Cruising the Mediterranean

We had a nice relaxing day during our first day at sea. The kids spent most of the day in the Oceaneers lab. They do so many fun things with the kids there that they never want to leave. They made flubber, baked chocolate chip cookies, had a visit from Stitch, played wii, computer, and board games, and on and on. Zack and I went to go see Up in 3D, ate a nice quite lunch with Kellan sleeping in the stroller, then walked around the walking track that goes around the outside of the ship. Before dinner, we all went to see the show Twice Charmed. Matthew and Kellan loved it, but Hayden said he would rather have stayed in the Oceaneer club. I think he's going for a record.

Well the jet lag must have caught up with us this morning because I didn't wake up until 10:30, and I had to wake the boys up at 11:00 so we wouldn't miss the whole time in port. Since we slept through breakfast, we went to the buffet for lunch which Zack was happy to discover was Asian. We decided to walk into Valletta. In order to get into the city, you have to walk up a very steep hill which winds back in fourth to the top of the wall. On our way up, we noticed a sign that said “Crucifix hill” and found that an appropriate name. We enjoyed beautiful views on the way up, and once we made it into the city, it was very easy to get around and everything was fairly close. We stopped at the Upper Barrack Gardens which had incredible views. While there, Zack tried a Cisk, which is a locally made beer, and I had a Kinnie, which is a popular Malta made soda like drink. It is made with Orange peels and herbs. At first it tastes sort of orange and sweet, but then has a bitter after taste. We left the gardens, and walked a few blocks over to Mcdonalds. Yup, even Malta has one. We got the boys some Ice Cream so we could use their free Wi-Fi. Then, it was on to the Grand Master's Palace. There, we were able to tour the staterooms and the armory. The staterooms were amazing with gorgeous tapestries and lots of paintings. The armory showed different kinds of armor that were used during different times, and by different groups. It also had cannons, swords, guns, and other weapons used by the knights of Malta. On our way back to the ship, we picked up some traditional Malta snacks from a little stand on the street. We had a pastery shell filled with ricotta cheese, and another pastery filled with crushed peas. It had an Indian like flavor. When we got back on board, we went to the pool for an hour to cool off. Kellan really likes the splash pad, and the boys couldn't get enough of the Mickey slide. Then, before dinner, it was time for me to go to the Spa. Good timing for my massage after pushing the stroller up those big hills today. Tomorrow is Tunis. We have an excursion planned to a beach resort, so hopefully we will have nice weather.

>We sit with the best family for dinners this cruise. Which is a good thing since we'll be dinning together for 11 nights. Both the husband and wife are from Greece, but they now live in Canada. They have an eight year old Daughter, so Hayden and Matthew have a friend to talk to too. Disney also started a new thing, where they'll bring the kids food out faster, then, after 45 min, the kids club staff will come to the dinning room and take the kids up to play while the adults finish eating. This is GREAT because we still get to eat together, but the kids don't have to be bored through night after night of two hour dinners. If only Kellan could go to. He's done as good as can be expected from Kellan at dinner so far, but there has still been a good bit of chasing. So far all the foods been excellent. My favorite dinner so far was the Lamb, which I've never had before. And every night..they have a desert sampler. Which our waiter refers to as the dessert tester, so you can see which one is your favorite and order the full size version of that one. We have a great service team. Our head waiter is Levent from Turkey, and our assistant waiter is Alvin from the Philippines. Alvin is really funny and makes the kids different ketchup art every night. The kids all get a lot of extra attention this cruise because there are so many less of them then usual on this sailing..which is really nice.
There are usually about 800 kids on the boat and right now there are only around 300.

Hello from Africa..never thought I'd be saying that. Today we visited Tunis, the capitol of Tunisia. Getting off the boat was really exciting this morning since we were in a place so different from the US. There were dancers and camels around when we got on shore, and these buildings that looked like giant sand castles. We took about a 20 min drive to a beach resort. We spent the afternoon playing on the beach. The kids all had fun just digging in the sand and playing by the shore. The water was surprisingly cold considering the warmth of the air. They said it was in the mid 60s, but it felt more like 80 does at home. The boys went for Camel rides on the beach..or so we thought.. we found out that they were actually not camels, but a close relative of the camel, since they only had one hump. Anyway, we went back up to cool off in the resorts pool. And cool off we did, since the pool was probably 60 degrees. I barely got my feet wet, but Zack decided just to go for it and jumped in. Hayden and Matthew followed his lead, but came out shivering after about five minutes. So we just laid out in the sun until it was time to head back to the ship.

Today were in Naples, Italy. We got an early start this morning, and left the ship to go to Pompeii. It was about a 25 min walk from the ship to the train station. The city was very crowded and there was a lot of traffic on the roads. It was not easy to get around on foot since there was a lot of construction to maneuver around. Luckily, we made it to the train station without any problems, and the trip only took about 35 min. Pompeii it self is only right around the corner from the train station. We stopped on the way in and bought lemon drinks from street vendor. They were kind of like homemade lemonade, but with ice slushy on the top..very good. When we entered Pompeii, there were guides for hire right in front. You can hire them for a personal tour, or wait until there are enough interested people to do it as a group and split the cost. We decided that with three kids, including a pretty unpredictable baby, it would be worth the cost to just pay for the guide ourselves and be able to go at our own pace. It was definitely worth the money. Our guide was great. He kept us in the shade as much as possible (the sun was really intense), and we were able to stop whenever the kids needed a break. We all learned so much about Pompeii. Even Hayden was asking lots of questions and engaged in the tour. Matthew kind of listened on and off which was still good..it was a long tour. Kellan thought he was at the beach, and just wanted to sit in the rocks and dirt. The streets were made of really large rocks and hard to maneuver over with the stroller. It's a good thing we had the off road wheels, or we would have had to do a lot of carrying the stroller. We saw the old store fronts and the houses that people lived in. We also saw the Forum, the bathhouses, and the casts made from where people had died from the Volcanic gas. The city was actually not destroyed by the Volcano, but by the Earthquake that happened 17 years earlier. The people were in the process of rebuilding the city when they were wiped out by the volcanic ash/gas. The volcano is still active today, and the people in the surrounding areas will get a two week warning when it erupts again. After stopping for some gelato, we took the train and then a bus back to the pier.

Today we went to Rome.. Definitely the best day yet. I'm too exhausted to type a lot, but we toured the colosseum, the catacombs, and the Vatican. We also saw the Trevi Fountain, looked through the Key Hole, and did drive bys of lots of other sites too many to name. The highlight of the day was the Vatican where we had the best guide, Antonella. She did such a great job of explaining everything to Hayden and Matthew, they were still interested after two hours!