Vacating

Ten years (plus a few months) ago, Sam and I went on our first cruise together. It was the summer after the Bar exam, the first summer we spent living together, and only a few weeks before we got engaged. It was amazing and wonderful. It was my second time on a ship but his first (I had gone with my dad and his family at the end of 2002), and we decided we should keep making plans to cruise regularly because we loved it so much. So, in 2010, we went on a Mediterranean cruise for the first half of our honeymoon, and in 2012, we went on a Caribbean cruise, leaving our 17-month old Banner for the first time. In 2014, our "let's cruise every even year" plan didn't happen since Quinn was so little and leaving two kiddos behind was hard. In 2016, we had Knox, so traveling was even more challenging for us. But, the sea continued to call to me, to us. There's a serenity and peace out there on the ocean, and the wide open vastness of the sky and the ocean with nothing to interrupt it gives me great perspective into how very small we are in this world, how very minor our everyday problems are in the big scheme of things. This feeling is one Sam and I have always wanted to share with our boys, and the time finally felt right to take the trip and make it happen!

2008 (first cruise) to 2018 (most recent cruise)

This past July we took advantage of Royal Caribbean's deals and made the decision to make our trip even more financially manageable by booking before the holidays. It would mean we would have to miss some work, and it would mean the boys would miss a week of school, but Sam and I have a saying: Never let school get in the way of a good education. It means that sometimes there is more to learn outside of a structured, formal setting. The real world is the best place to learn, and I'm telling you, the boys learned SO much this trip - more than they ever could have in a classroom. As a teacher/counselor, I'm probably not "supposed" to tell you this, but man, there's no better way to learn.

We also realized we'd be gone during Hanukkah, a time of celebration and family for us, and we second-guessed missing it at home. But, then we realized, we'd be gone during Hanukkah, and it would be amazing to treat our family to this gift of time together! Instead of our usual theme nights, we incorporated gifts of experience and time into this trip, and we truly VACATED our regular routines to relax and enjoy each other. I have to say, it was very refreshing to not have "stuff" to wrap and spend money on. We did give three wrapped trinkets, but mostly their gifts were integrated into the experience itself. (That was VERY difficult for Quinn, especially, to understand. After a day of excursions or a special opportunity just for him, he'd ask where his gift was later that night and get upset that there wasn't anything to open.) 

So, let me tell you all about the trip! We kept this cruise a secret from the boys until the day before we left. We told them Saturday morning during breakfast before Quinn's soccer game. I knew that Banner would be anxious about being on the ocean (fear of sinking, fear of hurricanes, etc), and I knew that Quinn would ask me every second how much longer until the cruise, so we tried to keep everyone out of their misery as long as possible. When we first told them, there was immediate apprehension (mostly from Banner, who set the tone for the others), but once we showed them a promotional video of our ship, they were really excited. We spent the rest of the day packing and getting the house ready for us to be gone.

Trying to organize chaos

Sunday morning, we woke up bright and early, stopped for donuts, and hit the road to Galveston. The car ride there seemed to go quickly! The boys opened their first gift; each got a new pair of sunglasses to wear for the trip. We watched Short Circuit (a movie I hadn't seen since I was really little - and appreciated way more as a grown up), and Pinocchio. The boys enjoyed their Froot Loop necklaces, and we brought Lunchables for them to eat right before we got to Galveston. I thought I was being silly for bringing lunch, but I'm SO glad we did this.... as the lines that awaited us were riDICulously long. Apparently, there was a 2-hour delay when the ship arrived back at the port to let the guests from the previous cruise off the ship, so traffic was backed up, parking lots weren't empty yet, the check-in process was significantly delayed, and THAT wait was AWFUL! We waited for TWO HOURS in line to check in. With three kids, this was very difficult, and it was during Knox's typical nap time. In addition, there were no changing tables (and no toilet paper) at the terminal. So, when Knox needed a diaper change, we had to get resourceful and lay him down on the bathroom floor on top of paper towels. We were in a sea of people who were anxious to get on that ship already! But, it did finally move and we made it on the ship three lines later (line to the terminal, line to go through security, line to check in).

The 2-hour wait happened in this zigzagging line

When we got to our rooms (connected inside and via balcony), we were pleased to see the Pack-n-Play that was promised us. What we weren't excited about was that Knox couldn't fit in it. It was the tiniest little bassinet size, and when we humored ourselves to try it out, Knox couldn't even lay his legs down past his knees. I was anxious to see how the night would go, knowing he'd have to sleep in a bed for the first time, and with his brothers no less. I knew for sure this would be the end of his crib once we got home. 

And we're off!! Leaving Galveston

Our first dining experience that evening was chaotic. Knox didn't want to stay seated, Banner kept getting out of his seat. Both big boys needed chaperones to the bathroom at different times. Knox was demanding a screen ("I want your phone!") not realizing that I had no service for him to watch videos he wanted to watch. He wanted to drink from the glass the waiter kept filling, instead of the sippy cup I filled from the glass... which led to spills and then crying that he was wet. It was one thing after another, and the boys were all cranky, tired, and irritable. After the Welcome Aboard show, Knox cried to go home. He did not understand that home was not an option miles away from shore at that point. It was all very confusing for him. 

"Lighting" the first candles on the menorah

Loving chicken noodle soup -
which he's been offered MANY times at home but would never try

Knox Morgan

That night of sleep was HORRIBLE. Quinn was super-excited to sleep next to Knox (who we put in the middle so he wouldn't fall out). He would not give Knox his space in the king bed. He kept scooting too close to him. Banner kept getting up to go to the bathroom in OUR room, leaving the light on, flushing those awfully-loud toilets. Knox got up a couple of times, and then we finally pulled him in to our bed. The boys were up by 6:15 that morning. Some vacation! As you can imagine, we were almost dreading the next 6 days given the chaos our first day on the ship had been! Luckily, things got better.

Monday was our first "at sea" day. After breakfast, we went up to the mini golf course. It was windy, but the boys had fun just goofing off up on the top deck. Then, we dropped Quinn and Banner off at their respective kids club areas for a bit. Knox, Sam, and I walked around the ship a little bit, and then it was another frustrating afternoon for Knox who was not allowed in the pools we went to because he uses a swim diaper and is not potty-trained. I knew this was going to be a problem before we went on the trip, but I wasn't aware of how small the baby splash area was. Asking the boy who is used to keeping up with his brothers to stay in a small secluded area was not registering for Knox. It was so infuriating for him and for us, so I took him back up to our room for a nap while the big boys played in the water. That night, we had our first formal night. It was fun to see my little boys all dressed up. We got a lot of looks as we walked to dinner - so many people commenting on how cute my three boys are all dressed in their little suits. After dinner, we went back to our room to "light candles" on our LED menorah and the boys got to open a gift of personalized M&Ms (that I had been saving for them since my trip to Vegas' M&M World). After changing into pajamas, I took Banner and Quinn to see a juggling, hula hoop, acrobatic performance by The Great Dubois (Viktoria Grimmy was one of the performers, and she was in The Greatest Showman, which the boys thought was super cool). That night was a little better sleep-wise, but the little devils were still up long before 7:00am the next day.

To get him to REALLY smile, I said, "Look, there's (best bud) Landon!!"
When he realized I made him look, he gave me this face.

Then he gave me this face.

Persomalized M&Ms from M&M World Vegas

On our way to a show - in PJs!

On Tuesday, we docked in Cozumel and went on an excursion to Playa Mia beach club. It was PERFECT for us - a little bit of beach, a little bit of pool, a little bit of splash park, and Knox could do all of it! There were water slides for the big boys, a great lunch for everyone, Snow Cones, Icees, lockers, and showers after. Thank God for the showers, too, because as we were getting ready to leave, I went to change Knox's diaper - not knowing he had pooped in his swim diaper. It was a messy, sandy disgusting diaper all the way up his back. (Yum. I know.) But, I was able to wash him without embarrassing us all. Luckily, the attendant in the bathroom was super helpful disposing of the gross diaper and cleaning out the shower for us. We got back to the ship in perfect time for Knox to nap, and Sam took the big boys to the kids club while he went to the gym. During my time in the room, I was supposed to be relaxing, but when I went to look for my cell phone, I couldn't find it anywhere in our backpack. I tried to call the gym to ask Sam if he knew where it was or if he had it, but I couldn't reach him there (I must have called too early, and the man on the ship phone trying to help me locate Sam couldn't find anyone by that name). I spent two hours rummaging through everything, calling the excursion desk, trying to get an outside line to Playa Mia from the ship, retracing my steps, pretty certain I must have left the phone near the showers when I was distracted by Knox's icky diaper incident. Sam finally came back to the stateroom, and he pulled it out of the very front pocket of our backpack - that I for some reason did not even SEE! I was so relieved - because, well... pictures!! That night, we saw an amazing rendition of Saturday Night Fever on board. We gave the boys their first Cracker Jacks boxes... because Knox is obsessed with the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." And, while I stayed back in the room with Knox, Sam took Banner and Quinn to see Christopher Robin poolside. 

First time in the ocean

Snow Cones

On Wednesday, we had a later arrival to Grand Cayman, so we were able to enjoy breakfast on the balcony before we tendered to the port and decided what we wanted to do that day. We had tried to sign up for an excursion beforehand, but the one we wanted was full. So, we went to the island "winging it," and I'm so glad we did. The only place I really wanted to see was the small town called Hell. One of my songs with Quinn is "I'm Gonna Stand By You," by Rachel Platten. There's a line that says, "Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you," so I wanted to literally walk through Hell with him. I would dance with Quinn to this song, hold him and rock him a couple years ago when he was having a lot of anxiety and worries about school and life, and I have explained to him since then, that no matter what, I'm here for him and will be with him every step of every way. As he's gotten older, he knows that this song is such a perfect song for parents to sing to their children. I wanted to make it a literal memory for him, and so as silly and funny as a town called Hell is, I wanted this serious memory for us. So, we found a two-hour tour that would take us around the island and include going to Hell. It was significantly cheaper than the excursion offered by the cruise, and we learned a LOT about Grand Cayman. We saw the Governor's House, went to a dolphin encounter (but just watched, much to Banner's disappointment), tasted rum cakes, bought some fun Hell souvenirs, and sent a couple of postcards from there, too.  That afternoon, while Sam stayed with a napping Knox, I took the big boys up to swim again. That evening, during dinner, our assistant waiter, Karma, asked Banner and Quinn if they wanted to come dance with him and the rest of the wait staff during dessert. They had fun teaching Karma to floss, and Karma taught the boys the Macarena. Then, we were off to an ice skating show that started off pretty boring but got really good at the end. Finally, after this active day, we "lit" candles again and opened a family gift of Hanukkah Pajamas! We had fun jumping on the bed and then taking pictures of all of us. We took one of my favorite pictures that night.

Governor's House
We learned that Cayman is a British colony, so the Queen appoints a Governor

The town of Hell

"Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you.
Love, you're not alone. I'm gonna stand by you."

We sent Grandma & Papa and BeeBee & Zaide some postcards from Hell.

Feeding the chickens some Cheetos that a tour guide handed the boys

He was pretty proud of this new hat

Eating Rum Cake

Banner spotted a hermit crab.

At the Dolphin Encounter, the boys enjoyed these parrots

Quinn chose this shirt himself.

On the tender ride back to the ship.

This boy and his soup.... closing his eyes with each bite

Our waiter, Idege

Our beloved assistant waiter, Karma

On Thursday, we docked in Jamaica. Our excursion was to the Blue Water Beach Resort. The sand was way different in Jamaica - a smaller, more powdery grain was more fun to build with than in Cozumel (which seemed more like kosher salt). It was more like kinetic sand. Banner befriended a lifeguard there named Orlando who taught the big boys how to make sand balls. He also taught Banner about the Jamaican dialect and taught him some words, too. He learned how to say "Hello/What's up?" -- "wagwan," and "See you later," --- "layatah." A few of my other favorite memories from this windy day was when Knox decided he wanted to lounge for a bit and rest like a girl we saw a few lounge chairs away from us. I wrapped him up in his towel, and he just rested peacefully for quite a bit before lunch. Also, Quinn's hair was AMAZING in Jamaica. The curls, the color, the texture - it was like it wanted to be in Jamaica. When we returned to the ship, I napped Knox while Sam took the big boys back to the port to shop. They bought swords and had their names chiseled into the wooden blade. Later, while waiting for that evening's show, we attended a Karaoke event. Banner was inspired to give it a shot, even though he was nervous. He asked to sing "Grenade" but when it started, he missed a word in the first line and freaked out. He gave the mic back to the crew member and ran off the stage and began crying in Sam's arms. My heart broke for him. Quinn was not supportive at first, saying, "That was not good AT ALL!" I quickly hushed him, and when he realized Banner was really embarrassed and upset, he changed his tune to supportive brother with, "Banner, at least you got up there and tried! I couldn't even do that!" Sweet boy, he was so upset he blew it. He plans to ask Aunt Kira for some pointers on how to get in front of an audience and sing!

I made this little sand creature. 

Banner's selfie with Orlando

These boys really liked their new friend, and we did too!
We had a built-in babysitter. He got a nice tip for it, too!

Quinn went up to these kids and said, "Can I help?"
They put him right to work, and the boy in the white top made sure everyone was included.

Banner found this sea urchin.

Quinn's hair was awesome in Jamiaca.
I think his hair wants to live there.

Nothing better than an afternoon nap on a cruiseship

"Color Bridge" as named by Knox

Ensaymada

"SO GOOD!"

Friday was our second day at sea, and we had some special gifts for each boy. I surprised Banner with an All Access Tour of the ship. I was super excited for this - not just to learn about the "behind the scenes" stuff, but I thought Banner would really enjoy all the cool stuff we would get to see and hear about. Unfortunately, Banner was bored and didn't really appreciate the tour -- at least not at the time. Since then, he is really glad he got to see and do everything we experienced that morning - a tour of the kitchen with a sous chef, insight with a head waiter of his perspective of his job, an explanation of how food is delivered and stored in the ship - including a few minutes in the freezer - and learning random facts like how many eggs (90,000!) are put onboard each week, how many line items on the spreadsheet the man in charge of ordering food manages (40,000), and how the ship is prepared for hurricane season (ordering 3 extra days of food during that time each week), a tour of the engine control room, and finally a stop at the bridge where the First Mate allowed Banner (and ONLY Banner!) to sit directly in front of him and take charge of the ship for a few seconds - long enough for me to capture a couple pictures. Banner later realized how very cool this was for him - and how very jealous the other guests in our group were. Banner also got to ask the question he'd been wondering from day one: what happens to the poop and pee when you flush the toilet on the ship. The answer: the water gets treated and cleaned to be reused - and the waste gets burned and released into the sea in a "helpful to the sea" way when far from land.

The bakery... purposefully built small so bread would have to be made fresh daily

Engine control room

Photo of the ship being built in Finland

Banner's very fast panoramic attempt on the starboard side of the ship

Waving to the first mate who let Banner steer

DreamWorks parade... we finally found the dragon Knox is always talking about

Mommy, by Knox

Quinn, by Knox

Later on Friday, Quinn and I went to the Cupcake Cupboard to take a decorating class. Quinn has loved to bake and cook since he knew what the kitchen was, so this was definitely something he was pumped about! He got to learn some new skills decorating 6 cupcakes. He followed directions very well, and with only minor help from me, he decorated these cupcakes completely on his own.

Photos before dinner

Quinn saw this backdrop and wanted pictures... saying,
"I want my picture taken by myself first."

Pirate Quinn, getting picked up from Kids Club

Friday evening was our second formal night, and while standing in line for photos before entering the dining room, the photographer asked if we'd be interested in a black & white photo session after dinner. We thought that sounded interesting and joined Amy, another photographer, later in the studio. The entire photo shoot was about 15-20 minutes - super fast - but definitely chaotic with a silly, excited Knox and therefore silly and excited Banner and Quinn. The boys were all over the place, laughing, saying silly things ("DOBIE!" for no apparent reason, and telling Amy her name was really Lucy), unable to sit still, constant moving while Amy was trying to get their attention... it was a disaster. There is no reason we should have gotten ANY good shots, but they turned out really good, and the next day when we saw the images, it was hard to choose from the video montage that Amy put together. We landed on these images.

On Saturday, we began mourning our trip already, taking advantage of our last day at sea. We started the day with a character breakfast experience, where the kids could order from a fun menu and meet Shrek and Puss in Boots. Then, Sam and I dropped all three kids off at their respective kid zones, and we enjoyed 3 hours just us. We made an appointment with NextCruise and explored booking another cruise for just us, and EEEK, we already booked another one for next year! Then, we went to our room to begin packing without the boys there... best decision to get organized without the chaos of three kiddos. Then we got the boys, met with Amy to see the photographs, and then enjoyed an outdoor lunch at Johnny Rockets. While Knox napped, Sam took the boys ice skating. That night was a PJ party at Adventure Ocean (the kids club area), so the boys wanted to go there and eat dinner with the other kids. Sam and I decided to sign Knox up for dinner in the Nursery, so we could enjoy our last dinner in the dining room by ourselves. Unfortunately, we got a call to come pick Knox up an hour into his stay because he was still crying on and off and wouldn't eat his dinner. (I'm pretty sure being there at night threw him way off, and he wanted to be with us.) We were glad we got to at least finish our meal before we had to get Knox, though. From there, we went to a Michael Jackson game show where we scored 16/20 naming MJ songs from a short snippet of each song. Knox enjoyed dancing to the songs - many of them he knew also. We picked up Quinn next, who wanted to attend the last show of the week, a performance by country music singer Nathan Osmond. Knox was ROCKIN' it during that performance, and probably entertaining and distracting the people around our seats more that he should have been, so we left half-way through. I put both little boys to bed and Sam went to get Banner. They stopped for a treat on the way back to our room, so Banner got to stay up pretty late that night. His bedtime seemed to get later and later during the week, and he was really enjoying the flexibility we offered him in the evenings.

Fun DreamWorks Menu

 Of course, the boys slept in the next morning... the one morning we needed them to wake up before 7:00 and they were difficult to wake. The entire trip, they were up long before 6:30, but nope, not the one day we needed them up. What is UP with that!? Why is it that every weekend, Banner is up at the crack of dawn, but come school mornings, he can't get his butt out of bed?! Our vacation was no different. They were dragging... they did not want to leave and talked about how they had so much fun and were so glad we went on this trip. They were excited to go home, though, knowing that a family Hanukkah party awaited them that afternoon. After one last meal at Windjammer, we had such helpful boys who helped drag our bulky bags down each deck stairway. They did awesome keeping up with us in the lines to disembark. And, the drive home, they did great for as well. It seemed to go much more slowly going home, but they enjoyed watching Field of Dreams and Into the Woods. The only disappointing part was when I had to share with them that the family Hanukkah party had been cancelled due to illnesses in almost every branch of the family at home. Cousins had missed school, aunts and uncles were on meds, grandparents were tired and fevery, so it was best to cancel - but we were really bummed about it. We did stop by Grandma and Papa's house just for a short bit after Knox napped at home... in his crib! My concern that he'd never sleep in his crib again quickly vanished when he laid right down and slept without even asking for a big bed. Wheeeww!

So, we've been home for a week now, and we've settled back in to our normal, but we have new experiences to talk about, new memories to reflect on, new lessons learned and jokes to laugh about. Quinn fell in love with chicken noodle soup (even though I've offered it to him countless times prior to the trip). I fell in love with ensaymada, a fluffy, creamy, sweet Filipino bread. Sam and I got a break from politics and never once saw Donald Trump's face for over a week! Knox showed us how adaptable he could be to schedule and routine changes and how he could bounce right back to his norm. We have the inside jokes from our cruise director, Mark, who ended every announcement with "Bing Bong!" and wanted guests to give shouts out that they were in attendance at shows with "Wikki Wikki Wahhh!" Banner will remember forever how to make sand balls that don't fall apart.  School and work waited; laundry, dishes, cleaning, and cooking didn't pull me away from my family; daily newsfeeds and newsreels and news tickers didn't distract or dishearten us. We were present with each other. We truly got out of our space where soccer and swimming and Sunday School and clients and homework and schedules and paperwork rule our lives too often.

On our last night of the cruise, Sam and I took each boy onto our balcony. It was VERY windy, and it was getting VERY cold the closer we got to Galveston. But, we made a point of taking each boy out there wrapped in our arms to see the sea one last time. It was dark but the white crest of each wave could be seen in the moonlight or with the glow coming off the ship. We told them to remember the water, to remember how peaceful it is out there on that big ocean, to remember the stars and how dark and vast the sky is, how nothing else interrupted the horizon. One of my favorite memories was snuggling Banner, both Sam and I holding him on either side, kissing his cheeks between us, all wrapped up together in the chilly wind. I told him this was my happy place, the place I went to when I was stressed or when I needed to calm myself. I told him how happy I was to finally have been able to share it with him and to have him with me in my place of serenity, where I'm reminded of just how small we really are in this great big world. I will remember that balcony cuddle forever. I sure hope he will, too. But, even if he doesn't, I know they had a great time. As we walked off the ship the next day, Banner said to me, "I was worried when we first got here, but now, I like cruises." And, Quinn waved to the big ship as we drove away from the port saying, "Goodbye, ship! See you next time we take a cruise!" Oh, I can't wait til that time gets here!!