Thursday, January 18, 2018

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, January 17, 2018

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, January 16, 2018

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, January 15, 2018

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, January 14, 2018

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, January 13, 2018

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!"