Washburn Family Cruise Part 3: Haiti and Bahamas

 The second port was in Labadee Haiti. Here we did some shopping because we didn't get to do any of that in the DR like Hannah wanted to. We ran out of time before we had to catch our bus. So we went to a little village where the Haitians sold their wares. They split Stephen and I up--he had all the kids minus Grayson; he was with me. All of a sudden I had people putting stuff in a black sack and carving our names on everything to get us to pay for it all. Let me tell you. It was incredibly HOT! I was pouring sweat off my face like I have never done before. I couldn't see or even think, so I kept telling everyone ok and they'd stuff things in sacks. I had no idea what I was buying except for two things. I bought a hand carved mask and a painting. Everything else was just given to me for free. I got jewelry, keychains, a flute, a couple of hand painted magnets, a sword in a sheath, and a cute little turtle for Grayson. Stephen got a free wooden shot glass and flutes for the rest of the kids. Zander was so excited about his flute. They all had their names carved into them--half of them spelled wrong. Zander kept trying to play it until he got pretty good at it for being carved out of wood. 

 After we left the village we did a two hour boat tour around the coastline to learn about some of the history and culture of Haiti. This boat ride didn't go over so well with the kids. It was like being in the car with them for two hours. Lots of complaining, teasing, and whining so we sent them to the front of the boat so they could get a better look at the coastline, and not bother the other tourists who were trying to hear our tour guide. I didn't get to hear much of what he said because I was with the kids. 

After that was beach time! This was one of the best beaches I have ever been to. The water was teal in color and clear so it was easy to find sea shells near the shoreline. The water was very warm at 91 degrees and there were rocks along the shoreline so it was like a tide pool spot where we found all sorts of cool sea creatures like sea urchins, crabs, tropical fish, and an octopus. It was so cool! I would have loved to snorkel there and explore some more, but we only had limited time there at the beach before we had to head back to the ship.

Friendly Island

Our last stop was at Coco Cay Island in the Bahamas. This place is privately owned by the cruise line and boasts the tallest waterslide in the western hemisphere. The water park was a lot of fun for the kids. Stephen and the boys spent all day there going on all the slides and playing in the wave pool. The last half of the day I took Hannah and Grayson to South Beach where Loren had a cabana. All the food was free and all you can eat and drink the whole day. The littles played in the sand and looked for shells for hours baking in the sun. Grayson eventually started chasing the seagulls down the beack and stuffed himself with chocolate chip cookies.

                                                 

When we got back on board the ship from Coco Cay Hannah had her shells laid out on a towel so she could see everything she got. Then without warning she started yelling saying something was moving on the floor. Two of her shells had crabs in them; what a surprise! She was not happy about that, and decided she no longer liked her sea shells. 

Washburn Family Cruise Part 2: Dominican Republic

 Our first stop was Puerto Plata Dominican Republic. We took the kids to Ocean World which is pretty much the same thing as Sea World. We got to feed some Love Birds, get kissed by a parrot, and see some pretty flamingos. Then the kids got to go swimming for a little bit, we saw a dolphin show, went snorkeling with tropical fish, and swam around some more. That's pretty much all the kids wanted to do the whole the trip was swim.

Awe Ship! It's a Family Trip. Washburn Family Disaster 2023 Cruise Part 1

 This year Grandma Washburn wanted to do something special with the whole family, so she decided a big family vacation is what we needed! We went on a weeklong cruise to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Bahamas (followed by another week at Disney World, but I'll get to that later). Overall the cruise was fun, but I would not take young kids on a cruise ever again. It was so hard to get them to follow rules or to stay quiet or happy all the time. There were many things to do onboard that included lots of different trivia games, music, theater, ice shows, swimming, mini golf, arcade, climbing structures, and kids clubs.

We're off!

The whole family!

Grayson just came for the all-you-can-eat ice cream 24/7

These two were supposed to be in bed, and they got caught playing video games instead.

Eating dinner in the dining hall was always a mess with the kids. They were so bored and tired that they were unruly and not fun to eat with, but we always had one or two who would zonk out on their chairs.

I took this picture of the strawberry moon over the sea. It was gorgeous to look at in person.

We had two dress up nights in the dining hall. On the second one we didn't care what the kids wore as long they had pants on. The first time was too much of a hassle to get them to wear their church clothes. Anyway, I didn't see what Zander put on until we got there and he decided to wear his camp pants with his church shoes and socks. It made me laugh.

We signed Lucas and Hannah up for a cupcake making class. They learned how to make a frog on a lily pad with fondant and how to pipe frosting on a cupcake.