DAY ONE -- The four of us ventured down I-5 to the port of Long Beach early in the morning after Halloween. Tired and excited we arrived on the Carnival Splendor a couple hours before departure to check out our digs for the week. We were gone from Sunday to Sunday and had three full days at see and three in ports. The stops were Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo. Every day was different from amazing to miserable (more on that later).
Here are the kids when we first arrived on the ship, with the Lido Deck pool and the movie screen behind them. The screen showed concerts and movies at night, while during the day there were bands, bingo, trivia and kareoke performing on the deck. Our room was on the Lido deck so we weren't far from food and fun.
Jason and Caitlin being silly right before departing from Long Beach
DAY TWO (first full day at sea) --
Each day we received a flyer telling of the activities that are available for that day. We tried to get in a good mixture of relaxation and activities. The kids had similar itineraries for the week for their respective camps. Often, the kids would go to camp for a couple hours in the morning after breakfast and then again after dinner. A few nights, they asked if they could eat dinner with their new friends in camp, which we allowed. Jason's group had scavenger hunts, watched some of the shows in the theater, had art contests and video game time. Caitlin's camp did a LOT of face painting to go along with their themed days (pirate, princess, animal, etc.). They did art, dancing and lots of toys. The kids stayed until about 10:00pm each night while Brian and I were able to enjoy some alone time as well. The camps had late night parties that went until 1:00-3:00am. Can you believe it? 10:00 was late enough for them!
The kids were off for fun in Camp Carnival while Brian and I enjoyed our first bit of quiet and sun
This is the water splash park. For some reason we only went to this part of the ship on the first full sea day. We were going to go again on the last day, but the weather was too yucky
Enjoying the view... Me too!
Our room... behind the curtain is our balcony.
Every night when they came in to turn down the beds, they left our next day's itinerary along with a different animal shaped towel. Bear, elephant, dinosaur...
The kids beds. Jason loved his "upper" !
First face painting - watch and see how this progresses. Caitlin loved making the Fruit Loop necklace. They said she spent TWO hours on it and wouldn't stop until it was complete.
DAY THREE (second full sea day) -- This day was also super fun. The kids enjoyed camp and we explored the miniture golfing, waterslide and lots of swimming. The pools were salt water which really threw off the kids. I found a pair of kids goggles at one of the shops which helped a bit.
more face painting...
rinsing out the salt water
Sharing one of MANY ice creams...
doesn't this look fake? Amazing view in the background of Cabo. We passed it on our way down to Puerto Vallarta and Jason and I happened to be playing miniture golf.
One of very few family photos from the trip
Picture by Jason Hafenstein
this was our head waiter - Mehmat (?). He was great with the kids and Caitlin LOVED him. He made her napkins into animal shapes and danced with her during dinner performances
Jason became very good at ordering. Having the opportunity to try everything on the menu doesn't come often for a kid.
And more face painting...
More to come later on the second half of the trip :)
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