It has been a very busy and fun month of December!! I cannot believe that it's almost over. Heck, the whole year is almost over!!
I have a lot to blog about but first I want to start with our most recent vacation. It was a blast! We went on a 7-night cruise on the Norwegian Epic, out of Miami. The ship was just over the top, the food was delicious, and we had great company, too! We traveled with Brian's family and my nephew. There were 15 of us all together, including 3 infants.
It's a lot to cram into one post but I can't guarantee that I will be back anytime soon so here is my attempt.
On the first night (Saturday) Brian and I went out to Howl At the Moon on the ship. It was so fun. It's a dueling piano bar and we have one near us in Tampa and we love it. Everyone was having a great time and enjoying their first night on vacation! But we also had an 8:30AM breakfast reservation with some Nickelodeon characters so we tried not to get too wild :)
I think 8:30 came too early for most of us (I called Brian's parents to ask for much needed Advil and they were still sleeping), but we managed to make it to breakfast on time.
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| Nickelodeon characters |
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| Mom, who are these giant people? |
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| Family photo at breakfast |
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| Meeting Patrick from SpongeBob SquarePants (With Isaiah, Honor, Morgan, and Asher) |
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| Still don't know who this is... |
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| Go Diego, Go! |
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| Dora the Explorer! |
It was a fun breakfast and the characters did a great job of getting the kids excited! My nephew Isaiah (the older boy in the photos above) was much older than most of the kids but he still had a good time.
We spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool and enjoying a day on the sea as the Epic was making a 2-day journey from Miami to St. Maarten.
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| Brett sleeping by the pool, Emma is close! |
Luckily Brett and Emma did very well sleeping in their new stroller! Once they were nice and sleepy we would give them a bottle and put them in the stroller with the seats reclined. We put the shades down and covered them in a towel and they would sleep for 1-2 hours. Honestly this MADE the trip. If they weren't napping in the stroller we would have been stuck in our cabin trying to get them to sleep in pack-n-plays or we would have been dealing with cranky monsters all day/night. This wasn't our first vacation with them but it was by far the best because they adjusted extremely well.
After two days of enjoying the ship at sea, we were at our first destination; Philipsburg, St. Maarten.
In Philipsburg we did some shopping, eating, and sightseeing.
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| Nap time! |
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| View of the beach and cruise ships. |
After walking around for a little while B&E were getting tired of the stroller so we headed back to the ship so they could play. We found a cool room called the Under 2 Zoo which is a conference room filled with baby toys! So we took the babies in there to play for a little while before dinner.
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| Emma found this Fisher Price musical table and would not leave it! |
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| Brett went right for the danger zone! Outlets! |
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| Then he decided to play with the "toys". |
It was fun to put Brett and Emma down and let them crawl around since they had been pretty confined. Their favorite toys were the Fisher Price musical table and the tunnels. Aunt Kathleen bought them the table for Christmas before knowing that it would be Emma's favorite toy, so I think Emma might suspect that we stole it from the cruise ship and wrapped it up for Christmas. And Grandma Susan knew they loved the tunnels so much she bought them a set for Hanukkah! These babies are so lucky everyone loves them so much!
That night was mine and Brian's 3-year wedding anniversary. We went to dinner at a delicious Brazilian Steakhouse on the ship called Moderno. The food was so good. The waiters kept coming by with more and more food, but we weren't the only ones indulging. Brett's GG (Great Grandma) was feeding him the cheesiest mac 'n' cheese I have ever seen!
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| Mmmmm |
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| Mom, have you tried this stuff?? |
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| Cheese! |
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| That was yummy! I think i'll play with my toy now! |
The day after our anniversary was my birthday!! We were in St. Thomas and it was beautiful. Brian and I went snorkeling while Grandma Susan and Aunt Heather walked B&E around the shops.
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| Isaiah getting ready to snorkel. |
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| Brian and me on the beach. |
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| ~Totally relaxed~ |
It was a great way to celebrate my birthday! We went swimming, snorkeling, and enjoyed the beach. But there was still some more celebrating to do so we headed back to the ship to play with our cuties and get ready for dinner. (Does it seem like all we did on this trip was eat??)
Brian was great entertainment for Brett and Emma while I was getting ready.
After dinner that night we went to the Svedka ice bar on the ship. It was so cool, literally! Everything was made of ice, including the glasses and seating. We had to wear parkas and gloves the whole time we were inside. And since it was so cold, the bartender kept popping in and out. So Uncle Heath decided to serve up a few drinks.
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| What would you like? |
Putting Heath behind the bar did the trick because the bartender came right in and started pouring our drinks :)
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| Brian and me trying to stay warm. |
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| Family photo! |
The ice bar was fun and we stayed in about 30-40 minutes, which is a lot longer than I expected we would last. The bartender was ready for us to leave (so he could leave) so he poured us a round of drinks "for the road." That was his polite way of kicking us out. But, we didn't mind a free drink! The rest of my birthday night was spent dancing at the White Hot Party (Norwegian's signature deck party on every ship). It was a really fabulous night.
The next morning we managed to get out of bed early (B&E had no pity on us party animals) and enjoy our last sea day. We took Brett and Emma to the baby pool area a few times on our trip and they LOVED it. It was already Thursday and this would be their last chance to play in the splash area.
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| Look at me! |
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| This is so fun!!! |
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| Mom, look at this! |
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| Big smiles from Mr. Brett! |
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| We can bang on this as much as we want! |
Our last day at sea ended with dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the ship. Another great meal!
The very last day of vacation was spent in Nassau at Atlantis Resort. It was fun but we didn't take any pictures. I stayed by the pool with Brett and Emma while Brian took Isaiah on the water slides with his brother and cousin. I knew it would be my last pool day for quite a while so I tried to enjoy it as much as possible.
That night was our last vacation dinner. We ate in the dining room for the first time. It was pretty good but it took a while. Brett and Emma were literally falling asleep in their high chairs.
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| Sleepy Emma |
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| Don't let the smile fool you. This cranky boy was just minutes away from sleep! |
The next morning we had one last breakfast on the ship before we headed home. It was sad to say goodbye to this vacation because it was so wonderful. Everyone had a great time! Brett and Emma are world travelers. So thank you Grandma and Grandpa Boksen for taking us on a wonderful vacation! And thank you Isaiah for all your help with B&E and letting Uncle Brian and me have a few nights "out" on the ship!
