Our First Cruise

We took a 4-night cruise to the the Bahamas aboard the Carnival Sensation.  We chose this as our vacation plan in hopes it would be more relaxing than some of our other travels with the kids.

We chose Carnival over a Disney cruise because the childcare at Disney requires all the kids to be potty-trained; Elisabeth is not.  And I have to say the childcare aboard our ship was first rate.  They have very established protocols that made me feel comfortable and the kids had a great time.  Here they are dressed as pirates after an evening in childcare.

The housekeeping staff were meticulous and are famous for folding the towels into different animal shapes every night.

We took a short tour of Nassau including Fort Fincastle and saw some sealife from an glass bottom boat.

But for us adults, the best part was a couple of good quality, quiet meals together, and some quiet time on the deck reading and looking out at the ocean.
Here's a couple of my favorite pictures from the cruise.


More pictures here.

A Long Awaited Milestone

A couple of weeks ago she fell asleep
on the couch for the 1st time

This week Elisabeth has been going to bed without me holding and rocking her to sleep. Since my trip in February she reverted to needing that routine every night with a few exceptions here and there. I think when I returned in February I was struck by the fact that she is growing up so quickly and so decided to let it go and enjoy cuddling with her. Over the last couple of months however it has become more of a chore. She is bigger and squirms and takes forever to drop off to sleep. Finally, one night early this week after 45 minutes of her squirming and sweating in my arms I cajoled her into her crib and sat by her bed reassuring her until she dropped off to sleep. I have persisted all week at this making it her new routine. I guess the next step will be putting both kids in bed and leaving the room altogether. We'll see.....

Jonah's 4th Birthday

Jonah turned four on the fourth. The timing worked out great this year for him to have his first ever birthday celebration with family. We drove to Orlando to spend a couple of days with Kelly's family before setting off on our first ever cruise. We were able to host a family party at my father-in-laws house the day of his birthday. The next day we set sail for the Bahamas and returned to Port Canaveral on Thursday morning. After disembarking, we headed to Okeechobee to see my side of the family and made a quick stop at Sebastion Inlet to walk on the beach and the jetty. We had a second birthday party for Jonah with my family - both parties had a Star Wars theme.

Orlando Party


Sebastian Inlet and Okeechobee