Tales from the Dinning Room

*I'm going to the doctor today about my foot, but today's post isn't about that, we'll be heading back to spring break vacay to talk more about our cruise!*

 One of the things people enjoy most about a cruise is the food. 

The kids were actually really good to go to the "fancy dinner" with us each night.

Kyle was always my "date".

We had the same 3 waiters each evening. 

Our waitress, our assistant waiter, (who the kids called "The Bread Man" since he passed out the dinner rolls) and our head waiter who spent lots of his time cutting up JR's steak and Kyle and Reed's chicken fingers.

(All of them ordered the same thing every night!)

Our kids, being as cultured and sophisticated as they are, really appreciated the finer things dinner had to offer:

Fine linens placed neatly in the lap.

Admiring the delicacy of the stemware pattern.

A foodie enjoying the layered flavoring of the sauces.

Black Tie Optional

And just a small taste of desserts...

just to cleanse the palate.

The ship also had a Johnny Rockets on board, so when they weren't feeling so Tom Colicchio-ish they enjoyed eating there.

Although the chili cheese fries left something to be desired.

Like chili!

Beachy Keen

After stops at 3 tropical locations, it seems I have only one true beach lover:

Kyle

Not that the rest of us don't like the beach,
We just have our issues.

JR doesn't like the saltwater.

 Reed thinks his job is to clean the shoreline of seashells.

I prefer that the sun not actually touch my skin.

And with the three of us having issues, Jason is forced to do pool duty.

Which is just fine with Kyle.

Bring on the Feathers and Scales

You'll remember the last time we took Reed to a petting zoo he looked like this.

He was petrified of the baby goats, lambs, and piglets.

How dare we expose him to such scary and dangerous animals!

In Belize, Jason and I took Kyle and Reed to the zoo. 

(JR was with Grandpa Gary on a tour of Mayan ruins.)

It was a very nice zoo that only housed indigenous animals in their natural habitats.

It was much more Reed's speed. 

None of those "scary" animals like fluffy baby llamas.

Here he was able to hand feed parrots with giant beaks and sharp talons.

And pet a boa constrictor. 

So much safer than those pesky bunnies at the petting zoo.

Yep.

We'll make sure to keep Reed far, far away from those "frightening" baby chicks from now on.

My New BFFs

Of course I love a good costume, so how could I not fall in love with the kids' club on Royal Caribbean when I picked my child up one day looking like this:

They had spent the morning doing circus activities! 

My sweet tiger

and clown

Then there was superhero night.

And they got introduced to crazy characters

And my favorite of all...

Pirate Night!

They paraded the kids through the main floor of the boat and into the late seating dinner.

They had the kids put on a better routine that they worked on for 30 minutes than any "performance" I've ever seen from JR's school music teacher.

I just assumed Reed was holding some random kid's hand.  After I finished taking his picture I looked up and said, "JR! I didn't even recognize you!" 

 I never expected JR to be wearing face paint.  He's had an aversion to it almost his whole life. 

Guess he got over that fear!

Performing during dinner

JR and Reed parading. 

(That's a "Hi Mommy!" from Reed, not a "Get away Paparazzi" hand.)

Half the Fun is Getting There

Wow.

Traveling with two three-year olds is about a zillion times easier than traveling with two one-year olds. 

 In fact, I was the one with difficulties as we were boarding our flight last Friday. 

I packed the whole family in one checked bag and the rest carry-ons. (I know. Very impressive.) 

As we were putting our gate check tags on the carry-ons, I gave myself a paper cut that I'm quite sure needed medical attention. 

 And if you're thinking, 'Is Jan really blogging about a paper cut?' 

Um, not only am I blogging about it, I have photographic evidence.

(Yes, it's blurry. But you get the idea.)

The kids did great rolling their carry-ons through the airport. 

Not one melt-down (except from me over the above mentioned paper cut).

As you can see, Kyle chose to bring his Dora backpack as his personal item. 

 (Reed opted to forgo a personal item in favor of having me carry his coloring book in my purse.)

JR also brought a backpack along with his rolling bag, and the things those two chose to put in their backpacks just cracked me up.

Kyle's backpack:

Jessie, a pacifier, and a copy of Goodnight Moon

(Jessie also had to be seat belted-in with Kyle for most of the flight.)

JR's backpack:

2 piano books (so he could play on the boat), his stuffed dog, and of course, his Nintendo (which you can't see)

The flight was quite uneventful. (Besides my paper cut, of course). 

Reed sat with Jason and colored and watched Jason play Angry Birds.

Kyle sat with me and watched movies (picking a new movie every two minutes). 

And JR seemed to remember his Beijing days of flying first class and acted as such.

We landed Friday evening in Houston, so we had a chance to see Jason's mom and my parents on Saturday afternoon.  (Chuck E. Cheese for the kids, Lupe Tortillas for us!)

Saturday evening I got to see my friend, JD.  He lives about 10 minutes from Jason's dad's house and came by to see me.

(On a side note, our house in Houston is next door to Jason's dad's, so if we can ever get back to Houston while JD is there we'll be neighbors!)

We Be Home

We finally made it home, though the general consensus from the peanut gallery is they'd rather still be on the boat.

Tomorrow's gonna be a rude awakening when they're eating Pop-Tarts in front of the TV instead of snacking on cereal beach side in Honduras.

And Now our Car Battery is Dead

We landed in Albuquerque to find somebody (most likely Mr. Handsy, Kyle) left a light on. The car is dead as a doornail.

And our Flight is Delayed

So I'm entertaining the kids by letting them take pictures with my phone. Which I'm sure you can tell by the blurryness and missing child.

Off the Boat

After an hour in customs after getting off the boat, and an hour in the security line at the airport, we're finally sitting in IAH waiting to fly to ABQ. It'll be a 4 hour drive from there. Looks like hurry up and wait is the motto of the day.

Home Stretch

It's a sea day today with a docking in Galveston tomorrow morning!

I see I'm inside.

I guess my milktoast skin has had enough sun.

(Not that I would actually let the sun touch my skin.)