We celebrated an early New Year's Eve at Gina and Paul's house. The adults got to have drinks while the kids played. We counted down to the new year at 8:00 so the kids could enjoy popping streamers and blowing noisemakers. Can't believe it's 2010 already!
We had a really relaxing vacation in Phoenix with Richard's family. Cecily LOVED playing with her cousins. They went to four different parks while we were visiting. She can't wait to go back in February to celebrate Emily's birthday.
Merry Christmas! We celebrated Christmas at Aunt Christina and Uncle Doug's house as well as Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto's house. The kids got to open presents at both houses. They had so much fun unwrapping their new gifts and playing together. Cecily's favorite gift was a Zhu Zhu Pet from Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Otto (so much for the Nintendo DS from Mommy and Daddy!).
We drove to Phoenix to spend Christmas with Richard's family. The day before Christmas, Cecily made gingerbread houses with her cousins, Emily, Hayden, and Austin. They also baked gingerbread cookies to leave out for Santa.
Before we left for Phoenix, we decorated our house for Christmas, and Cecily helped wrap presents.
We took Isobel and Ted to Legoland to check out the Christmas decorations. We took pictures with the Lego Santa & reindeer, Lego Christmas tree, and Lego snowman. It was surprisingly uncrowded, so they got to go on lots of rides.
Cecily's kindergarten class had their Holiday Party today. They had a yummy lunch of pizza, carrots, apples, and cookies. Then they got to make some fun crafts - foam penguin thermometer magnets, jingle bell necklaces, candy trains, and snowflake or reindeer popsicle stick ornaments. The kids got to watch Mrs. Pavloff open her class gift of many nice Disney items (great for her upcoming trip to Disney World), then ate cupcakes while they watched the Grinch. Each kid also went home with a bagful of goodies.
At our Daisy Scout meeting today, we met with a Brownie troop to make Christmas gifts for the parents. The Brownies made a cloth Christmas tree while the Daisies made a thumbprint flower pot. All the girls also decorated their own bags to wrap their gifts in. They ended the meeting with a decorate your own cookie snack.
Today was our Playgroup Holiday Party. The kids made jingle bell necklaces and Rudolph popsicle stick ornaments. They had so much fun playing together, taking all of Michael's toys out, spinning around on the recliner, and running around like crazy.
We were invited to a Holiday Boat Parade party at Cecily's friend Alexsia's house. Cecily and Alexsia's other friend from school, Danielle, was also there. Mrs. Claus and her elf came to play games, make balloon animals, and paint faces. We had dinner at Alexsia's house then walked a few houses over to her grandfather's house to have dessert and watch the boat parade from his back deck. We had a fabulous time.
We helped Charlotte celebrate her 2nd birthday at her Handy Manny themed party. The kids colored, played put the tools in the toolbox, and had a delicious Handy Manny cake. They also enjoyed playing in the new playhouse and with the kid-sized basketball hoop.
Cecily went to her friend Katelyn's 6th birthday party at Frogg's Bounce House. It was similar to Pump It Up and Bounce U. The kids had a blast running around, bouncing, and sliding.
Sunday, November 29, we were supposed to board the Carnival Splendor at around 2 PM. But apparently the captain had a heart attack, so the boat had to turn around and drop him off in Cabo, making it late for it's arrival in Long Beach. After a LONG wait at the port, we finally boarded the boat a little after 9 PM. Poor Cecily was starving so we headed straight to the Gold Pearl Dining room to grab some dinner. She was so tired, she fell asleep during dinner. We sailed out of Long Beach a little after midnight.
Monday, November 30, we had our first Sea Day on the ship. We started off with a really delayed muster drill. At least we no longer had to wear the life vests. Cecily went to "boat school" or Camp Carnival where she got to color her own Carnival t-shirt. We had lunch and tea in the Gold Pearl Dining Room, then we took Cecily for a quick swim before dinner. It was our first formal night on board. Since we didn't worry about taking any professional portraits, we enjoyed our evening without rushing anywhere. After dinner, we took Cecily to the first show of our trip.
Tuesday, December 1, was our second Sea Day. Richard and Caren played some trivia on the Lido Deck while Cecily was having fun at Camp Carnival. When we picked her up from camp, we took her to meet Funship Freddie, where we also bought the Freddie book and doll. Funship Freddie autographed her book too! Then we did a fun kids scavenger hunt where we had to get pictures of funny and crazy things that we did all over the ship. That night after dinner in the Gold Pearl Dining Room, Cecily went to Camp Carnival where they painted her face like a kitty's. Then we all went to see the show which Cecily loved.
Wednesday, December 2 was Richard's birthday. Unfortunately, he had a terrible day due to the food poisoning he got last night. He spent most of the day sleeping in our cabin after we visited the infirmary for some medicine. Cecily went to Camp Carnival in the morning before heading to shore with Caren. They walked over to the Sam's Club and Walmart across the street from the terminal to do some shopping. Holland America's Oosterdam was also docked in Puerto Vallarta with us. When we got back to the ship, Richard was feeling a little better, so we went to the pool to enjoy the fresh air, watched the sunset on deck, and then had dinner in the Gold Pearl Dining Room. Richard did not last through the meal to have the servers sing Happy Birthday and headed back to the room to lay down.
Thursday, December 3, we were originally supposed to go horse back riding on Stone Island in Mazatlan. But with Richard getting sick, we decided to take it easy instead. We ate breakfast in the Gold Pearl Dining Room. Afterwards, we played a couple rounds of miniature golf. Then we took the shuttle into the cruise terminal where we did a little shopping. Also docked with us in Mazatlan was Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. We came back to the ship for lunch at the Lido Buffet. We ate dinner in the Gold Pearl Dining Room, which Cecily left early to go to Camp Carnival and get her face painted like a pirate. We got some great photos of the sunset, and Richard got an awesome shot of the moon over Mazatlan.
Friday, December 4, we arrived in Cabo San Lucas. Since Richard was feeling better, he got up early to take pictures of the sunrise. We had breakfast up in the Lido Buffet then took the tender into Cabo. We walked around to do a little shopping then took the tender back to our ship. On the way back to our ship, we spotted a Hooter's in the Cabo marina. The Celebrity Constellation was also docked in Cabo with us. Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas pulled in port very briefly and pulled back out. We'll have to ask our friend Cheryl, who was on that cruise, what that was about. That evening was our second formal night. Cecily ate her dinner quickly so she could go to Camp Carnival and get her face painted like a bunny.
On our last Sea Day (Saturday, December 5), Richard and Caren joined in a game of Super Trivia and finally won some Carnival Cruise medals, along with their team - the STLs. We had lunch and tea in the Gold Pearl Dining Room, before going to the Camp Carnival cookie decorating. Then we watched the kids talent competition. When we went back to our room to get ready for dinner, Cecily got sick, throwing up in the cabin bathroom. When we went to dinner in the dining room, she fell asleep at the table. She was sad to be sick and miss out on her last night at Camp Carnival, so Caren picked up the tote bag she would have colored to take home. In the morning, Cecily felt a little bit better, but she still acted a litte under the weather. We arrived back in Long Beach on time, and got home around 9:30 AM on Sunday, December 6.
