Blood Bahamas Cruise

A sizeable chunk of the Blood family (Jonny and Elizabeth's families) were going on a Cruise to the Bahamas. It was the first ever cruise for Jonny's family, celebrating Seth graduating high school. We were super pumped to go but knew that Heidi would be too young to be allowed to cruise. Aaron was ready to cancel, but I talked him into taking the older 3 kids. I'm glad I did, because they had a GREAT time while Felix, Heidi, and I enjoyed some slower paced life and plenty of time at Casa Johnson. 

I was eager to hear all about the trip, so Aaron diligently kept a log of all the details. I'll copy paste selections from that for the rest of this post. Here's Aaron!

 

The night before the trip, I realized our connecting flight was only 40 minutes in Atlanta. I decided to play it safe and switched to a later connecting flight that gets into Orlando an hour later. This took 3 hours on chat with Delta. I didn't get to bed until after midnight and woke up at at 4:42 AM. The next day was lovely, so we spent some time at the park. Our flight from Tucson went very smoothly. We even got to Atlanta a half hour early. Unfortunately, our connecting flight was delayed, so we went to the gate of the previous connection we had to see if we could switch. There was some bad weather in Atlanta, so almost all flights were delayed. The gate person said there was no chance, so we went back to our normal gate. To get between the gates, we had to take the train. Going back, it was very crowded, and Annie got into the train without us. Someone noticed and asked if she needed help. Annie had Ashley's phone number memorized, so the nice lady called Ashley. We met up at the baggage claim stop. Annie did everything right and was so calm. She's so great. We got to our gate and found a comfy spot to eat our dinner and maybe take a nap. No one actually took a nap, but I tried real hard. They kept delaying the flight until finally, we boarded at 1 am. The flight was really short, so we, despite my best efforts, did not sleep at all. The hotel had an Uber promptly pick us up, and we got to our rooms at 3:06 AM. The kids wanted to jump off the beds over and over, so I had a stern talk with them. They all then zonked out, and I woke them up at 9:15 AM. Sadly, I woke up 2 hours before then and couldn't fall back asleep, except for maybe 20 minutes.

We then got some breakfast downstairs. It was yummy! The kids put tons of chocolate chips in their oatmeal but then didn't like it. They did find it amusing though. There was a lady there who was very passionate about waffles and was helping everyone make the perfect waffle. She made one for Annie and one for Elliot. They were, indeed, perfect. I was making one for Isaac as she was leaving, so she quickly gave me instructions. Mine didn't turn out as well. There was a guy next to me like, ah man - the waffle lady left! I told him that not all heroes wear capes.

It took a while before the Coast Guard to give the go ahead for people to board. I also played a prank on Elizabeth and Megan by saying that we were still stuck in Atlanta. Seth said it was rage bait. I said it was me trying to cope with the lack of sleep.

Megan said to find the gelato and that she would find us. Sure enough as soon as I spotted the Gelato, Megan's voice came out of nowhere. We went over to where they were hanging out. I asked Seth why they let a low skill spammer on the boat. Elliot delivered his cryptic message (random ASCII characters, rightly wound up in a paper scroll) to a confused Aaron wearing a Mexico National Team shirt - he said now that Mexico is out of the world cup that he hopes Norway will win (they lost to England later that day). We then kind of wandered around looking for the ice cream machine until our rooms were officially ready. We bumped into Megan's parents as well. Once our rooms were ready, we headed downstairs. It then became apparent that Elijah is also prone to wander off. Kindred spirits. 

After that, we went to the kids club to move Annie and Elliot a spot up so that they could be with their cousins. Then, we went back to our room to change into our swimsuits. I went on the water slides with the kids. Isaac was brave and wanted to try the slide where you have a mat to slide on. It was fun! Megan and I talked about self-driving cars while Isaac checked out/interfered with people's games at the minigolf course next door. 

Once it was close to dinnertime, we headed back to change. Our dinner slot is 5:30, and we have a whole corner to ourselves with all the Bloods and Mikesells. There were even windows we could look out at the water from. We only had menus on our phone, so it took a while for the kids to decide what to order. I had to read the options off several times for Isaac. He went with the PB&J from the kids menu and agreed to try the artichoke spinach cheese dip (didn't like it). He also ordered some fresh fruit and a lava cake, which he mainly just played with. Elliot had the braised lamb and shrimp cocktail. Annie had the cheese ravioli. I had the chicken marsala. I got to chat with Jonny and Elizabeth- It was delightful. Annie was having fun with her cousins. After dinner, we went and explored the boat a little more and then headed to bed after reading scriptures a little after 9. Originally, the kids were fighting over who got to sleep in the top bunks, but then Elliot discovered only the bottom bunks had an adjustable reading light. So, I ended up in a top bunk because Isaac randomly decided he wanted a bottom bunk too. Whatever. It's now morning. I slept for maybe 10-11 hours. The kids are still all dead asleep, and it's 8:43. This has given me some time to get dressed in my swimsuit and pack Elliot's bag for the beach (why does Elliot have a bunch of rocks in his backpack??).

And it's now 9:10, and they are still dead asleep. I have all the bags packed for Celebration Key. I feel like a little elf working in the night, except it is not night, it's late morning.

We finally got going and went upstairs to get breakfast. We found somewhere close to the food, but I kept having to get up and grab stuff for the kids. When I got back one of the times, Isaac was talking to a lady playing candy crush. They played candy crush together for like 20 minutes. Oh Isaac. We then headed out to the beach. We started by meeting everyone by the beach. The weather was so nice! It was partly cloudy, but the sun was covered most of the time. Annie started off grumpy, complaining about the sand and salt water, but once she found Hazel, they started to find fish and were having fun. Elliot spotted four different fish. Isaac said he saw some pufferfish (skeptical Dad). The water was so clear and warm. Then, we headed to the water park. Megan's parents rented a cabana for everyone to share. Unfortunately, it took a while to find it. Even if we had known where it was, it still would have taken a while because you had to walk all the way around the whole water park. There were some cool slides, but they cost money and had long lines. We spent the rest of the time playing in the pool by the cabana. I tried to help Aaron and Elliot connect but was largely unsuccessful. They just talked a little and splashed each other. I went up to Elijah and told him to ask what Isaac thought of peanuts. That was moderately more successful. Annie, on the other hand has bonded quite well so far with her cousins. 

Once it was getting close to time to leave, the kids and I discussed getting some free food on the island but decided to just go back on the boat (easier). We made it a few minutes on our trek when Isaac asked, what about my shoes? We then spent the next half hour going back to all the places between the cabana and the showers after the beach where we knew he last had them. No luck. We also stepped into a few shops to see if we could buy some replacements. Still no luck. In one of the shops, I realized that I no longer had my towel around my neck. What the heck? When did that happen? It was a friendly reminder that it's easy to forget things and to be easy on Isaac. As we were walking back, the kids were pretty grumpy after wandering around in the now pretty hot sun. At one point Isaac started crying, saying he wish he still had his shoes. As we approached the boat, there was a table with some nice, cold water. We stopped to grab some. While there, I noticed that Elliot had put his ship card on the table to fill up his cup. Before continuing, I asked him if he had everything. He said yes. And then I pointed out his card. This experience was helpful for Elliot, because he was complaining the loudest about Isaac forgetting his shoes and needing to wander around looking for them. Back on the boat, we got changed and decided to explore the boat some more and see if any shops had shoes for Isaac. We had fun walking around and admiring the shops and cool staircases. Spirits were high again. We stepped into a candy shop to look around (later that night, Isaac said that was his favorite part of the day - random). The shoe shopping was unsuccessful, so Isaac wore his water shoes for the rest of the trip. 

We then headed to dinner. I chatted with Jonny and told him about my home optimizer. After dinner, Annie went with Elizabeth and her family to go for a night swim. Elliot, Isaac, and I went to the nightly show. It was a violin trio called Celestial Strings. They played pop songs while very over the top dancers did their thing and sang. We then went to find Annie at the back pool (glass wall against the back of the ship). They apparently had 5 ice creams. Jonny and I chatted with Elizabeth. She wanted to know how to help her kids be more independent. We told her she needs to ignore her children more. The girls eventually moved to a different hot tub that was still open. It looked like they were having a lot of fun together. I kept looking over and seeing them form a huddle, Hazel, Elise, Annie, and Hannah. It took a while to coax them out. I think Kade threatened to throw them off the boat or something. I took all the kids back down to our room. They were acting pretty crazy, so it took a little while to get them to calm down.

I woke up at around 8 without my alarm. I then packed up our stuff, put a bandage on my toe (didn't last in the water snorkeling), and woke everyone up at 8:30. They were all sound asleep. It was cute watching all three of them pop their heads up slowly after I turned on the lights. Sometimes, I take a step back and remember that I am now a dad of these wonderful kids. It is just amazing.

The next morning, we had a somewhat frazzled breakfast and taxi experience before arriving at Love Beach in the Bahamas. As we were pulling up, Catherine was like WOAH! Is this real?? It looks AI!! It was quite beautiful - the water was crystal clear. From above, it was that perfect light blue. The sand was white and fine. We put our stuff under some trees with lots of coconuts nearby and immediately started snorkeling. Elliot with some of the others, and Annie and I went together. We would squeeze the other's hand and point if we saw a fish. At one point, we saw a flounder or some sort of bottom dweller. It looked like a patch of sand that started moving. Right then, Elliot came over and said they saw a sea turtle. We followed him. Once I saw it, I made a loud squeal. It was so amazing. We followed it for a little while and continued looking for other fish. We saw some very colorful ones and a few really big ones hiding in some crevices. Annie had to point out to me the sea urchins hiding in the coral. It was magical. I loved snorkeling with my Annie. Elizabeth showed up about an hour or two later, and we snorkeled some more. Avery saw a stingray and a swordfish. I couldn't convince Isaac to stop building sand villages with Elijah and Luke Knox to go snorkeling. We then decided to go. It took a little while because Elliot was out snorkeling some more, and I had to flag him down. We then rinsed off and were ready to head out. As we were leaving, the driver said that we had to pay $380. Jonny said, absolutely not. We agreed on $250. After a very long back and forth, that involved threatening to call the police from both sides, looking for other taxi options, having both his boss, Kung Fu Mitch the Dispatcher, and his Dad (who was randomly there too), try to intervene, we eventually settled on a price and drove back to the boat in silence. 

After a break in our room, we headed to the waterslides and ropes course. I chatted with Elizabeth about the taxi event and told her about the Mexican pizza story. She said her driver was super chill and was paid $150 for the same minivan size car. She said he had a fancy hat. Elliot was like, wait, the grumpy driver's dad also had a fancy hat. Kade even had a picture of him. THAT'S WHY HE WAS RANDOMLY THERE! He was Elizabeth's driver! Why was he sticking up for his son when he had offered the same rate that we finally settled on?? After dinner, I dropped off Isaac at the kid's club with Elijah and Elliot at the older kid's club, while Annie went night swimming with Hazel, Hannah, and Elise. I then went to a spot that Elizabeth discovered. It is on the 8th floor, has free barbecue during the day, an edge pool, lots of hot tubs, foosball, mini shuffle board, and an ice cream machine. We played Mind the Gap (generational trivia game) with Mikesells outside. The temperature was perfect, and we had a perfect view of the sun setting. I was pretty good with the news categories. I then went to check out Isaac and Elliot, gather Annie, get some more ice cream, and head to bed.

The next day was the waterslide adventure in the Dominican Republic. The island was very beautiful. It was jungle all over. There were lots of flowers and plantain trees. We also saw a huge mango tree. The hike was very pretty. It was steep at some parts but had a hand rail the whole way. 

Annie, Elise, and Hazel sat on a bench at one point and got bit by ants. They gave them some hydrocortisone at the first aid hut. We made it to the top (Megan, Elizabeth, Elijah, Hannah, and Isaac went straight to the bottom of the waterfall set). We started by going down a long ladder. 

We then waded through some water that came to my waist. The water was chilly at first but easy to adjust to. Elliot and Annie were getting really excited. We then went on the first natural water slide. It was short, maybe 10 feet. They told us to make sure we cross our arms and keep legs straight to avoid getting a Dominican tattoo. The slides are so fun! The first one, I didn't realize I would have my head under and forgot to close my mouth. We then went down another that was about the same length but had a curve in it. Walking along was so cool. It was like a slot canyon jungle with vines hanging from side to side. Then, there was a huge drop. It was about 18 feet. You could either take the natural water slide or just jump. Some people jumped. My family all took the slide. It was a little bumpy at first but was so fast. It was so cool!! 

The kids were all smiles afterwards. Elliot was saying this was his favorite stop so far. Next, we got to another drop that was slightly shorter. It ended in a big pool where the little ones were waiting. You could either jump or take the ladder. Elliot didn't hesitate and jumped. Annie didn't want to jump but finally agreed. As she got close, she changed her mind. I jumped, and then she came down the ladder. She was upset but was back to normal after playing with her cousins at lunch. The lunch was so good! They had some yummy spaghetti and fried chicken. They also had some Dominican looking other foods - rice, beans, and ham. It was all very tasty. 

Today was our last stop, Grand Turk. I didn't set an alarm and waited for kids to wake up. Isaac woke up first, so I got him dressed, and we went over to hang out with Elijah in his room. Not long after, Elliot woke up. I put a bandage on my toe. Elliot had scraped his toe the night before on the bottom of the door, so I put one on his toe too. Annie woke up, so we got in our swimsuits and headed up to breakfast at the barbeque place again. We sat with Aaron, Elise, and Megan. We talked about the world cup games and Spain vs Argentina. Aaron has been rotating between different soccer jerseys each day. He started a running joke when I asked him several days earlier which team his jersey for (pretty sure it was Argentina). He looked down at it and said, Alabaska. So now we like to talk about Alabaska. We then went back to our rooms. Catherine was being a teenager and not wanting to get out of bed. I told her that I had invented the Catherine dance, which involved shaking your head and shoulders back and forth while slowly going up and down. She said, no, no, stop! We then employed the Catherine dance throughout the whole day. It was also Avery's 14th birthday today, so I claimed that her one birthday wish was for us to do the Catherine dance all day.

Elizabeth's research said that there was a beach to the right with good snorkeling or a more crowded beach to the left. We decided to try the one on the right. All the kids were whining about the rocks and seaweed, so we only stayed for about 10 minutes. We then went to the other side. The kids were happier there. Elliot said it was better but boring because it was just good for swimming.  I decided to give snorkeling a try and found some cool fish right away. We then saw the Knoxes walking on the pier but looking for us on the wrong side, so I headed up there to tell them where we were. Once I ran into them, they said they were headed to Governor's Beach, which was a half hour walk away. They told us they would text us if it was any good. I then bumped into Elizabeth's family on my way back, and she came back with me. Megan was like, you had one job. Kade decided to check out the snorkeling and went all along the roped off edge. I tried it too, and it was awesome. I saw an abandoned anchor, an old cannon, and some parts where there was a steep, steep drop off into the abyss. There were some really cool fish too. Someone said they saw a black fish that was the size of Elijah. The kids spent the rest of the time collecting coral pieces to decorate their castle. Eventually, we decided to go back on for lunch.

After Breakfast the next day, we played a bunch of foosball and shuffleboard. Elliot went to the kids club again. Isaac didn't know what he wanted to do. Annie went to the waterslides. I finally convinced Isaac to do something, which was to explore the boat some more. We later played some more games, this time Bohnanza and SkyJo.

After dinner, we went to the arcade to do the duck claw machine for Hazel's birthday tomorrow. The machine stopped working, so the worker opened it up and let her pick out a few. She got the coveted unicorn rubber duck. We went back to our room to pack. Annie and Elliot did a great job packing their own clothes bags. After that, Elliot stayed behind while Annie went for a night swim.