Day 7:
We arrived in Cozumel on the night of the 6th day because we had missed Costa Maya. The ship was docked and you could have spent the night at port if you wanted to, but we stayed on the ship. We got up pretty early the next morning to go out and do some exploring and shopping before our chartered excursion.
There were these great doughnuts on the ship and the kids got one almost every morning. Can you tell that Ava's had chocolate frosting? I told Greg that I thought they were all Krispy Kreme doughnuts and on the very last day I saw someone refilling the doughnuts right out of a Krispy Kreme box! I have no idea how they keep them so fresh for a week, but they were delicious! Just ask Ava!!
It's hard to tell, but Zach is showing off his milk mustache in this picture...along with his striking good looks...
He and his brother are both so, so very handsome...
My little tourists in Cozumel.
They were excited to see the pelicans everywhere and I was surprised how close they would let you get to them. I guess they are big enough to hold their own?
We had some interesting shopping adventures while in Cozumel - including the purchase and return of a silver bracelet for me. It's quite a story, but in short I was promised the bracelet was real, later found out it wasn't, returned the bracelet and brought the kids back to the store to talk to the man and tell him how disappointed I was in him. I don't think the man knew how to handle it, but we had a great learning moment with the kids. Zach, on the other hand, got exactly what he wanted...a giant sombrero! He told us from the very beginning that he was saving his money for it. Andrew bought a leather bracelet, a black coral and shark tooth necklace and a shirt from the magician on the ship with his money. Zach bought this sombrero and a Chip and a Dale stuffed animal and Ava bought a bracelet and then saved her money to buy a real ukelele when we got home. I love all the things they decided to buy! Zach was a quick study on this sombrero. The guy was selling it for $34 and Zach offered him $20. After a little negotiating, he got it and did it all on his own. It was so fun.
That afternoon we went on a submarine ride. We took a small boat out into the ocean and were just kind of waiting...then all of the sudden this is what we saw!
The set up inside was really nice. Everyone had a big port hole window with a little guide for fish. I wondered if it would feel closed in or small inside, but I didn't have that feeling at all.
This was the view in the front...this is the captain of the submarine.
Down, down, down...
down, down, down...
to see the coral reef and search for fish!
Talk about pictures not doing justice! The colors were great, and the coral was quite amazing.
These fish were a seemingly unnatural color of blue...
My view of Andrew, Greg and Ava observing. Ava was the first one on the submarine to see a sting ray. It was a really fun moment to see it swimming around - she was especially proud to have been the one to spot it. We also saw a huge lobster and some kind of fish that was probably as long as I am tall. The rest of the time the fish seemed to be the size I would have expected, but it was so awesome to see it from this perspective.
The first half of the dive we were at a depth of 45 to 50 feet and we followed the coral reef. Then we dove quite a bit further down - notice the depth meter in this picture!
This is a picture of sardines...there were so many in this school!
In case you were wondering, the kids really loved it!
Here are the bubbles as we started to resurface...
It had already been a long, eventful day and both Greg and Ava decided to take a little nap on the way back to land.
Zach and I were on the other side of the boat when all of the sudden...splash! We had a good bit of a wave come our way!
It's a little hard to tell how wet we are, but we are WET!
There were some really pretty beaches and hotels that we could see on our way back.
Then we saw the grand daddy of all cruise ships...the Oasis of the Seas. This ship is calling my name! And LOUD!!! I want to cruise this ship in a bad, bad way. If you don't know anything about it or why it would appeal to me, just go to Royal Caribbean online and check out this ship. It's got Sandy written all over it!
Here are the boys ready to pick themselves an afternoon treat!
There was this great, little, outdoor bar with swings as bar stools. It was feeling pretty vacationy and tropical to me!
The kids thought it was fun too.
On the way back, the kids stopped to take some pictures with these street performers.
This guy did a great job of staying very, very still until you walked by him. If you weren't paying attention, he got a pretty good jump out of you!
A view of the main street in Cozumel.
Ava took this picture of the ship as we were getting ready to walk back down the pier to the ship.
This warning was on the pier and it was just begging to be crossed! My boys let their feet hover as I took their picture...they are so much like me!
When we got back on the ship, there was a movie playing in the Buena Vista Theater that Zach and Ava wanted to see. It is a strange feeling to drop off your 8 and 5 year olds at a movie and tell them you'll be back in 2 hours! They were thrilled!!
While they were at the movies, Andrew went to the Edge Club and Greg and I went to learn how to scratch records with the DJ. This is the guys who played for us each night while we were dancing...he knew us pretty well by the end of the cruise! We had a great time playing DJ and I think I have found a new calling in life...okay, maybe there isn't a huge call for a middle aged mother of 3 DJ!
We went back to pick up my little movie watchers...
They were the last ones out of the theater...they could have stayed there for another movie!
This was an AMAZING thing about the ship. There were times where there was literally NO ONE else in sight. Where are all the people? This is the hallway outside of the movies...um, ship to ourselves??
After the movies, Zach and Ava went to the kids' club and came back with some face paint. They were both extremely pleased with themselves.
Andrew at the Captain's Gala dinner. He was so big on this cruise. He tried all kinds of food he had never tried before...lamb, duck, clams, oysters...just to name a few! He's quite the foodie in his own right.
Ava at the Captain's Gala dinner...
And Senor Zach...much to his enjoyment, we let him keep the mustache for dinner!
I just had to get a little snapshot of her hair too...some things are exactly the same on a cruise!
After dinner, the kids had their normal routine of pajamas, room service and movies and Greg and I went out to play a game and go dancing. It was 70's night (duh) and we had a blast dancing with the crew!
We came back to a monkey...
Senor Zach...
this tuckered out little one...
and this one! What a big day!!
Day 8:
Our last day...a day at sea. The boys were off to their clubs and Ava was on a date with us. We went to the big finale dance with all of the characters. It was packed!! It was only the second time on the ship where I had the "we are at Disney" feeling of crowds (the other was waiting in line for princesses). But, it was so fun. We made our way through the crowds and got right in on the fun!
Here are all of the character on the stairs...
then came the confetti!!
It may have been Ava's favorite part! She kept collecting it and having her own confetti party again and again!
Her personal confetti party!
After the dance she went to lunch with Greg and me. At the end, we tried every dessert! It was fun and yummy!
The little banana creme pie on the right was my favorite!
Later that afternoon, the kids from the clubs all did a presentation for the parents. Here's Ava walking in!
on stage...
Doing a little song and dance with Mickey, Minnie and the camp staff!
After Zach and Ava got off stage, we went to buy Zach's beloved Chip and Dale.
On the way back to the room, we stopped to take a little picture with Minnie!
That last night there were some antics at dinner...a hold up...
some new teeth...
or should I make that tooth?
Um...I'm not exactly sure what was happening here, but it is really something!
We stopped to see Stitch before heading back to the room.
He's one of Zach's favorites!
Then the kids were on to their final night of room service cookies and milk, movies and cruise freedom! And we were off to...
Beat Street! This was the way to the activities at night for the adults and to the dance club that we went to each night.
Greg was dancing his heart out on Beat Street...I loved it!
And when we finally got back to the room, the boys were out like lights and this little princess was wide awake! Watching the end of a movie!! The three of us went to bed and prepared to get off the ship by 8 am the next morning.
When we woke up I was shocked to see how foggy Galveston was. I didn't realize that even though we weren't moving, we weren't at port either! The announcement came soon that we were 12 miles out of the Port of Galveston because it was fogged in. No one knew how long it would be, but we decided to make the most of every last second we had on the ship! Off to breakfast we went!
As the day went on and the fog stayed put, they added all kinds of activities, movies and character meet and greets. Zach was thrilled to get to go and see Chip and Dale - the two characters that became his favorite on this trip and the two we had missed except for at the character breakfast.
He brought his stuffed animals and they were as excited about that as you could ever be!
It was a really fun moment for Zach...
He was having a great fog day!
We ended up being on the ship until 3:30!!! 7 extra hours of cruise!!! I was so, so happy to not be flying back and to have spent the 7 hours playing games and hanging out with my family and not to have had to spend that 7 hours frantically trying to change flights and travel plans - who knew that driving would be such a relief?
It was magical. It was fun. It had something for everyone. Each of the kids had their own vacation inside of a family vacation and Greg and I had our own vacation inside of the family vacation. It all kind of seems like a good dream...the best dream.
