It's our last full day on the boat, we are going to make the most of it!
Tawny tried to hold Emmalyn and give her breakfast but Emmalyn wasn't having any of it. She did warm up to Aunt Tawny very much this trip. :(
We went to story time with Dora
Here's me trying to get Maxwell to participate with all the rest of the kids. No luck.
Emmalyn got to paint and do her hand prints
She did a little bit of painting but mostly liked to chew the brushes
It's been so great to be able to have Maxwell old enough to attend the kids club - Splash Academy!
(This is his cheese face) Maxwell and Jaxton
Willingly going right in! All the kids were getting ready for their big circus performance!
While we waited for the circus, the adults and Emmalyn played some trivia
Tawny figured out Emmalyn's weakness - cheerios
Yeah! We played trivia!
Boo - we lost
So all the kids that had been going to Splash Academy put on a circus for the parents. There were jugglers, plate spinners, and other acts. Tawny's kids all did an awesome job on their parts. Lola was part of a couple skits and balanced a peacock feather on her finger, chin, elbow etc. Jaxton and Payton were plate spinners. Well, the little 3 year olds all dressed up as tigers with tails and ears and face paint. When the kids all walked into the theater, we saw Maxwell with his class but he wasn't dressed up and his face wasn't painted. (He told us the night before that he wasn't going to dress up and we tried to bribe him into it but clearly that didn't work.) Not only did he not dress up but when it was his time to walk up on stage and jump through the "ring of fire" with the other "tigers", he refused. He wouldn't leave his chair and go up on stage. The teachers tried to get him to do it and even tried to carry him up but he refused.
I was so excited to see Maxwell up on stage for the first time but instead saw how stubborn he can be. When this kid makes up his mind, he doesn't sway, doesn't give into peer pressure, can't be bribed. I'm sure there will be times I will be grateful for that but dang, I wanted to see my little tiger perform. However, Maxwell isn't a performer. It's not his thing. Oh well. I don't even have a picture of his non-performance.
They did carry him up on stage at the end for the final bow and applause. Here's a video - you can see how pleased he is about it (NOT).
Maybe when he's 4??
After dinner Maxwell got some another ice cream cone, the last one of the trip.
We headed to Dora's dance party where Maxwell wanted to watch for awhile.
Eventually I got him to dance a little bit.
Lots of Nickelodeon characters were there.
Family pic with Dora!
I tried to get Maxwell to go up to Diego and he refused to even look at him, let alone give him a high five. - - This shy and timid kid!
Emmalyn has really enjoyed the mirror right about the bed
We were now at the back part of our cruise...that awful part where you see the end creeping up on you.
We got to enjoy another day at sea. I like having a couple days at sea to enjoy the boat and relax without having to get off the boat. Today I also took advantage of of the day at sea to get a massage. This was the first time I've gotten a massage at sea. So nice!
Peter joined in the "free" time for the under 2 year olds. This time there was one other child in there - one of the officer's sons. I couldn't believe that other parents wouldn't bring their kids to play. While a cruise ship is HUGE, it can be hard to find space for little kids to play and run around without bumping into other people.
Again, the kitchen was his favorite thing to play with.
It was cute watching him pretend play with the cups
Playing around with dad before trivia started.
Woo hoo!!! We won! Our prize was this "ship on a stick" and some playing cards. Fancy, right?
We went to some show in the theater.
Max liked to clap along with the audience.
Ha! Not sure what they were looking at but they seem to feel the same way about it.
He must be watching something down on deck.
Dad got him his favorite treat on the ship, an ice cream cone. SPOILED
We were able to enjoy dinner in the dining room every night except for the night Peter and I went to the steakhouse. We had a great system down. Our servers knew to get Max some fruit before we even placed our order. They brought him milk and little straws. He was quite popular in the dining room and all the servers around us also talked to him. Max loved eating the fruit and bread and we usually got some chicken/broccoli/or PB&J in him as well. Then when he was done eating we'd bring out the iPad and headphones and he'd entertain himself while we finished up. Pretty much every night, there would be some new family next to us that would get distracted from their own meal with watching how great Max was with what he was doing on the iPad.
Our fantastic server - Kittyaporn. Max loved her. When she'd walk away he'd ask where she was going. Or if we didn't see her for awhile he'd say, "Where's my Kitty?" We were lucky to have someone so great with Max!
We were all dressed up for one of the "formal nights"
Max and I boogied on the dance floor to the live music
Apparently we had an audience (look at the back left)
Max also danced with his daddy
Video - Max learned a new dance move during this cruise. I think it's pretty dang cute.
That night, Max again asked to go to the show. He enjoyed the glow sticks they gave out.
Fun to see the all the glow sticks
Our last day included a stop in Nassau, Bahamas. We've been to the Bahamas before and did NOT like it. Click here to read about it. I was excited to finally go to Nassau and had high hopes. Kimberly, Peter, and I were going to go paddle boarding and snorkeling (We'd drop Max off to be babysat again.) We were all really looking forward to it. Unfortunately about 1/2 hr before we were supposed to leave, we got a call that the excursion had been cancelled because the boat the company used was broken. We were so bummed. Ugh...the Bahamas Bad Luck starts again.
Panoramic shot - Atlantis is in the background
After we navigated the craziness of the terminal, found a taxi, and waited forever until the taxi driver found other people to shove in the taxi we finally made it to the beach. The beach was super crowded, littered with trash, and smelled like cigar smoke and pot. We rented a few chairs and an umbrella still hoping to have a nice time. Unfortunately, the water was super rough and Max couldn't play in it on his own. It wasn't even fun for me when holding Max, just stressful. I think Peter enjoyed the waves a little bit.
Not happy Max. None of us had a great time so we didn't stay long. We decided to just go back to the pier, do some last chance shopping, and head back to the boat.
Max liked the towel stingray
The mess your room turns into by the end of the cruise...
Such a mess after you pick up little trinkets/crap/etc everywhere!
Max was a pro at working that remote. We watched a lot of Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie, over and over and over...
Family pic
I was running short on diapers this last day. We had enough for the last day on the boat but not enough for the next day when we were traveling home. I packed so many diapers - I couldn't believe I ran out! So I had no choice but to buy diapers in port.... 19.99 for 31!!!!!!! Killed me. But what choice did I have? (I ended up only being 1 diaper short by the time we got home...ONE!...grumble...)
Stinkin' Bahamas. What a crappy way to end a great cruise. If it had been the first port, it might not have been so bad but we had some awesome ports and Nassau didn't even come close comparatively.
Unfortunately the time came and the cruise came to an end. It was time to go home.
A pic from the Bahamas (these smiles weren't around when we were getting back on the boat!)
We went back to the airport in style too - town car. We flew home from Ft. Lauderdale airport so we parted ways with Kimberly on the ship.
Since Max turned two years old the next day, we moved his car seat around to be front facing. He thought that was pretty awesome and enjoyed being able to see where we were going out the front window for the first time!
He didn't nap on the plane which led to him falling asleep in his stroller on the way out to meet Brittany. He doesn't fall asleep like this so that really says a lot for how tired he was. He fell asleep one other time like this at one of the ports and the security people that make you go through the metal detectors when you get back on the boat, didn't make us wake him up to take him out of the stroller which was nice of them.
Things I want to remember about Max on this cruise:
He would take our hands (or our pants) and pull us around to where he wanted to go
He learned numbers 11 - 15 thanks to all the floors on the boat
He LOVED the elevator buttons and knew where all the elevators were and would run ahead of us when we were getting close and would say "this way"
He high fived and said hello to other passengers - and not only did he give them out but there were times HE would initiate the high fives which is great because in the past he's been so shy!
The boxes of cheerios in the morning were a great thing to be utilized throughout the day
He didn't like being out on the balcony
He was spoiled with more playing time on the iPad than he would get at home and quickly connected us eating to a chance for him to play on it. He also connected trivia time with a chance for him to play on Peter's phone.
He didn't want to wear his bib or sit in the high chair
He loved the ocean and building sand castles
Pineapple became his favorite fruit
He usually would say to Peter "hold you" (meaning he wanted Peter to hold him) on the long hallways so he didn't have to walk
He loved being with his Aunt Kimi
His naps were never very long but he still woke up early in the morning
Wife, Mom, and Career Woman. Trying to succeed at all three. Enjoy cruising, time with friends and family, and sleeping. Busy life doesn't leave time for as much fun as in the past but that's okay, it's still a good life.
