Cruise to New England & Canada: September 2016

My parents had their 30th anniversary on August 22 and my Mom had been wanting to cruise the East Coast so that's what we did to celebrate. Nikkole and Mike, Mike's parents (Joe and Gloria, who recently had their 40th anniversary), Hayley, and I joined them. It was lots of fun, a little different with a toddler, but we enjoyed ourselves.
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We got in to Newark Friday evening. Hayley did really well flying considering she'd been up since 6:00 AM and only had a little 20 minute snoozer in her stroller between flights. She only cried once or twice in the 5 hours we were on a plane and zonked out as soon as we got off our last flight while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the hotel. I was hoping she'd sleep really well considering how tired she was but she never seems to sleep through the night the first time we're in a new place.

Next time we'll just put her in a carry-on haha.

The next morning, Saturday, we got ready to head on over to our cruise port in Manhattan. We got on the Carnival Sunshine around noon and immediately went to get some food, the food is some of the best part of cruisin'. Hayley and I played a little in the kid's club, it had slides and a little ship to play on, while we waited to depart. My Dad stayed with her while she napped and we set sail. It was really cool to sail past the Statue of Liberty. Our luggage finally arrived at our room and we got ready for dinner and then headed to the dining room. All 8 of us ate together. Hayley did fairly decent the first few nights at dinner but then she started to hate her high chair because she was in it for so long. Several course meals are too hard for toddlers to sit through. Eventually Hayley and I would go after everyone got seated and my Mom would order for me. That made it shorter for her. And sometimes we'd take turns going on mini walks between appetizers or dinner and dessert with her. Hayley and I stayed in the same room as my parents and so we also took turns going to the room at night with her instead of the show. It was nice to have a group of people there to help me take care of her. I would never do it with just Dan and myself, or with more than one kid. So basically this was a one time experience ha.

Sunday was a Sea Day. Kids that aren't potty trained are not allowed to swim, which ended up being ok on this cruise because it was a little chilly for swimming. Before lunch we had to do the joyful safety training at our muster stations, where Hayley got a wristband she had to wear the entire cruise. It was nap time after that, so we got a quick one in before lunch. After lunch we went to this Dr. Seuss story time but only lasted about 5 minutes before someone couldn't sit still anymore. After dinner we were out in the lobby and there was some dancing going on and the cruise dancers came over to Hayley and were dancing with her and giving her hugs. She had an entire fan club on that ship once it was over. If I had a dollar for every time I got told how cute she was or that her eyes and hair were beautiful, I'd be doing pretty well. My Dad stayed with Hayley and my Mom, Nikkole, Mike, Gloria, and I went "bar hopping." They played music and danced at each bar, just to kind of do a little tour of the ship. My Mom and I didn't make it the whole way through as it was getting late and we were tired.

One of the dancers dancing with Hayley. She wasn't too sure about it.

Monday we were in Boston. We did a harbor cruise and bus tour. The harbor cruise was really cool, who knew so much history could be in one harbor. The bus tour wasn't super great because we just drove around a few parts of Boston and only got to see them out the window. Definitely need to go back again, probably with my hubby since he served his mission there, and see and do more. It's definitely as pretty as they say, and very busy! The streets are narrow and full of cars and people. Hayley was ready for a nap when we got back on the ship before we headed to dinner.

Boston skyline as were sailing away.

Tuesday we were in Portland, Maine. This was probably my favorite stop. It was a quaint little town and I could totally live there. We took a trolley tour around town, quite a bit of history here too, and out to a lighthouse. Hayley slept a little on the trolley and enjoyed running around the lighthouse. We looked through some shops after our tour and got some spudnuts (potato donuts) from The Holy Donut and clam chowder from a restaurant we passed. I love clam chowder and that was some of the best clam chowder I'd ever had. It was nap time when we got back on the ship. There was no show tonight so we went to the dive-in movie, although Hayley and I didn't make it through the whole thing because it was her bedtime and kind of chilly where we were sitting. Plus I'd seen the movie before so I figured it made sense to let my parents stay and watch.

Wednesday we made it to Canada! We were in Saint John, New Brunswick and took a bus to the Bay of Fundy, which is huge and has a significant rise and fall in the tide. We walked around some shops after and bought some delicious fudge. Hayley fell asleep on the way back to the ship. Most of the leaves were still green, but some had changed and it was pretty. On the way back our tour guide passed around some dulse (aka seaweed) for us to try, apparently the Canadians all love it. It was gross and basically like eating salt water jerky. Another dinner, another show, and the first rough night of the cruise. Once we got out of the bay in the middle of the night the water got a lot more rough and it made me a little queasy going up and down as much as we did.

The best grandparents around.

Thursday we were in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We didn't have anything planned so we went around the harbor walk, which was super windy, and went through some shops. It was pretty uneventful but still fun. Since it was the last stop we had to get our Canadian shirts, and more fudge ha. While Hayley took a nap with my Dad my Mom, Sister, and I went to the shops on the ship to kill some time before dinner. There was a candy shop where I indulged my sweet tooth. My Mom stayed with Hayley tonight while we went to another dive-in movie. This time we sat where it wasn't so windy and got some hot chocolate and several blankets. 

Friday was another sea day, which was kind of nice to rest a little bit before we had to travel home the next day. We took a morning nap after breakfast. And after lunch we played "Cover Your Assets" it's fun, I recommend it if you've never played and just sat around and talked. Hayley didn't do so well at dinner the last night so my Mom took her before dessert came and I just took dessert to my Mom in the room and then went the show with everyone else. 

Saturday we got off the ship in the late morning and walked through New York 'til we got to a bus that took us to the airport. I have to say, after walking through that city I never want to live there, and luckily I don't think I'll ever have to. We were going to try and see some of New York since our flight didn't leave 'til 6:00 but we would've had to drop off our luggage at a hotel and so we just hung out at the airport for hours. Another reason I hate flying. I was so grateful when we got home! The flight into Salt Lake made me a little sick and a little girl threw up behind us so that was fun. We were exhausted when we got home. Hayley was such a trooper this whole trip! She is my golden girl!

Traveling with a toddler is definitely different, especially on a cruise. I had to pack diapers, extra wipes, whole milk (the cruise ships don't have it), food pouches, toys, blankets, and thankfully my Mom brought her lightweight stroller cause mine is a jogging one. There are no bath tubs either so hosing Hayley up and down wasn't her favorite but she didn't hate it either. We made everything work but boy was it a little stressful at times!