Headed Home

On our last day at sea we enjoyed the pool and food some more.  The girls also went to the towel animal class where they learned to make several animals. They really enjoyed this.

 

Of course they also had to check out the chocolate bar in the afternoon.

Macy and Brooke ordering a pizza. :)

We loved having a balcony for the week.  It gave us some extra space, and perspective.

The girls did a great job ordering each night off the regular menu rather than the kids one.  Marc and I enjoyed trying many of the nightly themed specials, but frog legs were not on my list. I've had them before, but I didn't really want them again.  Of course Marc ordered them thinking he could get the girls to try them - not like HE wanted to try them though. Anyway, Marc asked the waiter to place it in front of Brooke when it came. You can see her reaction below as she figured out what it was.

She is so animated in her facial expressions!

I can't remember what night this was from, but I didn't want to leave off the night we played shuffleboard.  Isn't that a "must do" on a cruise ship??

We enjoyed our Shrimp Basket on the way into town, and we enjoyed our Whataburger on the way home.  We can't pass either stop when we are traveling south!

 

We had such a wonderful week away being unplugged from our busy life. I just love adventures with my little family!

Progreso and Merida

Progreso, Mexico is the port closest to Chichen Itza and other ruins.  Marc and I have been there and remember that as the hottest day of our lives. So we opted to take a tour into the capital city of Merida. It was about a 45 minute ride, and it had a beautiful city center. Our tour took us around some of the buildings, and then we enjoyed a "local" lunch before heading back.

This cathedral was one of the oldest in the Americas.  The inside wasn't as elaborate as the cathedrals we had been in before, but it was still large and impressive. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures from the inside.  Mass was actually going on at the time, and we didn't want to disturb everyone.

Inside the government palace.

Someone was excited to finally get a coke on her vacation.

The market was full of many beautiful items.  These rugs were stunning in their vibrant colors.

This is what the bus ride back to Progreso looked like.

It was a hot, and adventure filled day in Mexico, but we were excited to be back in our air-conditioned room.

Cozumel, Mexico

I first port was Cozumel.  It looked like it was going to rain all day, but the morning was clear and we only had to cut our day short by about 30 minutes.

We took a taxi ride to Paradise Beach.  The kids enjoyed a nice beach area that wasn't too crowded and a beautiful pool too.

Paradise Beach has inflatables in the ocean. It took a little time to figure out how to get around on them, but after a little practice near the shore we were ready to head out.

I only got a few pictures from the day since I left my camera on our chairs. It was surprisingly harder to swim in the open water from one piece to the other, but the girls did great. Climbing up was also a challenge! At one point I fell off the side of one and came up sputtering.  The family got a good laugh out of that one.  On another inflatable the girls would climb out to the end and Marc would jump on and send them flying.  He figured out how to best launch them after sending Macy a couple feet into the air.  Brooke was next and unfortunately she was thrown about 7-8 feet above the water and came crashing down.  After the initial stunned feeling she was back to enjoying her time out there, although she wouldn't let anyone flip her off again!

The girls ended their inflatable adventure with this spinning one. 

They went out on some kayaks.

And tried a little paddle boarding as well.

We ordered lunch from the bar menu, but Kayla opted for some tacos from the taco truck.  She loved them and we had to order her a third.

Back to the ship to clean up for dinner. Tomorrow would be our final stop in Progreso.

Cruising to Mexico!

We were all excited for our cruise this week, but these girls were super excited.

We opted to take our luggage with us to our room instead of waiting for it to be delivered later that evening.  After figuring out how we would all manage to live for the next 5 days in that tiny room we headed up to the top deck. I'm so glad we took these hats, but they only wore them this one time on the trip.  It's all about the photo-ops anyway. ;)

Miniature golf on one of the top decks of the ship was one of many fun things they found this week.

I'd have to say that the 24hr pizza was probably at the top of their favorites list.  This was thin crust, wood-fired pizza, so it was at the top of my list too.

The girls loved this slide and playing in the pools, and it wasn't too crowded either. Marc and I got smart and finally found either a shaded spot or a spot right next to fan to relax and read while the girls played.

All three girls love watching Guy's Grocery Games on the Food Network. When they found out that he had a burger joint on the ship these two were so excited to give it a try. The burgers were really good, and the fries were pretty awesome too. We manage to grab a couple of these during the week.

We taught the girls all things proper for the formal dinner. They did such a good job each night, and after the first night they started ordering regular menu items rather than something off of the kids menu. It was fun to dress up with the whole family.  We even had the table to ourselves every night except one. The girls loved that the waiters knew their name from the beginning.

We enjoyed our first day and a half at sea, and we were excited for our first port of call in the morning - Cozumel, Mexico.