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The Carnival Inspiration

(Below) Here we are (me, Joe, Roger, Al, and Rachel) finally on the ship. We had not yet left shore, but it felt nice to be on board!

Here is Tate living the life of unlimited ice cream! On this trip we realized just how messy our little piggie is!

On the first day of our vacation, the ship left some time after 4. Roger and S.Jessen hit the deck, Tater napped, and I tried to unpack. Our first sit-down dinner was at 5:45 so not much time to get a lot done. The nap for Tate was huge though. All that travelling, he was pooped!

The second day, it was rainy and we were pretty disappointed.... The storm made the boat much more rocky than we were used to. S.Jessen, Roger, Barb, and I got a little boat sick, but recovered quickly with assistance of drugs for the adults. S. Jessen slept it off. This was a nice day to get S.Jessen and Tater introduced to Camp Carnival. They really liked it and only cried the first time and that happens at daycare at home sometimes, too :)

The third day was our first excursion. We went to Grand Cayman. This was where we got to snorkel (Jim and Barb kept the boys on the boat). I got to teach Roger how to snorkle and that was fun! He took this awesome pic of this gynormous sting-ray below us! After this trip, we got to go to Stingray City, which is more like a stop in the middle of a sandbar to see lots of sting rays. Our guide showed us how to handle them and we fed them. S.Jessen and Tate did get in the water with us, but held on for dear life. Tate was more laid back and S.Jessen was really uneasy about the whole thing. He thought it was very cool when his daddy made-out with (ok kissed) a sting-ray though and told everyone in sight! On the way home from this day, the kids were pooped! We all were. It is really draining being in charge of these little lives. I wouldn't change it for anything, but my goodness we slept well every night!

Jim and Barb

The water was gorgeous!

Above is the whole bunch on our way to snorkeling and below is on the way back!

The boys and I all passed out from exhaustion!

This is the stingray we saw while snorkeling and below is Nicki with the stingray at Stingray City. The water was so clear and the singrays were so huge!

The fourth day we went to Cazumel, Mexico. Our little family played for a couple of hours at Paradise Beach with everyone, and then we headed back for lunch and camp. The boys were not too interested in the ocean, but did like the sand and collecting seashells. Tate liked the water better and of course wanted to go in the water unassisted. S.Jessen was perfectly content building sand castles! We decided that S.Jessen is old enough too be fearful and Tate is just young enough to not understand limits and is fearless. Fun! We got to jet-ski and that was fun! Joe took S.Jessen out for a few minutes and he was so proud. Jim and Barb went, Rog and I went, Al and Rachel went, Joe took Ally first, Nicki took Mason, and the twins hung at the beach. After we headed out, Grandpa and Mason went para-sailing. That night we celebrated Mason's 11th birthday. Crazy that he was 6 in our wedding! It was a fun Valentine's Day.

Group in Mexico

S.Jessen's shells

The Brecht's! They boys were so good at the beach. I kept reapplying sunscreen to the boys every moment I got. I was so worried they would burn and be miserable. They didn't though!

On the fifth day, we just lounged in the sun. It was very relaxing, but too windy for the boys to enjoy the water area. We tried so hard to take them to play, and got a few pics, but they really wanted to go to camp. We had to be all packed up that night and then we went to see a comedian. We gambled a little and won $90! We thought that was pretty fun :)

I've already told of or flying fun, but other than those challenges it was a dream trip! I really enjoyed being with our own little family and figuring out how to eat meals three times a day in restaurants. I enjoyed being with the bigger family and celebrating Jim's retirement. We really had nothing major to complain about. That doesn't happen very often...