Spring Break

For spring break this year, 6 families in our ward got together and went on a cruise. They actually did it last year too, but we did not go that time. It sounded like a lot of fun so this year we decided to try it out. We thought it would be fun for the kids to hang out with their friends and we would enjoy sitting together with other couples that we know for dinner. We went on Carnival and visited Grand Cayman, Belize, Honduras and Cozumel. It was a lot of fun for the adults, the teenagers as well as the little guys. On the ship, I think the only time we saw the older kids was at dinner. The little guys thoroughly loved kids club and actually asked to go during the day. Tom and I loved sitting on our veranda and watching flying fish. These things are amazing. We thought they were birds at first because they glide so far before splashing back into the water but if you watch carefully you can see that they are actually fish. We also enjoyed the adult conversation on the excursions and at dinner.

We were able to leave the little guys at kids club one day when we went to Belize and took the older kids on a zipline caving tour. We went through a cave that had many beautiful formations and we zip lined from cave to cave and walked on rope bridges. Pretty cool.

Everyone's favorite stop was Cozumel. We rented a car and explored the island. We stopped and snorkeled and then went to the other side of the island and jumped in the big, crashing waves. The little guys loved running from the waves and playing in the sand. I am a sunscreen nazi so no one got seriously burned. The other people in our group make fun of my rash guards and nazi sunscreen ways but on the last day our family got to go to Cozumel while they all stayed on the ship because of terrible sunburns.

It didn't even rain once on the trip. In Ohio it snowed, hee hee. We did have to drive to Miami and back but it wasn't as bad as I had feared. When I was little, my mom would make grab bags for long road trips and then dole out the treats and toys along the way. I did the same thing and it worked like magic. We also had some help from the ipad. I downloaded a 99cent app that finds the nearest playplace no matter where you are in the country. It came in handy several times when the kids just wanted OUT.

Everyone is talking about doing it again next year only in Hawaii instead of the Carribean.