candy shop and then we went and saw a magic show.

Arrg Matey

Kayla showing off her candy and being silly

me with my boys

Long view of the Theater.  The curtain/stage was on the right and all the seats on the left.  It was a 2 story theater.  

A picture of the light fixture in the theater.  It was beautiful.

The 5th day we stopped in Roatan, Honduras.  It was a beautiful day out.  We had already booked an excursion to go zip lining and the beach.

Ship wrecked boat on the shore.  It has been there since like 1991.

View of the port

We are pulling in!  Behind another Carnival Ship that was docked that day too.

Walking to our shuttle bus for the day.  

Picture of the Island.

some more walking....It was hot and humid.

Mahogany Bay Roatan Sign

Various pictures of the town.

Thought this was a cute picture of Braden and his friend.

you can see the ocean on the other side of the treeline.

And we are here!!  This is where we go to go zip lining and to visit the monkeys.

Originally it was going to be just me and Kayla going zip lining while Travis and the boys stayed behind and visited the monkeys.  But once the boys saw it, they wanted to do it too.  Braden was tandem attached to me.  I held him as we went across. 

Braden is all harnessed up and ready to go!

So is Kayla!

The other family that went with us.

Caden is ready to go too!

A family shot of us all ready to go

Starting our journey up a bazillion stairs. 

There Kayla goes!

Everybody was wiped out after climbing another bazillion set of stairs.

Braden is waiting his turn to go.

A View from where we were at.  It was beautiful.

Caden getting ready to take off!

Checking out what's below us.

 After we spent about 45 minutes zip lining we went and saw the various animals they had.

Monkey!

Kayla doesn't know what to think about this....

looking for food in his pocket

Travis and the monkey 

Caden and the Monkey

Braden wouldn't have anything to do with the monkey.  Kept himself in the corner away from it all.

Then we went and saw parrots.

The monkey giving Kayla a hug

And Giving Travis a hug 

The money was trying to get Travis's phone

Feeding some more animals.

Parrot on my head - their claws hurt!

On the way to the beach!

The water was beautiful!

Braden and his friend playing in the water.

Kayla swimming

Caden swimming

Our Towel animal for the night.

Our 6th day we stopped in Costa Maya.  It was a short stay so we just wandered around the pier and various shops.

It was so foggy when we pulled into Costa Maya

Costa Maya

Braden checking out the fishes at pier.

 

Costa Maya - it was a dark gloomy day as well.

Some of the local people.

Some of the statue around the town.

Kayla walking back to the ship.

Long view of the pier and Costa Maya

another shot of the shops and pools.

A very rare smiling picture of Travis

The pilot boat waiting to guide us out of port to head back home.

That night we watched Transformers on the big screen.  It was nice, the kids had ice cream and popcorn.  There was blankets if we wanted any.

The last day was a sea day.  We started off with breakfast with Dr. Susses. 

Later that day we let the kids go to the arcade and Braden hit 1000 tickets!!  

Waiting to be dropped off for Camp Carnival for dinner.

Our last towel animal for the cruise.

Braden showing off his cookie he got from camp carnival. 

We are pulling back into Port Canaveral.  Now onto the long drive home.