The Family Fun Time Cruise!

Have you heard about our family vac....no not vacation...no our family tri...no not a family trip...our Family Fun Time Cruise? Oh surely you have? You haven't? Oh... well then allow me to expound. You see every once in awhile Moms and Dads decide the kids need to come along with them on vacation. Once they allow this to happen, then the word "Vacation" get's thrown out the window. There is no vacation about it! It's not about relaxing and letting go...oh no not even close. It's about bonding the family closer and "Creating Memories" as my wife would put it. So without allowing my self to sink any further into trouble with my wife with my sardonic tone, here's a very brief description of the Holt Family Fun Time Cruise with many, many details left out:

Day One: Getting there and getting on - Reletively easy and without trouble. CJ sort of looks like a terrorist but only when he's on the soccer field - Yeah baby!
Ashlyn walked around with her mouth open in pure delight. Amy walked around with a plan in her head. Lily walked around thinking about how cute she looked, CJ walked around with his "play-dar" on and I walked around thinking about the food.

Night one: CJ falls off the bunk bed, Lily didn't care, Amy and I lost years of our lives from CJ falling, Ashlyn probably thought we were all nuts.

Day Two: CJ discovered the mini-golf...this completely consumed him until we got off the boat. Lily discovered that she was the cutest girl on the boat. Ashlyn discovered the deck of the boat and the Gulf sun. Amy continued to plot and plan and I won the hairy chest contest...what an honor!

Night Two: CJ slept on the lowest level bed. Lily didn't care! Ashlyn nursed a bad sunburn, Amy planned the next day, I fell asleep.

Day Three: We got off the boat in Cozumel. Ashlyn walked around with boys drooling over her (a dad's worst nightmare!), CJ wanted to play mini-golf but had fun swimming with the dolphins, Lily swam 1 mile by herself in the underground river at Xcaret, Amy directed us so we wouldn't miss ANYTHING and I just carried the bags like a good husband/servant does. Did I mention that Ashlyn and I (my brave Ashlyn) who isn't the best of swimmers, went 20 feet under the water for 30 minutes and enjoyed the beautiful sea life with a Sea Trek helmet on. So proud of her!

Night Three: Everybody went straight to bed completely exhausted!

Day Four: Progreso! Nice old Mexican port. People were nice and not de-sensitized to tourista's yet. CJ jumped into the ocean without bothering to put on his bathing suit (yes shoes and all). He was in Heaven. Lily and Daddy rode a banana boat for a mere $5! Ashlyn just looked pretty, Amy basked it all in. Her plan was working perfectly!

Night Four: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

Day Five: Day at sea! CJ & Lily enjoyed Camp Carnival. Amy and Ashlyn spent the day buying pictures - Amy was in Heaven!!! I don't remember what I did...I was numb by this point.

Night Five: Pictures were distributed and Amy was all smiles. CJ wanted to play mini-golf, Lily just wanted to look cute. Me? I have no idea what I was thinking and was probably a walking zombie by then. I have one picture posted of our table mates we sat with at dinner. Luckily, we were paired with another family that had their kids with them too. They are from Texas and we enjoyed spending part of our vacation getting to know them. I highly recommend Carnival for cruising with families :)

Getting off of the ship: We manage to get through customs without a hiccup, except Ashlyn was still red from her sunburn on day one and we almost got in trouble for trying to smuggle over a native.

Overall a really fun time had by all. The kids were great considering thier ages and the pure amount of trouble they had access to. Amy got to plot and plan and was so happy to do so. I got to spend a week with my Ashlyn and for me nothing could be greater than that. I just hope Ashlyn felt the same. It still wasn't my ideal vacation but it was a Family Fun Time!

There are many more pictures I can show you (thanks to Amy the photographer) but here are a few. Some say that I look like I'm in pain in a few of the photos. Funny...I don't remember how I felt at that point in the cruise. If I was in pain I was hurting with a smile!

I love my wife and kids!
Brian