1st stop Grand Turk

Our first stop was Grand Turk.  I was really looking forward to this island.  You just get off the boat and the beach is right there.  No taxis needed.  And their is also a pool which I thought the kids would love.

Carnival owns this little island so we were supposed to have the beach to ourselves.  I was surprised when we pulled up and there was a Holland ship there.  Turns out a lesbian chartered cruise rented the island too.  Oh well.  There were still plenty of chairs. I think most of them were at the pool.
Our boat had to park behind theirs so we didn't get to have the nice view of our ship.

The water was nice and shallow.   The girls loved floating in the nice water.  Hayden played catch, built castles, swam and snorkeled a bit.

We never did make it to the pool.

Amelia and her cousins got a couple of braids in their hair.

Later we walked to the undeveloped side to the conch graveyard.  We got some great pictures along the way.

And we found some good shells.

It was a great day.

On to our cruise!

We rented a huge 20 person van to take all of us to Miami.  Its a 3 hour drive.  Its all one road into Miami so most of it is an easy drive.  Once in the city it gets a little crazy.  We almost wrecked twice.

Mike took the van back to the rental company only to find out they don't have a shuttle.  So we waited for him a bit.  By the time he came back it was open boarding so we got right on the ship.

We had a late lunch and did the muster drill and watched us sail away.  I was excited for this part of vacation to begin.

We got some mini golf in and some waterslides.  Had dinner and watched a movie on the pool deck at night.

Someone turns 5

This cutie turned 5 today.  

Fun Facts about Amelia:

She loves to wear dresses.  She wore jeans to school one day and her teacher told her she never saw her in jeans before!

She still takes her baby and blanket everywhere (if I let her)

She loves anything girly:  barbies, baby dolls, princesses, etc.

She loves preschool and dance school (she takes tap and ballet)

She is tall and thin.

She gets a grilled cheese every time we go out to eat.

Loves to go to get go and get slushies

Has to give me a hug, squeeze, kiss and an eskimo kiss (ugamuga) every time we are seperated.

Her best friends are Ella, Addyson, Mya, and Charlotte and Ryan.  And Josef too.

She thinks she is going to marry a boy Ryan from church.

Makes huge messes when she plays and hates cleaning.

Is still the best player.

Loves to go to Aunt Renee's and watch and help with the babies.  

Likes to read the pinkalicous books.

Loves sweets:  cookies, lollipops, you name it.

Is still going thru her scared faze:  scared to be in the basement by herself, needs night light, etc.

She is a pretty happy easy going girl.  

She has the best smile with dimples but can't do it for pictures.  :)

For her friend party she wanted to have a make up party.  I let her invite a few friends and we painted nails and put a cute hair clip in with fake colored hair.  For the boys we had mustaches and tattoos.  The girls played dress up.  I didn't get any pictures with the boys that turned out. My camera was messed up.  Amelia loved her party.  

she will have a family party later.

Today is her actual birthday and we got her this cute house for outside.  I got it cheap on facebook.  She loves it!