Brendan's Senior Trip: Freeport, Bahamas

Wednesday - Day 5 of our trip
Another early breakfast (I think 8:30 which actually isn't too early except that our bedtimes were around midnight) and then the kids got into their swimsuits so we could head to the beach.  Everyone headed out except Granny who was not feeling very well.

After our warm day in Key West, we were shocked to get of the ship and find the day cool, breezy and raining.  The port was a mess of confusion and we quickly learned that it would cost our family $56 JUST for the cab to the beach (Cait and Lily were free!).  We had budgeted $75 for our full day.  The process of getting a "cab" was a big mess and after about 30 minutes, they had room for 13 of our party.  Everyone except our family and PawPaw headed to Junkanoo Beach while we waited for the next cab.  The problem is that they won't send the cab until it is full so we had to wait another 30 minutes or so before we could join the rest of our family.  And then a 15 minute drive through Freeport.

 Once we got to the beach, the rain stopped.  We sat on these nice lawn chairs until we were told we would have to pay to sit on them.  So we moved to the sand.  It was a pretty beach with lots of nice shells and rocks.

Lily did not want anything to do with the water but she had lots of fun playing with Mavy and her cousins, sister and brothers in the sand.  

 I think this was probably the most fun day Cait has had in her entire little life.  She played so hard and loved every minute of it!

 Cam spent a little time in the water, he helped his dad build a cool fort and played with his cousins, brother and sisters.

The water was pretty cold so Bren didn't get as much swimming as he would have liked but he had fun playing. JC, Bren and I also walked down the beach to a rocky area to look for shells.

The castle dad and the kids made.

Here is our little family on the beach of the Bahamas!  Don't you love Cait & daddy's pose?  Funny!

It was a pretty day and the sun even peeked out at us.  This pier that was beside us was for "paying customers" only.  It did make a pretty shot, though.

The restaurant on the beach accepted credit cards but only if you spent a certain amount.  With the cab ride costing so much, we decided we would head back to the ship, have a "free" lunch and check on Granny. We went to the "pick up spot" and had to wait about a half hour to get a full van.  I think it was about 2 by the time we got on the van.  We were hungry!

Here we are in the second bench seat of the van.  PawPaw and daddy got the privilege to sit in the front seat! 

We ordered room service and everyone cleaned up and washed all the sand off.  After a little rest, Bren finally got a couple runs on the ropes course.  

Dinner and a show in the dining room.  I cannot remember what we ate but the two pictures on the bottom right (above) were Granny's pork chop and PawPaw's chicken and pasta. 

 Lily definitely was not a fan of sitting for 2 hours for dinner especially with all the people trying to talk to her and all the noise.  We never had the same waiter but we had a favorite hostess named Tatjana from Boliva.  She was so sweet and took time to visit with us, talk to the babies and take good care of our party.  We never were able to get a table with all of us together but I think we got a chance to sit with everyone.

After dinner we caught part of the magic show were cousin Tae got to get on stage.  It was super cute. Cait only took one nap while on our cruise so she was usually in bed before every else.  And Lily usually napped late so she was up late.  We went for a little walk with Lily, Cam and Bren and ran into Jes and her family.  We waded in the pool, fed Lily a sandwich since she slept through dinner and ate some popcorn. Our towel animals were a dog and duck.  We think.  We also had a late night visit with cousin Mavy.  He is Lily's closest cousin in age.  They are quite cute together!