Cruise Day 9- Sea Day November 9th

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Cruise day 9- Sea Day, Sunday November 9^th

 Today was a much needed break from port hopping. We had a lazy morning and decided just to grab a quick breakfast in the windjammer (buffet style) around 8:45. At 9, Kevin headed up to the sports deck to sign up for the ping pong competition. The girls and I took the little ones to the play area they have set up for my girls on Deck 14 as the gal in charge does organized activities with them for an hour. Today was music themed. She had a bunch of instruments for them to play and she did some guided activities. She also had some music she played that they did motions to as well as played their instruments. When she was done, the girls just free played for a bit while I worked on writing up our trip reports.

The girls & I playing. These are the ONLY 2 children on this ship that qualify for this program (they are the youngest on board) yet they still set up all these toys & did the activities with them. Talk about great service!!

Ava being pushed by Luna

Later in the morning, Kevin came back from the ping pong competition with 3^rd place and a little medal. He said he ran into some people from the town near us back home. They said they know of a lot of people from our County that are also on board. After he came back, we decided to take Ava & Olivia to the kiddie pool & waterslide.

Olivia is too short to go down by herself so one of us always had to take her down. This day I think we went down about 30 times in a row since no one was around to use it!

I love the smile on her face here, she loved the waterslide!

 Ava technically can’t go in it since she isn't potty trained so I brought along a small blow up pool for her to play in. I love that the kiddie pool & slide are in the shade so I didn't have to worry about putting sunblock on them.

Yes, the child had a chocolate ice cream cone before sitting in here! ha

Once they were done playing, we headed back to the room so I could get them changed while Kevin went for some food for himself & the girls. We find they eat better back in the room where it isn’t as distracting as eating in the windjammer. I was going to attempt lunch in the MDR as I know they have this awesome salad buffet but I just missed it before they closed.

When the girls were done eating, Kevin took Ava for a walk in the stroller so she would fall asleep and Olivia went to hang out with the older kids. I went for lunch ALONE in the Windjammer. I was about to sit at a table when 2 ladies also came up to the same table and said I could sit with them. They looked at me and said, wow you are alone! HA they aren't even from our roll call but said they have seen me around the ship with the kids so they recognized me. I originally thought I was going to eat alone & read a book but I had a good time chatting with them. Turns out they are retired teachers from Virginia. They really enjoyed asking me questions about homeschooling and surprisingly they were fully supportive and thought it was great that we do it.

As I was finishing up lunch, the kids found me in there (gee, I can’t hide huh?) They all came in to show me what Olivia had made. The other night in the teen club, Susan won a certificate for a “Pet at Sea” which is basically like build-a-bear so they took Olivia to make her own stuffed animal. She got a “birth certificate” for the animal and on it, she gave her husky puppy the name Ava, HAHA!

Olivia made her "Pet-at-Sea"

I was able to sneak about half an hours’ time sitting out by the pool deck in my swimming suit, reading a book and soaking up some sun. Ahhh, I could live on a cruise ship! Nothing better than blue skies, warm temps, reading while listening to a live Caribbean band playing familiar music.

Nothing beats the view of endless sea while feeling the gentle rocking of the ocean under the warm sun!

Sarah & some of the teens playing soccer with the teen leader giving instructions.

All too soon it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight was our 2^nd formal night. One formal night each cruise, I try to color coordinate our outfits for a family photo. They have photographers on board that do portraits on formal night. Everyone looked adorable and they got many comments on being dressed up. Ava & Olivia wore matching dresses that Sarah had made for them.

Ava eating her fries & mac'n'cheese

Olivia and Dario our head waiter whom she nicknamed as "her buddy". 

He totally spoiled her this entire trip! By far the best head waiter we've ever had on a cruise!

Ava was SO not into taking this photo! ha

Take 2. This time Ava wasn't crying! We also have one of the professional photos of the kids & family but I'll share that in the music video I am creating. ;)

We have now established a routine of meeting up with friends for a bit after dinner while the kids all hang out together so that’s what we did after dinner tonight. Because we go to Curacao tomorrow, everyone went to bed at a decent time. We definitely enjoyed the quieter pace today being at sea!

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All photos can be clicked on to enlarge. The photos I am sharing are a combination of ones I took as well as my kids and husband on a variety of cameras and iPhones, hence the varying quality.