Now if you've ever cruised with kids before then you are already familiar with the second thing that was great, 2- the kids LOVED going to the onboard kids club (which gave us a built-in babysitter at NO additional cost!!). We cruised on Holland America Line (HAL), which is known for catering to the, shall we say, more mature crowd. But as first time cruisers, we would not have known this from our experience (we maybe would have wondered WHY in the world there were so many grey haired onboard though). The kids club was amazing! And since there were so few kids onboard, the girls in charge there were able to give all of the kids great individualized attention. Sienna and Dallen were both in the same age group, so they were able to hang out together. They had a 3 day itinerary for the club sent to us as needed, and they even had activities scheduled on "port days", so if we had wanted we could have left the kids onboard while we ventured off the ship. The kids got to do arts and crafts, play games, make their own ice cream sundae creations, go on treasure hunts, have a pj/movie night party, one night was "space night" and they got to go out on the deck and star gaze, and then have their faces painted like "aliens". There were so many more, too. They were so excited to go each night after dinner, which gave me and Jeff lots of time to do whatever WE wanted! We went to a few minutes ofsome of the evening shows, but found that we prefered to go to one of the quiet bars onboard and just hang out and talk. The ship also had a movie theater, a book, movie, and game library, an internet cafe, an art gallery, a dance club, a casino, 2 swimming pools, 4 hot tubs, a sauna, and I'm sure lots of other places and things that I'm forgetting!
3-There was a group of 17 of us that all went together!! I think that it was a blast to go with so many people that I love!! We went on this cruise to celebrate my mom's upcoming 60th birthday. So all of my siblings and their spouses came (Tori and her fiance), plus my mom's two sisters, and then my sister Casey and I each brought our 2 kids. The only itinerary we had was the ship's itinerary. We all did our own thing, but would often times end up at the same places! Sometimes we would plan to do something together, and other times we planned all on our own! It may seem silly, but I loved walking into the breakfast bar in the morning not knowing who we would have our breakfast with! There was always someone already eating, and we would usually join them and have our breakfast together. It was nice to always have someone to do something with. If one person wasn't interested in what you were planning, it didn't matter, because most of the times there was someone else who was interested! Different company each day, and always happy to be doing whatever it was we were doing!
In addition to those great aspects of this vacation, of course, was the fact that we went on a cruise in the Eastern Caribbean!! What a beautiful part of the world! We left from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday, January 7. Sunday the 8th we were "at sea". On Monday we ported at Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos. I had heard poor things about Grand Turk. Lots of online reviews were people ranting to HAL that they should remove this from all of their future itineraries- I DISAGREE. I thought it was a beautiful island. Mostly the reasonings for wanting it to be removed was due to the amount of poverty on the island. People reported that they were "on a luxury cruise, and they didn't want to see anything but luxury!" Give me a break people!! This island is partly surviving because of the cruise lines that port there! They make a lot of their money from the tourists, and Carnival cruiseline itself has rebuilt some sections of the island. We took a cab inland a bit to their old historic town. Duke Street (Front Street) was the street we were on, and it was so beautiful and quaint. There was a lot of construction and rebuilding taking place, which I hear was needed as a result of a hurricane from 2008. Obviously it's taking them a long time to repair all that was lost. We visited their National Museum (a tiny old home) which boasts having the oldest shipwreck ruins ever recorded. They actually think (although they're the first to admit they have no solid proof) that the shipwreck may have been from Columbus' fleet. They speculate it may be the ruins from the Pinta. Regardless of what ship it is, it's pretty amazing to see everything there! The other cool thing we got to see on Grand Turk was the John Glen Memorial site. After his first space flight and 3 orbit's around the earth, his little spacecraft that he was in landed in the ocean on the outskirts of the Turks and Caicos islands. The small memorial they have set up is pretty nice. It was very close to the beach where our ship was ported.
Our next port after leaving Grand Turk, was San Juan, Puerto Rico!! It was absolutely amazing watching us pull into port there. We observed from up in the Crow's Nest. There was an onboard DJ telling us all about the history of San Juan as we pulled in. There is a gorgeous fortress on the edge of the island, called "El Morro". It was built in the 1500's, and it's 140 ft tall, 6 levels, and some of the walls are 15 ft. thick! The DJ was describing how hard it was for enemy ships to approach the island because of the fort. It had cannon's that could shoot 3 miles out! There were supposedly over 100 shipwrecks underneath the water where we were pulling in!! Needless to say, we just HAD to go tour that fort!! Pretty spectacular! Old San Juan was so beautiful! There is a free trolley to take you all over town there if you ever go- no need to pay for a taxi!! We also walked through the San Juan Cathedral. It's the cathedral where Ponce de Leon is entombed. I didn't realize that he was the first Governor of Puerto Rico. I'm sure I did learn that in school, but all I remembered was that he had discovered the "Fountain of Youth"!! Oh, the things that stick-lol!
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands was our next port. Again, very beautiful!! By far the warmest waters, too!! It felt like stepping into a warm bath in the ocean there! Sienna and Dallen really became quite the beach bums on this trip! All they want to do now is go back to the beaches!! We figured out at St. Thomas that we needed to depant Dallen in the ocean waters to clean all the sand out of his pants prior to returning to our stateroom onboard ship. I didn't know it was possible to carry so much sand in one's pants!! He didn't mind though!! We did bury both kids in sand up to their waists on one beach, and the built sand castles at every beach we stopped at! Jeff found a sand crab on our St. Thomas beach. That silly little crab must have been very mad at us for invading his home! He hung out with us for the whole time we were there!
Let's see, now we're to Thursday- that was our next "at sea" day, which we needed! We were really tired from all the site seeing from the previous 3 days!! It was a warm day onboard- which was great because the first day at sea it was only 72 degrees, which was too cool for the outdoor pool when you add in the sea breeze! Thursday it was 80 degrees and not so breezy. Gorgeous and relaxing! Our last port was a private owned island in the Bahamas. HAL named it Half Moon Cay, and it was by far the most beautiful beach! The sand was white and so soft and fine that it was like walking through powdered sugar, but it wasn't sticky! The waters were so clear and blue, and we couldn't have had a more perfect last day!! There was a bar on the island called "I wish I could stay here forever"... We all just wished...
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos
Dallen- 3 yrs
El Morro Fortress
Andrew, Caitlin, Mom (Sandy), Me (Lindsay), Tori, Casey
Sienna, Jeff, Dallen, Me (Lindsay)
Hayden, and Dallen
Sienna-6.5yrs
(Hayden, in back) Tork, Casey, Mom (Sandy), Caitlin, Me (Lindsay)
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
All too soon we pulled back into port at Ft. Lauderdale- it had been a whole week. We were happy to get home that Saturday evening the 14th of January, just because it's nice to get back to our real home. Now a month later we still can't stop talking about the cruise. It is a vacation that we will remember forever!! I can't wait to go on another cruise!!! Who's ready to plan with me???
Here is Sienna's first hand/head stand!! I'm not sure what inspired her to want to even TRY to do a handstand, but she was trying so hard, so I gave her a couple tips that I learned when I was young (so yes, she is in fact leaning a bit against the wall behind her). She was SO proud of herself!!
Every year my Mom and sisters and I all have a "bake day" where we make lots of yummy goodies for ourselves and Santa Claus! This year my kids and I had are own small version of this annual day because my Mom and sisters were in MEXICO for my cousin Kelly's wedding (Congrats Nate and Kelly!! Wish I could've been there too!!). Here are some funny pics from the day.
Dallen was (obviously) a mess, and then SNUCK one of the cookies before they were even frosted!! What a little stinker! An awfully cute stinker though...
Then on December 30th, we FINALLY got our first snowstorm!! We kept having snow in our forecast, but never got more than a dusting. So it was hard for me to believe that it was actually going to snow when it showed up in our forecast yet again! We didn't get much, but 3 inches of white fluffy snow and below freezing temperatures was enough to keep the snow around for a couple days. I have to say, I like how the snow looks, but I'm always glad when it melts away! I think that is why Denver winters and I get along so well. We are going to have a 50 degree day later this week! :) Here is a picture of the kids all bundled up to play in the backyard!
I hope whomever reads this had a prosperous 2010, and Happy New Year to you all also!!
Here the kids are on one of the many cabooses that are spread throughout the park.
I can't hold all the details of these trains in my head- too much train info for me and my brain shuts down, but I can tell you that this is a steam engine, and it is VERY OLD!!
Isn't it insanly crazy how HUGE this engine is?? My hubby not a small man, and he looks tiny next to this monster of a train!!
This looks like just your standard caboose picture, but notice me and Dallen up in the top window?? It was pretty fun to climb up there!!! :)
This is Dallen hanging out on one of the big engines. He was pretty happy, but I couldn't catch him smiling and looking out at the same time... he wanted to be INSIDE the train, not outside.
Here we are on the train- from left to right- Taven, Ellie, Mikayla, Sienna, Ginny, Meah(with her head turned), me, Dallen, and Emily. 
I have long been told of an amazing park down south of Denver called Belleview Park. We had never been until this summer, and I can't wait to go again!! It was about a 40 minute drive, so I can't imagine that we'll go often, but it's definitely worth visiting for a day trip once each summer. There is not only a great playground, but also a covered picnic area with grills, bathrooms, a petting zoo, a small creek to play in, and a train to ride!! Next year we'll take a picnic lunch, towels, and plan on spending the whole day there!
At the end of the summer, I am happy to report that Dallen's love for trains has grown immensely! In the last month or so he's decided that he wanted to "potty train" and as he's progressed we've been giving him little train presents as rewards for different stages. He's been in underwear now for the last 3 weeks, even when he sleeps!! He's doing great! But he loves his "Thomas" and "Salty" train engines so much that he sometimes takes them to bed with him for naps... it's cute... I'm sure that he will share this love with his Daddy, and his Great Grandpa for the eternities!! We just booked our tickets to go on the Georgetown Loop train for the "Santa Express" specialty train!! Can't wait for December 4th!!
