See the Songers: Cruise Day 2--at sea

This was an at sea day, meaning we would spend the whole day on the boat trying out the water slides, the ropes course, the climbing wall, the trampoline, etc. And we would have access to as much food as we wanted. So of course we started the day in the gym. (On our first cruise Casey and I each gained seven pounds (I was pregnant, though) and on our second we each gained four.)

Anika, Clarissa, and Anderson came to exercise with us. I really enjoyed all the machines in the weight room. Rosalie came along, too, to make sure we knew how much she wanted to go to breakfast NOW.

Breakfast--at the buffet. In the end, I liked the buffet best because it was the only place you could be sure to get fresh fruit and something with vegetables in it.

Some pictures of our rooms. Four people in the smaller room. Three in the larger room with the balcony.

Then the ropes course. That's when we learned that you can only do the ropes course in shoes with closed toes and heels. And I had made Rosalie bring sandals for church in Miami instead of the flag print canvas shoes she wanted to bring. Her other shoes were sport sandals and none of the stores on the ship carried any kid-sized shoes! Oh, the pouting! But she agreed to go on the water slide so I took her while Casey took pictures of the other kids on the ropes course. (He had nowhere to leave the camera, so he didn't end up going, either.)

Note Anderson's scrape free legs--shortly afterwards he tried something daredevil-y and was bleeding noticeably the next time I saw him.

I didn't go on the water slides with Rosie, I just watched her. When she was tired of that I suggested that she go on the bungee trampoline. The sign on the trampoline fence said you had to wear socks, with no shoes. So I put her in a deck chair, told her to wait there, and hurried down to get her socks. When I got back with her socks, the trampoline had just closed until 6 that night! It was just noon, so I took her to the buffet for what became her standard meal for lunch and dinner--a cheeseburger and fries. I think there were three kinds of fries--waffle, thick cut, and thin cut. You could also get hash brown patties. She liked this burger a lot better--well done.

She and I went back to the room while the others went on the water slides for a while. We watched most of Hotel Transylvania 2 on the room TV. The others got back just as it was ending and then we ended up watching all of Minions together. We were still a little tired, I think. It felt good just to veg.

Next we all went to the rock climbing wall, which opened at 3:00.

This girl, Reagan, met Anderson in line for the water slides and when she saw him rock climbing she asked him to come hang out with her for a while. Casey told him to be back in a couple of hours. Anderson heard, "be back before 7."

They make you wear their special climbing shoes, and Rosie was hoping they would let her borrow a pair for the ropes course. When they said no, she was sad all over again. So we went to check out the kid's club. Closed from 5-7. More pouting ensued. So I took her back to the room so I could shower. She watched Ella Enchanted while she waited for me. When we got back together with everyone else, except Anderson, we waited for him for a while and then we went to the bungee trampoline.

I went down to the room to check for Anderson and just caught him. So he joined us.

Then we made the kids dress up in their church clothes to go to a nicer restaurant. Rosalie and Meredith were especially not pleased about that. We ~~forced~~ pressured them into it anyway. The Tropicana was nice, but super loud with the live band for the dance floor in the center. We could feel the boat rocking with the waves, but the food was really good. Meredith didn't think there'd be anything she'd like to eat, but she really liked what I ordered, so I shared it with her. Rosalie ordered a cheeseburger and fries from the kids' menu.