Last December when we went on a cruise with the kids for Christmas, Ryan booked a cruise for just the two of us for this December. When COVID hit in March we were not even concerned about it affecting our cruise. When school started we thought surely we would still be going on our cruise in December. The beginning of November we were told the cruise had been canceled. We rescheduled it for April 2021 and are hoping that will happen.
Even though our cruise was canceled, Ryan decided he still wanted to go on a trip for a few days with just the two of us. Ryan is awesome to vacation with. He takes care of everything. I really just have to show up. He arranges the travel, hotels, car if we need it and does the research to see what to do and where to eat. I love it. The best part of vacation for me is just being able to show up and not have to plan anything.
He came up with a train ride to St Louis. We were thinking of a few other locations but a lot of places are still pretty shut down with COVID so we went with St Louis. We have wanted to try a train ride and see if it is something the kids would enjoy. So Thursday morning we drove downtown to Union Station and got on our train. About six hours later we arrived in the St Louis Union Station. It was nice to be able to talk and walk around and not have to be driving ourselves. It is a lot like a plane but more space and less restrictive on moving around. We stayed at the Hilton Union Station Hotel. It was a pretty awesome giant old stone building. Lots of cool architecture. They had it decorated gorgeous for Christmas and in the evenings they had laser light shows about every 30 minutes to watch. We met some long time friends for dinner one night, otherwise we just hung our around the hotel area. There were lots of restaurants, and a Ferris Wheel. We went through the aquarium and went to a movie. The Aquarium was small but nice. They had several petting/feeding areas that were not crowded at all so we got to take our time. The picture with our hand in the water is some kind of fish that eat all the dead skin off your hand when you put it in the water. It felt very creepy and weird but I made myself do it. There was one other person in the movie theater with us. I haven’t gone to a movie since January. I miss going to the theater. There wasn’t a lot of people around but there was still small crowds. Lots of little kids running around in their PJ’s on their way to see Santa.
It was a great long weekend. We had no schedule. It was very relaxing. We rode the train back Saturday afternoon. The kids spent one night at the Terry Grandparents, and one at their cousins. They were waiting for us when we got home that night.
KC Union Station
This picture is for Allison, she hates it when we kiss.
Since baseball ended for Fall, Matthew has been gearing up for basketball season. Ryan signed him up for a private club. He could go play pick up games whenever, there was skill clinics daily and then he was put on an eighth grade team and could play in tournaments most weekends. Matthew was hoping to get up to speed with his skills and then start improving before school basketball started. His plan was going well until this past week, I picked him up after practice and he was limping and said he hurt his ankle when he did a layup and came down and landed on someone.
We took him home, iced it, elevated it gave him a large dose of Tylenol, wrapped it and he went to bed. The next morning he was not able to move it at all without a lot of pain. Ryan took him to the doctor and they did an x-ray. He had broken two ankle bones and fractured his tibia. They put a boot on his foot for him to wear until Monday then we will go and get a permanent cast. The fracture in his tibia is close to his growth plate that is wide open so he has been given strict instructions to stay completely off of it for two weeks so he doesn’t make the fracture worse. Then he has another 8-12 weeks in a cast after that and then physical therapy. Luckily he does not need surgery. Basketball season is gone and baseball conditioning will be well underway before he is back at it though.
After getting all that information from the doctor, the main take away Matthew focused on was the doctor saying his growth plates are wide open and he is getting ready to have a big growth spurt. He is very excited about that.
It was a laid back New Year’s Eve for our family this year. That is just the way we like it. I asked the kids several times what they wanted to do. None of them had any ambitions except Emiliee. She wanted to have a sleep over with Jovee. They had plans at their house so she joined them.
The rest of us stayed home. We got some snacks and treats for the evening and then we played games, watched movies and put puzzles together. All while wearing my most comfy pajamas and slippers. About 5 minutes before New Year’s we turned on the count down and then celebrated at midnight.
Doesn’t sound very exciting but I thought it was a perfect night. For New Year’s Day we all slept in of course and then had a big breakfast. Ross and Lauren and their family came over and we spent the rest of the day playing games and enjoying each others company.
We woke up after our last night on the boat back in Port Canaveral Florida. One of the perks of having a suite is being able to get the process of getting off the boat expedited. We had a very helpful concierge that kept popping up all over the place helping us get off the boat. He made me laugh, it really felt like he came out of no where.
On our way to Kenny and Sherri’s we stopped to eat some breakfast. When we walked in and sat down Emilee asked me what was free. I chuckled and told her that nothing was free anymore now that we were off the boat.
Our plane didn’t fly out until late that night so we hung out with Kenny and Sherri and my parents. We ate dinner together and Sherri my mom and I went and got a mani/pedi.
The flight home seemed to go pretty quickly. I like flying at night. It is pretty seeing all the lights of a city when you land and take off. Ross picked us up again so we were headed home about 15 minutes after the plane landed.
Flying into Kansas City
There were a few presents from the kids to each other and Grandmas and Grandpas that we didn’t open before we left. Even though it was late the kids wanted to open them when we got home. Ryan and I decided to earn ‘cool parent points’ and we stayed up to open them.
It is pretty crazy how in a 24 hour period we were on a private island in the Bahamas, playing with cousins on the trampoline in Tampa Florida, then slept in our own beds in Kansas that night.
It was a fun packed, exciting vacation full of new experiences and places. We wanted to have a Christmas that our family could remember and I think we were successful.
After a good night sleep we woke up at Coco Cay. It is Royal Carribean’s private island. There is a water park, splash area, fresh water pool, several different beaches, shops, and places to eat. There is also a giant air balloon but it was to windy the day we were there for it to be open.
It was a beautiful little island. We were the only ship there so it was not crowded at all. The weather in the morning was a little cloudy and even had a few sprinkles of rain. This kept even more people on the boat instead of getting off so you almost felt like you had the place to yourself. Once the little rain shower passed through, the sun came out the temperature was perfect.
The wind was a little strong so they asked us not to put umbrellas up. On one of the beaches we relaxed at for a bit this caused a little problem with seagulls. There were a lot of them and they weren’t deterred by people. Like I mentioned there wasn’t a ton of people anyway. Emilee was walking back from the lunch area to our beach chairs with her little plate of food. I guess the birds picked her as an easy target because she was little and walking by herself. One seagull flew in and flipped her plate out of her hand and then the rest swarmed the plate on the ground. She was not happy to be bested by birds. When she came to tell me about it, due to the wind not allowing us to use umbrellas, we both got pooped on in our unprotected chairs. Probably by the same stupid birds that stole her food. Luckily after that they moved on to poop on the next people.
One of the little beach areas had a good little spot for snorkeling. Ryan took each of the kids out with him for a little swim to see what they could find. They saw a sting ray and some cool fish. We tried to make a sand castle but didn’t really bring anything to build with so decided to turn each other into sand castles instead. Allison was a mermaid and we told Matthew he was something cool but then made him wearing a dress instead.
Matthew thought we were making him a shark or something, we went our own direction and put him in a dress.
The girls thought this was hilarious.
Emilee wanted to bring this broken shell piece home. I told her we would remember it with a picture instead.
Allison the mermaid
Emilee was very impressed with the sand sculptures.
The girls stayed at the splash pad during the little rain storm. I read my book under a chair and Ryan and Matthew went back to the boat for a bit. When the sun came back out we played in the fresh water pool for a bit. Ryan and I dozed off and when we woke up the kids were all dozing on the warm cement in front of us. Not to bad for the 26th of December.
There was wild chickens roaming around the island. We saw a little lizard (about two feet long) walking in front of us at one point. We followed him and he lead us around the corner to his big brother who was at least twice his size. Later the kids spotted an even bigger one in a tree while we were walking by.
Baby brother iguana
Big brother iguana.
Daddy iguana.
We explored the shops a little on our way back to the boat. Emilee found the big conch shell she wanted as her souvenir and Allison and Matthew got a t-shirt or sweatshirt. It was a great day.
The kids were familiar enough with the ship that they decided to ditch Ryan and I for dinner and find their own. Poor Ryan and I had to eat dinner all by ourselves, it was wonderful. We found the kids sitting at a little pizzeria together when we done. It was pretty cute to see them sitting at a table together chatting it up while they enjoyed their dinner. Hopefully that will happen when they are older too. The girls wanted to go to the kid area again. Matthew went and played basketball for a bit then came back and hung out with Ryan and I. We were looking at pictures and walking around the promenade. Ryan disappeared for a while and came back with a grin on his face because he had booked another cruise for him and I next December. We all met back in the room and hung out there the rest of the night while we packed and got ready to head home the next day.
When we woke up Christmas morning, Santa had left a few favorite treats-skittles and peanut butter Christmas trees. We also found our tickets to see the dolphins. Sometime during the night we had docked at Nassau. We went out on the balcony to see the view of the Island. There were three other cruise ships parked by us.
Christmas Morning. The sun was very bright, it took about ten tries to get all of our eyes open.
After breakfast we put our suits on and lathered on the sunscreen. Then we got of the boat and explored the market area for a bit before it was time to go to the dolphins. A lady talked Emilee into letting her braid her hair. I can’t tell Emilee I am going to brush her hair without her squealing that it hurts. This lady was not being gentle. I could tell Emilee was uncomfortable but she never said a word. She really liked the braids when she was done though. It is almost a month later and she still has them in.
When the hair braiding was done we found the place to go on our dolphin excursion. We had to take a tender (small transport boat) around to the other side of the island. We had some beautiful sights to see on the way. Atlantis of course. The kids thought it was cool to see a place they had seen on TV before. There were some big yachts by us and famous peoples homes that we passed. I only remember Oprah’s and my kids don’t know who she is so they weren’t overly excited about that. The water and views are just gorgeous so just watching the view around the island was relaxing. They dropped us off in a little cove area where we could play on the beach and swim until it was time to see the dolphins. There was some blow up water toys that the kids played on for several hours. Ryan and I played for a little bit with the kids in the sand and water, then we found some comfy beach chairs to take a nap and relax in. After we ate lunch I also found a souvenir shop that had a delicious pint of cookies and cream Ben and Jerry’s ice cream that I enjoyed while basking in the sun on the beach. The water was clear and pretty. A little chilly but not bad. When we got there the place was way overcrowded and I was a little grumpy that they basically marooned us in the cove with a million other people for four hours until it was time to go to the dolphins. After about an hour though several of the ships were leaving so most of the people left and it was almost like having the beach to ourselves. We were the last group to see the dolphins so we were pretty much the only people in the cove when we walked back to the tender. It was easy to forget it was Christmas Day being on the beach. The weather was gorgeous-it was the best weather of our trip. There was always Christmas music playing but we all mentioned that it wasn’t the typical Christmas atmosphere and feeling.
Atlantis
This is where we spent Christmas Day.
Getting ready to head back to the boat.
Everyone was worn out on the way home.
The dolphin excursion we went on was AMAZING. I think it was everyone’s favorite part of the entire vacation. You get to sit in the dock area and have fun watching the dolphins up close while you wait. Then when it is actually your turn you get into the water and the dolphin is swimming right there with you. Our dolphins name was Salvador, and he went by Sal. He let us rub his back and belly, and even feel his teeth. He did a little dance with us and he gave each of us a hug and kiss and took pictures with us at the end. When he gave Allison a kiss he came back for three more and then whistled really loud and did a little spin. She told everyone how the dolphin had a crush on her. It was a lot of fun. They took lots of pictures for us and even a video.
Our tender boat was cutting across the back of the cruise ships on our way back to dock. One of the ships was leaving and even though we were cruising pretty fast and could have easily made it, they laid on the horn and the police boat came out and was not happy. The boat leaving was a Carnival boat, the week before a different Carnival boat had crashed into another one of its own boats. I can only imagine how the steering crew were freaking out when they saw a boat in front of them after their company had already had a crash less than a week ago. I was never concerned about getting hit. It took us a lot longer to stop and back up then it would have to finish going across and we still had plenty of time. It was a little funny since it was obvious no one was going to get hurt.
Once we got back to the ship we showered and cleaned up then went to have Christmas dinner. They had a kids menu in addition the regular menu, Emilee was ecstatic she didn’t have to eat boring yucky food. The girls went to kid place for a few hours after dinner. Matthew went to the arcade for a bit again and then he went to play basketball so Ryan and I went to the variety show and watched a juggler and some singers and dancers put on a pretty decent show. We grabbed some hot chocolate from the suite lounge again and all met back in our room. We were all ready to turn in a little earlier than usual. We had a great time making memories with each other.
Monday was get on the boat day. It was really fun to see the kids excitement when we drove up and saw the boat for the first time. They were amazed at how big it was. The name of our boat was Mariner of the Seas. Once we went through security we went and ate lunch in the dining room. Emilee was not thrilled with the choices and I could tell she was a little worried about what she was going to eat all week. Everyone else thought it was fun to have some new choices. Matthew got his fill of shrimp while we were on the boat.
We walked around and explored the ship and saw what there was to do. There was swimming pools, hot tubs, a flow rider, water slides, mini golf, basketball, ice skating, unlimited ice cream and pizza, a virtual reality trampoline, rock climbing wall, an arcade, spas, lounges, kid play areas, shows, dancing, tons! I am sure I am forgetting something. It was about time to report to our muster station and have the required evacuation drill after we checked everything out. Once that was done our room was ready and we went and found out where we were going to live for the week.
We had a suite so all five of us could stay in the same room. It had a double balcony so you could lounge in the sun chairs or sit at the table. We told the kids our bathroom would be tiny but it was actually really big. Double sinks and even a bathtub. Ryan and I had a room area we could close of with a curtain and the kids had a couch that turned into a bed and a roll away bed that they brought in for Matthew. We met our room attendant. He was from the Philippines and his name was Daryl. I don’t think that is his real name but I think they can use a more American name that is easy for people to say. He was very nice and the kids loved him. We brought him a present from Kansas City for Christmas. We gave him a Royals baseball towel. The kids thought it was awesome that he made their beds in the morning and got them ready for them at night. They of course loved the towel animals he left for them to find each night. He called me Ms. Annie which with accent sounded like ‘Ann-knee’ which always made me smile.
Penguin
Elepahant
Happy Elephant
Sad Elephant
Alligator on the pool deck
Monkey
We went to dinner that night once we were settled in our room. We decided to go to the Hibachi Grill restaurant. The kids absolutely loved it. I have never heard Allison giggle and laugh with such abandon before. The chef did a great job making the food in front of us while entertaining us. When he threw food at the kids to catch in their mouth he insisted the girls keep trying until they caught it. He was throwing pieces of eggs and it took Allison about seven tries before she caught it. Everyone thought it was hilarious. It was a really fun dinner and ended up being one of the highlights for the kids while we were on the boat. After dinner Ryan went to have a massage and the kids and I went to the Ice Show-which was awesome and very well done. We had front row seats and could have touched the ice if we wanted to. Some of the skaters came and interacted with us during the show. There was fun music and silly acts and some cool tricks. After that we went to the ‘family’ comedy show, that we should have known would not be very family friendly comedy. That is one part of cruises that is lacking…they seem to have a hard time finding an actual funny comedian.
He turned the rice into a happy emoji.
Day 2 on the boat was our day at sea. It was also Christmas Eve. It was a little windy which made it kind of chilly sometimes but overall it was still a nice day. We took the kids to breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe. We continued the nick name ‘Facejammer’ Kenny came up with on our cruise the year before. Endless pancakes, french toast and waffles do not disappoint.
While we were at the VRBO Matthew found out that he had made the school basketball team. He was pretty excited. Ryan and I must have said something about how people usually put on a few pounds on a cruise because there is so much food so when he woke up after the first night on the ship he had Ryan go work out with him so he didn’t lose his muscles or get soft while we were on vacation. He was caught doing push-ups and lunges at random times throughout the cruise.
After breakfast we tried out some of the activities. Matthew and Emilee did the arcade for a little bit. Ryan took the kids rock climbing while I checked out the Promenade to see what they had for shopping on the boat. Emilee did the water slides. We tried to convince Matthew to try out some of the teen activities but he wasn’t to interested. We settled at the pool deck for a bit. Ryan and I lounged, read books, took naps and visited while the kids switched back and fourth between swimming in the pool and soaking in the hot tub. The ice cream machine is right by the pool so they frequented it for an ice cream fill several times throughout the day too. Emilee found a friend she met at dinner the night before so she was running around with her having a blast. There was a belly flop competition that we watched and laughed at.
Virtual Reality Trampoline
Allison and I did a napkin folding class together-we had a great time.
Nap time!
Emilee waiting in line for the slide.
Ready for the pool.
Rockin’ the pool deck.
She iced for cookies and cream ice cream. They didn’t have that kind so they brought her ice cream and cookies. She was thrilled.
When we were done swimming we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. It was Christmas Eve and their fancy night at dinner. We all dressed up except for Matthew who wore shorts and a t-shirt. We ate in the dining hall. They were serving spaghetti so the girls were in heaven. Emilee was thrilled to have ‘normal’ food. After dinner we changed our clothes and went to the ice skating rink for a while. They had twenty minute skating sessions which we thought would be short but ended up being more than enough time. None of us are that graceful of skaters. Ryan and I can stay up and go forward or stop. That is about it. Matthew looks like a fish trying to walk on land. As athletic as he is, it was no help to him for ice skating. Allison stayed pretty close to the side. Emilee was very excited to go, after about five minutes on the ice and falling several times she said she was done and ice skating was not fun because it hurts to much. After finishing ice skating with luckily only a few bruises and not broken bones or missing fingers we stopped at the private suite lounge and found some hot chocolate. We took it back to our room and watched the water from the balcony for awhile. When we walked in our room we saw that Bubbit had joined us on our trip and was sitting in the little Charlie Brown Christmas Tree we brought with us. The girls were amazed that he had made it all the way there. We got in our matching Christmas pajamas and snuggled up and watched Angry Birds 2 together then went to bed.
Bubbit found us!
Emilee about one minute before the crying and hating ice skating started.
We all look so graceful…
This is later in the week but I had to get a picture of the three of them crashed after having a day of new adventures.
Earlier this year Ryan and I were reminicing about the cruise we went on in December of 2018 and talking about when we wanted to go again. We ended up deciding to do a cruise for Christmas with the kids and make some memories together instead of buying gifts. Santa thought it was a great idea and he supported the cruise idea with us.
We waited until right after school started then told the kids the plan. We told them in lieu of lots of presents this year we would do a big family present and go on a cruise together. Matthew was immediately excited. Allison got excited once Matthew was excited. Emilee didn’t really understand what a cruise was. She was a little concerned about the no presents part though. We showed them all pictures of the boat and places we were going to go and talked about what we wanted to do. Emilee was excited but every few weeks would ask what her hands were going to do on Christmas if there wasn’t anything to open. We also decided that we should go a few days early and go to Universal Studios while we were in Florida. None of us have ever been, and Ryan, Matthew and I were pumped to see Harry Potter World. Allison decided to read the books before we went so she would know what we were talking about.
After a few months of excitement and anticipation building up, the day to leave on our trip finally arrived. We left after school on a Wednesday. The kids missed the last few days before Christmas break officially started. Ryan asked Ross to drop us off at the airport so we got dropped off at the curb which was awesome. We checked everything we could except for entertainment on the plane and headed to security. This is the first time I have flown with the kids that they have all been old enough to carry their own stuff, and keep up with things through security. It was awesome. As we worked our way up through the line several people told us that kids under 12 don’t have to take their shoes off. Matthew was a little put out that everyone thought he was under 12 so he decided to insist he was 13 and take his shoes off. This meant he had to go through the body scanner too, where it flagged something in his pockets (a couple candy canes he didn’t take out) so he had the pleasure of his first pat down. On the way home he let them assume his age instead of stating it. Once we got through security we boarded the plane and called dibs on the window seats. I like flying at night. It is more peaceful I think, and the lights from the city are pretty to look at when you take off and land. Once we arrived we stayed in a hotel close to the airport for our first night. Emilee’s favorite part of going on vacations is staying in hotels. If we just went to a hotel room and stayed for a day or two and did nothing else she would love it.
The next morning we grabbed some breakfast and headed to Universal Studios. We spent the day riding roller coasters, attending Grinchmas, trying Harry Potter butter beer, Emilee picked out a wand, we found Bertie and Botts candy store and got a chocolate frog, every flavor beans, and Fizzbees chocolate. We also explored Hogwarts castle and did a couple Harry Potter rides. Everyone went on the Harry Potter ride that includes, playing quiditch, flying through the forest andbeing chased by a dragon the blows fire at you. It was pretty awesome but poor Emilee as you will see in the picture thought it was a little to realistic. After that she took her dad who got motion sickness and the two of them found some fun rides and things to explore in Dr Seuss town. The rest of us decided that Hogwarts castle was pretty amazing and it was fun to see the sorting hat, the fat lady and other things from the movie. The Hulk roller coaster was our favorite roller coaster. It shoots you out of a cannon and loops all over the place all while you listen to your own sound track of music that makes you feel even more pumped up. I felt like Iron Man flying through the sky.
Hogwarts Express. One of the favorite rides.
Train station
Outside Gringotts Bank
Arriving at Universal for the first time.
Waiting in line to fly our broom around Hogwarts.
Filling their bellies with pizza after swimming a few hours in the pool.
Poor Emilee was done with rides after this, her and dad went and found some less intense fun.
After a busy day at the park we checked into our VRBO. The French Family came up to spend the evening with us. We went out to dinner then played games and ate lots of junk food.
The next day we returned to Universal and finished exploring everything we hadn’t done the day before. Mostly more Harry Potter stuff. We found platform 9 3/4 and rode the train to Diagon Alley. Dad and Emilee explored the shops and found some ice cream. The rest of us went inside Gringotts Bank and went on the ride through it. It is pretty cool how they have it set up. It looks like you are walking into a little shop and all of the sudden it opens up into a huge wizard town complete with a dragon on top of the bank that blows real fire every 20 minutes. It feels like you are walking around in the actual places from the books. We saw the night bus the secret hideout and lots of other things I can’t even remember now.
Walking in
Another view walking in
First round of butter beers
Emilee was really big on these posing pictures
Matthew is trying to play it cool.
Waiting in line for a simpson’s ride with Diagon Alley in the background.
Simpsons Land…took this picture for Ross.
The first thing you see when you walk through the brick wall into Diagon Alley
The dragon blows real fire.
Second round of Butter Beer. They all liked it frozen better than chilled.
Ollivander’s Wand Store.
The Night Bus
Secret Entrance to the hideout.
Griphook’s office in Gringotts.
Gringotts
Gringotts
Gringotts
Dr Suess Land
Waiting for the Hogwarts Express
Train Station
Hogwarts Express coming in.
Platform 9 and 3/4
Grinchmas
The Sorting Hat
The Fat Lady
Libray with Harry Ron and Hermione
Dumbelldors Office
The Pensieve
Hogwarts Castle
Hogwarts Castle
Hogwarts
Allison thought this was hillarious.
We successfully wore Emilee out.
After we had seen all we wanted to see we headed back to our house. The French’s came back and stayed this time, and my parents came to stay too. My dad only stayed one night because he had to go back and work but my mom stayed the whole time.
The next few days were spent relaxing and enjoying each others company. The house had a little pool that the kids spent hours swimming in. When we came home from Universal, Santa had left a snorkeling mask for each of the kids because he thought it would be helpful for them to have on the trip. When they took a break from swimming at the house pool, we went to the neighborhood community pool and they swam for a few hours in that one. We saw the new Star Wars movie, played games, did puzzles, took naps. We went to church on Sunday so we could enjoy the Christmas sacrament meeting with lots of extra music and read the Christmas story. It was a great weekend. The goal of relaxing and having fun family time was achieved.
Traditional Picture in the car on the way to our vacation.
Allison’s fancy swim hairdo.
Santa also brought us matching pajamas for us to take cute Christmas pictures in.
Sometime during our Universal Adventures Ryan found some crickets for sale to eat. Not chocolate crickets, or even chocolate covered crickets. Plain, regular, real, dead, crickets. He told Allison and Matthew that if they split the box and ate them he would give them $20. Allison would not be bought. Matthew was all for it. I couldn’t believe he agreed to it. I would have guessed maybe one cricket…MAYBE…but even that, I would have negotiated more than $20. Matthew said he would do it, and when Ryan said he had to eat the whole box instead of half since Allison wasn’t doing it, he was stillwilling to do it for the original $20. So to stop myself from gagging all over again I will just say he did it. I will include the nasty video for you to watch yourself. It was so gross. I was dry heaving the whole time. I still can’t believe he did it. Sometimes I just look at him and say, “I can’t believe you ate crickets.” So GROSS!!
So NOT worth $20.
Now when he doesn’t want to eat something I can always say, “It can’t be worse than crickets!”
Monday we packed up and headed for the next part of our vacation. A cruise to the Bahama’s!
