We're Baaaccckkkk!

Well we are back from our whirlwind vacation. We got back last night and as a Welcome Back to California, we were welcomed to a traffic jam at 9:00 pm! Yep thats California.

We had a really great time. Not sure, I would ever take a 13 month old on a cruise again. It was a lot of work at times and trying to schedule activities around naptimes and trying not to have a grumpy baby was at times a full time job. I have been on a lot of cruises before, but of course as a childless person and I really had to readjust my thinking on this cruise. There are just so many activities that you have to miss out because you have an infant with you. But after the first couple of days, I learned to just accept that this cruise was going to be different and to enjoy it the best that we could.

I think I enjoyed the at-sea days better than the days in port. Jack was not too thrilled about the hot humid Carribean weather and was just so grumpy and at times just plain miserable. It also did not help that the first day off the ship in Cozumel, I accidently got sunblock in his eyes. That did not start the day out very well. Now me, I love love love the Carribean weather and could very well live there.

The day in Grand Cayman went better than Cozumel. We went to the beach and he really had fun sitting in the sand playing with his sand toys. He liked to sit at the waters edge and let the waves wash over his legs.

The next day in Costa Maya, he was working on only a 20 min nap and well it wasn't as fun as the previous day. Hence no pictures from Costa Maya and only one picture from Cozumel when we were on the submersible boat.

Speaking of pictures, you will see below that most of the pictures of Jack alone. We did have some professional pictures taken of the 3 of us on formal nights all dressed up. They charge a fortune to buy pictures from their photo store. But I will try to scan those in and post them. I think they turned out really great.

Jack was quite well known on the cruise. People we didn't even know would walk up to Jack and say "Hi Jack". I felt like when we left the ship, there would be an announcement saying "Jack is now leaving the ship".

We got into our own little routine on the cruise, which seemed like it was opposite of the majority of the people. We would wake up early and eat breakfast then go to the 9:30 aqua baby class. The aqua baby class was for the under 2 crowd sponsored by Fisher Price. It was basically Fisher Price showing off all their toys and letting us parents know that there were even more toys out there to buy. Then it would be off to lunch then naptime for Mommy and Jack. Then we would wake up and go up to the pool deck and hang out for a bit. Then it was time to get ready to yep you guessed it - eat again! Dinner time! During dinner time, he was adored by his public. Our table was by the door so that everybody coming in could ooh and ahh at the Jackaroo. It really was quite pathetic.

After dinner, we would go back up to the pool deck and enjoy the Caribbean night breazes. It was actually my favorite time of the day because we were almost the only people there and could let Jack run around pretty much anywhere while Jim and I sat in in deck chairs like stuffed pigs from dinner. Then around 9:30 we would go down to the cabin and go to bed. Rough life huh.

After the cruise ended we were back in New Orleans. We strolled around the French Quarter for a bit which was more relaxing this time than the week before. The day we arrived, a jazz festival was going on and it was pure madness. It was fun, but a bit overwhelming for this girl. I can't even imagine what Mardi Gras would be like! I really liked the French Quarter and it was fun going through all the shops and eating Beignets and drinking coffee. Yum Yum.

On Sunday we drove up to Mississippi to see Jim's family. Jack got to see his Grammy C and a couple of Aunts, an Uncle, and a cousin. The kid was thoroughly spoiled by all the attention. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I didn't think about pictures until too late. Bad Mommy!

So we are back to reality. Came home and found out that we had the world's worst house sitter. And then there was the harsh reality of going back to work this morning. I guess we can't be cruising and on vacation permanently. It does have to end at sometime.