Cruisin' the Caribbean
We had a blast on our cruise a few weeks back. It was 80F or higher each day on our trip. It only rained for about 20 minutes one day (which we got caught in) and then it was clear skies with sun the rest of the trip. I'd much rather have heat than cold everyday.
After arriving into Atlanta with a VERY tight connection, we settled into our complimentary upgraded first class seats headed to Miami. They next day we sailed out on our way to Central America. As fra, fra as it may sound, we've pretty much seen a lot of Europe and wanted to see something different for a change. We thought the Mayan Ruins would be a good start. Don't get me wrong, there are a few places in Europe we still want to see but for this trip we wanted some fun in the sun!
We cruised on the Norwegian Pearl (yes, that's the same ship the lady jumped over board on the week after we sailed. Her balcony was down the hall from ours...scary....on another side note, someone actually died on our cruise...down the hall from us..how sad.) We've sailed Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian before but, for this trip we chose Norwegian again because kids under 2 cruise for free. Plus, they have a flexible eating schedule and that is great when it comes to an infant.
Alexis was the hit of the ship. We couldn't walk 5 feet without someone stopping us to talk to her. We had several "grandparents" ask us to babysit her. Even going as far as giving us a piece of paper with their name and room number on it. (No Mom, we didn't take them up on it. She was with us the entire time!) We were all dressed up one night and took her to get her picture taken and literally, (I'm not exaggerating here) the entire atrium shuffled over to watch her. Scott said one guy pulled out his camera and said, "I just have to capture this myself." We were on the boat to NCL's private island and the people next to us were talking to Alexis and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady whip out her video camera and start videoing Alexis. Who does that? At the beginning of the trip Scott and I thought it was awesome that everyone was complimenting her. Only because Belgians never say anything to anyone so we've never experienced extroverted comments like that. Toward the end we felt like movie stars and just wanted to eat dinner without interruption.
Besides that fun stuff, we had a great vacation. Alexis had a couple milestones on the cruise:
1) She waved for the first time. I had been working on it with her and suddenly when we were going to our muster station, a table of about 10 Japanese tourists waved fanatically to her and she waved back. The entire section of the dining room (no lie) responded in a group AWWWWW! Again, I'm sure she'll love that story when she's older.
2) She started crawling for the first time. Alexis fully mastered that skill in Colorado and is now all over our living room. I guess it's time to baby proof. Do they have that kind of stuff in Belgium?
Scott and I marked two more countries off of our list with the cruise itinerary: Belize and Honduras. It also stopped in Cozumel and the Bahamas.
Now I say to Scott, where next? Oh, I forgot the economy is in a downward spiral. Forget I asked.
Click HERE to see pictures of our first family vacation!
After arriving into Atlanta with a VERY tight connection, we settled into our complimentary upgraded first class seats headed to Miami. They next day we sailed out on our way to Central America. As fra, fra as it may sound, we've pretty much seen a lot of Europe and wanted to see something different for a change. We thought the Mayan Ruins would be a good start. Don't get me wrong, there are a few places in Europe we still want to see but for this trip we wanted some fun in the sun!
We cruised on the Norwegian Pearl (yes, that's the same ship the lady jumped over board on the week after we sailed. Her balcony was down the hall from ours...scary....on another side note, someone actually died on our cruise...down the hall from us..how sad.) We've sailed Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian before but, for this trip we chose Norwegian again because kids under 2 cruise for free. Plus, they have a flexible eating schedule and that is great when it comes to an infant.
Alexis was the hit of the ship. We couldn't walk 5 feet without someone stopping us to talk to her. We had several "grandparents" ask us to babysit her. Even going as far as giving us a piece of paper with their name and room number on it. (No Mom, we didn't take them up on it. She was with us the entire time!) We were all dressed up one night and took her to get her picture taken and literally, (I'm not exaggerating here) the entire atrium shuffled over to watch her. Scott said one guy pulled out his camera and said, "I just have to capture this myself." We were on the boat to NCL's private island and the people next to us were talking to Alexis and out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady whip out her video camera and start videoing Alexis. Who does that? At the beginning of the trip Scott and I thought it was awesome that everyone was complimenting her. Only because Belgians never say anything to anyone so we've never experienced extroverted comments like that. Toward the end we felt like movie stars and just wanted to eat dinner without interruption.
Besides that fun stuff, we had a great vacation. Alexis had a couple milestones on the cruise:
1) She waved for the first time. I had been working on it with her and suddenly when we were going to our muster station, a table of about 10 Japanese tourists waved fanatically to her and she waved back. The entire section of the dining room (no lie) responded in a group AWWWWW! Again, I'm sure she'll love that story when she's older.
2) She started crawling for the first time. Alexis fully mastered that skill in Colorado and is now all over our living room. I guess it's time to baby proof. Do they have that kind of stuff in Belgium?
Scott and I marked two more countries off of our list with the cruise itinerary: Belize and Honduras. It also stopped in Cozumel and the Bahamas.
Now I say to Scott, where next? Oh, I forgot the economy is in a downward spiral. Forget I asked.
Click HERE to see pictures of our first family vacation!
posted by Lacy Eichenberger at 3:14 PM
1 comments
Check out her fake Ugg boots!
I'm not sure on the exact details here so bear with me. Sinterklaas is the Belgian Santa or St. Nick. Instead of elves to help him out he has Zwarte Pete. (Dutch to English translation: Black Pete) There are lots of stories of how Zwarte Pete hooked up with Santa and began to help him deliver the gifts. We've asked lots of Belgians and each family has their own story. Here are two of my favorites:
Alexis and Zwarte Pete! He made her a little pink balloon poodle.
Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pete's. Yes, their Santa looks like the Pope.
While we were at the party it snowed so much that we saw a snowman on the way home. Thankfully, since Scott grew up in snowy Minnesota he was a pro driving on the roads that hadn't been plowed.
