Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 10

Day 10 - July 23, 2011
The Road Trip Home 

With a peaceful night's sleep (the first one in 7 days), I woke up totally refreshed. I talked to my grandmother the night before and she said she was feeling better so we made arrangements to see her today. After breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we went just 40 minutes up the road. This was the first meeting between Eva and her 96 year-old great-grandmother. And it went very well.

We only stayed for a couple of hours. We were past due on Eva's naptime and we didn't want to get home too late. We said our goodbyes and started on our 3-hour road trip home. It was a great ending to a great vacation and by bedtime we were all snuggled into our own beds....best sleep in 10 days!!

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 9

Day 9 - July 22, 2011
Back in Boston, heading to PA

Today was a L-O-N-G day to say the least. All 3 of us woke up, showered, dressed and had to be at breakfast by 9 am. That was the cutoff. We made it with 2 minutes to spare. Eva was exceptionally cranky today starting at breakfast. I think she was just tired of the whole thing...ready to be home and in bed. We disembarked by 10:30 and were at the airport by 11.

Waiting, waiting for our 3 o'clock flight. Eva only took a nap for about 45 minutes. Given all the travelling, lack of restful naps, and teething, it was no wonder that she fussed the entire flight. But our flight wasn't to Columbus, it was to Pittsburgh. Once we landed we grabbed our luggage and got shuttle service to our hotel. By the time we settled in it was 6:00. Room service and bed was the order for the rest of the evening. With a nice full belly, Eva went out like a light.

Just one more travel day left!

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 8

Day 8 - July 21, 2011
Last full day at sea

Our 2nd day at sea and another lazy day. The morning started off with Eva singing so we got up and went to breakfast. Then we came back to the room and packed enough essentials to last us for a while on the sun deck.

I was up there for hours. John and Eva were only up there for a little while. John thought that Eva was getting cranky/sleepy so he decided to do some laps with her. According to John, he took her to lunch and then did the laps so she would fall asleep easier. Eva was asleep for about 15 minutes when some man decided to announce to John that she was sleeping. That did it....she was officially awake! It actually turned out to be a good thing because the two of them actually saw dolphins swimming alongside the cruise ship. Too bad they didn't have the camera (it was in the bag with me). I would have LOVED to have seen that!

I finally went back to the room around 2:30 (yes, my skin was red and tingling) and began the packing escapade. Luckily it only took 2 hours to get all 3 of us packed. Then we all got showered and dressed and headed down for the final portrait session. Eva did great! This session was supposed to be all about her but I got in a couple of them. The dress that she's wearing we got specifically for these pictures for my mom. Afterwards we had a wonderful last dinner and called it a night.

Tomorrow is still an early day...we've got to get off the boat.

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 7

Day 7 - July 20, 2011
Full day at sea heading to Boston

Today was our first full day at sea.....Lazy day!! So lazy that after we got dressed and ate breakfast, we came back to the room and took our nap from 11:30 to 1:30. SOOOO OFF OUR SCHEDULE! 

Then we ate a little bit of lunch and headed to the sun deck to listen to some music for a while and then walked around the ship from one end to the other. We hung out in the playroom but not for long because Eva was not impressed with the toys  Our goal was to get Eva good and tired so that she would be ready for bed after dinner. Well she was certainly tired but wouldn't settle down long enough to go to sleep, so in the stroller she went and John took her to the walking deck to do some laps....A LOT MORE THAN 5!! And wouldn't you know it, just as John is wheeling her down the corridor towards our room, there was so much noise that it woke her up. She finally fell back asleep 40 minutes later.

Good nighty-night!

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 6

Day 6 - July 19, 2011
Last day in Bermuda

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was go down to the Gangway deck and check the weather. As a tourist I was hoping that it would be a sunny beautiful day so we could take Eva to the beach. But as someone returning home again I hoped that it was still raining as the island was under a 2 1/2 month drought! The winner was rain....cold, windy rain. By the time we showered, dressed and ate breakfast, the rain had stopped. We made our way off the boat to buy a few things.

After a couple of hours we were back on the boat for lunch and Eva's nap. She slept longer than usual and by the time all 3 of us got refreshed again, it was 4:30. All guests had to be on the ship by 5:00 set to depart at 5:30. John suggested that we go up on a deck to watch the ship pull away, so we made our way to the sun deck. All cruise ships entering and leaving Bermuda must have a Bermudian pilot on board to navigate the ship through the coral reefs.

The rain had stopped, clouds parted, sun brightly shining. It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon. As I was looking down at the wharf, I saw a man and woman so familiar that I had to call out to them. It was my aunt and uncle! I don't know how long they were there waiting to see us but there they were. I kept saying to John that I had to get off the boat to say goodbye but I couldn't because it was just after 5:00. I didn't have my cell phone with me so John went back down to our room to get it. Just then my aunt's son, a Bermuda pilot, called my name and was standing behind me. I was told later that he requested to pilot the cruise ship out so that he could have a chance to see us! I'm so glad he found us. That ship was HUGE and there were so many places we could have been. Family is so wonderful!!

It was so wonderful to see family again just as we were sailing off. I miss them already! We watched the ship sailaway for the next 45 minutes. Bye Bermie..........I hope we get to see you soon!!

Then we got dressed up and had some portraits taken and then had dinner at the Venetian restaurant. Tonight it was all about John & I getting just our portraits done, but Eva looked so cute that we had to get a couple of shots with her in it too 

By the time we were finished with dinner, Eva was worn out but would not settle down enough to go to sleep. We went back to the room, put her in her pjs and stroller and did laps on the walking deck, 5 to be exact. Another great day. Tomorrow is a full day at sea.

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 5

Day 5 - July 18, 2011
2nd Day in Bermuda

I had a plan this morning: Take the ferry or the bus into Hamilton (capital city) and visit family, meet up with another Aunt & Uncle for lunch, then head to the beach. Part of that plan was blown because we woke up to seriously cloudy and windy skies and rain.

We improvised. We showered, dressed, got breakfast and went back to the room and got our first power nap. We woke up around 11:30, got freshened up and got off the ship to meet my Aunt and Uncle. They picked us up and we went to this wonderful restaurant on the beach called Coconuts. Eva took to my Aunt Althea right away, just chattering away being her usual cute self.

John gave Eva a taste of Ginger Beer soda....

Deciding if she likes it....

She LOVED it!!

We had a great lunch and then they took us into Hamilton to see if we could visit some different family members but they weren't available so they brought us back to the ship.

By this time it was really raining and Eva was enjoying playing in ALL the puddles on the way back to the ship. We all changed into some dry clothes and I thought for sure Eva would go down early for the night since she only had one hour-long nap. It took us almost 2 hours to get her to sleep. John finally had to put her in the stroller and take laps around the walking deck....5 laps to be exact. She was finally zonked when they came back to the room.

We'll see what our final day in Bermuda holds in store for us!

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 4

Day 4 - July 17, 2011
Bermuda, here we are!

This was the day John and I have talked about and planned for for over 3 months....meeting the family. We got to Bermuda at 11:00 and were cleared to get off the ship shortly thereafter.

Phone charged up, I started making calls to let Aunts, Uncles and Cousins know that we had arrived. We made plans to meet in the afternoon. The 3 of us showered, dressed, ate breakfast, got off the ship and did a bit of walking around and window shopping. I knew that Eva was not going to get her regular nap so I was glad when she fell asleep in the stroller while we were out and about.


We finally met up with a few family members around 2:30. So great! They had to run an errand before the rest of the family arrived so Eva and I went with. Eva was so relaxed and comfortable with her new family members... just chatting away and being the natural charmer that she is! 

When we got back to Dockyard, the other family was arriving and one by one was meeting them. It was so wonderful to see her getting loved on. And because John and I were so happy and excited and comfortable, it made her feel that way as well. Eva had no anxiety or stress.

With everyone having arrived, all 13 of us headed to the Frog & Onion for dinner.  Around that same time, Eva was getting just a bit cranky. She had only had a 40 minute power nap up to this point. I was able to get her to take another nap and by the time dinner was being served, she was awake after another 40-minute nap.

Dinner was great. Being with family was priceless. In fact, Eva was so comfortable with her newly-introduced family that she allowed 2 of her cousins and her great aunt to walk around with her WITHOUT ME!! She even allowed her 2 cousins to pick her up and hold her!

After 2 hours we finally had to part ways. Everyone had to work the next day. We all gave tons of hugs and kisses and took oodles of pics one last time.

After we said our goodbyes for the 20th time, John, Eva and I went back to the ship, locked ourselves in our room and called it a night! More family to see tomorrow 

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 3

Day 3 - July 16, 2011
Our 1st full day at sea.



The last couple of weeks Eva has been waking up between 7 and 7:30 instead of her usual 8:00. I thought that with us being in a stateroom with no windows and pitch black, that she would sleep later or sleep until we woke her up. Nope.....up at 7:30! Up we all were, got dressed and headed to the buffet for breakfast. It was a gorgeous day at sea so we walked around a little while and found some other fun places and stores that we missed the day before.

We took Eva to the kid's pool and she had such a blast. After splashing around for almost an hour, we got some lunch and laid down for Eva's nap. We had to be good and rested 'cause it's Formal night. This was the evening we were waiting for because we knew we were gonna have lots of portraits taken. All dressed up, we made our way to the photo studios. There were 5 different backgrounds. We were able to get a slew of portraits taken at each station and still be done in under 20 minutes. It pays to get there early!! 

After photos we went to the Aqua restaurant (Dining room) and had dinner.

It was still early yet so after dinner we went to the Stardust Theater and saw a show. Eva LOVED all the singing and dancing. In fact, she was dancing around so much that she tired herself out and started crawling around. I wanted to take pics but flash photography was forbidden due to the cast members. Believe me when I say that Eva stole the show in her own little corner  We only made it halfway through the show when Eva decided she was done performing. And 45 minutes later she was sound asleep.

What a fun day!!

Eva's 1st Family Vacation - Day 2

Day 2 - July 15, 2011
Cruise Day!

    

 Happy Birthday to Me!!

Our day started at 4 am. Not Eva though...she was awake and talking at 2:30. You think she knew where we were going? With everyone showered and dressed, we checked out of our hotel room and were on the first shuttle to the airport by 5 am headed to Boston. Eva still proved that she is a GREAT traveler. The 90 minute plane ride was a cake walk compared to a 15- hour flight.

We got to the Cruise Terminal super early and had to wait a few hours before we could check in. John took Eva all around the area while I chilled out for a little bit - some ME time 

We were eventually able to get on the boat around 11:30 but our staterooms weren't ready until 2:00, so we had to go to the buffet restaurant with our carry-on luggage. Fortunately Eva was able to get a 45-minute nap after she ate some lunch.



After lunch we went out on the sun deck, found a lounge chair and decided to relax there for a while until our staterooms were getting ready. We got into our rooms at 2:00 just like they said and our luggage came shortly after. I'm the kind of person that needs to unpack and get organized so I took the next hour and a half to do just that. John asked me to make myself busy around the ship for a bit while he helped Eva work on something for me. When I got back to the room, John & Eva gave me some birthday cards. Then we walked around and checked out our cruise ship, ate dinner and called it a night.

Eva LOVED sleeping on the pullman porter bed. Her head was at the top of the rail and we put 2
 large pillows at the foot of the rail. She was snug as a bug in a rug every night   

  

What a wonderful birthday. Admittedly it was a very llloonnngg day but I was blessed to be able to spend it with my family!