Evenings on the Ship

Our kids made it through five-course dinners that lasted 1.5 to 2.0 hours every night. I carried a large bag of toys with me every night and we bribed Wesley with dessert. Why did we do this? Because we love it! Chris and I both enjoy delicious meals where we can sometimes try new things and it is fun to sit down at the end of the day and talk while someone else cooks, serves, and cleans up. Yes, it was a lot more work with two toddlers than when we cruised by ourselves but it was also good to share the experience with them.

On the first formal night, Wesley loved the sorbet. When he had gotten all of it out that he could with the little spoon, he just turned it up. Doesn't he look like a little prince with a goblet?

Our wonderful waiter made a puppet out of dinner napkin. When Wesly touched it, the waiter made the puppet slide forward. Wesley loved this trick and wanted to try it. He was unable to figure out how to make it work and he kept asking, "Where is the button?" Clearly the boy has too many electronic toys.
Chris' parents and my parents.
Lydia loves menus. Here she is condsidering her next drink order.
A few nights, we took the kids to hear a band before dinner. Wesley loved to dance and Lydia loved to run around the dance floor. This is the only time he was able to get her to dance with him.
This little girl seem to want to dance with Wesley. They ended up just looking at each other for a minute and then walking their seperate ways.

Of course I don't have any good photos of the kids in their formal wear. Wesley really enjoyed wearing a tie the first formal night so the night before the second formal night I asked him, "Guess what you get to wear tomorrow night?" He promptly replied, "A pretty dress?" I think he was thinking of all the nice compliments Lydia received.

We had an in-cabin-babysitter the first six nights. She came at 8:30. One time the kids were already asleep and the other five nights they were ready for bed but awake when she got there. We liked her and so did the kids. The babysitting was $8 an hour for a minimum of three hours which was a great deal for us. So instead of getting a hot stone massage on the cruise, I got six nights of babysitting! We were typically out from about 8:30 to 11:15. We went to all of the shows with our parents and then we enjoyed some time talking and listening to music just the two of us. Here is a picture of Wesley and Lenie.