Cruise!

As many of you know Papaw & MeMaw (aka Randy & Sherri Skipper) took the WHOLE family on a 4 day cruise out of Galveston. We left on Thursday and came home on Monday. We had a fabulous time but with all Wilson family events it was not without some mishaps!!

Immediately when we arrived on the ship on Thursday the kids wanted to swim. They loved the slide that fed directly into the pool. Everyone except Joel who was not tall enough to slide - boy was that a HUGE disappointment for him. He FINALLY got over it (about the 3rd day of the trip) and just swam. The pool is not very large because of course it is on top of the boat. But kids never mind if the pool is packed so they had a great time!








We also had a life saving drill. You can see from the pictures the joy the kids had to be participating in the drill. And as always it opened up many interesting questions about if the boat sank what would happen and if sharks could eat through the life boats, etc....














We went back to our room that evening to get ready for dinner. Joel LOVED that our room had 2 bunk beds that folded out from the wall (as he is showing in the picture)! The window was also a big hit as they all loved to look out of it.




We ate dinner in the dinning room that night. My kids were so funny with all of the silverware and glassware that was on the table. They had NEVER seen so much stuff! (Of course when you always drink out of plastic cups and eat most of your meals on paper plates I am sure the abundance of glass ware was a shock!) We ended up eating all 4 nights in the dinning room because it was easier to be served then to have to go back and forth to the buffet with the kids!












Friday was a day at sea and low and behold their was a miniature golf course on the top deck of the boat. We played A LOT of miniature golf over those 4 days but had a great time!! After miniature golf it was back to the pool to swim and then eat lunch.























After lunch we went through a BIG rain storm that lasted about 2 hours (when Craig and I cruised with my mom and dad we never had any rain but where not so lucky this trip!) This is a picture of the rain against the windows and of us hanging out with MeMaw waiting on the rain to pass!!


























That night we took a family picture together. We got one great shot and I know MeMaw and Papaw were pleased with it.




Saturday morning we ported in Cozumel, Mexico. That morning when I got up it felt like the boat was rocking from side to side. Despite the fact that I had a seasickness patch on I became very nauseated. Later on before we got off the boat Caleb complained about being nauseated as well so we both took a Dramamine. We decided to just do a beach excursion and it ended up that everyone did it together. We arrived at the beach where they had tons of lounge chairs, beach umbrellas, paddle boats, canoes, a water trampoline, and a inflatable mountain out in the ocean. We all ran to get "good" lounge chairs where we could see the kids swimming and then Craig and Papaw went to get the beach umbrellas and put their wallets, etc in a locker. While Memaw and I got in the water with the kids. I had only proceeded about ankle deep when Caleb who was about 5 feet from me began to SCREAM. I mean SCREAM loud and crying saying something was stinging him. I ran over and dragged him out of the water where he just laid down on the ground and continued to scream and cry. I did not know what to do - Craig was still finding a locker - and we were drawing a HUGE crowd but I didn't see anything on Caleb. A lifeguard ran up and asked me what was wrong. So I told him and we pulled Caleb's swim suit down and he had 6 large whelps on his lower stomach/groin area. The life guard got on the radio and began calling for a paramedic. He kept saying a paramedic is on the way. In the meantime I was really getting nervous because Caleb was screaming, I had a life guard who spoke very little English and I did not know what I would be facing with the paramedic. I was desperately looking for Craig. The paramedic arrived and asked us to come with him. So he took Caleb and examined him. He had been stung by a jelly fish 6 times. He began cleaning the whelps with antispectic the other thing that happened was he began to break out in hives. So he received a dose of Benadryl. Because of the Benadryl and the earlier Dramamine he slept most of the day at the beach. Luckily the beach place had a swimming pool as well so the rest of the kids spent the day at the pool. He finally felt better late that evening! (Because of the craziness with Caleb I did not get any pictures of the excursion and then I realized that night my camera screen had cracked and didn't take any more pictures the rest of the trip).

Sunday we were back at sea. Did the same thing as we did on Friday - putt, putt, swimming and the arcade! We also went through another rain storm that afternoon which caused everyone to come inside. Everyone was tired at dinner but had a great day.

Monday it was the process of getting off the boat, going through customs, getting loaded up and heading home. Then it was lawn mowing and laundry - vacation is over!

Enjoy the rest of the pictures!