What About What?: Freedom of the Seas Day 1

Vacation Day 1:

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

9/21/08

Day One

Our Adventure started super early on Sunday night when we got back from a wedding and continued the packing extravaganza that had been our life for the last three or four days. We ended up in bed at around 12:30am only to be woken up by Mr. Chase at around 1am for milk...Emmie was up at 4:00am just because and I went in to cuddle her back to sleep. I was sure Chase would be up in a few hours so there was not a thought in my mind that I might not wake up before my dad was scheduled to pick us up at 6:50am...I was thinking we could do all of the last minute things if we woke up at 5:30am. At 6:30 I looked over at the clock and realized we had SLEPT IN...Home Alone style we ran around grabbing everything on our list...I got a shower, woke Emmie up and tried to convince her it was a good idea to get dressed and add my impatient father to the mix to rush us along and we were chaotically in the car by 7am.

The car trip went off without a hitch even though Chase still hadn't had milk since 1am...Emmie was super excited and I think Mike and I were anxious about brining two big suitcases, a small rolley suitcase, a pelican camera case that weighted about 40 lbs., Emmie's huge carseat, a crib for Chase and his carseat...oh and a diaper bag and a HEAVY backpack. We made it through the secruity check without a hitch (Emmie was a little bit mad that they were "taking a picture" of her stroller and her M&M's that Papa gave her) and I knew at that point that we could get through anything this week! We went to gate 35 and asked if there were any openings so that Chase (who would soon be asleep in his bucket) could have a seat. There was! Emmie and Mike went to go find some breakfast while I nursed Chase at the gate watching our stuff. They came back with some messy muffins and in no time we were on the plane ready for takeoff. Chase asleep in the bucket and Emmie buckled in next to me we were ready! Emmie was telling everyone around her that she was so excited to go to Miami and that next we were going on a huge ship! She sat and ate her candy (probably more than she had ever had in her life...a couple starburst halves and some M&M's) and watched Diego on the laptop...if that isn't vacation I don't know what is! When we touched down her ears bothered her a bit but nothing that chewing on her starburst and yawning with Mommy couldn't fix (she kept saying there was gookies in her ears)...and only one brief fussy period from Chase before I bounced him back to sleep in my lap (which made my leg fall asleep) and then we were off to walk Miami airport to find our baggage and the bus to Royale Carribean. We made a potty stop for Em and continued on our way...check in for the boat was easy and we got the front seat of the bus.

We chomped on some mini Pringles (told you it was vacation) and rode on the interstate with the view of Miami in clear view...Emmie was impressed and didn't want to get off the bus when we got to the boat. Chase was unimpressed and was sleeping in the becket seat. Mike and I made a mental note to come back and visit Miami someday because it really is pretty! We boarded the ship and really only waited at the security gate (they let Chase stay sleeping in his seat) and again to get our room keys and all that...then we were on the boat! We were able to check right into our room and meet our room attendant. It was about 3pm and we knew we needed to get some real food and change our dinner pass from the 8:30pm on to the 6pm on because Emmie and Chase at the 8:30 dinner just wasn't going to work. We ate at the Cafe and then headed back to the room for a nap...but the Captain came over the intercom stating that we had to do a mandatory drill for safety before leaving port...Emmie was unimpressed and fell asleep in Mike's lap. We tried to plop her on the bed in the room when we got back but she woke up and that was it for naps. We made it up to dinner that night at 6:15pm and met our lovely head waiter named Sherlin...she called everyone Ms. Emmie, Mr. Chase, Ms. Kate and Mr. Michael Duval (anyone who knows Emmie's birth story hears the humor in that one!) and was really really accomodating...dinner for Emmie was Mac & Cheese, and Mike and I had fruit followed by shrimp ravioli and took some Strawberry Pavlova back to the state room for dessert...yum!

Bedtime that night was pretty unimpressive since we were all so tired...Mike did go up to meet with the DWC people who kept their dinner at 8:30pm while we all slept the night away.