We recently got home from an amazing family reunion! This was a dream that we've been trying to coordinate for 2 years. We imagined the kids having a blast on a cruise ship with their cousins, meal after meal that we wouldn't have to plan, prep for, or clean up after. We imagined sunshine and the beach and with the kids happily entertained, hours of visiting. This trip was all that we imagined, memories that will last a lifetime!
Thanksgiving Week
11/23/14 - 12/3/14
The Butler cousins flew out of Spokane, but had a stop in Seattle which meant we were all waiting in the airport together! That was a really fun way to begin our vacation!!
The cruise ship was HUGE - thousands on board. Because it was Thanksgiving week, there was an exceptionally large number of kids, over 900!
It was so much fun to share this trip with all of my family, all except Phil.
Each evening we had dinner together. We had an adults table, and a kids table. Our waiters were so great to keep the kids happy, they pretty much just gave them whatever they wanted. Any meal they asked for, fries, 2 or 3 desserts - wait, they did that for us adults too. It was pretty amazing!
Grand Cayman was our first stop.
We went swimming with stingrays.
And, we did some snorkeling.
Our second stop was Cozumel.
Beautiful place, the kids enjoyed a beach day and some cheap souvenir shopping.
Thanksgiving Day: Our next stop was supposed to be Belize, but we woke up to discover that the weather was bad and they had cancelled it. That was a bummer, not what we had planned that's for sure. I'm so glad we were vacationing with family though because having an extra day at sea turned out to still be lots of fun!
Some of the kids didn't mind the wind and rain.
We played all sorts of card games: Spoons, Scum, Monopoly, and a new game Anthony and & Elina taught us called Werewolf.
Most of the day was just dark and gloomy, but by evening the waves were pretty big and the boat was definitely swaying back and forth. As you walked down the hallways, you were forced to hold the wall next to you to keep your balance. The pool turned into a wave pool. It would empty on one side and cause a wave to over flow from the other side, dumping water that would splash the people lounging in the chairs on the sides of the pool. Hunter and Zach had a blast!
Thanksgiving Dinner
Dinner was actually pretty comical. Many were feeling a little queasy and no one had much of an appetite. We could see the waves out the windows rising and falling, I don't know how the waiters kept from dropping plates, I guess they've had practice carrying those large platters and keeping their balance on an unsteady floor. It didn't help that a boy at the table next to us lost his lunch all over the floor. We passed around Dramamine like candy and one by one, people excused themselves from dinner. Thankfully, things calmed down and later that evening we were all able to enjoy a nice soak in the hot tub and watched a movie on the big screen over the pool.
Our last stop was Roatan, Honduras
We went on a zipline tour!
(My brother Anthony and his wife Elina)
We checked out a small zoo, saw some monkeys and exotic animals.
We spent a little time at the beach too!
(My brother Doug, his wife Desiree, and cute baby Maximus)
Our days at sea were also a lot of fun! There was plenty to do on the cruise ship, that's for sure. It had pools, hot tubs, a water slide, outdoor movies, ping pong, basketball, an arcade, mini golf, food, food, and more food. Ice cream 24/7, pizza at midnight, it was all pretty unbelievable. We started off those days at sea by going to breakfast together and then the kids all went with their cousins and a walkie- talkie and we made plans to meet back up for dinner. We'd see the kids throughout the day off and on, usually at the ice cream machine. In the evenings we enjoyed comedy shows and movies, the kids loved checking out the events for their different age groups - everyone was happy!
On our last night we celebrated my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary.
I'm so glad to be part of such a wonderful family.
This vacation definitely brought us closer together and gave us so many fun memories!
It was hard to part ways and say goodbye.
We stayed til it grew dark. Emma was sad to learn that we were missing snow back home, but the rest of us were thrilled to be in our bathing suits, soaking up some sunshine in December!
2 comments:
So awesome! Loved seeing all the pictures. What a great trip!
That looks like a lot of fun! So glad you got to have such a great adventure with your family.
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