Cruise pictures

Okay-it was a busy week, so there are maybe 70 pictures on here, and there's another shorter one coming! Yikes!

We just got back from our cruise Thursday night. We left last Friday and drove partway to Jacksonville, then got up and drove the rest of the way to get on the boat at 12:30. Our cabin had 14 pieces of luggage. That's just for me, Chris, and Elena. Guess how many were mine and Chris's?
Anyway, it was a really great trip. Chris and I had neither one ever been on a cruise, and didn't know what to expect. Lots of eating, mainly. Elena did great-she never was seasick and seemed to enjoy seeing new things. She was very popular on the boat-she was the youngest by 9 months. No matter how hard the staff tried, she almost never smiled at anyone.
Key West was fun, and Nassau was beautiful. I"ll go into more as I go through the pictures, but all in all, a great trip. Happy birthday mom!

This is in the RV on the way there-Leni decided that wipes were her favorite thing, and carried one in her mouth whenever she could. We said that we'll have to get a dog toy just for fun for her to carry. Nathan was "chosen" on this trip. Elena smiled any time she saw him. His lap was just the right size, and she'd just hang out there.
Here's Leni commandering the RV-just kidding. We didn't let her ride up here...


This was the first night at dinner. She was zonked out-I ended up nursing right before we went to dinner, so this is how she spent the first half. This sling came in very handy on this trip. We had heard that the food on Carnival wasn't as good as others, but we all really enjoyed it. Particularly the chocolate melting cake....yum. Our server was great-after the first night, when Elena loved the green beans and potatoes, he had them for her every night, even when they weren't on the menu. And, as vegetarians, they had one vegetarian item on the menu everyday, but they let us look at it in advance and offered to make us something else if we wanted. We didn't, but it was nice to have the option.

Talking to Mimi...
This was our "window". I guess there's something psychological about having a window area, even if it's sheetrock behind it. Elena loved sitting in it, hiding things on it, etc. It was a good thing to pull up on. We had also heard that cruise rooms are tiny, but we were pleasantly surprised by ours. It was plenty big enough for a king size bed and a pack and play, plus lots of other stuff. About the size of our living room, for those of you who have been here.

Leni and I went swimming-she loves water.
Leni and Aunt Avery looking out a big window at the ocean.

With one of our two towel animals. This was our only main disappointment-only two towel animals! Our cabin guy must have been slacking...
Sleeping in Key West.
Key West is apparently known for it's chickens. Elena liked waving to them, and Poppy helped her chase one.
Eating key lime pie. Chris remembered that he had seen something about a place in Key West with coconut chocolate bars on the Food Network (I"m rubbing off on him!) so we found an internet cafe and found it. It is also one of three places in Key West that Jimmy Buffett wrote a song about... Anyway, they also had won an award for key lime pie, so that's where we had it. Delicious! Elena loved it, loved it, loved it.

The crew in Key West.

This is the closest we'll get to Cuba-90 miles from this point.
Going towards Nassau

Elena really started mimicking us this week. Here, she and Mimi are holding and dropping cinnamon disks over their heads



Chris and Nathan really wanted to play ping pong, but the lady at the desk only had one ball with a big dent in it. LAter, Chris found three balls just out, so he kept them in his pocket. Elena thought they were super fun. She loved trying to hold all three...

We're not sure what the deal is, but Elena loves to smack her Uncle Nathan. A lot. It's not being bad or hitting, she just thinks it's hilarious. We're also not sure why it's only to Nathan...

Here we are in the Bahamas! It's Elena's first picture overseas!
Nassau-we rode with a man who showed us all around town. We were all really pleased with the trip-he showed us things we never would have seen on our own, and it was interesting to get a local's perspective.




Here's me and Elena in the van-we didn't bring a carseat, and you don't have to have one, but just having her hang out made me nervous, so we buckled her in most of the time.

After touring Nassau, we had him drop us at the Atlantis hotel, which is gigantic. It has it's own beach, aquarium, water park, etc.
We were on our way to the visitor center to find out information about guest passes, and had to take the elevator because of the stroller. This put us in an area that we weren't supposed to be in without passes, but the guard was gone. Therefore, free trip to the aquarium! Here's Elena with the aquarium light on her.
Nathan touching a starfish



This is a conch-it looks like a giant slug. We all touched it-it pretty much felt like a slug also.

We also ended up getting to go to the beach here-as a result of us getting off the elevator in the wrong part, still. They were charging 32 dollars apiece to go to the beach! Yikes-but I would have paid it for her to get to go to the beach. We only wanted to let her see it anyway, so Chris, Elena, and I went to the water for 15 minutes. She loved it. We all agreed, having your first trip to the beach be in the Bahamas is a pretty good deal. And, even though neither of us love the beach, we're already planning our RV vacation next summer to Florida. She really loved it. It was also nice because though it was the beach, it was in an inlet, so there weren't waves crashing up on her.

She's got sand and a shell in her hands.
Sandy baby toes...

Nudey baby after we washed all the sand off-all cozy with her Mimi








I think this might be my favorite picture of the three of us so far.

The "real" beach in Nassau

Playing in the Atlantis fountains
This is a big chair everyone gets their picture taken in-she was so cute being so tiny in this giant chair, other people stopped and took her picture too.








Riding in the taxi back to the ship with daddy.

All of us at the port in the Bahamas
Towel animal #2-an elephant
Loving Uncle Nathan again.
Here is her prize from the bahamas-a straw elmo purse


More soon-I still have her 9 month professional pictures, plus more of our cruise pics after the first time I cleared off my camera, plus Nathan's pics, plus Halloween this week! Stay tuned...