Sea Day and Costa Maya

Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea sailing from New Orleans to Costa Maya, Mexico. The ride was smooth but it was very windy on the decks. We spent a lot of time at the pool and enjoyed both breakfast and lunch at the buffet. It offered the best options for Ally but there were so many people that it was tough for her to focus on eating and not get distracted. Two people immediately were drawn to Ally- the head service guy from Jamaica that would go around talking to people and yelling "wakie, wakie" at everyone during breakfast and the other was one of the servers stationed at the entrance to spray everyone's hands with sanitizer and say "washie, washie". Ally really liked her, she was from Peru and payed special attention to Ally every time we saw her. One of the female bartenders at the bar above the kids play areas also loved to talk to Ally and was sure to say hi each morning when we came out for breakfast. We played, walked around the ship, swam, ate lunch, napped in the afternoon, watched Elmo DVDs or Finding Nemo then got ready for dinner. The first night we tried to have dinner in the fancier dining room (not that you have to be fancy dressed, its just the formal dining room where you order off a nicer menu and sit at smaller tables) but Ally was really not interested in sitting still or eating. The day was a challenge with eating and she was also very clingy to me. She did not want Karl to do anything at all but we sort of attributed that to being in a new place with so many people. We were able to get her to relax in the room by watching her movie and reading books and she fell asleep easily. Since our rooms were connected, we were able to leave her asleep in the room with grandparents next door while Karl and I visited the bar at night to relax a little.

We got off the ship in Costa Maya after breakfast and headed out to explore. We had no idea what to expect and were just hoping to find a beach area. The port was really only set up for the cruise ship and consisted of a small village type area with shops, bars and a giant pool in the middle. The pool was surrounded by sand and beach chairs, a little spray park area, swim up bars and was the perfect place for us to play. Ally loved the water and all of the little fountains in the shallow part. It was treated salt water just like the water on the boat so it was warm and salty but not as salty as straight sea water. She was not too excited about the sand at first and made me carry her everywhere but after a little swimming she figured it out and had some fun with her bucket and shovel. She loved running through the little spray park area. It was the perfect size for her and she thought it was super fun to stick her hair into the water and get sprayed in the face. She was really fun to play with and did great outside all morning. Again, she didn't eat much for lunch but crashed for a long nap and woke up happy. One of her favorite things was to sit outside on the balcony with grandpa and every day after nap and the weather was always hot and sunny so it was perfect.

On the boat they had a progressive trivia contest where teams of 4 would compete each night to answer 20 questions to earn points. Karl, Sharon, Hank and John Eagin decided to compete so Ally, Gail and I either played in the kids area or came along to watch and help out if we could. It was a lot of trivial pursuit type questions but they also had music trivia and a movie trivia that were right up our alley.

Caribbean Adventure Recap

We are back on land and in the country following our 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Norwegian Spirit. We had a good time and took a lot of pictures (mostly of Ally). Needless to say, Karl and I were a little scared about the whole idea of taking Ally on a giant ship in the middle of the ocean for many reasons: 1- She is very routined and this would be an obvious change to her daily schedule, 2-we weren't exactly sure of the sleeping arrangements, 3- what if we didn't pack enough of her favorite toys and books, 4- everything we read said there we no activities for kids under age 2 including swimming pools because of sanitation laws, 5- she climbs on everything and anything, 6- we haven't been on a plane with her since before she could walk and talk, you get the idea... We quickly discovered that she is a very smart and independent little girl and adjusted far better than the two of us did.

I want to recap each day of our trip and fill everyone in on the details of our special vacation but I will have to do it in segments because we have so many pictures. I will start at the beginning of the trip which is last Saturday, May 21.

Our flight was scheduled to leave from Peoria at 10:40am so I worked really hard during the week to have everything packed up and ready in as few suitcases as possible. Luckily our baseball schedule changed in my favor and we played day games leaving me with some free nights to get stuff done. Ally and I fit all our stuff into 1 big suitcase and Karl was in another, then we had a diaper bag with all the necessities, Karl had a backpack for important documents and electronics (iPad and DVD player with movies) and Ally had her very own backpack with some books and snacks. I packed along a few surprises for our trip to keep Ally entertained including a travel sized magna-doodle to write on and a kitty toy with clothes that snapped, tied, buttoned, and buckled. We were ready ahead of schedule and headed to the airport at 9. The Peoria airport is about 20 minutes from our house and is small but very nice. We parked, checked bags and got through the security with no problems in less than 10 minutes. We found a kiddie area and colored and played on the chairs there until it was time to board the plane. Ally did great on the flight to Dallas and kept busy checking out all the people, climbing on me and watching some of Finding Nemo. We didn't have much time between flights in Dallas so by the time we got to our terminal and tried to find something for lunch for Ally, we almost missed our flight to New Orleans. By the time we got up in the air, Ally pretty much passed out all the way there. Once in New Orleans, we took a taxi to the hotel where Karl's parents and John & Gayle Eagin were staying. We had ordered all the Ally needs for the trip ahead of time and had them shipped so we had snacks, diapers, wipes, juice, milk, etc... with them that we didn't have to pack for the flights. Best idea ever!

In New Orleans we walked around a bit, swam at the hotel, ate dinner and enjoyed treats at Cafe du Monde. Ally passed out in her stroller on the way back to the hotel and slept great in a crib in our room. The next morning we headed to the Port of New Orleans to go through the security lines, get pictures taken, sign paperwork and board the ship. We got on by noon and since rooms weren't ready until 2pm we explored the giant ship and ate lunch in the big buffet on deck 12 (think Old Country Buffet x 2). The boat had several restaurants and bars, a casino, gaming areas, teen club, dance club, theater, 3 pools, workout facility, spa, and a beautiful atrium. We had a room on the 11th deck that connected with the grandparents and had plenty of space to set up a pack-n-play for Ally. We set sail from the muddy Mississippi at about 5pm but Ally was so beat that she napped for 3 hours and missed the whole thing.

Vacation

Tomorrow we are off for a week of vacation. Karl and I always try to do something fun for our anniversary and this year we are taking a Caribbean cruise with Ally and Karl's parents. We fly from Peoria to New Orleans tomorrow then the ship leaves on Sunday and heads to Costa Maya Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Roatan and Cozumel before returning next Sunday. We are frantically packing and trying to be sure we have everything Ally could possibly need. We are nervous and but hoping we can all have a great time and enjoy the warm weather, sites and the beaches. Lots of stories and pictures to come when we get back on land.

Potty Training Herself

So Allyson has decided a 19 months that she is ready to start potty training. She has been going on the potty every time at day care the entire week! I was very shocked to find this out mid-week but its exciting at the same time. We have had a little potty in the bathroom at home for her which she sits on but hasn't done anything in yet. We sort of assumed that when she says "potty" it meant it was time for a diaper change but now we need to adjust and get her to the potty when she says its time. She is already well versed in how to pull her pants up and down and has quickly learned how to take her diaper off- she likes to practice a lot unfortunately. The staff at the day care continued to be impressed by her ability to retain information and mimic so I suppose we shouldn't be surprised about this new desire to use the potty. She is the youngest "regular potty" toddler they can remember and one of 2 in her current room that goes on the regular schedule they have. Not sure if this is just a phase or is the real thing but we will go with it and see what happens. Hopefully being away from day care with our trip next week doesn't set her back.

Corey the Master

On Saturday, May 7 my brother graduated with his masters in sports administration from Illinois State. We had big plans for the weekend and lots of visitors. Most of the family was arriving on Friday so we hosted a cookout at our house then Saturday we went to the graduation ceremony at noon, took Ally to moms hotel room for a nap then had a nice family dinner in downtown Bloomington. Uncle Mark, Grady and Aunt Kelly stayed at our house and Ally had an absolute blast with them! She was so excited to have people in the house to play with all her toys and chase her around and it was even better when she discovered that they were still there when she woke up Saturday and Sunday morning. Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa Jack, Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Paul made the trip and stayed in a near by hotel while Mom, Dew and Dad stayed near Corey in Bloomington. It was so great to have everyone here since only the immediate family got to see Corey at his undergraduate ceremony. The weather was beautiful and while the ceremony was long, Ally did fairly well and she loved running around outside while we took some pictures. No one ever expected for us to live close together so we were happy to have so many people visit at once. We are all so proud of Uncle CoCo! We captured the important pieces of the ceremony but its sort of long.- he actually gets hooded around the 3:10 mark.

The Joys of a Toddler

Over lunch I went to Target to pick up a few things we needed. I went to the check out with two items for Ally: a giant pack of diapers and a potty chair. I laughed to myself that these are sort of ironic things to be purchasing at the same time but I suppose that's what happens at this stage of toddler development. What brought this on you might ask. Let me describe it this way: Sunday I had to go in to work for a few hours. I come home, open the door from the garage to find my daughter standing in the kitchen with her pants around her ankles. She proceeded to pull them up and down over and over, very amused wit her new trick. Monday the teachers at day care told me that they snapped Ally's onesie over her jeans so that she wouldn't be able to pull her pants down. Her new favorite words are poop and pee and she has been aware of when both are happening for a few weeks now. She is also very interested in the habits of the dog and likes to yell "Ella pee" every time we let the dog out the front door or point to her tail and say "eeeewwww". Apparently all signs point to Ally being ready to give the potty seat a try. I have done extensive research this week and decided on a model from fisher-price. Who knew there would be so many options with so many reviews to read? At day care they have smaller versions of adult toilets to use so hopefully this interest in all things bathroom related stays around for awhile. Are we ready for this? Probably not but not having to spend any more money on diapers would be amazing!