Valor review 10/4-10/11

[realtrip]

I love your review. Keep it coming!

Thank you

[DreDay]

Ughhhh, work has kept me away from anything fun this week. :rolleyes: Sorry for the delay, but I'm working on the rest of the review and some pics. Hang tight....

[DreDay]

I awoke to bright sunshine in the room. The curtains were closed but the balcony sure lets lots of light in…lol. Not long after I stirred did baby follow suit. Before long, we were all up and eager to get our day started.

We had breakfast on the Lido. Again, some of the food was really good and some was really icky. The scrambled eggs were very watery. None of the kids would eat them. The chocolate muffins and the carrot muffins were spectacular!! They had hard boiled eggs which I loved, especially for Baby.

My parents were already parked in some lounge chairs near the slide pool by the time we were done with breakfast. We were lucky enough to find some lounge chairs next to them. Since Baby is not yet potty trained we knew he could not use the pools. I borrowed an idea from the family board and packed a small blow up pool. If you’re bringing a toddler this is a fantastic idea!! The area we were in had a little alcove type area where there was some wooden cabinets. The pool fit nicely there and was not in anyone’s way. There was also plenty of room two stollers. I borrowed bucket from the bar and filled the pool with some water. Babies kept very busy in there for quite a while.

The older kids enjoyed swimming and the slide! I think they must of went down the slide at least twenty times each!

We layed out for hours just soaking up the sun, people watching, and relaxing!!!

Mid after noon we all grabbed some ice cream cones and headed back to our room. We all took a nap for a couple of hours.

[DreDay]

Tonight was formal night so I got the kids up at around 4:30 to start getting ready. I brought a travel steamer, and this worked perfectly for the guys shirts. They needed a little refreshing after my lovely magic packing!:eek:

I love formal night!! I mean elegant night, or whatever.:rolleyes: To me, it is still formal night. I could care less what anyone else is wearing, but I make sure my family is looking nice. I mean, there’s just not enough times in life that we get to play dress up. My heart is so warm when I see my kids all slicked up. By Boys wore tuxedos-thank you very much!:D My DH fusses to much to wear a tux so he wore a slacks, and a shirt with a vest, and tie. Us girls wore cocktail dresses.

Before dinner we went down to the promenade to take some pics. There was nobody there yet, so we just hopped from one station to the next. We use our cruise as an opportunity to get lots of family pics. Soon it was 6:00pm, and we headed down one deck to the Washington Dining Room.

We saw ALL kinds of dress in the dining room this night. Some had full length gowns, lots of cocktail dresses, some everyday sundress type dresses, some ladies pant suits. I saw several tuxedos, some suits with coats, lots of slacks and dress shirts. Yes, I did see one pair of jeans on elegant night but the guy looked very nice. It was hard to tell they were jeans as they were the really dark ones, and they were very crisp.

Dinner tonight was totally awesome! I had the pumpkin soup and the stuffed mushrooms for my appetizer, and the lobster and shrimp for my main course. I thought the pumpkin woup was good, but the mushrooms were terrific. I don’t remember what I had for dessert. I was so stuffed after this dinner!! Everything was so good!!!!!!!!!!!!

We took some more pics after dinner with the rest of our group. Big mistake for me!!! I ate so much I looked pregnant:eek: :eek:…lol. Seriously, I had this pooch going on. My DH was like suck it in. That was too funny!!

After photos we went to Kamikaze Karaoke. We have been to karaoke on most of our cruises, but we are just spectators. I’ve never done it, and DH wouldn’t even think of it.

This time however, was really special!!! All of my kids had their first karaoke experience. My DS sang “A little less conversation”, by Elvis Presley. He’s only 10, but he did a great job. He knew all the words, and was totally on queue with the prompter. He had the women in the front cheering hysterically when he kept repeating “Satisfy Me Baby…..Satisfy Me Baby” It was hilarious!! He drew one of the loudest applause that evening. My DD’s sang “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” together, and my DD and my niece sung “Hit me Baby One More Time” together. They were really getting into it. It was such fun!!

After Karaoke we went up for, what else, ice cream cones and then went back to the room to change out of our formal stuff.

We put on a DVD in my daughter’s laptop. When the baby fell asleep I logged into my laptop and had to buy some internet minutes to get some work done. It is imperative that I keep in touch when I’m away. There’s no way around it for me. I snuck out to the balcony, logged in and got everything done I needed to. I absolutely love the fact that there is wi-fi in the rooms!!!!!!!!!!! It made keeping in touch and getting work done very simple. My family was never inconvenienced by me having to go the the internet lounge. Plus, working on the balcony overlooking the ocean is not a bad office I must say!!!

I was glad to snuggle into bed tonight as tomorrow was our first shore day and we had a fun excursion booked!!!!

[letmetellya]

Sounds like a great trip so far. looking forward to day 3.

[gypsyrose]

Welcome back! Looking forward to the rest.