Cruise day 1

 We boarded the ship mid day on Friday 12-15. The boarding process was very smooth. We had an inside cabin, room 7235 with a King size bed (2 twins pushed together) and the boys each had a bunk bed above us, which they both LOVED. The beds were all very comfortable and cozy. Plus we had a couch and dresser/mirror area with TV, which swiveled out to watch TV in bed perfectly. Plus a large closet are with shelves for clothes as well as a rack to hang clothes. The room wasn't big, but it was actually really roomy and we never had any problems with space. We stored the empty suit cases (we had 6 suit cases and several backpacks) under the bed to save space. After checking out our cabin we explored the ship and grabbed some lunch at the Windjammer buffet. It was rainy and windy with wind gusts up to 35mph. Kaiden couldn't wait to go swimming in the pool, which was a bit chilly but he didn't care. Jason, Connor and I soaked in one of the hot tubs. That evening Connor and I were feeling a bit sea sick and had to get tablets to take before bed. The boat did rock a bit throughout our trip and it was a little windy almost every day, but we only needed to take medicine the first night for motion sickness. We had dinner in the main dinning area that night, which was amazing! We actually ate in the main dinning every night on our cruise except one. Every night was an appetizer, main meal and desert. We tried to get different things from each other so we could sample a little from each others meal. Kaiden loved their stakes, which were some of the best steaks we've had. He ended up getting a steak dinner every single night except once. He also ordered the chocolate ice cream almost every night as well. I ordered fish for my main meal almost every night. sooo good! Jason ordered the cheese cake every chance he could. Along with his Fosters beer, which is actually 2 beers in a huge can. He ordered this at every dinner and multiple times throughout our cruise. Connor ordered anything with lemon/lime for his desert and loved them all. After dinner the boys wanted to hang out in the cabin and play on their phones. Jason and I went to a comedy show. Then we relaxed in bed watching a nature show.

Christmas Cruise

 This year instead of presents we took the family on a Western Caribbean cruise. 9 nights on Royal Caribbean, Explorer of the Seas cruise ship. We flew to Miami on Wednesday 12-13 and boarded our ship on Friday 12-15 threw Sunday 12-24. Then rented a Toyota Rav and drove to Orlando. We went to Universal Studio's Monday 12-25 (Christmas Day) threw Wednesday 12-27 and then flew back home at midnight on 12-28. 

Jason has TSA pre-check so him and the boys were able to easily go through security at the airport. I do not have TSA pre-check so they had to wait for me to get through the line, but it wasn't too bad. The boys read books while waiting for the plane. For the plane ride to Miami and back home we had 1 lay over... at which time we swapped travel partners. Connor and I sat in front of Jason and Kaiden and then the opposite. We did the exact same thing on the way home too. We all watched movies on the flight. We had originally booked 2 queen beds in our hotel, but the fan in the bathroom was broken and constantly on with an annoying loud buzzing noise. After a few hours of this we switched to a bigger room with a king bed and queen sofa bed and most important no annoying fan noise! We had planned on exploring Miami on Thursday, but it was rainy and windy all day. So, instead we played in the hotel gym for a while and then watched Star Wars movies in bed. We were all actually happy to just relax.

Kaiden's Vocal Airs Performance

 The elementary offers a choir class before school called the Vocal Airs, which Kaiden decided to do this year. They had their performance for parents right before we left for our trip and then they did a performance in the downtown mall while we were gone. Kaiden was bummed he had to miss that performance. 

Re-Imagine Medical Lake

 We celebrated the Re-Imagine Medical Lake Christmas celebration with the Santa work shop, cookie decorating, ornament painting, reindeer petting, parade and tree lighting.

Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture

 I took Kaiden, Alex, Connor and Mason to the Minecraft exhibit at the local museum. We also got to tour the historical Campbell house too.  We also had the Morris's over for game night.