A Squared: David's 80th Birthday Cruise!!!

...It's Sunday night after a week long of crusin' for my stepdad's 80th birthday and I'm having major post-vacay depression! Here's a quick recap just of pics from my phone (this doesn't include the 250+ photos I took on my camera!). Let's start from the beginning...

Last Friday, April 17, AR and I headed to Lambert Airport, got checked in, and found a cake!!! FYI, apparently NO airline (that I've flown at least) in STL has carseat covers but every airport I've flown to does. Therefore, when our flight got delayed in Dallas due to rain, AR's carseat sat in the rain and poor baby had to ride in a wet seat for about 30 minutes. Thus ensued a Twitter battle with American Airlines but no worries, on the way home, shocker, despite American saying most airports didn't have covers, they did and we were safe on the way back, no wet seat.

The Magic House had an awesome little play area set up in the terminal which passed our waiting time and AR loved it. When we flew back the next Saturday, she wanted to stop and play!

Due to having to pay for baggage, I didn't carry her carseat with me, instead brought a carry-on suitcase but she was such a big girl and sat in her seat with the belt on the whole time... well, most of the time. Really wished I had the carseat on the way home... Does she not look absolutely adorable with that packback on? That's what AR calls her backpack.

We made it to Dallas, rode a tram to a different terminal to find our flight was delayed. Since we originally only had 45 minutes between flights, we were happy to be there in time. AR passed the time dancing and jumping from seat to seat (thank goodness for it not being busy in the evening!).

Finally made it to Orlando around 1AM, this pic was pre-flight, sleep during flight, and both momma and baby tired waiting for last tram to get to Nanny.

Saturday morning, we were up bright and early, ready for the cruise!!!

We "chased" this Disney ship all across the Atlantic and AR loved seeing Mickey... good thing, she had no idea he was ON that ship!

Sunday we docked in Nassau, Bahamas. I'd already been to the Bahamas but I wanted AR to get off at each port to "say" she'd been there so we literally were only there for about an hour to walk around and take in the gorgeous land.

Good thing about the ship when you're on it and everyone else is on land, no waiting for anything!!! We had quite the time taking over the kiddie pool area and here's my girl snuggling while we take a little rest.

Nanny and David had a deck so we spent a lot of our time up there when not swimming, eating, visiting with family, etc... So relaxing watching the wide open ocean, nothing ahead of you and just reading a book or playing games.

Monday was a day at sea then Tuesday we were at St. Thomas, my favorite spot of the cruise.

My mom, stepsis Jo, AR, and me spent some time shopping...

Then Jo and I went snorkeling that afternoon... you're welcome for the man candy!

Wednesday we were in Puerto Rico and did a bus tour. Also, Mommy had some sangria... would you believe that was the only alcohol I had all week???

Shocker, AR found a monkey!

When we got back on the ship after Puerto Rico, AR and I had some time to ourselves so we had a late lunch of watermelon, chicken tenders, and ice cream-yum! We also had some fun riding the elevator.

Thursday, we went to Grand Turk. I was most excited about this port but it was kind of a let down... not much shopping or anything to do right off the port. We rented a cabana at Margaritaville where we could go to the beach or swim in their pool. This is AR and Aunt Kim, Aunt Gizzy's hat, us and the ship, and swimming in the pool. By this day, we'd had enough sun so she wore her shirt over her suit.

Naptime in the air conditioned cabana!

Still half asleep on the way back to the ship but we had to get a pic here!

Finally used my selfie stick this night. Of course, AR wanted the pic in black & white, that's her fave!

All of the crew LOVED AR and knew her by the end of the trip. Seriously, if one of us was late to breakfast or dinner, they'd be like, "Oh, you're with AR? Right this way..." They called her Goldilocks and loved her hair! This is Ivan, who has a six-year-old. AR told him all about the birthdays in our family and how hers was next month. He gave her this bunny and a Beanie Baby chicken along with candy, which she loved both! Mila, the hostess, stopped at one of the ports and got her Princess bubbles. Everyone was so sweet and nice!

Our porter loved AR and called her by name every time he saw her and asked what kind of towel animal she'd want that night. He had a birth mark on his face and AR asked him what it was. I wasn't embarrassed, I took it as a learning moment. We had a lot of learning moments on this trip as she encountered wheelchairs, different languages, birth marks, etc... I think it's important to answer as honestly as I can so that she understands from the get-go that it's okay to be "different" and that like our porter who had a birth mark, she had one too, just in a different spot.

Anyway, way off topic there, but we loved the staff!!!