So we went on a Cruise...

It was relaxing in that whatever we wanted was right there, the food, shows, the bar, the swimming pool, all right there, and we didn't have to pack up a bunch of crap or find a babysitter or anything, we just went upstairs. So that was cool. It was exactly like being trapped in a LasVegas Hotel. Sure there is plenty to do, play the slots, go to the buffet, see a musical... But you can't leave. You have to stay put and give your money to them.
It rained on us from when we got to Galveston the night before until a well into the Cruise.
We had a fun night in the Super 8, frequenting the Waffle House out front a little too much.
We packed the whole family into 2 cabs, and headed for the pier, which looked like a really run down bus terminal made for giants back in the time of talking animals. We stood in line for a while, then got on the massive ship, which was made in the late '80s and the decor has never been updated. A lot of neon and busy carpet patterns. The halls are lined with plastic New York New York sky-line buildings that shimmer in Black and green and gold. If you have epilepsy, I caution you to not take a cruise on this boat. We spent the first night and part of the morning hiding from the rain and trying to keep our food down, as the swells knocked us around a little.
After that, the sun came out, and the upper deck was soon flooded with an enormous amount of scantily-clad Americans of all ages and weight classes.
We all spent most of our time in the restaurants. Not like we ate continuously (I actually lost weight), but there were 13 of us and we tended to linger. We took Jack swimming, and to a kid's dance party, and saw some shows, and Jen and I got some awesome spa treatment massages. Mostly we just sat on the deck and chatted with the fam. Jackson was a hit with just about everybody, because he's super-cute. We got a lot of compliments.
All the meals were included, but none of the drinks were. Any soda or alcohol we had to pay for, and they were not cheap. I think I spent most of my time drinking the fruit punch from the kid's buffet. You could buy stuff from the duty free shop, but after you buy something, they kindly wrap it up, and tell you where you can pick it up once the cruise is over. Bastards. You could get this drink card worth unlimited sodas for like $25.00, so we got one and smudged out the name enough so a bunch of us could use it if we were crafty. Tim and Lonny both brought Whiskey in their luggage, so we mixed that with our ill gotten Mr.Pibbs. Fuck the man!
Cozumel was really cool, but we were only docked from 8 till 5, and two hours. Either side of that was spent ferrying people from the ship to the island because a hurricane knocked out the pier last year, and they aren't too busy fixing it. So really we only had 4 or 5 hours on shore, which wasn't enough to see the whole island. We ended up renting a van, dropping off the girls at the plaza to do some shopping(after I got us lost and we ended up in the ghetto), while Tim, Lonny and I went to see the Mayan ruins. The ruins were neat, but small, and I hear the ones on the mainland are a lot bigger and more impressive. I'll hit those next time.
We were originally going to rent some scooters, but I'm actually glad we didn't. Cosumel is the scooter wreck capital of Mexico, and I now know why. Scooters are everywhere, and they don't give a shit. At one point we saw a woman driving with her 4 year old standing on the running boards, while the 8 year old sat behind her carrying a large cardboard box, just whipping in and out of traffic. We saw one scooter that had 5 people on it, mostly kids.
I had to buy some diapers for Jack in Mexico, and let me tell you, those things were sub-par. They held very little even though they came up to his nipples.
So after getting on the very last ferry back, we did the whole boat thing back to America.
We were barely looked at during customs, but the airport security was awful. They took away a bunch of our stuff, including a small bottle of Mexican Vanilla Jen had bought that I had mistakenly put in the carry-on, and were complete dicks about it. Due to some bad scheduling, we had to sit in the airport for a few hours, and that didn't impress Jack one little bit. He got pretty cranky, and told us so by smashing cheese crackers into Jen's purse. Once on the plane, though, he passed out, and slept the whole way home.
We all had a good time, there were few family clashes, it was relaxing. But I was very happy to be home, as was Jackson. He was way off his schedule, and it was starting to wear on him. When we finally got home, he started laughing hysterically while getting all of his toys out of the bin. He slept for 14 hours.
Now, after Jen spent the last two days doing a shit-ton of laundry, and we hurriedly celebrated her birthday, I am off to Denver with Cody tonight. We were going to leave on Friday, but since there is yet another giant snow storm heading there that will hit Friday afternoon, we thought it best to drive all night rather than get stuck somewhere in Eastern Kansas.

See you when I get there.