ah vacation- especially the cruise variety!

we recently returned from a cruise with my family and it was wonderful :) it was a first cruise for most of us- i've been on 3 but was always working, nate's been on i think the same number +1 where he was relaxing and i was working but for everyone else, this was a new experience!

i exist!

 nate, cassie, cadiem and i shared and a room that adjoined with mom and marty's room so we had plenty of togetherness :) i really enjoyed the ship, it had lots of beautiful places even from inside the ship where you could see the water. notes for next time: even if the kid isn't old enough to be in the kids' clubs, it still matters whether or not the cruise is family oriented! when mom and i were looking at cruises, i knew celebrity wasn't really for the family crowd but i wish there had a been more for cadiem to enjoy! regardless, he had a great time just being 2 and silly and playing with his trucks/trains :)  i think this is my favorite picture of cadiem from the trip (hanging down from cassie's bunk eeaaarrllly in the morning) :)

 i posted a ton of pictures on our smugmug (in November 2011), the cruise was a 5-night and stopped in both roatan, honduras and cozumel, mexico.  cassie and marty did some snorkeling in roatan while the rest of us enjoyed the beautiful beach but other than that, we didn't get into too much :)

in cozumel, we took a ferry over to the mainland near playa del carmen which was rough!!  i've never actually gotten seasick but i did on the way over to playa!  cadiem also didn't feel great but luckily he never got sick, just nauseous- he slept it off though, and marty carried him through playa :)

the reason we ferried over was totally worth it :)  we toured the mayan ruins at tulum.  it's a gorgeous setting right on beautiful cliffs and beach.  i wish we'd had more time to explore but it was such a neat thing to see!  next time i'm bringing my swimsuit :)

once we were back in cozumel, mom & marty headed back to the ship with cadiem and cassie, nate and i stayed to explore with the couple of hours we had left until all aboard.  nate asked around for a great taco place and we were directed several blocks away from the main tourist area to a great place!

while at dinner, cassie realized both her seapass and passport were in the diaper bag... which mom had taken with her.... on the ship.  it was then we got a bit nervous :)  we quickly finished dinner, hopped in a taxi, and made it back to the port!  but... getting on the pier was a no go without ID (there was quite a bit of discussion over the walkie talkie about the fact that we were sisters to try convince whoever was on the other end, but still to no avail).  we decided nate would be the fastest and sent him off to the ship while we waited at the entrance to the pier (which at this point was looking relatively deserted)!  despite the mild panic, we actually had a really nice conversation with the security guards while waiting for nate to return.  then, word came through on the radio: we were clear to go (nate had talked to security on the ship and had us cleared)!  we headed off to the ship (by this time i think there was maybe 15 minutes until sailing) and had to stop at each security point to re-explain and ask them to radio back to the original guards that had let us pass.  finally we got back to the ship, and nate was there, seapass card in hand!  whew!  thanks to nate, we didn't have to leave cassie in mexico, i think cadiem might have missed her :)

after all that adventure, we had one more relaxing day at sea:

and then arrived back home :)  all in all, it was a wonderful vacation and all of us got to spend so much great time together!!  i was sad to see everyone head back but luckily i'll at least get to see cassie and mom relatively soon :)