Cruisin'

Finally on our way!

Last year, about this time, we were planning a cruise to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday. You know what happened. Instead, when the time came, we cruised down the freeway in an RV, camping out for the weekend. The cruise, though, would not be forgotten. Reid continued to ask "When are we going on my big, big boat?" I felt awful about it.  One day, I saw some great prices on short cruises out of Galveston and asked Kenny if we could make it work. The prices were good for a short time in August. Coupled with our additional discount for the frustration of the Triumph, it made it a cheap trip. Now the only hard part was convincing Mama to let the kids go with us. Luckily, her 8 month pregnant brain made it easier and I got her to agree to let both the kids go. The new baby would be about 4 weeks old, surely she would appreciate the quiet.

Well, it started kinda shaky. I was in SA and Kenny had to work until the morning we left, so our plan was to meet in Houston. Leaving before the sun came up, we lost our bearings and were headed west instead of east! We drove about an hour before I said, "This doesn't feel right." Maybe that's because is WASN'T! We had added some buffer time, so we weren't too far off schedule. Once we got to Houston, our plan was to meet up with Kenny and eat breakfast. I had searched out places to eat and found one that I thought would be easy to get to. It could not have been harder. It was downtown...DOWNTOWN! Morning traffic and people in suits. We had on no makeup and the kids were in their jammies. We had intended on dressing the kids in the bathroom of the restaurant. The problem was that the "restaurant" was a place in the atrium area inside a large bank building. I obviously didn't realize this when I picked it.  First we had to find parking. That took several laps around the block. When we finally parked (parallel, thank you very much), we started searching for the kolache place. Turns out, it's just a bakery type place, without tables. By now, the kids are about to enter critical meltdown. Hungry, tired, cranky and still in their jammies, there were lots of eyes on them. (Also, they were out of the kind that I wanted, the reason I picked this place, so I was cranky, too. And.... no fountain Diet Coke. Ugh!) I'm sure we looked homeless.  Anyway, we found some tables at a food court in another area of the building, so we were able to sit down properly to spill our orange juice all over ourselves. When we finished, we tried to find a bathroom. None to be found. Apparently, you have to work there and have a key to access the bathrooms. Kenny had parked in a garage a little farther out, so when he went to get his car, we took the kids to our car. Our morning show for passing pedestrians included a diaper change for a 4 week old, nursing same child (Meg's job, not mine). Because of the no bathroom access for several hours, we also were letting Reid tinkle on the wheel of the van, teaching Helena how to squat and tinkle on the curb, and dressing them all right there on the sidewalk. Then we changed car seats over from the van to our car and, we are set to go! Easy as pie, just as I planned...ha! We've been up for about for close to 6 hours now and finally on our way. The wrong way. Quick reroute and we are on our way, again!

We're here!

Lucky for us, the bad part of the trip came at the beginning. The rest of it was as great as any trip with a 20 month old and 3 year old can be. We ate often, napped hard and went to bed early. Our big excursion out was a 30 minute buggy ride up and down the road in Cozumel.  Swimming, lots of dancing and just walking around. We party hard! We had about as many fits as you would expect for the demographic we had in tow, but all in all, they were wonderfully behaved and had a great time. I think we are gonna have to do it again.

Tea with Mamie and Reid cuttin' a rug.

Helena out for a swim and our day in Cozumel.

Reid striking a pose with the towel animal.