Thanksgiving Cruise with the Footes - Part 4

We made it to our other port, Cozumel, Mexico!  We hit up our go-to resort - Paradise Beach.  Cheap entrance, food, freshwater pool, and a great beach!

She had a great time playing at the beach

We happened to be in Cozumel the exact same day that Maxwell's friends from Castle Montessori, the twins, were also in port while they were on a cruise!  So we met up with their family John, Claire, Joshua and Lucas and the boys had a ton of fun playing together.

They played on the big inflatables out in the ocean (made me super nervous because the life vests were pretty big and it wasn't quick swimming to the other sides of the toys if they fell/jumped off.

After awhile they switched to the pool 

Joshua - Lucas - Maxwell

Such silly friends

Unfortunately they weren't in port as long as we were so they had to leave part way through the way.  It was still a lot of fun to see them in another country!

Enjoying life on the beach!!!  Even though it was a cloudy day, it still was enjoyable.

Tired but not sleeping.  We made her lay down for a little bit.

Enjoying some street tacos

Maxwell and I decided to go snorkeling.  I wasn't sure how if it would work since the mask was so big on him.

Out in the ocean

We switched from the snorkel mask to his goggles and it worked just fine.

He loved snorkeling and we saw some cool fish and even a gorgeous spotted stingray!  He was really excited about that one.

Playing some more on the smaller inflatables

Such happy faces!

Emmalyn did not want to stop being in the water!

Maxwell got really brave and climbed up this big slide!!

Everyone is clearing out but we stayed as long as we could.

Maxwell was still out there having fun and since most everyone had left, he wasn't having to watch out for the big kids anymore.

Family picture

Back to the boat after some quick shopping.  No need to buy a lot of souvenirs in Cozumel since we've been there so many times.

We hit up karaoke again that night after dinner.  It was fun to be back with the Footes who had spent their day on Cozumel doing other things.  Max sang "Take on Me" by A-ha.  I ended up going up on stage with him because the boat was rocking so much and I didn't want him to fall.  Emmalyn came up and stood there too.

Tammy, Taylor, and I did Jason Mraz.

Maxwell didn't get time to do another song before the family karaoke time was over and he had a full melt down.  He's quickly become very passionate about karaoke!

At dinner each night Emmalyn wants chicken nuggets and fries and I've just given into it.  Max has tried a couple thing but only things from the kids menu.  He does like the Carnival Molten Melted Cake for dessert each night (my favorite!).  The kids have been getting worn out on the cruise.  This morning Emmalyn didn't even really want to wake up until 7:45 am - - a very big deal!

I was on kid bedtime duty tonight and Peter went and had some fun in the casino.

Day 3 - Caribbean Cruise March 2015 - Cozumel, Mexico

We were excited to hit our first port - Cozumel, Mexico!  We took a cab to a resort with a pool and a beach.  Sorry for all the pics but I love too many to cut them out!

Family pic

Lola, me, Emmalyn, Peter, Aja, Jaxton, and Payton (Maxwell was the photographer)

Emmalyn immediately wanted to investigate the sand

Maxwell did NOT like walking on the sand and so he sat on his chair to play in the sand

Peter enjoyed the free wi-fi.  (I didn't even bring my phone - I am unplugged baby!)

Her investigation inevitably led to eating the sand despite all my efforts to stop her.

Sandy face

Then we all went down to play in the sand/water

Emmalyn and Payton

Payton was so excited to have found a little crab

Emmalyn and Jaxton

Oh no, she ate more of the sand!  Gross!!

This time she wasn't happy about it

Aja caught me in the act of capturing Emmalyn in the sand

Lola playing with Emmalyn

I thought she would enjoy standing in the water but she DID NOT

It's so much fun having this crew around!!

Lola, Tawny, Jaxton, and Payton

Maxwell was loving the time with his cousins.  (See the stamps on his hands?  One of the prizes I brought on the trip were some stamps and he was all about them whenever we were in our cabin.)

Eventually everyone left the beach and headed for the pool while I worked on getting Emmalyn to take a nap.

Aja and Peter

Maxwell did awesome swimming around and rarely came up for a picture

Maxwell and Payton

Trying to get all the kids together was hard because Maxwell kept going under water

Caught him!

Success!!!  I got her to sleep.  She was so sweet and perfect.

Up and ready to have more fun

This is the excitement and joy she showed when she saw that I was getting a bottle ready for her:

The gorgeous beach

Snack time.  I made PB&J on the boat at breakfast and brought it along.

Maxwell enjoyed taking pictures when I would give him the chance

Maxwell jumped a little on the trampoline

Cool Dude Jaxt

Play the catch the ball game I brought

Best buds

Love this girl!!!

Time to go - she's tired again

First we grabbed a snack.  Maxwell enjoyed his kid friendly tropical smoothie

Emmalyn was stuck in her stroller but we gave her some fries and that kept her happy.

Tickles work to get great smiles

Back on the dock.

That's our boat - the Norwegian Jewel

On the way back onto the ship the staff had a party to welcome us back.  I've never been on a cruise where they did this, it was great!  They had an area with chairs for people to rest, juice and water, fresh baked cookies, and the staff was lining the path cheering, giving high fives, and even gave Maxwell this balloon sword.

Super cool right?  Well, it ended up being a huge embarrassing moment for me.  So I was trying to help Maxwell and so I was holding his drink of juice and my drink of water.  He had grabbed a cookie but then dropped it because he was also holding his sword.  I knew I should pick up the cookie and so I tried to quickly bend down and snatch it up and keep moving forward so that we didn't hold up the line.  Well, when I bent down, I forgot that I had the juice in my hand so as I grabbed for the cookie, I dumped the juice out all over Maxwell.  It was awful.  I felt so bad and sooo embarrassed because the crew and passengers around had seen my idiot moment.  Maxwell was in shock I think so he didn't get overly upset that I had spilled on him but was upset about his dropped cookie and now spilled juice.  Ugh.  Good job Kallie, way to handle it.  I am such a klutz.

Dinner in a different dining room tonight

Emmalyn was on the end of the table and being pretty good and garnering lots of attention from passersby... and then I smelled poop.  Well when I picked her up, I could tell it was bad.  Peter held her and I could see she had blown way out of her diaper.  I wasn't about to deal with a blow out in a public bathroom so I had to take her to our room but the fastest way to get there was an elevator.  Of course we couldn't have an elevator all to ourselves.  I totally apologized to the poor people that had to ride in the elevator with me and stinky Emmalyn.  I just kept my hand on her shirt on her back the whole time because if not, who knows where else the poop might have gone.  It was AWFUL to clean up.  Such a mess.  By the time I made it back to dinner everyone was done and I was past my limit.  She hasn't had a blow out like that for awhile, why now!?