Easter

My posting about the cruise got interrupted by Silje having a health crisis that took us all by surprise. I'll post more about that when I have the time to sit down and write it all up. As you can tell from the picture below from today, she is doing fine now. But more about that later. Here the kids are enjoying Easter.

(and I'll get back to cruise pictures soon too)

Cruise 2013: Curacao

We didn't get into port until about 2:00 this day, and weren't able to get off the ship until around 3:00. So we didn't get to do all that much in Curacao. But it is a pretty city, so we just walked around a bit and did a little shopping and hanging out.

It's a little hard to see what Stian is doing here, but Karin noticed that the cover has "Pam" written on it. See up at the top? So she suggested Stian sit by and make a heart shape with his hands for his Grandma Pam. But in the picture it's rather hard to see the Pam and the heart Stian is making with his hands. It's still kind of cute though!

Cruise 2013 - Princess Cays

Our first port of call was Princess Cays. This is part of the Bahamas, so we were still fairly far north. It was a little cool that day and the water was quite cool, so we didn't spend as much time in the water as we would have liked.

Kris and the kids on the tender boat over to the island.

Silje enjoyed hanging out in one of the clamshells we rented to have some shade.

We rented a couple of these boards with these windows that you could use to view underwater. Stian is too young to snorkle, so we thought he might enjoy this. Unfortunately they were a bit of a flop as they leaked so badly the little window area kept filling up with water and you couldn't see anything.

Our tender boat (one of the life boats).

This year we had three rooms right in a row. We were able to have them open the doors between the balconies so that we essentially have one long balcony shared by three rooms. That was really nice. It made it very easy for all of us to get back and forth between the rooms and gave us a nice place to hang out outside. Here Silje has wandered over to peak in Grandma, Klebo and Stian's room. Stian slept in the room next to ours. I was leery of this arrangement, thinking there was no way he was going to sleep over there. But he was so exhausted at the ned of each day that he just crashed at night.

Klebo and Stian enjoy some screen time while the rest of us get ready for dinner.

Cruise 2013 - Fort Lauderdale - a few extras

Karin sent me some of the pictures that she took on the trip so I'll incorporate those into the coming blog posts, but these are the ones she sent me from our time in Fort Lauderdale.

Cruise 2013 - Fort Lauderdale

We flew down a day early and spent a day in Fort Lauderdale before the cruise. We ended up needing to rent a vehicle so Kris's family picked a huge Ford Expedition that could hold all of us, which was awesome. So we had the freedom and the ability to go where we wanted when we wanted without having to rely on taxis. Silje loved the Expedition - she called it a "school bus" and got all excited every time she got to ride in it.

But first the kids had to enjoy some serious bed jumping at the hotel!

Then we went to the beach!

We didn't get in as it wasn't all that warm and there was a high surf and rip tide warning that day. Interesting that my weather app gave me these warnings like we might get a thunderstorm warning or ice storm warning at home.

Around lunch time we headed to the ship. We were able to get right on as we are all platinum status now with Princess, so boarding was pretty quick. We got some lunch and then headed back to the cabins to unpack.

Silje was so exhausted she slept in Kris's arms. I can't think of the last time she fell asleep in his arms, or anyone's arms for that matter. Though she did fall asleep in my arms a few other times on this trip. We take our vacationing seriously, and there isn't always time to stop for naps! Sometimes you have to grab them when you can, or just pass out when someone is holding you.

Stian enjoying the sail away.

Silje thinks she can get used to this cruising thing. Chocolate ice cream for dessert every night?! Awesome!