Being on vacation is so great! Our room has been great, especially the extra space (I was able to shower with the two kids today!! unheard of!)...having Maxwell go to the kids zone has been great...being around family is great...having a real bathtub in our room is great...bringing a babysitter along with you on vacation is great, especially at night when it's bedtime for the kids but we still want to be out enjoying ourselves...taking naps while Emmalyn naps is great...It's great how much people love Emmalyn wherever we go on the ship...Maxwell getting to push lots of elevator buttons is great...
Sometimes though, things aren't great!
The pizza on ship hasn't been great...going up flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator hasn't been going great (Maxwell LOVES elevators so taking the stairs isn't an option)...having the worst period of your life during vacation isn't great...not finding that one food that you could eat every day isn't great...not getting to lay on deck soaking in the sun all day isn't great...We haven't been able to play as much trivia as we would like...while we are on vacation, we have found that we are still tired!
All in all though, things are great!
playing with the room key
Local musicians welcoming us to port
Roatan, Honduras
Taking a boat ride to the private island excursion
Maxwell LOVES his Aunt Aja. When we are in our room he thinks it's so cool to call her room on the phone.
Jaxt, Tawny, Lola, Peter, Emmalyn
We hung out here for at least half a day. It was a great place with lots to do. Jaxton and Payton got to snorkel plus there were animals to look at and tons of local animals/reptiles for Payton to enjoy. He LOVED it.
The beach was nice. A little rocky in parts but still beautiful.
Maxwell quickly got in the water to play with Aunt Aja
Searching through the sand for seashells
Maxwell loves playing in the ocean and sand with Lola.
Selfies with daddy - they are pulling the same faces...
The public restrooms were super far away so I tried to get Maxwell to just go pee in the ocean. He just couldn't do it. We tried like 3 times with me out in the ocean trying to get him to go. I was so frustrated. He ended up having an accident by our stuff in the sand (which was no big deal but I really would have preferred the ocean!)
My happy beach baby
There was lunch included in the excursion but none of us really liked it (worst excursion food ever). Luckily I had brought some food for the kids.
Jaxton and Tawny went back to the ship early because his broken foot was really hurting him after he danced on the pier for money in Belize.
Peter & Aja took Payton, Lola, and Maxwell to go look at the animals around the island while I tried to get Emmalyn to take a nap.
They got to feed and hold monkeys!!! Maxwell DID NOT like this. Peter had to bribe him with a dollar to even get him to get close to the monkeys.
Payton was in heaven and Lola loved it too.
This is the best picture. Think the money found any bugs in Peter's hair?
Payton had found another critter and Maxwell had no interest in it.
Note the dollar that Maxwell is holding? :)
I fell asleep too. It was awesome having her sleep on me since she doesn't really do that anymore.
There's no WAY I would be brave enough to hold everything this animal warrior does!
The gorgeous scenery. The island was so pretty.
Before her nap, I took Emmalyn into the ocean. She liked the ocean much more here than Mexico. I think it's because the water was warmer.
Uh oh...She's got handfuls of sand...
Yup, right in the mouth
and again...
I kept grabbing her hand to stop her and she'd pull the other one up to her mouth. It was a battle I was losing. Ugh. so gross and it's gross to think I eventually just gave in.
Anyone want to share?
Splash
Beauty and the beach
She really had fun in the ocean and sand today
It looks like she's alone (for the sake of the picture), but I was right there by her
Payton found a little lizard
Still holding his dollar (which was carefully taken care for the rest of the trip)
Goodbye Roatan! We had fun
(Again, Jaxton and Tawny had come back earlier, that's why they aren't in the pic)
Our ship
Crap, I took this pic because you can see our room but now I can't remember which of those rooms is ours...oh well
The welcome back aboard party wasn't as big this time but they still had cold towels, drinks, and cookies (and of course, always, hand sanitizer)
Maxwell picked out a turtle necklace at one of the shops and I bought Emmalyn her first jewelry, a little beaded bracelet.
That night there was a gorgeous rainbow over the ocean outside of our room. Look at how bright the colors are! I can't think of the last time I saw such a bright rainbow.
It's a double rainbow! I ran upstairs on the top deck to get a better view of the full rainbow.
Left side
Right side
Enjoying the rainbows on one side of the boat and then the sunset on the other side
(Maxwell was at the kids zone - he is finally at the point where he doesn't get upset when we drop him off and is even happy even though he still doesn't like the idea)
Sunset over the ocean
...Nearly gone
Gone. And instantly the sky is less orange.
Earlier we had taken Emmalyn to do a craft for babies - coloring with edible paint.
When we picked Maxwell up from the kids zone, he clearly had a great time. He had made Dora's backpack!
He was excited about the towel animal
Modeling the backpack
We left Aja in the room with the kids while they slept and Peter and I went out to enjoy the rest of the evening. Peter got his nightly ice cream cone.
