Cruise Day 4: Grand Cayman

We tried the sit down restaruant instead of the buffet for breakfast this morning.  There were some nice things about it - it was less crowded and easier, but the selection wasn't quite as large.  (It was the same food as the buffet though.)  The donuts were super yummy, but also rather sticky.  Joshua decided to eat it with a fork.

We were slowly walking to the next thing but took a break by the windows.

The next thing was a Wake-Up Disney thing.  We were the only people there for the first half.  We weren't sure what we were getting into, so at first we were 'worried.'  We needn't have worried.  The leader was energetic and Isaac was in the mood.  Joshua hung back, but still had a good time.

They started by asking Isaac if he watches Disney Jr.  "Yeah!"  "What's your favorite show?"  "Paw Patrol" "...well, ok!"  The leader tried really hard, but it turns out that we don't watch Disney Jr. and so Isaac didn't have the right knowledge.

Goofy showed up half way through and the leader faked ignorance and Goofy stayed behind him.  Isaac and Joshua tried so hard to point out that Goofy was there.

They did the hot dog dance.  Goofy and the leader were doing something semi-coordinated, while Isaac put his arms straight up in the air and wiggled around.  I knew exactly what he was doing, but the leader (nicely) asked, what are you doing?  Isaac said, "I'm being a hot dog," and the leader laughed.

At the very end the leader said, "well, I hope this helped to wake you up this morning," and Joshua immediately lay down and started snoring.  He has a funny sense of humor sometimes.

There were some characters up for pictures, so we did that.  We didn't have a ton of time, and Isaac wanted Stitch and Joshua wanted Buzz, so we split up.

Then it was time for Ben and Isaac to go on their excursion.  They were going in a submarine.

(This is the view from shore.  We were in the boat in the middle with a black bottom.)

They had a nice card to identify the wildlife.

They went down to about 100ft and saw a large cliff where the sea floor just dropped off. 

Joshua and I went back to the room for a bit.  He watched TV and I read on the balcony.

We had that little port door open for part of the week.  The balconies can be connected, but it is more like a little hallway between them versus actually being the same balcony.  (Most are more hallway like as shown in the second.)

On the ferry ride to shore Joshua fell asleep.  I was kind of hoping for this as he had been rather grumpy all morning.  I carried him off the ferry, to the waiting place (at which point someone nicely gave me a seat), and through the short bus ride.  We had a trip that we were calling a sub ride, but the top of the boat never actually went under the water.  (Joshua wasn't old enough for the other.)

We had square windows.  It was interesting to hear what Joshua was looking for...I think he found a fish maze in the coral at one point.

This trip was just right for Joshua.  Not too long, but long enough.  The coral didn't seem very colorful; they said it was due to hurricane Irma.  We didn't have a fish identifier card, which would have been nice, but we saw lots of fish and some barracudas.

He was able to do the seat belt on the bus back by himself and wanted me to take a video because he was so excited.  I compromised with a picture.

Our boat again.

Joshua enjoyed being at the front of the ferry on the way back.

Time for ice cream!  It was a late ice cream and that was a mistake...they didn't eat much for dinner.

Dinner was at Animator's Restaurant.  I think this was my favorite of the three...the kids loved it a lot too.  This first time there was a Nemo theme, so on screens all over the restaurant Nemo characters were swimming in and out.  Then Crush came and talked to our table, asking where we were from and how we greet other people.  ("Hey" was what he heard.)  He went to another table then, doing the same thing.  They also said "hey", so then Crush came back to our table and told us to yell "Hey" to the other table.

This evening (or possibly yesterday...some of my days are getting mixed up) we went to a show with juggling, hula hoops, ceiling ribbons, and a unicycle.  It was interesting to watch.

Thursday: Joshua

This morning Joshua zipped up his coat all by himself!  I was proud of him and saying so.  Turns out that he was so mad that I didn't do it that he immediately unzipped his coat.  *sigh*

After dinner Joshua brought stuff to Ben and I on the couch.  Including some hats.

Wednesday: kids

I remembered yesterday's story.  I was changing my clothes after work and was freezing.  Joshua is talking to me and wearing just socks and the T-shirt we got him on the Disney cruise.  I ask him why he isn't cold.  "The cruise ship keeps me warm," was his response.  This is the vacation the boys don't stop talking about...it is super fun!

Isaac brings home these sheets about once a week.  I think there are some cards that he needs to copy the word and draw the picture - it's all copying, but it is interesting to see how he interprets the picture.

Joshua cracked his first egg today (and it was on purpose).  He's been close the last few times we cooked, so this time I just handed him the egg to see what would happen.  tap-tap. check: small crack. tap-tap. check: slightly bigger crack. Tap. It broke.  He pulled it apart and dumped the insides into the container, but then wasn't sure what to do with the shell.

Tuesday:Joshua

Joshua woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  Er, maybe I should say that he didn't wake up and I had to wake him up, which had all sorts of problems.  He cried his way through getting ready for school.

*He wanted water instead of milk.
*His pajama zipper only wanted to go up instead of down.  (Guess who was controlling the zipper.)
*He wanted a shirt without pictures.  No, he wanted a shirt with pictures.
*He couldn't get the old shirt off
*His socks weren't on right.

Oh my goodness.  I feel especially sorry for Isaac on these days, since he's not a parent but still has to deal with the loudness.

He got initiated into the use of knives this evening with strawberries.  He didn't cut many, but he did cut some.

He said something cute this evening too, but now we can't remember it.  Bother, it would have been a nicer way to end the story about his day.

Monday: do believe some things from the internet and second guesses

At lunch, Joshua said, "from [the skittles] that I'm eating, I like the chocolate ones the best."  I looked at him with a perplexed look.  "These," he said, holding up a purple one. 

"Oh, a purple one," I replied.
"It's black!" both boys responded.
"Purple.  Taste the rainbow."
"Black!"

We asked the internet.  It was purple.
"The internet is wrong!" was Isaac's response.

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After rest time I played with the boys for about an hour.  After this, Joshua wanted to play more and I told him I had some work to do.  He had a melt down and we struggled for the next half hour.  I didn't really play with him much today other than that hour and it makes me question.  How much did my parents play with us at this age? (This question has come up multiple times, so if any parents of adults wanted to answer I'd be interested in knowing.)  Do I really need to play with him more?  Because while I love my children and being around them, I don't always love playing with them.  What I probably should have done was figured out how to have him help me.  I tried a few times, but it wasn't working very well.

Sunday: Christmas continues

Ben woke up today and I immediately handed the kids off to him.  My eyes were not staying open.  (Have I mentioned that Joshua likes to play a game called "go to sleep"?  It's very effective.)

Anyway, Ben got out the Christmas present for the boys during my short nap...a large Lego set.  (It's Joker's Castle from Lego Batman.)  They started to put it together and asked for it several times throughout the day.

Saturday: prayer

As we were praying tonight Ben asked the boys what they wanted to pray for.  Isaac started with his normal, "Thank you for helping us love everyone in the whole world."  (I'll admit, his sentence structure messes me up a bit but I go with it.)  Anyway, he started this again today, "Thank you for helping us love everyone in the whole universe!"  We were startled and said something like, "oh, we're expanding now."  Isaac responded, "Yeah, otherwise we wouldn't get the people in space!"

Cruise day 3: sea day

Merry Christmas!  Today we sent the day at sea.

We were told that there were presents for the kids at 8am.  Since we were up and dressed by then we were there close to 8...it turned out there was a slight typo, so instead we (along with Grey Bear) got our picture taken with Santa Goofy.

The kids went to the kids area for a while.  There was some activity that we persuaded them to try.  I think Isaac did screens the whole time and Joshua tolerated it.  Ben and I hung out in the adult area and read for a little bit.

Isaac discovered that he loves crab legs!  I told both boys that they needed to try some new foods this trip.  Isaac took it to heart and found some things he likes and some things he doesn't like; Joshua tried some new foods but didn't try as much.  (The problem with crab legs is that Isaac can't take them apart and his rate of eating is faster than my taking apart.  Therefore, he only got a few per day.)

Ice cream!  Isaac enjoyed the strawberry banana swirl and Joshua changed every day.

I took the boys for a bit so then Ben took the boys.  I went to the adult area again for just a bit with my legs in the pool.

We had our fancy dinner night that night.  We were standing in line for a while and so I gave the kids my phone to take some pictures.  Isaac decided to take pictures of the lights...but it shows the lobby of the boat nicely.

We tried to get a quick family picture, but Joshua wasn't having it.

After dinner we finally got the picture taken.

Since the pool was busy during the day we went swimming at night.  This was the small pool that was warm and Joshua really enjoyed.  Isaac and Ben went on the water slide six times and he was so excited.  It was nice because the pool was not very busy at night time and so you didn't have to wait in line very long (if at all).

Friday: Lego firetruck

The Lego firetruck has been an awesome present for Joshua.  He works on it for a little bit, and then plays with it for a lot bit.

He saw me taking pictures, and so brought over every vehicle for a picture.  Several of them made noises while I was taking the picture.  (Note the bruise on this cheek...he ran right into a step ladder at full steam on Monday.)

(There's one more, but my phone is having issues.)

Thursday: class

In one of my classes an Amanda and Amy sat next to each other.  It made me think of my wonderful Roommate, and of happy memories.

Wednesday: wife

This morning Joshua managed to put his coat on and zip it up by himself.  I was praising him, saying that before long he'd be living in his own house too!  He wasn't a fan and wanted to live with Mom and Dad and Isaac.  He said that really, he didn't want to live by himself.  I said that made sense, and that maybe he could live with his wife.

"Yeah!  My wife can help me [build] my Lego firetruck.  And call Mickey and Cluto!"  (Cluto = Pluto)

Aunt C is also letting us borrow her tramp for a few weeks.  The boys both enjoyed it today.

Tuesday: school starts

Classes started for me today.  It ended up being a slightly busy day due to an orientation for lab, but I felt like I was much more in control than I was last semester on the first day.  I'm not completely sure why this is, as I didn't have a key to the new cabinet for my class and so had to teach in an offset location...it was hard to see the students as well to see if they were following along.  I think I only put two students to sleep. :D  To be fair, the first day is rather boring.

Cruise: day 2 - island

The second day on the cruise we went to Castaway Cay, which is Disney's island.

Well, the day actually started with an early wake up call by the boys.  We had even stayed up late the night before, so I was hoping they would sleep in.  A futile hope.  We had gotten some small chocolate squares the night before and the boys wanted to eat them.  So we explored the ship a bit, realizing that we were walking at the same speed but in the opposite direction the boat was going, while trying to find a nice place to eat them.  We ended up at the back of the boat, in the adults only lounge that was open, but not really.  The chocolate was enjoyed by all.

We continued to explore the ship and found the mini-golf.  Joshua and mini golf did not work.  He wanted to do it by himself and wasn't doing it correctly.  Needless to say, we only did it for two holes.  Then the fusball tables were opened up so we went over there.  Isaac and I enjoyed playing and Joshua enjoyed getting the balls from the goals and putting them in the table.  It worked.

We had a delicious breakfast with Ben and then went off the boat.  We had some pictures with characters and then found some beach chairs.  The boys played for a bit and Ben and I relaxed with our books.

After lunch we went back to the boat for rest time.  There was something fun for the kids in the late evening, and we told them they had to take a nap if they wanted to participate.  We followed it up by ice cream.

After a nice dinner we went to the nightly show.  It was a juggling/hula hoop/unicycle show and quite enjoyable.  All the cousins got their pjs on and went down for Pluto's Pajama Party.  We met Pluto in the hallway, which scared Joshua at first and then we calmed him down and he enjoyed it.  I think he somewhat enjoyed the party while he was there, but he seemed to greatly enjoy talking about it afterwards.  The adults went and relaxed together for a bit, which was nice; it was the only time that we managed to do that.

Toes

How is it, that when I get into bed my toes get colder?  Periodically I'll go to bed significantly before Ben (say, 2 hrs) and when he comes to bed my toes are still cold.

I have a toe warmer that I microwave, but it still makes me wonder.