A Fabulous Cruise comes to an end, and a Florida Vacation begins

December 24, 2011

Our shipped docked in Ft. Lauderdale by 7:00am.  I woke up early to take pictures.   I stood out on our balcony and counted 8 ships in port that Christmas Eve morning. It has rained a little in the early morning, and loved seeing the rainbow.

Mya and Riley woke up and of course I needed a picture

We all ate a yummy breakfast in Lido, and got a few more family pictures.  Ang and Al were headed straight to the airport for their flight home.  The rest of us were headed to the hotel.

So grateful for the wonderful week we spent with Jer's family.  It was an awesome family vacation!  We then checked into the Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in Ft. Lauderdale. I can't say enough about how much I loved this resort! Beautiful, right on the beach, great pool area, fabulous lounge areas, just a wonderful resort to stay at. We enjoyed 5 fabulous nights there! Loved every minute!

We all changed into our swimsuits and enjoyed the pool area. Jeff and Jer signed up to Parasail. Their time slot was 5:30, but it started raining at 5:00pm and so the company said no more for the evening. :( Here they are so excited after signing up.  Sad they didn't get to do it.  Next time boys!

Enjoying the beach before the little rain storm came in.

We then all got dressed to go out.  Kids playing on the bed.

Rain stopped,  we left the resort and drove to Cheesecake Factory for a nice Christmas Eve dinner. We were told the wait time was 35 minutes. An hour later Jer and his sister asked what was taking so long. Guess a water pipe broke in the area, and all water in Ft. Lauderdale had been turned off. Why none of the waiting guests were told that is beyond me. So frustrating. It was 8:30, we were all hungry, and the babies were getting tired. I was so sad. What was going to be a lovely Christmas Eve celebration, turned into us all getting McDonald's to-go(which ended up being the funniest drive-thru experience ever), dropping Jeff and Ashley off at the Hilton by the airport(they had an early morning flight home to Ohio Christmas Day), and getting back to our place at 11pm. Ash and Dave stayed and played a super fun round of Phase 10, then they left about 1:30am and drove to Orlando(where they were spending the next week). What a Christmas Eve! One to remember! :) HAHA!!!  I think we made the best of it!  :)  We all purchased a little Cheesecake dessert to-go!  No McD's for me, but I sure enjoyed my dessert!

Back at the hotel, the kids changed into their new Christmas PJ's(beside Molly who was too tired to change) and then we played Phase 10.

A few of the kids just couldn't stay awake.

                                         
                                             Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!