This year we finally made it back to the Caribbean. It's been three years and this was well overdue. We took the boys on their first cruise and decided on a Western Caribbean cruise with stops in Cozumel, Mexico, Belize City, Belize, Roatan, Honduras, and Grand Cayman. The boys were an absolute dream on the the airplane both ways despite enduring 23 hours of travel to get home...yuck. On one of the flight the Captain invited Brock up into the cock pit and they let him flip all the switches and push all the buttons that he wanted. Now every time he gets on a plane he strolls straight for the cock pit thinking it's his terrain.
The first thing that Brock noticed about the boat was the smoke stack. He thought it looked like an airplane and every time he caught sight of it he screamed "airplane". After the second day I quit telling him he was wrong. Besides it made everyone else around us laugh. Though both boys liked the airplane and the ship they got most excited about the buses. Anytime we got on a bus or shuttle their little bodies just shook with excitement. One of their favorite past times on board was to sit in the window of our cabin and stare at the ocean. They were "looking for Nemo".
Our second day on board was the first formal night. We got the boys all dressed up in their new duds and took lots of pictures. This is when they discovered the Casino on board, now their new favorite place to hang out. We also found out that they have an amazing childcare program on the ship so we ended up leaving them to their kids activities in the evenings and had quiet dinners in the formal dining room by ourselves. The boys got to make puppets, backpacks, sand art, and magnets. They also had movies, toy and coloring time and endless activities for them to do. This was really their first experience in a preschool setting.
Our first stop was Cozumel Mexico and with the boys being so young we decided against doing an excursion. They had a fun tourist area at the port so we just wandered around the port then got back on board for some pool time. The boys tried on sombreros and took a turn with the maracas.
The second stop was Belize and again we chose to just hang out in the port area. It was the first time that the boys got to ride the tender boat and that was almost as cool and riding a bus. We stopped at the Wet Lizard restaurant for chips, salsa and of course Pina Coladas. This time when we got back on the ship we decided to try out the kids pool. The boys loved it and we didn't have to chase them around the big pool making sure that they didn't drown. This was a no-brainer from now on :) Every morning at breakfast when we walk past the pool Mason yells "pool, kids" and starts stripping off his clothes right there on the lido deck.
Honduras was the only stop that we planned an excursion it was our first time to Roatan so we decided to take a tour of the island. We only had one other couple in our van and we definitely saw the entire island. The highlight of the tour was getting to go to the iguana farm. The boys got to feed and pet the iguanas. They also had turtles and a monkey that stole my pop from me. Our tour of the island also included a trip to the beach, and several stops for view point photos. It was a long day and we were glad to get back on the ship for nap time.
Our final stop was Grand Cayman. This was the stop that we were most looking forward to because we had a relaxing beach day planned. We hopped on a shuttle and spent the morning at Seven Mile Beach. The boys got to play in the sand and swim in the ocean.
Overall we had another wonderful vacation and made lots of great memories with the boys. Not to mention taking over 500 photos :)
