Family Vacation to Florida - Part 2

Now on to Part Two of our Vacation:

Fort Lauderdale, FL

We stayed at a "resort" (really it was a hotel with a few extra amenities) in Fort Lauderdale for 2 nights, enjoying the beautiful beach and all-you-can-eat buffet for every meal. Did I mention that I gained a few pounds on our trip? Yeah, we ate a lot. :)

For part of our trip we had to go to a time-share presentation (hence the good deal on the trip). What was only supposed to last 2 hours ended up taking FIVE HOURS! With 3 kids!!! Of course the guy taking us through it was a total moron, and honestly the places they showed us weren't nice enough for us to even consider it. Total waste of time. We will never do that again.

So now on to what I considered the most fun:

The Cruise!!!

We went on a 2 -day cruise to the Bahamas. We've never done any cruises before so we wanted to keep it short and see how it went, especially since we took the kids with us. It was fabulous!!! Also, my mom flew into Fort Laud. and joined us on the cruise - the kids loved being able to play with grandma and stay with her in her cabin, it was great!! The food was wonderful - we ate dinner at a Brazilian restaurant on the ship, I couldn't get enough of their bacon-wrapped turkey!

Natalie & Nathan got to play in the kids' lounge while we enjoyed the entertainment after dinner. Of course Tyler wasn't old enough so we still had him with us. But he loved it! And everyone thought it was hilarious how the movement of the ship didn't seem to bother him at all - he was still getting used to walking and already looked a little tipsy.

When we woke up the next morning we were in...

Nassau, Bahamas!!!

At the Visitor's Center

We took a cab over to Paradise Island and spent the day on Cabbage Beach. The water was a perfect aqua blue, and the sand was brilliant white. You could see schools of fish swimming in the ocean around you (which of course scared me away from the deeper parts). It was absolutely beautiful!!

Natalie got her hair braided on the beach - what a little diva! And we had only one casualty - Mom fell in the ocean while trying to get a bucket of water for Nathan (yes, he was still afraid of the waves and wouldn't go near the water). Fortunately Mom didn't mind too much, she even went back again to get more water!

Lovin' the Beach

Back on board the ship, we hung out on the deck - eating and letting the kids play in the water park. Dan had to work for a little while (as you can see in the pic above), so we played and relaxed in the perfect weather. And look at the view!!!

Our ship embarked at 5pm and headed back to Florida that night. After dinner it started to get a bit rough out in the ocean and I got sea-sick (the only one out of all 6 of us!), so I went to bed early. And the next morning we were back. I think we need to go on a longer cruise next time. :)

Yes, the cruise was definitely my favorite part of our vacation. But it wasn't over yet....