Cruise Day 1

We finally did it!

We bit the bullet and booked a cruise :)

We had wondered for a while if it would be a good way to vacation with Ben but we just hadn't been able to take the leap.  Some friends from Andy's work encouraged him and helped him find one with a good deal and with just about a month to go we went ahead and scheduled it.  

               On May 1st we flew to L.A. and hopped on board Royal Caribbean's boat, Navigator of the Seas.  Ben did really well with the flight, pretty much sleeping through the whole thing...so did the older boys.

                                

Traveling with Ben can sometimes be a challenge (but we've also noticed that sometimes his chair can be a perk and will aid in skipping long lines :) so after the short flight, and enjoying our first Uber experience and finding our way on board the boat, we were greatly relieved to have arrived without too much trouble.

On a side note, I have always had trouble with motion sickness but we had been told that the patches you put behind your ears are very helpful so I gave those a try and let me tell you...I think they are a miracle!  The plane ride and the Uber drive were a dream.  I couldn't believe how good I was feeling in situations that would normally leave me feeling queasy and headachy.

Ben doesn't seem impressed...

but everyone else was a little in awe over the boat.

While we waited for our rooms to be ready we found ourselves on the pool deck and got some food.

While there, we ran into a couple that used to live in our neighborhood years ago!  It was fun to see the Hills and catch up with them a little bit as we saw them throughout the week.

Josh found the ice cream...

I am now eating an anti-inflammatory diet so I knew it would be somewhat of a challenge to find things I could eat.  Having not found anything on the deck that was thumping with loud music, I went exploring to see if there were other options...also, options that included fries for Ben which he had been begging for.

I found the Windjammer which was much more peaceful and had fries...not really many options for me still but I think everyone was grateful to get away from the atmosphere of the pool.  

There was an announcement that the rooms were ready so everyone else went off to check them out while Ben and I continued relaxing at our table.

I can't really remember what we did until dinner time...probably just relaxed in our rooms.

Our first night in the dining room was nice.  One of the chefs came out to talk to me about my dietary needs.  I felt bad saying all the things I couldn't eat.  I had brought my own bottle of salad dressing on the boat with me and just planned on bringing a little squeeze bottle of that to dinner each night...and if a salad was all I got, then that was fine.

There was a little trouble with the rooms.

We had planned on having the three older kids in one room together but when they saw their room, it was obvious there was only space for two people.  Even though it made the most sense to me for Abby to come be with us, she was not happy with that arrangement so Josh was a good sport and volunteered to sleep on our couch with Ben.

We decided to sleep with the balcony door open and boy, did that end up being one of our most favorite things of the whole trip...falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean every night!