Cozumel

Cozumel June 21-30

***Caution, picture overload***

 These little crabs were everywhere. You could see the little tracks they leave all over the beach. They were all over the pool also. You could swim up to the wall and you would see them walking along the wall of the pool.

 This hotel did not have my favorite beach. It was really rocky and the sand was really coarse and really sticky. I guess the time we were down there is a good time for sand fleas. I never want to deal with those again. Thankfully, they didn't bother the kids but they bothered me. I had a hard time even getting in the dirt to play with the kids. We spent a lot more time at the pool than the beach this trip.

 My poor boys think this is how you snorkel. They would both put the mask on and either lean over the edge or stand and just dip there face in. We bought some cute plastic fish and a net to take with us and they LOVED snorkeling for the fish in the pool.

 Finally Bryce realizes that the snorkel goes under water. Now if he can just learn that the tube is supposed to stay above water he will be fine.

 It doesn't get any better than this. Being able to swim up to the bar and get drinks any time you want is amazing. The boys drank non stop. Kayson would ask for daquri's every 5 minutes and drink them all gone. Bryce loved trying a new drink every time. His favorite was a pina colada/strawberry daquiri mixed.

 We loved that the hotel was constantly doing games. Today they did a water balloon toss on the beach. Thankfully Bryce ran into his buddy Jackson down there so they got to pair up. I love that this kid can make friends no matter where we are. Every time we would see Jackson they would run up and give high five's and beg to get to "hang out". One time Jackson came down to the pool (pretty sure his folks didn't know) and invited Bryce to come back to his room to play DS. His Dad came down shortly after and took Jackson back to the room...without Bryce.

 There are iguana's everywhere on the hotel property. The worst is when I run back to the room because I forgot something and I am in a hurry and one is one the grass and runs in front of me. I actually let out a scream one time. They are intimidating. They are not afraid of people at all.

 Braiden loved playing volleyball on the beach. He would beg Tyler and Tim to go down and play with him. It was pretty funny, every time they came back someone was injured. I guess I should say Tyler came back hurt. One time he came back with sand in his eye (it was pretty bad). The second time he came back with a bloody knee. I guess he was diving for the ball and hit some rock or cement. It was a rough game.

 

The hotel did games non-stop and Braiden pretty much won them all. The first day he won the football game. He had to throw a football through a hoop in the middle of the pool. Then he went down and won archery ( I didn't even know he knew how to do archery. He won one more but I can't remember what it was. At night they did a big ceremony for the people who won. Braiden was having no party of that. Doesn't he look thrilled. We all sang "We are the champions" to them.

 

Our hotel had animals everywhere. They had this parrot that would be sitting on the chairs waiting for people to drop food. If you put your arm out he would walk over and get on your arm. One time Bryce put his arm out and the bird walked over and bit Bryce. It was super hard and super sad. 

Can you believe this kid? He is a professional. Tim walked him out and he laid down and just started kicking. He was out there where he couldn't even reach. He did awesome!

For one of our excursions we went out on a glass bottom boat. Well, that is what they call it. There was a small square section that was glass and you couldn't really see much. The kids loved to sit around it and look for fish. We went out a little ways and then got off the boat to snorkel. Tim took Kayson and I took Bryce. They stayed out there for a little while but both of them wanted back on the boat. The waves were bad enough that I struggled holding on to Bryce so I was happy to send him back. Grandma stayed on the boat so they went back on with her. While out there our tour guide came up and said something in choppy english and grabbed my camera. He went down for a few minutes and then came up with pictures of the ugliest looking eel. I was a little freaked out knowing that thing was under me. I put my face down and watched it swim around the rock. It was a little scary. We went out a little further and got off the boat again to snorkel and the waves got worse. I think between the waves and the reflection off the water I started getting a headache so I got back on the boat. After about 10 minutes, I realized it was a migraine. It was the longest boat ride ever getting back to the hotel. When I got off the boat I headed straight back to the hotel room. Emily brought me a Phenegrin and I took tons of Ibuprofren and slept the rest of the day. Tim brought me dinner to the room and I ate it and went right back to sleep. This was a wasted day thanks to my migraine!

Peacock's were everywhere down there. I loved to go out and feed them bread. They were so friendly. This guy waited outside our door every morning (I knew where the crazy lady was that fed them) Today we dropped bread in our room and sure enough he came right in. The boys thought that was pretty cool.

Bryce joining in the pool activities. The workers would come out and do a dance and Bryce went and joined in. He isn't the shy one!

 

Braiden won more games today. Him and Tyler won a balloon toss and something else. I lost track of all the stuff he won.

How cool are these guys? One night the hotel put on a big show that was amazing! We weren't going to stay for it and after it started we all ended up staying and I am so glad we did. The kids were so interested in it and loved it. Afterwards these guys came out for pictures. Bryce RAN over and said "take my picture". The one guy put his hand on Bryce's head and when we were leaving Bryce said that the guy got sweat on his head and that he was NEVER washing his hair again. The next morning he asked me to feel his hair and see if the guys sweat was still there. He thought they were the coolest crazy men ever.

 Yes, that is an alligator and that is my foot right next to his head. Today we did a jeep excursion and one of the stops was this alligator "farm". It was my favorite part of the while trip. It was so cool to look for them and then when you found one watching him just float around just above the water. The boys had a hard time seeing them since just the snout was above water.

We also stopped at a place to snorkel. I got all ready to get in and decided at the last minute to sit this one out. This was the first stop on the excursion and I didn't want to be all salty and sticky from the ocean. And, let's be serious...I didn't want my hair all curly for the rest of the excursion. Bryce just went right in. I think he made Tim nervous because he had NO fear while snorkeling.

Tim (driving), Janalyn, Taylor and Bryce rode in one Jeep. Myself (driving), Braiden and Kayson rode in another Jeep and Tyler (driving), Emily, Abby and Austin in the third Jeep.

We stopped at some Myan ruins and explored for a little while. This was NOT my favorite part at all. It was so hot and humid that I just wanted to get on to the next stop.

 

We stopped at a Tequila disitillary to see how they made tequila. It was not what we were expecting at all. We basically sat on a bench while they explained how it was made and than went into a teeny store to sample and purchase tequila. Walking around a tenny store full of people and glass bottles with little kids is always a good time. I did try some yummy tequila but didn't purchase any.

 

Our last stop included lunch. We stopped at this place and walked up stairs and ate on an open deck. It wasn't bad food and the atmosphere was pretty cool. All over the ceiling and log beams people had wrote their names with sharpies. So, we asked our waiter for a marker and we all put our names and the date on the walls. This was a super fun excursion!

Pre-School Paradise 

This is the greatest pre-school ever. I am so happy that Bryce is moving on to kindergarten but super sad that he is done here.

Ms. Marla (The GREATEST teacher EVER!)

Hiking

I am so mad, I cannot remember the name of these falls. I love the mountains and I love hiking. Today we called Emily, Taylor, Abby and Austin and asked if they wanted to go hiking with us. I found a hiking blog that listed these falls and so we headed up. It was an easy hike and so pretty when we got there. The kids loved hiking and playing in the water.

Family Cruise

Starting off an awesome trip. I will be honest, I cannot remember if this was taken on take off or landing. We took the red eye literally and flew through the night. What a LONG flight.

New York!

Central Park. It was so cool to hear so much about this place and then be able to walk through it. I still don't know what all the hype is about. It is just a huge park but was still fun to say I have been.

This weird dude was just hanging out on the park bench. I walked over and realized he was posing for pictures for money. What an awesome job. Just sit there all dressed like a million bucks and have people pay to sit by you. Sign me up!

The Twin Towers
What an amazingly somber experience. It was so intense walking up to the ponds. I just kept looking around trying to imagine what once was. I cannot begin to imagine. 

Let the cruising begin!

Cruising past the Statue of Liberty. Amazing!

So, we set sail and of course with it being our first cruise we wanted to be on the top deck to check everything out. Well, we had heard that they were doing a welcome party for the kid's club to introduce them to everything and let us parents know what would be going on. We were torn....stay on deck and see the view or go and find out what we were in store for (again, this was our first cruise). So, we ran downstairs to the kids club and entered Bryce's name in a drawing for a Carnival Cruise Build a Bear. We waited until the end (with serious anxiety on my part) to see if Bryce won. Sure enough, they called his name. The look on his face was priceless. I am so glad we waited. We grabbed his prize and raced upstairs just in time to see the Statue of Liberty. I have no idea where Braiden was at this point. I am sure him and Alex were playing basketball or checking out the ship.

I found Braiden! This is what happens when you don't (can't) sleep on the plane. You crash hard!

 Good thing Bryce won the Build a Bear because the first day at the Kids Club they were offering Build a Bear's and of course Kayson wanted to make one. So we made Build a Bears. They both made puppy pirates.

Formal Night!

This is the night that Mom and Jodi love. I loved doing it once because when do I really get to dress up but once was enough. I prefer to head down to eat in my comfy clothes.

This is the life. I didn't think I would like that my kids were spending so much of our "family vacation" in the kids club. I felt guilty that they weren't with me all the time. I did however get very used to the relaxing and peace and quiet pretty quickly. I would go pick the kids up for dinner and they were so sad to see me and begging to go back for more. They LOVED hanging out with the new friends they made.

Cornhole Champ!

Yes, that is what they call bean bag toss. We all headed down for a friendly game of bean bag toss and it quickly got crazy. Lisa and Mom were on a team and Mom was okay and Lisa was doing awesome. They made it to the finals and Lisa cracked and Mom won the whole thing. They won a ship on a stick. Who would not want a ship on a stick? It was so much fun to watch. There were teams playing that kept telling us they were on "leagues" back home and that they practice all the time. Guess you could call Mom's luck beginners luck since she had never played before.

Puerto Rico

 I was so lucky to get to go on the excursions with these guys. I guess that is what happens when you have little guys that can't do all the crazy stuff. You go on tours of castle's and we were so glad Mom and Dad joined us.

I really hate having family pictures without the whole family there. A family picture without Braiden is not a family picture.

 While we were on our tour of the castle and of the city the rest of them were waiting to go on their excursion. They went on a late night kayak trip. There was algae that would glow when it got agitated. When you would go over it and put your paddle in the water it would glow. I think it was supposed to be a warning to enemies?

This was the best picture they got of the algae glowing

 

St. Thomas

Again, I am so lucky to get to explore with my Mom and Dad. And, I got Braiden on this excursion too! We got on a "party" boat and went over to a beach and spent the day sitting on the beach. It was nice but got a little hot at the beach. The others all went over to another beach and snorkeled. When we got back they were just pulling in. Some of us went back to the ship while some went souvenir shopping.

 Bryce joined in on the festivities and joined the limbo party. He did pretty good. When his turn was over he sat on the bench and danced and danced. He enjoyed the party boat.

Again, I am missing my Braiden. Physically and emotionally missing him. I knew he would rather be doing the fun excursions (that my little guys couldn't do) so he went with the others. I didn't want him to miss out.
Today we visited Grand Turk and it was Tim, Me, my Mom, Bryce and Kayson. We went on a bus and circled the entire island. It was neat to see how small it was.

 Lisa and Kaylee went on a horseback ride along the beach.
Dad, Brad, Alex and Braiden went deep sea fishing and Jodi, Riley and Cori stayed along the dock and went surfing and played on the beach. We visited this lighthouse and later when we got back to the ship and talked about our excursions we realized Lisa and Kaylee stopped here just after us.

 At the stop we got out and were able to shop a little bit. The shops were teeny and were locals selling junk. I swear it looked like stuff tourist's had dropped and they just picked up and put it in their store. We walked down to the beach and watched a local man swim down and get conch shells off the bottom of the ocean and give them to a man on the beach to clean out. They would then give the empty shells to tourists watching on the beach. They were big beautiful shells. I wanted one and asked him for one. He held up his finger and told me to wait. He then took off on his bike. I started getting nervous because our bus was getting ready to leave. He finally rode back up holding four beautiful conch shells. I paid him $5 and jumped on the bus. I was so excited to give them to Lisa and Jodi when we got back on the ship. We had to leave them outside to try out because they still smelled.

I love this picture. Kayson crashed at the end of our bus tour and I carried him to the beach. I love that our cruise ship is in the background. It didn't last long, he heard Bryce playing and woke right up.

 The boys all headed out to sea to fish. They were fishing for baracuda and they all caught one. What a fun experience for Braiden to do with his Grandpa, uncle and cousin. I am so glad he got to go do this. I guess Braiden got a little sea sick heading out there. Poor guy!

 

 

Happy Birthday Bruse!

We did another formal night dinner on Bryce's birthday and thought it would be lots of fun to get him a cake. Tim and I went to the gift shop and ordered one. I guess when I write Bryce my "y" looks like a "u" and I am not sure about the "s". Thank goodness Bryce didn't notice. I think he was so excited it was his birthday he didn't even read the cake. Everyone brought their presents to dinner and Bryce had a great birthday!