Sometimes we escape...

We have had so many changes around here--sometimes we just need escape it all!  Ninety percent of our family vacations are family reunions or camping.  Which we love! We haven't ever been to Disneyland or rented a house on the beach.  (both are on my to do list...) With Dallin and Landon leaving any time this summer we wanted to do something with our whole family.  Juli and Shon helped us find a CRUISE! We went with the Robinsons and Kendricks (minus Jeremy who was home with pneumonia...) and we boarded the Carnival Imagination cruise ship on Sunday afternoon.

For perspective on how big that boat is, look at the little tiny boat pulled up alongside the ship.  That boat holds 250+ people.

We had rooms in the bottom back of the boat where we could get rooms all together.  And it was affordable. And really--how much time do you spend in your room on a cruise?!!

We had a king size bed and two twin bunks.  And not much room other than that! The bathroom was tiny and we had to duck  under the bunk to walk around the bed.


Our room steward Joey knew us all by name and did a great job! He lives in the Phillipeans and works 6-8 months on and 3-4 months off.  He has two kids who cry every time he leaves.  He has been working on cruise ships for more than ten years and he can make more than 100 different towel animals.  How awesome is that!

Jackson spent every second possible on the waterslide and splash pad...

And he ate banana splits at every meal...

 

And climbed down from his bed and slept in the middle of our bed every night...

And he did not care for the kids club so he hung out with us.  We didn't mind.

We pretty much didn't see the older kids.  They hung out with their cousins and checked into the kids clubs a few times.  Mostly they just did their own thing.  The got freshly cooked pizza at all hours of the day. And ate ice cream--Abby set the record with fifteen ice cream cones in one day...

 The big boys played miniature golf and met other kids on board the ship.  (One boy who was also waiting for his mission call!)

and went to concerts...

They looked super handsome at dinner...

 And played ridiculous games of 'what are the odds' which made me laugh so hard I almost peed my pants...

I loved hanging out with my sissies. And I missed the ones who weren't there (Kendra, Emily, Ashlee, Lindsay, Heidi, Jamie, Melanie, Jessi and Ariel...)

And I loved having an easy laid back schedule!

We had a couple excursions off the boat.  I'll post those later!