Meeker Family Vacation 2016!!!

This was a seriously last minute planned trip--we decided the beginning of June that we really needed to get out this summer.  We only have 2 more summers with all our kids at home so we need to make some more awesome memories.

We flew into Orlando the day before our cruise departed.  We had a sweet ride waiting for us--check out our cool rental van:)  This 12 passenger van was $70 cheaper than any SUV or minivan--go figure.  We spent one night in a hotel and kept this baby parked at the cruise terminal waiting for us to get back (way cheaper to rent your own car than to use the cruise bus service--we thought about hanging out at the airport looking for people who needed a ride to the cruise port to make some money on our cool rental--ha ha not really but we did joke about it:)

Our kids (almost) each had a row to themselves:)

Chris is up on all the "cool" things to do while in FL and apparently all the "cool" people go to Ron Jon's Surf shop in Cocoa Beach.  While here, we all got Ron Jon's hats to prevent sunburning that we knew would come our way:)

On the Boat:

We were on the Carnival Victory for 4 days/3 nights.  I like these shorter cruises--less time to over-eat:)  As always, tons of fun stuff happening on the boat.  We spent most our time by the pool.  The kids always had fun things going on.  Carlie, Ethan, and Max were off on their own with their own friends each day as they were allowed to sign themselves in and out of their groups--but we made them meet up with us for meals every day (so we would know that they hadn't fallen overboard or anything:)

Ethan teaching Tatum how to play Chess

Swim, swim, SWIM!!!

A cruise isn't a cruise without TOWEL ANIMALS!!!

The dining experience was always top notch every night!  I love that my kids get the chance to sit down to "fancy" dinners and eat things they normally wouldn't.  Of course they have normal foods like fried chicken and steak but we also tried things like escargot, alligator, and duck:)  Every night the dining staff had some kind of show planned.  They always look for volunteers to get up and dance with them and Max, OF COURSE, joined them every night:)

Here was our "farewell song" on our last night:

SOOO fun every night!  And our waitress was AMAZING!!!  She knew each of my kids names after hearing them only one time.  And she was also so willing to help them make decisions on food choices and was just so sweet making sure we had everything we needed. 

We love Leesom!

Every night they played a movie on the big screen out on the deck by the pool.  So you could sit in a chair, swim, eat, AND watch a movie.  I was trying to catch the perfectness of this night but you just can't do that with an iPhone camera!  This is a shot of "Star Wars--The Force Awakens" playing on the big screen with the most perfect weather and moon in the sky.  LOVED spending our evenings by the pool (eating pizza/popcorn/and ice-cream of course:)

The Bahamas!!!  (Nassau)

This was a first for all of us.  I've always wanted to go on a cruise to the "Bahamas!"  It just sounds cool right?!  Well...it was AWESOME!  I thought Hawaii had the best beaches and ocean, but I stand corrected.  The island of Nassau has the MOST beautiful white sand beaches and the warmest/most crystal blue water I have ever been in.  Seriously beautiful!  Us Arizonians had a little tough time adjusting to this new kind of heat/humidity but as long as we stayed wet, we were good:)

We walked across a large bridge that took us right to the resort "Atlantis."  WOW!  Someday we may need to stay there ourselves but for this day, we went and enjoyed the views and the beaches by this resort.

Turtles in the resort pond

Sharks in the ponds too!

The warmest and most crystal blue water I've ever been in!  

Max and I enjoyed our white sandy toes!

The Capital Building

Oh NO!!!  Captain Hook got Peter Pan:)

We were unsure of why these 2 figures would be by each other???
A knight in armor and Buddha???

Lots of Pirate history here:)

We walked all over the small island and then took a taxi back to our boat.  I would seriously love to come back and stay on this island for several days.  There is a lot of interesting history here--it was a pirate haven for years.  Absolutely beautiful and breath-taking.  LOVED the Bahamas!