Joshua's First Cruise

We had a wonderful time this week on Joshua's first cruise. The occasion was the National Hay Association board meeting. My dad and Chris did a little business, but as you can imagine, it was mostly pleasure. Though, it's nice to go with a group, especially since it included several long time friends.

Joshua did great on the plane both times, as we were fortunate to have direct flights from Cincinnati to Miami, where we met the cruise ship. Of the 5 hours of flying, he slept about 3 1/2 in my mother's arms, which made entertaining him for the remainder much easier.

On Friday afternoon, my dad's brother, David Creech, who lives in Naples, Florida drove over to visit with us and eat an early dinner. We hadn't seen him in several years, so it was nice to catch up and let him meet his new great-nephew.

We hung around the hotel Saturday morning and boarded the ship early in the afternoon. The rooms were a little small (as all cruise ship rooms are) for Joshua to wander around, though having my parents in an adjoining room made it much more spacious when we opened the door in between the rooms. We could almost always find an open lounge or ball room to take him to, where he could crawl and play. He mostly pushed his stroller around, which made me wonder why I worried about packing toys at all. On one of these lounge adventures, Andy and I were able to prod him into taking a few steps. One of us would walk behind him, letting him hold onto our fingers for support, then slowly slip our fingers out. He would take a couple of steps, before the other one caught him. He has taken steps, but he is certainly not "walking" in my opinion, since he's yet to let go of something himself. But, we think he is getting very close.

Every evening, we had our formal dinner seating at 6:00, which was at least four courses and usually lasted a couple of hours. We enjoyed the experience, but it was a parenting challenge. But, Joshua did great every single night. It was good timing, since it was right after his afternoon nap, and we could feed him his dinner as well as bites from our plates during the meal. But, he definitely impressed the waiters and our hay convention friends by how well he behaved.

He was quite the hit with the staff. The ship had over 800 staff from 60 countries, and most of them would work for 6 months or more at a time before returning home. Some of the staff we met had babies at home within a few months of Joshua's age, so it was nice for them to get to see him but also sad to think of all that they were missing. It sort of gave us a reason to step back and think about how blessed we are to be able to have good jobs in the U.S. and the money to afford a trip like this.

Our first stop was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Mom and dad agreed to watch Joshua while Andy and I spent the day at the Sandals Resort. We had gone to Sandals in Montego Bay on our honeymoon, so it was neat to return. Also, we were glad to have some time to ourselves, as vacations are MUCH different now that our schedules revolve mostly around the baby.

Our next planned stop was Grand Cayman, but the island had some bad weather and closed their port before our ship arrived. So, the captain rerouted (as I'm sure they have to do from time to time) and headed for Key West, Florida on our last day. It was much cooler (mid-70's instead of the mid-80's in Jamaica), so we took Joshua off the boat for a little shore excursion. We ate Key Lime pie at a little restaurant and looked through the shops. He slept a good while in his stroller, then awoke in time to see the momma and baby chickens, which appeared to be the highlight of his visit to Key West :).

It was a great experience and good time with family, though we are glad to be home. I think Joshua was glad to see his crib last night and has slept several extra hours today as well.