Vacation is over...literally

Today was my first official day back at work.  Boo.  Summer is officially over for our household.  I am blessed to have a job that allows me to be home with my kids for almost 10 weeks in the summer and blessed for the benefits that come with that job.  But it is certainly hard to go back in August.

My days are about to be filled with lesson plans, IEP's, paperwork, meetings, more paperwork and lots of students.  No more mornings at the playground or pool, crafts, projects or fighting the patch (except on the weekend).

Jed will be starting preschool next week.  He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and he is really excited.  Julia is staying in her in-home daycare and will go to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays when she turns two in October. 

Last week we went on an 8 day cruise with our family.  It was a blast!  I was nervous about having small children on a cruise, but it ended up working out perfectly.

The hardest part was getting there.  Two flights with a layover and a crabby cab driver to the hotel.  We were beat!  The cab driver tried to charge us extra because we didn't have car seats.  He was crazy.  Then the next day, trying to get onto the ship, all the computers crashed and we ended up sitting in line for 2 hours.   They didn't get the computers up and running until much later, so they let everyone on and did the paperwork by hand.

Finally on the ship!

 

Because of a tropical storm, we ended up with a different itinerary.  We had two full days at sea to start.  We did a little swimming in the morning, sent Jed to Camp Carnival (best thing ever!) and then picked him up for lunch and naps.  It was relaxing and wonderful.

 

It was a little windy!

Fun with Daddy!

We stuck to the kiddy pool.

 

The first night at sea was formal night.  We got all dolled up and took some pics and then ate a fancy dinner.  The kids were surprisingly well behaved (giving them any food they wanted didn't hurt!).

Fancy clothes!

Handsome boy!

Attempting a family photo.

She loves pasta!

So does he.

Brownies are good too.

 

On the second day at sea, I took the kids to a "Build a Bear" workshop at Camp Carnival and they each made a bear.  You may notice that for a LOT of the trip Julia doesn't have a patch.  We tried so hard and usually only got about an hour a day.  She wouldn't even be bribed with the binky.  I told her she could only keep her binky if she left on her patch.  She calmly handed me her binky out of her mouth and then ripped the patch off.  Little stinker.

Making a stuffed bear.

Fun!

 

That evening, we figured out that Jed could eat dinner at Camp Carnival and then stay and play.  They had tons of planned activities for the kids, and he really enjoyed being there.  Every night they painted the kids' faces.  It was so cute!

Ocean theme night.

Superhero night.

Pirate night (this was my favorite).

Animal night.

Circus night.

 

Our first stop was Aruba.  James and I were able to go explore the shops by ourselves because my awesome parents watched the kids for a few hours.

Going to hang with Grandma and Grandpa!

 

That evening, they watched the kids again so that we could go on a sunset cruise.  It was gorgeous.  Blue water, blue skies, a smooth sailing catamaran and adult beverages.  Heaven...

Kid free for the evening.

Our view.

Happy and relaxed.

 

We were able to stay at Aruba another day and so we all hit the beach.  The kids loved the water and the sand and had a blast.  I think they would have been content to spend everyday at the beach!

Fun in the sand.

She loved it too.

 

After the beach.

 

Exhausted.

 

We were able to have dinner every night together, which was nice.  We got to dress up a bit and just enjoy the company of our family.



Beautiful.

 

Towel animals every evening.  Kids loved it.

 

So fun.

 

Our next stop was Dominican Republic.  We went on a fun excursion that included a speed boat ride, beach stop and swimming in a natural pool at a sandbar.  Unfortunately, it rained a huge portion of the day, so it wasn't that enjoyable.  I didn't really have many good pics of our soggy selves.

Finally stopped raining for a few minutes.

 

The last stop was Grand Turk.  James and I were able to do a SNUBA excursion.  It was amazing!  We both now want to get our scuba certification.  The kids were swimming at the Margaritaville pool with my parents.  We joined them at the pool for a bit and then headed back to the boat.

 

The last day was at sea, and we hit the pool and had a nice dinner.  Just relaxing.





Sweet girl.

 

Swimming.

 

Posing for Mom.

 

Lunch in the room.

 

Just happy.

 

She is too.

 

Last night at dinner.

 

The trip home was a little stressful.  Again, two flights with a layover.  We also had to get off the ship at 8 am but our flight wasn't until noon.  So we had to corral 4 kids ages 4 and under for several hours in the airport.  We actually blocked off a section of chairs and I pulled out every activity I had (I made like 20 busy bags before the trip).  It worked for awhile.

 









Meltdown time.

 

Hanging in the airport with the family.

 

Still having a meltdown.

 

Getting tired.

After a long day of travel, we finally got home.  It was wonderful sleeping in our own room, in our own bed.  We got home Sunday evening, I had a conference to attend on Tuesday and started work on Wednesday.  So we hit the ground running as soon as vacation was over.

 

So literally, our vacation is over.  But it was sure fun while it lasted!