Dialectic Ruminations on "Advanced Maternal Age" (DRAMA): November 2012

After 3 moves in 9 mos, job searches, daycare searches, and the resulting stresses associated with all that, we took a much needed vacation...that we had failed to cancel in time with all the aforementioned activities.

We embarked on the Carnival Legend out of Tampa for a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on November 28, 2012. And I'm happy to report that this was truly a vacation. We enjoyed the trip and each other. We relaxed and played. We got totally away from boxes and jobs and planning for a week. The trip had a great blend of family time and adult time. Austin loved Camp Carnival...the daycare offered on the ship. One of the camp counselors in particular became his new favorite person, and he would ask regularly to go to the "playroom." This gave us guilt free time to go to dinner, see a show, and even do a little dancing.

The weather was mostly beautiful, and the sailing was mostly smooth. Our cabin stewards were really fantastic and made towel creations specifically for Austin (after seeing the toys in our room). We had an elephant, a brachiosaurus, and a monkey to name a few.

Our first port was Cozumel. After reading lots of reviews, we opted to skip the 7-9 hour trip to the mainlands to see the Tulum Mayan ruins. It was Austin's first day at Camp Carnival, and we didn't want to be on a different island for 7-9 hours. He was in the 2-5 year age group, and they didn't have any time scheduled for naps. I think he enjoyed being with the older kids. He hung in there with every activity, including walking with the group from the front of the ship all the way to the back to Lido for meals. Dallas and I went into Cozumel, had a Starbucks, and went to see the San Gervasio, the site where Mayan women paid homage to the goddess of love and fertility. It was also a required pilgrimage for every Mayan at least once in their lives.

When not in Camp Carnival, Austin loved hanging out around the ship. He was one of DJ Ace's biggest fans and would dance and bop everywhere he went when Ace, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, was playing the music. There were a few times when Austin asked to leave the cabin so he could go hear Ace. Ace was also one of our favorite DJs on board.

There was no shortage of fun at Camp Carnival. They played games, read books, had dances, decorated t-shirts, got their faces painted, watched movies, and ate...a. lot. of. sugar. Austin was so proud of this face painting that he walked around for the rest of the time telling everyone who would listen that he was a SNAKE! This would be the same night that we decided to leave him in after hours care (from 10pm-3am). We checked on him at 8:30, and he was cuddled up under a blanket with KeyKey watching a movie. We went to a really great action comedy show and planned to go dance to some of Ace's music. On our way to dance...at 10:30...we stopped by to check the monitor at Camp Carnival to watch our little angel sleeping. Our little snakeman was running around in circles singing. He didn't get to bed until after 11:00 that night. No more after hours care!

Of course, we were all staying in one room. Austin is always awake when I put him to bed, and he plays in his crib until he falls asleep. How do you manage that when he can see you? You build a cave with black sheets and lots of duck tape! Austin loved his little cave!

Our next stop, the morning after Austin's 11:00 bedtime, was in Belize. We got all packed up and ready to get off the ship (we tendered at this port, so it was harder than usual). We waited in line to get a number to get off the ship and waited until our number was called. Just before we got on the tender, Austin said, "I want to go take a snooze." So, we turned around and headed back to the room. We never made it to Belize.

None of us got perfectly great sleep as you can see here. Austin was forced to read his own bedtime book when daddy fell asleep.

Our next stop was La Isla Roatan. Dallas asked the security guys where exactly we were as we debarked. Honduras. Who knew? We loved this stop. The little island was built basically for the cruise ship crowd. It was very clean and really beautiful. When you got off the ship and made it through the shops, you had a 5 minute walk over a picturesque little bridge to get to the beach. The sand was white, but it was not the sand I'm used to on the Florida coast. The day was overcast, which made this pale-skinned family happy, but the weather was warm. Austin had fun playing in the sand, climbing on the little jungle gym, and "feeding" the croc outside one of the local restaurants. This set-up was perfect for us because we got to enjoy the amenities and could easily get back on the ship when it was time for nap. You can see how close the ship was to the beach.

Our final stop was Grand Cayman. Most of the activities in Grand Cayman revolve around shopping or beaches. Unlike in Honduras, the beaches required a taxi or shuttle of some sort to reach. Since Austin can tire of the beach pretty quickly, we decided to just walk around and sight see until nap time. As we wandered through the shops, Austin decided he really needed to climb the stairs at Margaritaville. What a great idea! They had a pool with a big water slide that was open for our use. Austin and Dallas had a blast swimming and playing in the water. Notice in the pictures that Austin is wide-open-mouth screaming! He had so much fun. We stayed at the restaurant all afternoon. So relaxing and fun and easy.

I asked Austin to go stand by this pirate so I could take his picture. He went over, patted the statue on the knee, and said, "How are you doing?" My sweet little boy!

How would you feel about having this lizard hanging out on the bushes as you were getting in your car in the afternoon. He was sitting right along the sidewalk with dozens of tourists streaming past.

Do you remember Austin's obsession with pumpkins last Halloween? He carved one with Mrs. Fran, got to squish his fingers around inside the pumpkin, and became fully, completely obsessed with pumpkins. So obsessed that I put an email out to local moms asking if I could buy their leftover baby pumpkins because it was too late to buy them at the stores. He carried those pumpkins around for weeks.

Well, finally, it is pumpkin time again! We got a few pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. That was fun, but we didn't want to carve a pumpkin and squish our little fingers around on the inside until Daddy was at home with us.

Finally, Daddy was home on a Saturday. We got all set up in unexpectedly cold weather to carve the pumpkin. I was at the ready with my camera to catch the delight in Austin's face as he experienced carving pumpkins as a 2 year old. Austin was very interested in the knife Daddy was using. He was excited to open the top of the pumpkin. He looked inside and said, "It's gooey. I don't like gooey." Hmph.

Daddy finished scraping the gooey pumpkin while Austin ran around the yard waving his "wand." I think Daddy enjoyed it. At least he enjoyed the roasted pumpkin seeds.