 |
| Sunset in Galveston, TX |
What happens when you go on vacation with 20 members of your family!?! A lot of fun happens! My oldest nephew, Brendan turned 18 this year and he is also graduating from high school (home school), so his parent's decided to invite everyone to join and celebrate with him on a 7 day cruise.
We made the drive down to Galveston, leaving early on a Saturday morning. I was a little nervous about making the drive in one day with a baby, but it was better than expected. We made several stops, one including a tour of
Buc-ee's. We had never been into one and it was pretty amazing. Tae watched movies and I tried to keep Hensley entertained. We made it to our hotel about 5:30pm. We were right on the beach and the views were breathtaking. We walked over to the beach and let the girls play for a bit. Tae couldn't have been happier! We went to dinner at a local restaurant called Casey's. The calamari was yummy! We then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
 |
| First sighting of our ship! |
We woke up the next morning, had breakfast, and headed over to the beach again for a bit before we checked out of the hotel. We then all headed to the port. After we unloaded all of our luggage and got our bags checked, the men in the group took the cars back to the hotel where they were going to be parked for the week and got a taxi back to the ship. We then checked in and waited for our boarding number to be called. Once our number was called, we made our way onto the ship. Here is were we had our first photo op of the whole group, haha!
The photographer took a bunch of pictures trying to get us all to be in frame and looking at the camera. I guess this was the best one he got.
Here is the first shots of inside the ship. It was such a pretty boat with lots of entriquette details. It was a bit crowded during those first several hours and it was also really hard to use the elevators. This came to also be true on port days! We went to our rooms and unloaded our stuff. We then walked around the ship and checked out all the things to do. We went to dinner with the family and then went to the opening show. We were all pretty tired at the end of this first day and went to sleep easily!
This is how we did baths while on our vacation! Hensley loved the shower head and Tae loved helping give her sister a bath.
We had another full day on the ship and enjoyed tea time and a formal dinner. There was lots to do while on the boat, so we were never bored. Tae loved to play mini golf and they also had ping pong and outdoor exercise equipment. They had a huge screen over the pool that played movies throughout the day. It was a bit chilly on some of the days, so we didn't get to use the pool or water slides. Hensley couldn't have swim anyways since they don't allow diapered babies in their pools for health reasons. Here is a picture of us all on our formal night. The dinner was really tasty and we all left stuffed. I had prime rib and lobster tail. I loved the food on the ship. They had a lot of variety and it was all very delicious. They also serve food at all times of the day. They have ice cream machines all over and 24 hour pizza. They have a late night grill even with hamburgers and hot dogs.
 |
| My girls on formal night. I'm in love :) |
The next day we arrived bright and early in Key West, Florida. It was sunny and warm (I think it was in the mid 80's for the day). We walked through their little port area and walked quite a ways to Ernest Hemingway's house. Tae was super excited to see all the cats (I think they said there were well over 60 cats on the property). After touring the home, we walked down one of the main shopping streets to get to the port were we ate at a yummy open air restaurant. We enjoyed some conch fritters and had fresh fish sandwiches. After leaving the restaurant we walked along the pier. We got to see giant tarpin in the water and fisherman feeding pelicans fish parts. It was pretty cool! We then headed back to the boat for showers, dinner, a show, and bed!
 |
| My family in Key West |
 |
Breastfeeding for the win!
Eating in the open air restaurant!
Key West sunset |
The next day we were in Freeport, Bahamas. We have breakfast and get off the boat where it is raining and a little chilly. There are lots of people milling about and we try to find a taxi to take the whole family to the beach. Freeport is very industrial and the beaches are no where near the port. Getting a taxi was a bit stressful. The drivers are trying to make the most money in the least amount of time. We were all quickly shoved into two taxis (which is not easy with all the kiddos) in the hopes that we would be taken to the same beach. It was about a 15 minute drive to the beach. When we got there it was pouring at this point, but quickly stopped and the sun came out. It ended up being a beautiful day. This was the best beach day and the kids had a great time building sand castles and playing in the crystal clear water. Hensley had a great nap in the carrier and then had fun eating sand and splashing in the water. We stayed for a few hours, but had to catch a taxi back to the ship earlier in the afternoon. Once back on the boat, we got lunch, walked around a bit, and had some nap time in our room.
 |
| A lot of the kiddos (and Aaron) enjoying the water! |
The next day we arrived in Nassau, Bahamas. It was a bit chillier, but super windy. The water was pretty choppy also. When you get off the ship, you walk through a straw market and then are in the middle of town. We walked around a bit trying to find our way to the beach. It was a pretty good walk! Once we got there, Tae played in the water a little bit, but ended up getting way too cold and laid on a beach towel for the rest of the time. I didn't think it would be as cool as it was, so we didn't bring extra clothes to cover up with. We ate some yummy local jerk chicken and then headed back to the ship after stopping in the straw market to shop.
 |
| Jerk chicken! |
 |
| Atlantis hotel we could see from port! |
 |
| Hensley did a lot of napping in the carrier! |
The next two days were "fun days at sea". We went to a towel folding class, saw ice sculpting, watched some family do the ropes course, and enjoyed time together. We had lots of yummy food and enjoyed a few shows. We went to a magic show where Tae volunteered to be the star. She was super cute and did such a great job assisting the magician. She received a "Carnival Magic" medal for her efforts. After the show, we went to the arcade where one of the workers gave Tae a stuffed animal from the machine. She had a great day!
Tae and I snuck off to tea time while daddy and Hensley took a nap. It was fun having tea with my little girl and I think she enjoyed it also.
 |
| The best way for a baby to nap while on vacation! |
On the last day, we were delayed getting to port due to fog. This put us behind a couple hours. I didn't feel very good this day and was ready to be at home (come to find out, I ended up getting really sick the next day and had a high fever for 5 days!). We got on the road after 1pm and stopped for a quick lunch at Chipotle right outside Houston. We drove for a while longer and made a much needed stop at a Starbucks. This is where things got bad. Hensley pulled my coffee over on top of her and myself. She screamed so bad and I felt horrible! We went out to the car to change and the nice barista's made me a new coffee. I checked Hensley over and didn't notice any bad burns, just some redness. I nursed her and we headed back on the road. It seemed like it took forever to get home and I don't think Hensley enjoyed riding in the car at night. She cried a lot and finally fell asleep about an hour out. We got home at about 11pm and all passed out within the hour.
We had an awesome vacation and I know Tae will have wonderful memories of it for a lifetime. I can't wait until we go on another vacation when Hensley is a little older so she can share some of these fun memories.
