Birthday Cruise: 2nd Stop- Freeport, Bahamas

On the fourth day we docked at Freeport, Bahamas. When you get off the boat you are right at a little Strawmarket with various vendors and Sr. Frog's. It took us a few minutes to figure out where to catch a taxi over to the beach but once we figured it out, we got in a long line that went pretty fast- loading groups of ppl into taxi vans. The rate was reasonable and the vans were nice enough. 

The taxis drop you off at another Strawmarket which is across the street from a bunch of hotel/casinos and the beach. So after a pit stop at the bathroom, we headed over to the beach (our main goal for the day!). It was so nice to be on the beach and the kids really enjoyed playing in the sand and water. The surf wasn't rough and so they could get in the water without us holding their hands (unlike Costa Rica on the Pacific side).




We spent a couple hours on the beach. The weather was cooler and windy. A bit too chilly for me in the water but the kids didn't mind and I didn't mind just sitting on the beach. The disadvantage to the beach is that it was directly in front of the hotels and so it appeared to be, in a way, their territory. They had some outdoor cafe/bars and I went to one to get a bottle of water but they would only take cards or put it on your hotel account. I didn't have either but a nice hotel guest at the bar put my water on her tab. (I of course tried to refuse and then tried to pay her with cash, but she said no!)

After the beach, we headed back across the street to find some lunch. We found a good spot and had a pretty good lunch. I had a conch salad that was pretty interesting (a bit too many onions but otherwise good).

We then found a coffee shop and a candy shop. Then headed back to the taxi area to go back to the docks.

Here are my cuties that night at dinner.

Birthday Cruise: First stop- Key West, FL

On the third day of our cruise, we docked at Key West in Florida. We were excited to explore as we had never been here before (my parents had and were our helpful tour guides!). It was a fairly warm day and we first walked around to see the sites, stop in a few shops, and we took pictures with statues. :)

Then we headed down the main street, which is Duval Street. Mike wanted to visit Sloppy Joe's and Captain Tony's (which were hang outs of Ernest Hemmingway back in the day).  So we ate lunch at Sloppy Joe's and peeked into Captain Tony's.

Then we walked back to the main center and decided to take the Conch train on their tour around the city. It was an interesting tour with lots of good information and many things to see. The bad part was that I had to pee really bad and I think the first break was after about 40 minutes of the tour! I had tried looking for a bathroom with my Dad before the train set off but we couldn't find one and didn't want to miss the train leaving. So I think I felt just about every bump we went on during that first part of the tour. (The kids were also a bit bored by the tour and ended up writing on paper rather than looking around.) I think the things that stood out on the tour for me was the southernmost point, the Hemingway House (had thought we might do a tour but the logistics of it were just not in our favor), and the beautiful houses we saw all along the way (such lovely architecture!).

After the tour, we walked on to the docks to see if we could see any fish in the water. And sure enough, very large Tarpon were swimming all over in the shallow water off the docks. I guess they come in to eat all the fish guts that are cast off when the fishing boats come in to dock.

Next we went to eat a small snack. Bella had more raw oysters (she couldn't get enough!). I had some yummy steamed clams.

One interesting thing about Key West is that they have chickens running around here & there. The kids tried to sneak up on one but didn't catch it. ;o) We did feed them some bread. And we saw them roosting in the trees too!

We then headed off to where our ship was docked to see the street performers before boarding.

This is a Key West Christmas tree made out of fishing bobbers.

Street performer doing something with fire.

Bella and I split a fresh coconut from this guy (we drank it first and then brought it back to him & he hacked it open for us to eat the meat). 

And we left Key West with these little cuties holding hands. Awwwww!

Birthday Cruise- the ship

The Carnival Magic is a pretty nice ship... lots of fun things for families to do together that everyone can enjoy. By the last day, I think we'd managed to do everything there was to do (that we were interested in, anyway).

The ship has a game area with miniature golf, giant connect four, pool, air hockey, etc with a large challenge course above the gaming area.

We were a bit worried we wouldn't get to go on the challenge course... we didn't go on the first day at sea and then had the 3 days at various ports. Then it was closed due to high winds on the 2nd to last day. But finally, on the last day, the weather warmed up and the winds died down. And Bella and I got to get up on the course.

At first, Bella was quite nervous (even though this wasn't her first course to go through) and the British guy working the course helped her quite a bit through some of the first few. (While I just enjoyed the accents!) But once she got the hang of it, she was good to go. I was actually hoping she would be worn out by the end (it goes in a circle & there are probably 8 individual challenges as you go round) but she wanted to go again! So we went again. :)

Then on the far end of the upper deck, there is the water slides. There are a couple little kid slides and a couple bigger kid/adult slides. I couldn't talk Bella into the bigger kid slides, even though she was tall enough. I went myself and they were pretty fun but one time was plenty. :) We tried to get into the pools but it was just too chilly! I couldn't handle it. Near the end of the trip we did find a nice hot tub that we could enjoy by ourselves and the kids really loved that. They didn't want to get out and were sad we didn't get to return to one. (The orange slide at the bottom was suppose to be of Mike going around but I wasn't fast enough to catch him!)

When you cruise, you cannot forget about what is waiting for you in your room when you return from your evening meal or evening entertainment... towel animals!!

We actually took a class to learn to make our own towel animals... Bella and I had fun (Jackson just goofed around!). The pictures just below on the top are our 2 things we made in the class. My parents kept all theirs intact and the bottom picture is the kids posing with them before they destroyed them all (with permission). Every day I had to tell Jackson not to mess with their towel animals ... he was really wanting to destroy theirs every day!

Birthday Cruise Vacation: Let the Fun Begin!

This year, I got to spend my birthday week on a cruise! My hubby was super nice to me and guaranteed a wonderful birthday by taking me on a vacation (what better way to spend your birthday??). We booked on the Carnival Magic for a 7 day cruise with stops in Key West, FL, Nassau, Bahamas, and Freeport, Bahamas. We invited some family along and my parents were the only ones who could make it.

We drove down to Dallas the first day and stayed the night so that I could do some pre-trip shopping at H&M (Happy Birthday to me!!). We then made it down to Galveston, TX on Saturday evening where we met up with my parents and had a yummy seaside dinner (where Isabella had raw oysters for the very first time and LOVED them) and our first walk on the beach for this trip. We then headed to our hotel to get some sleep before our busy day getting onto the ship. (And Jackson was VERY tired, threw a huge fit in the car about not wanting to leave the beach & ended up having to miss out on the beach the next day.)

Sunday morning (my birthday!) we ate breakfast in the hotel (yuck... no real healthy options except fruit) and then Bella, my parents, & I headed over across the street to walk a bit on the beach before we had to check out of the hotel.

Here is Bella loving every minute of being on the beach! (She is definitely my daughter!)

And my self-portrait on the beach.

After a bit of time on the beach, Isabella has to go to the bathroom so we must head back to the hotel. We pack up, check out & take a taxi down to the cruise terminal where we grab a starbuck's lunch and head in to go through security and check in. Surprisingly, this all goes much faster than it has ever before for us (our last cruise was in 2007) and we didn't even have enough time to eat all of our lunch before our number was called to board the ship. 

And here is the first of many to come photo ops that Carnival loves to take advantage of. ;o)

 When we got to our room, I had some lovely flowers from my parents and a yummy plate of chocolate goodies from our travel agent, Laura. (Didn't get a picture for some reason!) This cruise we got a balcony and really enjoyed getting to go out there to see where we were or to check the weather. Here is Mike and the kids before we departed.

Isabella had a few spins on the dance floor while walking around on the ship (above) and then there is Mike and I eating dinner the first night. 

Our vacation started out very nicely and we were looking forward to all the fun to come!