{Cruise Day One: Load 'em up!}

Today is the first day of the cruise! We are on Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas. The cruise is from Saturday to Thursday, and we are going to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The day started as a nice leisure morning, because we didn't have to catch our shuttle to the dock until 11:30 am. We were able to sleep in a little bit, and then we had a nice breakfast. One nice thing was that Chuck and Marcy Lauersdorf (Bill's brother and sister-in-law) were staying at the same hotel, so we saw them for breakfast and then took the same shuttle.

The kids were already in a great mood because we had the nicest person Daphne at the hotel put the Sponge Bob Christmas special on one of the TVs for the kids. They will thrilled. It was a good way to start the day. After breakfast, we loaded up our things and headed down to wait for the shuttle. Here is Lilli hanging out on the little swing thing they had in the hotel lobby:

Once we got to the dock, it was pretty smooth getting all checked in. The kids were excited to use their passports. We didn't have any issues I am happy to report. The kids were very anxious to find our room. It didn't take too long:

The kids approved of the room. This is a shot from before the bunks were lowered:

Here is a shot with the bunks down:

After exploring our room, we headed to the Windjammer to check out the lunch spread. It was very nice! The kids' favorite part was the soft serve machine:

Caden is going through a weird face phase :)

Look at the excitement on her face!

So goofy...

We ran into a lot of the family while at lunch:

Uncle Gary and Aunt Evita

Oma and Grammy

Papa and Uncle Rudy (Bill's brother)

After stopping by Oma and Papa's suite to check it out, we headed up to the top deck to watch the ship set sail. Danny and Samantha came up with us as well:

It was so NICE to feel the warm sun :)

We were standing in the middle of the mini-golf course, so Caden wanted to play right away. We were on no schedule, so play we did :)

Lilli did more posing than actual playing.

Caden was checking out the shot Stephen was taking.

She looks like such a little diva in the shades.

Even though we watched the ship push away from shore, Lilli still did not believe that we were floating. She just denied it. She felt the floor and told me it felt "too strong" and that we were not floating. We even passed a worker on the way back to our room, and we asked him if we were floating. He said yes, and Lilli looked at him and said, "No, we aren't." She is so stubborn.

The kids then wanted to jump into the kiddie pool. I was a little nervous, because I knew Lilli would not be able to wear her swimmer diapers in there. We talked about this ahead of time, but I didn't know how she would react. Today she did okay. She had me put her in her swimsuit right next to the pool, because she wasn't sure about not wearing a swim diaper. Now don't worry, I knew accidents wouldn't be an issue. Even if she is wearing a swim diaper, she will tell me if she needs to go to the bathroom. Then she will get out, have us put a diaper on her, and then she will go. I know it makes NO sense, but you tell her that. Anyway, she did okay in the pool. As soon as she was done swimming, she had me carry her to the bathroom and get her dressed. Overall, not bad! Here is a shot of our little fish:

I know the pool looks tiny, but that blue part is the sunk in pool. There was water surrounding it as well. Cold water! The kids weren't phased by it.

We had early dinner at 6 pm, so after swimming for awhile, we went upstairs to get ready for dinner. Notice that there has been no mention of a nap? Didn't happen today! Dinner was very nice. There were so many of us that we were spread over three tables, but we were close enough that we could walk over and talk to one another.

This was Lilli for most of the dinner:

How pretty is this view?

After dinner we headed up to our cabin. Caden asked to go to bed. He was very tired. Lilli woke back up, so we watched some cartoons. Ryan stayed in the room with the kids while I went down to the casino. I met up with my mom and grandma. I lost my $20, and then I called it a night! So many things in one day. This is going to be a great time.

Until later!
Barby