Fun Day at Sea #1

On our second day aboard the Carnival Splendor, we relaxed on the ship while on the way to warmer waters.

This is what we woke up to. Nothing but water. If you look closely, you can make out a bit of land but I am not sure where it is. 'The Boy' kept saying, "I swim in the oseen". Not yet, Buddy.

What happens when you put together a tired pregnant woman and a room above the ship's nightclub? Crabcakes! Seriously, I had no idea our room was above the nightclub or that I would feel like my bed was on the dance floor at 2 am! (My fault, entirely. I booked the fun saver rate which saved us about $300 but the cruise line had to select our room location. Haha! Joke's on me.) Thank goodness for a coffee shop and lattes!

Playing trains while I wait in the endless line for caffeine. Maybe I was not the only passenger above the nightclub?

We enjoyed some breakfast and the went for a stroll on the top deck. The weather was so nice and it wasn't too windy. We tried so hard to get a good pic of 'The Boy' but there was far too much cool stuff to look at to be bothered with saying "cheese".

How exhausted do I look? Come on caffeine...kick in!

Nice family pic attempt #1





View of the indoor pool

Please look at the camera and smile. Please!

Enjoying a Sprite Zero before heading off to camp

We dropped 'The Boy' off at kid's camp for a few hours and went to the adult swimming pool to relax. I read 2 pages in my book before taking a snooze.

My handsome hubby at the adult pool deck

We picked up 'The Boy' for lunch and sat (indoor) poolside to eat. Then we headed back to the room for nap time.

French fries and a hot dog. Perfect kiddo food. Note: I still look exhausted.

Hanging out on the balcony with a Sweet tea Vodka during nap time



Catching up on some Thomas and Friends after a snooze

Once nap time was over (and it wasn't long) we went back to the Lido Deck to swim for the rest of the afternoon. The pool was heated and 'The Boy' had a blast showing off his swimming skills.

Crabwalking

So happy



Wheee!

Kick, kick, kick!





Showering off. He loved sticking his head under the poolside shower and then running away giggling.

That night was the Captain's formal and we thought we'd spare our poor child from all of the boring stuff. We took him to dinner at the buffet and then dropped him off at camp. When I dropped him off, my Mommy's instinct didn't feel right about the situation- there were so many kids in there! 'The Hubs' insisted that he'd be okay and so we left him. I cried in the elevator and then decided that 'The Hubs' was probably right.

We went down to the casino and enjoyed a few drinks (Shirley Temples for me) and just when we were about to head to dinner, our camp issued cell phone rang. All I could hear was my baby screaming in the background. I knew something wasn't right!

We got 'The Boy' and went to dinner as a family and were the only people dressed up, eating lobster tail, with a 2 year-old asleep on our laps. We called it an early night again and we went back to our room at the nightclub.



Next up: Fun Day at Sea #2

Come Sail Away

We needed to get away! 'The Hubs' and I were under so much stress from work and home that we decided to take our family vacation super early this year. We figured that the further this pregnancy came along, the less likely we would have any "R and R" before due day.

We chose to cruise (again) with Carnival for 7 days to the Mexican Riviera. This was the best choice for us because it didn't involve flying (so stressful with a 2 year old). Although challenging, we all had so much fun!

We stayed in a balcony stateroom for the first time and enjoyed having access to the fresh air from our room. It was the biggest room we have stayed in on a cruise and Lord knows we needed it!

Our room

The Balcony

Once we got settled onto the ship we went to the Lido deck for some lunch. 'The Boy' was a bit overwhelmed with the atmosphere but behaved as best as any 2 year-old could.

Enjoying the view

"I shake a soogah, Mommy"

After lunch we did a little exploring and went back to our room to rest, unpack and watch a bit of the Superbowl.

Long Beach from our balcony

Our lounge chairs

Watching the game

'The Boy' had some calls to make

Checking out the itinerary for the day


We did some exploring during halftime and found that the ship was showing the game on the big screen by the pool

Waiting to set sail

Playing trains on the balcony. I was praying he didn't throw any of them overboard.

With the baby on the balcony

We had a bunch of business to take care of the first day like signing up 'The Boy' for kids camp and sorting out our dining arrangement. The first day is never the most fun but full of trying to acclimate to the ship. We all took a walk on the top deck after the ship set sail just before dinner.

A blurry pic but had to show his face in the wind.

In the end, we couldn't get the early dinner time but at least we had a small table to ourselves and didn't have to share our starving, exhausted child with any other cruise passengers. Our dinner was delicious but someone wouldn't know.

You try waiting up until 8:30 for chicken nuggets.

We called it an early night! The ship didn't offer babysitting the first night but I don't think that we could have stayed awake if we tried. Our first day was great but the best was yet to come. Day 2: Fun Day at Sea...

Half Baked

20 weeks pregnant

This little girl is going to make me huge!

Fireplace Facelift

The day I found this house, long before it was ever ours, I visualized what we would do with the blah mantle-less fireplace. A year and a half later, after complaining about it one too many times, we got to work. This is by far the biggest project we have taken on inside the house and it wasn't as difficult as we thought it would be. I am so proud of my handy hubby. Thank you, baby, for taking my vision and making it real.

Before reconstructive surgery:

Builder basic: no mantle and blah tile that blended in with the walls.

Demolition begins:

My handy hero at work.

The artwork:

I have had my eye on this tile for almost a year. So glad it was never discontinued.



My boys finishing up the dirty work.

A clean slate.




New drywall.

Laying the tile glue. This is the only pic I have of this process as my hands were covered in grout shortly after this was taken. (Tilt head to left-I don't know why it wouldn't rotate.)

Sealing the deal

Facelift complete:

I am so in love with this thing! I can't stop looking at it and I can't wait to decorate my new mantle. I am so proud of 'The Hubs' who took my crazy dream ("you want me to grout these tiles?") and made it into a showpiece. He did all the demo, built the surround from scratch, painted and sealed it without my help because each process was to toxic for the growing baby. I think it is so much better...what do you think?