Happy Valentines day.

We had a nice valentines day. We started the morning with the kids little surprise. Balloons, a marker/coloring kit, and a treat... Kit kat for Hayden and snack cakes for Amelia.

I was in charge of Hayden's valentines day party. He was so excited for me to come to school. 

We made this craft.

Played a game with marshmallows, read a book, and sang songs

We made special snacks for the day. Pink lemonade, heart cheese sandwiches and small heart cookie cakes.

Later we had individual heart pizzas


 

 

And made dad a cookie fudge fantasy since eat n park doesn't make them anymore. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belize

When we booked this cruise we chose this one because it went to three places we haven't been.  Our plan was to see the mayan ruins in belize.  Well Amelia wasn't old enough for some reason.  So that stunk.

Near the port of belize there isn't much to do for families. Cave tubing is the most popular.  I found a company that would take our kids but Amelia would have to sit on one of our laps the entire time.  That didn't sound too fun to me (and it wasn't cheap either). 

So I was trying to find a beach.  There really aren't any near the port.  I read up on this little island called Goff's Caye.  It is small private island out in the middle of the ocean.  It has a beautiful beach, shallow water and good snorkeling.  It wasn't cheap but it was our only option. 

Here is an ariel view.  Awesome isn't it?


It was a great trip.  The only bad thing was belize is a tender port.  The ship can't dock there.  So you take a small boat from the ship into port.  This takes about 20 minutes.  Then for the tour you get back in a boat and drive past our boat and out to the island.  Over a half hour out.  So it is kind of a pain.  But it was worth it. We also got to sit across from a family of polygamists.  That was interesting. 

The island is beautiful and appears to be in the middle of no where.  The water is super clear.  It was perfect. 


The kids once again enjoyed the water.


And Amelia loved playing in the sand.  She can entertain herself all day. 


You had to take a boat out to the reef if you wanted to snorkel so only Mike and larry went while the girls stayed with the kids.  They saw lots of coral and even saw a sting ray. 

They had a nice lunch. you could get lobster for cheap but we got chicken kabobs.  I packed the kids a lunch.

I wish we had more time on this beautiful island.  It was so secluded and nice. 

But eventually we had to take the boat back.  Amelia and Bryton passed out on the boat ride immediately.  Hayden fought it tooth and nail and finally fell asleep a few minutes before we docked.  So that made him grumpy. 

We visited the water slides to cheer him up.

Kids went to kids club for dinner again.  We went to see the singers and dancers that night.  Very cheesy.  We got our pizza and ice cream and went to bed. 

Cozumel, Mexico

We have been to Cozumel 3x now.  Last trip we went to Paradise beach and figured it would be perfect for the kids.  It ended up being a good choice.

We were up early and had breakfast.  I got another run in (my last, ha ha).

We ended up being one of the first off the ship because a room steward opened a door on our floor (we were the lowest) and we got out to the gangway before everyone in the line on the ship. 

Amelia wanted her picture with this mermaid.  She loved her and looked for every stop but never saw her again.


We took the short cab to the beach and the weather was warm and sunny. 

The water was nice and clear in the play area.  This beach resort has a ton of water toys so it does kind of ruin the view, so our family picture was taken on the other side of the little pier.  The
 water isn't as clear there.


Here is a photo that shows the water and some of the water toys.

The boys enjoyed playing in the water. 

Mike and larry had a swimming/running race. 

Amelia mainly enjoyed the sand.  She had a tea party with her princess toys.


sandcastles were also built.

We had an awesome lunch at Paradise beach.  We got fajittas and steak nachos.  The steak was delicious the best I have had for Mexican food.

We even got some fruity drinks.

There were several people from Pittsburgh near us.  I saw tons of Pittsburgh shirts and hats this trip. 

The kids enjoyed playing in the hammocks.


The beach club has added a nice pool since we had been there last.  They had lounge chairs in shallow water around the top of the pool which was really nice.  Kids enjoyed the pool.  I love the pool after being at the beach.


Overall it was a great day in mexico.

we headed back to the pier and bought some Mexican vanilla.  Hayden wanted a steelers nache libre mask.  We did not buy it.  :)

Kids went to the kids club for dinner and we enjoyed our meal.  Got pizza and ice cream afterwards.  For some reason Amelia peed her pants.  Little did we know that was foreshadowing for our night. 

Poor Hayden didn't feel well that night.  In the middle of the night he climbed down from his bunk quietly.  He seemed confused.  I asked him what was wrong.  He told me he needed to wipe his butt.  Uh oh.  I went with him. Poor kid pooped his pants.  I mean REALLY pooped his pants.  It was a mess.  I had to throw his clothes out and call house keeping for new sheets.

The house keeping guy came and quietly changed the sheets while Amelia slept on the bottom bed.  He thought she was a boy.  We said nope that is a girl.  Well he looked at us again and said, she looks like boy.  Ugh.  My poor little girl.  :(

Hayden slept with me that night and mike slept on the top bunk.  Luckily we had no other incidents.