Sea Day

Our final full day on the ship was a 'Sea Day' and we ate and relaxed the majority of the day.

All the kids that participated in Camp Carnival got to be a part of the Christmas show that afternoon and it was amazing!  It was a full house and the show and costumes were spectacular!!

 Landon's age group had a designated place to sit before their little part in the show.  I sneaked up to where he was to snap a few pics and I caught him and one of his new little friends chatting with each other.  It's so fun to watch him interact with other kids.

 Landon's group decorated the Christmas tree when they entered the stage and then they got to sing a couple of Christmas songs.  I loved seeing Landon up there singing--he did such a great job!

 At the end of the show a special visitor, Santa, came and joined all the kids on stage.

 And the first person that Santa picked up was Landon!!  I was so excited for Landon to be part of such a special moment. 

 It was hard for me to get a good picture of Landon with Santa, but a photographer from the ship was taking pictures and I bought one of them that he took of Landon and Santa.  Such a special memory!

When the show ended we went to grab some ice cream before heading to dinner...yes, ice cream before dinner!  Eating is a huge part of being on a cruise ship and we took full advantage! :)  While we were waiting for our ice cream Landon was jumping around being silly and fell into a marble table and busted his forehead open.  I didn't think too much of it initially, but when he raised his head blood was everywhere and I could see that it wasn't just your regular head bump--there was a fairly wide gash and I immediately knew he would need stitches.  We quickly scooped him up and a staff member lead us to the medical clinic located on the bottom floor.

 Poor little guy had to get his first ever stitches on vacation.  He kept saying, "Please just let Jesus make it go away, I don't want stitches."  The doctor was very nice and when calmed Landon calmed down, the doctor put three stitches in his forehead.  Landon did very well.

 The doctor was so sweet...he knew we were getting ice cream before the accident so after he stitched Landon up he told us to go back to the ice cream shop and the ice cream was on him!  So thoughtful of him to do that.  Landon finally got to enjoy his ice cream!  I was fully prepared to cancel our dinner plans for the evening thinking that Landon would want to sleep since the doctor gave him some medicine to calm him down, but after eating his ice cream he was back to his silly self.  So the evening went on as planned. 

 We got to enjoy our last dinner of the trip and the waiters and maitre d' put on quite the dance show!  So much fun!

Although our final day on the cruise didn't go as we expected, we still had a blast and made so many wonderful memories that will be with us for a long time!  Landon's forehead is healing very nicely and he's continuing to pray to Jesus to make his stitches go away because he doesn't want to go back to the doctor to have them removed.  Poor little guy!

More Cozumel Pics

Picture overload...

but I don't want to forget these memories.

 We took advantage of all the photo props.

Fun times!

Landon asked me just this morning when we're going back on the cruise ship!  :)

Swimming with Dolphins

While we were in Cozumel, we got to swim with the dolphins.  My dad and Brittney went scuba diving while we swam with the dolphins.  It was neat to share experiences once we met back up with each other. 

These dolphins were so gentle and absolutely beautiful.

 

 I have to admit that I was a tab bit nervous...anything that involves large bodies of water usually makes my nerves stand on end.  Despite my nerves I had a great time and it was definitely an experience to remember.

 We each got to ride on a dolphin and they go so fast that it felt like your head was under water the entire time.

 This picture of mom riding on the dolphin makes me smile.  She looks like she is having a blast!

 Landon was afraid to get in the water at first and I was worried that we had made a bad choice by choosing this excursion, but he warmed up after he touched a dolphin.

Sweet picture.

We also ate lunch on the deck overlooking the dolphin area.

Beautiful view.

We met up with dad and Brittney when we finished and they had a great time on their dive.  They got to explore 80 feet under water!  What an experience!

Progreso

Wednesday morning we arrived in Progreso.

Ready to go explore!

We went to the Mayan ruins and here you were able to touch the ruins and climb on them.  It was very interesting to hear about the history here.

Here we are standing in front of Xlacah Cenote--a sinkhole.  It is crystal clear freshwater, which you can't really tell by the picture, but it is.  :)  The Yucatan has underground waterways and sinkholes that stretch for miles and miles.  One side of the sinkhole is shallow, as in three inches shallow. There are many rocks which provide a natural path to the mid part of the pool which is entirely walkable at around 5′ depth. Then, the other side of the sinkhole is deeeeep.  Around 140 feet deep and it leads to some tunnels that connect to other cenotes all over the Yucatan.  Pretty neat!

You could go swimming in the sinkhole if you chose to.  We did not, however, we did see one person in the sinkhole.

Can you see that temple behind us?  That’s the Temple of the Seven Dolls . And during the first equinox, the sun can be seen in the temple corridor, like an architectural calendar.  At this point it was super hot and Landon needed a lift from dad.

After we left the ruins, we went to a Mexican rodeo.  They put on a nice show full of singing, dancing, and roping.  When the rodeo was over we headed back to the ship--we were worn out!

Before dinner, we were invited to a special event for previous cruisers where we were served unlimited beverages and hors d'oeuvres.  Landon was pooped after our day in Progreso so he took little siesta on my lap.

Later that evening Landon went to Camp Carnvial to enjoy some pirate fun!  When we picked him up he had his face painted like a pirate.  :)

Landon loved returning to our room each night to see what kind of towel animal our steward created.

Definitely a full day and we headed to bed because our stop the next day was Cozumel.

Formal Night

Day 2 was a 'Sea Day' so we enjoyed the day hanging out on the ship.  We ate a yummy breakfast, did some shopping, ate ice cream, played bingo, ate more food, Landon played at Camp Carnival, and we ate more food.  Our 2nd day on the cruise was formal night, so we all got dressed up and went to dinner and a show.

 Mom and Dad at dinner.

 Landon was so silly the entire trip and it was so hard to get him to cooperate for pictures. 

 Aunt Charley

 Aunt Brittney

 David and Landon

 Our little family.

 Landon kept himself entertained during dinner with my camera.  He took tons of pictures of everyone and some of them actually turned out really well.  :)

 Landon wanted to drink out of a fancy glass, too!

 This is Christopher--he was one of our wonderful waiters.  Him and Landon became buddies.  Christopher has a seven year old little boy back home and he told us that he missed him so much. :(  I bet it is so hard working on a cruise ship and not being able to see your family for months at a time.

 After dinner, we went to the 'Welcome' show and it was wonderful!  All of the shows were so amazing with lots of background and costume changes.

David and me at the show.