Hughes Cruise 2016

Time to play some major catch up on the blog!  It's been FOUR months since my last post but that's not because we haven't been busy!  In fact, it's quite the opposite.  I have a very long list of posts dating all the way back to July that I'll be working hard to get on here over the next few weeks.  Things are finally calming down after our move to Texas and I'm finding extra time here and there to devote to my beloved blog.  Even though I've probably lost all of my readers by now, it's important for me to share these pictures, stories and memories because these entries are being printed and bound into books that will someday belong to Kyndall.  So that alone is enough motivation to keep me chugging along!  So, here comes my best attempt at catching up....!

In my last post I shared that we had a successful house hunting trip to Dallas in which we found, fell in love with and purchased a new home in a suburb called Forney.  As soon as we returned to Tennessee, Kyndall headed to Panama City Beach for a mini vacation with my in-laws.  Matthew and I spent that week wrapping up some loose ends in Jackson before heading to Florida ourselves where we scooped Kyndall up and drove to Orlando for our very first family vacation since 2012!!

Obviously, we were long overdue for a vacation, thanks mostly to me and all of my health issues.  Back in April we surprised Kyndall with the news that we were finally taking a summer vacation and she was thrilled to find out it was a cruise.  Matthew and I have cruised many times but the last one we took was when I was around 16 weeks pregnant with her so we too were excited to be sailing again.

Our ship was leaving from Port Canaveral in Orlando so we headed down a day early and took our crafty, art-loving little girl to check out "The Crayola Experience".  It was a lot of fun and just as we expected, she loved it!

Making her very own customized crayons....

Making an interactive coloring book....

Modeling clay vending machine....

She made another customized crayon, this one named after her favorite drink....

They showed us how crayons are made....

Spin art....

Such concentration....

More customized crayons....

We met a friend for dinner that night and then crashed at the hotel before boarding the ship the next morning.  I absolutely hate staying in hotels because I'm such a germaphobe, but my silly girl gets so excited over them.  She especially loved this hotel that we chose in Orlando for some reason....

Everyone woke up SO excited the next morning as we packed up and set off for Port Canaveral.  

On the shuttle to the port....

Since we are frequent cruisers, we were able to skip all the long lines and head straight onto the boat.  Our stateroom wasn't ready yet so we found our way to the buffet!  Kyndall's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the dessert buffet.  And, since we were on vacation I let her skip the real food and fill up an entire plate full of sweets!  Our little junk food lover was in Heaven!

Once our room was ready, the next order of business was checking out the pools on the top deck

By early afternoon it was time for the sail away party and we were officially Bahamas bound!

(Having a 4 foot photographer makes for some pretty unflattering camera angles!)

Kyndall couldn't get enough of her fold out bunk bed.  She thought it was pretty cool that she was sleeping above us.

Dinner on night 1

Going to dinner in the formal dining room each night was one of our favorite things and we looked forward to it each day.  Kyndall loved the fact that she got to drink her Sprite from a "fancy glass" and was thoroughly amazed that the wait staff remembered her name, her favorite type of bread and what she liked to drink each night.  If you've ever been on a cruise, you know how personable the dining room staff is but these guys really went above and beyond for "Princess Kyndall"...and even more so when they found out it was her very first cruise.

Jesus was our server, so it's no doubt we had the best! Ha!

The other reason she loved eating in the dining room....dessert every night!

We had pictures taken every night after dinner, but this was the only one I really liked so we bought it....

Another favorite thing was going to the shows after dinner each night

The dancing queen also found her way to the dance floor a few times and managed to drag Daddy out with her...

We woke up to gorgeous ocean views of CoCo Cay Bahamas the next morning

CoCo Cay is Royal Caribbean's private island and they use small tender boats to take passengers to and from the island all day long.  We didn't waste any time getting off the boat and onto paradise!

Gorgeous water!!

Matthew and Kyndall booked an aqua park excursion which consisted of the obstacle course and slides that you see behind them.  I opted out of this one and instead enjoyed sitting on the beach relaxing and people watching.

The pictures don't even do it justice!  The most beautiful water!

They returned from the obstacle course tired and a little frustrated.  Apparently it was harder than it looked and since Kyndall isn't very strong, Matthew had to do a lot of lifting and pulling to get her on the rafts!  Oops!

We spent the rest of our day swimming, walking the beautiful beach, collecting shells and exploring the island.  The water was so clear that I even got it!  I may have lived most of my life in Florida but I never get in the ocean.  I know what kind of critters live in there!  But this was different and I felt like I was in a crystal clear swimming pool.  Paradise!

How cute are these baby palm trees??

As we were wrapping up our day and heading back to the tender boat, we spotted these hideous things....

And of course our little critter lover went nuts over them!

I almost had a stroke but she was loving it!

Iguanas are like a mix between snakes and lizards....neither of which I can stand!  But we couldn't pull this kid away from them.  She attracted quite a crowd who watched as she fed hot dog buns to these creepy creatures.

Yuck!!

Matthew reminded me that it wasn't TOO long ago that I did something similar while we were on our honeymoon cruise.  I'm not sure what changed, but you couldn't pay me to do this now!

We got pretty toasty while waiting for the boat to take us back to the cruise ship so Kyndall talked her Daddy into buying her a $12 pineapple drink.

These are their "it's hot, we're tired and we're over the pictures" faces!

Back to the boat....

Eat. Sleep. Relax. Repeat.

Unlimited soft serve ice cream by the pool....yes please!

The good thing about eating dinner at 8:00 is that there's plenty of time for showers and a nap after a long day on the island.

Formal night!

Coming back to find the towel animals each night after dinner was another thing she looked forward to

Taking in another show....

Our second stop was in Nassau....

For this excursion, our tour guide took us through to port to a smaller, private boat

We had to sit separately on the boat because of limited seating but Kyndall was lucky enough to sit next to this sweet lady in the orange who entertained her during the long ride to our destination.  They chatted about who knows what and then at one point she pulled out a bottle of bubbles from her beach bag and the two of them had fun watching the wind carry the bubbles away.  This sweet lady had no idea this mama was sitting in the back of the boat watching it all.  I am so thankful for people like this!

More beautiful water!

Our destination--The gorgeous Balmoral Island in Nassau Bahamas

This was no ordinary beach day.  This was a day Kyndall has dreamed about, literally for years....and if I'm being honest, so have I!  We did something most people never get the opportunity to do--We swam with the dolphins!  Yes it was overpriced and yes I stroked over the cost but nothing could compare to Kyndall's excitement and pure joy over this day.  She didn't stop smiling the entire day and even now she still recalls how much fun this was!

Waiting for our turn!

I was just as excited as she was!  I've never done anything like this and never thought I would.  I've traveled the world and seen some amazing sights but I've never been up close with nature like I was this day.

First up was the dolphin swim.  The entire group of about 30 people swam out into the cove all at once and essentially treaded water (in our life vests) for about an hour while the dolphins played and swam and performed all around us.  We each got the opportunity to touch, rub and even dance with the dolphins.  It was amazing!  I have a video of the whole thing but no pictures.

After the dolphin swim, it was time for the dolphin encounter.  We waded (without life vests) into a more shallow part of the cove and the dolphins came up to each family for belly rubs, kisses and photo ops.  Kyndall giggled the entire time!  Here are the pictures that I paid the photographer dearly for!!

The photographer captured this shot the exact moment my dolphin decided he was done and I got a swift fin to the belly, right where my sensitive transplant scar is.  Ouch!

The rest of the day we were free to explore the beautiful Balmoral Island, relax in the cabanas, swim in the pool or enjoy the crystal clear beach.  It was wonderful!

Before long it was time to head back to the ship.  Kyndall said this was the "best day ever!"

Last time we were in Nassau, Matthew and I went here, to Atlantis

Our ship, the Majesty of the Seas

A show before dinner....

Our waiters made this hat for Kyndall....

Then grabbed her up to be a part of the entertainment

She liked using our sea pass to open our stateroom door

Our last day at sea ended up being a rainy day.  After just an hour or so in the pool, the lightening forced us to make other plans.  So, Kyndall tried out the kids camp for the first time.

The kids camp is basically like free babysitting so while she was doing that, Matthew and I walked around the ship and just enjoyed taking in the sights.

The very front of the ship overlooking the bow is my favorite part

One last show before our last night at dinner

A beautiful sunset to end an amazing week!

Kyndall had a hard time saying goodbye to our fantastic wait staff.  They truly made this trip memorable for her!

One last towel animal...

We disembarked and found our way to the shuttle where Kyndall made friends with this sweet little girl.  She even let the little girl hold one of her stuffed animals on the ride from the port to our car.  So sweet!

And that's a wrap!  The Hughes Family vacation of 2016 had come to an end but what great memories we made!  We'll definitely be cruising again and Kyndall has requested a Disney cruise next.  We better start saving our pennies for that one.

Nothing shocks the body quite like going from a week of gourmet dining to grabbing breakfast at the Waffle House after getting off the boat.  Talk about a reality check!  

We made our way back to Tallahassee where we spent the remainder of the weekend celebrating my nephew's second birthday with the family.

This vacation was long over due and much needed!  The next few weeks of packing up and moving to Texas would prove to be quite stressful.  I'm so glad we had this little reprieve in the midst of an otherwise very chaotic time.  Hopefully we can get back to taking yearly summer vacations now that I'm well.