Once Upon A Time...: Our Great Adventure Begins...

Lisa

We left for our long awaited trip late in the evening on Friday September 21st. We caught a red-eye out of SLC that flew us directly to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Liam kept stopping random people to ask them to please not fly the plane too high. Maga insisted on spending a fortune on airport treats. Once we got to Florida it was about five in the morning EST but three in the morning for us. We called the hotel and they sent a shuttle for us. Exhausted we asked if there was somewhere we could store our luggage until our rooms were ready for check in at three in the afternoon. The hotel manager was amazing and just let us check directly in. We promptly passed out and slept until noon.

Lisa

After waking up we walked to Winn Dixie to buy some roast chicken, cheese and fruit. We took a delightful swim in the pool, and went back to bed. The next day we took the hotel shuttle to the airport and then got on the cruise shuttle to the cruise dock. We waited for our rooms to be ready in the game room. We played Battleship and other board games. Ellie insisted on being taken to the bathroom about eight times. Finally we went to our rooms. The kids were delighted by the connecting doors.

Ian

“It was really late at night. When I got on the plane; I didn’t get any sleep. But before I talk about that; I need to tell you what happened at the airport. We went through security a lot. So it took a matter of patience. But we made it. First made it through the metal detector. Then we waited for a super long time for our flight. Once we entered we did wait. We started taking off. It was really boring to be on there. Sometimes when you are on a plane you can get really bored getting stuck in a metal tube. You know what a metal tube is right? A plane.”

Ian

“Florida’s air was mighty steamy with heat. We took a taxi and drove to our hotel. It was good to be in a hotel because I did not like the air outside. But it seemed that mom and dad did. I slept over with Pa and Jamie. I was able to get a good night’s sleep. The next day we went to a store named Winn Dixie. The store was recognizing from a book cover that I read in fourth grade. We bought chicken, raspberries, and a lunch-able kit. It was good to have dinner. It was great in there. We found a lizard we named him conquistador. We sent him off into the wild. We went to the swimming pool. We had fun there. We eventually went back to the room and went to sleep.”

Miles

“Well I remember that there was a small mini tv on the airplane. I also remember taking off the ground. The airplane was going back and forth and everywhere. I remember when the airplane was going on the ground for a small bit until the engines started going on and we were going high in the sky. About ten thousand feet.”

Miles

“We went lizard hunting and learned the fact that lizards don’t have teeth. Even though that lizards don’t have teeth; I was still afraid for the lizard to bite me. We were in a hotel. I took a picture of a picture with my camera. I liked the picture because it was 3D. We discovered a new thing in Florida and it is a type of vine that grows on trees that is called Spanish Moss. We had a fun time swimming. Liam tried to dunk me a lot of times. Instead of the air smelling fresh; it smelled moist.”

Ellie

Yeah I wanted to get out. Something made my heart jumped. I slept on the plane. These lizards are little. These lizards are cute. I loved these lizards. I hear the lizards.

Matt

After a great deal of saving, planning and preparing by Lisa, her mom, my mom and myself, the day for our long awaited "boat trip" finally arrived. Having been so long away from all the things I was familiar with growing up, I was really excited to go with everyone to see the sights together. The long ordeal of preparing the house and making arrangements for animals to be watched and establishing rides for the kids and luggage to the airport were finally coming together. Dad drove Lisa, Ian and Ellie and Meagan drove me, Liam and Miles. This was a great blessing as it meant we didn't have to pay for parking. When we got to the airport my mom was waiting for us there and Lisa and I were immediately caught up in the arranging luggage check-in, security lines, etc. and had a substantial wait before our flight boarded. We were able to check most of our luggage in and only had our second carry-ons to worry about. Since we were a group of nine and we had purchased our tickets far in advance, we were able to sit together. In one row Duane, Jamie and Ian sat together with Ian able to look out the window. My mom, Liam and myself sat in the next row and Ellie, Lisa and Miles sat in the last row with Miles able to watch out the window.

Liam was particularly nervous and was given lorazepam to help calm his anxiety. He gripped my hand and my mom's hand and we had to talk him through the take-off. When no explosions resulted and pressure didn't build in his ears, he was able to relax and even "consented" to sit by the window. We flew all through the night and Liam watched Mary Poppins. Ian, Miles and Ellie fell asleep and even Liam drifted off briefly. When we landed in Florida, you could tell we weren't in Utah any more by the sudden rush of humidity that could be felt, even in the airport itself. The kids woke up and had glazed expressions and glassy eyes, but they did excellent considering we landed at 4:57 am (2:57 am Mountain Standard Time). No one threw a fit, (unless you count Pa) and everyone followed directions reasonably well.

We meandered down and found all our luggage and made it to the curb for our hotel shuttle to pick us up. Again, we were fortunate that our driver (Manuel from Haiti), promptly came and got us and whisked us off to the Holiday Inn Express.

Now, the hotel was in a state being under construction. For nine tired people it was a little disheartening, not to mention normal check-in wasn't for another ten hours or so. But the night manager was very kind and understanding and allowed us to check in at six-ish and didn't charge us any extra for it. Some of us grabbed a bite to eat at the breakfast bar the hotel had, but most could think of nothing but sleep.

Matt

Lisa, Ellie and I shared a commodious and well-appointed room with a King size bed, Maga, Liam and Miles shared a room across the hall from us with the same set up and Ian, Duane and Jamie shared a room on the second floor. No sooner had we all settled in than we fell deeply asleep, (except for maybe Ian; he felt awkward sharing with his grandparents and got broken sleep on the day bed/sofa that came with the room.)

I woke up first and went to check on everyone, letting Lisa and Ellie sleep. The Maga, Liam, Miles group were still asleep, and Lisa's parents and Ian were awake. Ellie woke up when I got back so we six decided to go for a walk to pick up some lunch/dinner items. Funnily enough, there was a Winn Dixie just up the road and across the street. My mom wouldn't have come, even had she been awake. All growing up, I heard her disgust at the name of Winn Dixie ("wishful thinking" is what she used to call it) and she avoided shopping there whenever possible. Being from New Hampshire and with ancestors that fought on the side of the Union, it offended her. We picked up fried bottled water, chicken, bread, cheese, raspberries and a deli tray in typical Sanderson family style. It was fun walking over there despite the heat and humidity and to hear Ian's take on the "steamy" air. We also saw multiple lizards and Ian and Ellie had fun watching them.

When we got back, Maga, Liam and Miles were awake and ready to eat so we all had fun eating the items we picked up at Winn Dixie. I laid down while Lisa took the kids swimming in the pool. When they got back, I had the boys go with me to explore the Florida "jungle."

This was something I really wanted to do with them. Having the boys with me while we explored the grounds and looked at the palm trees and the coconuts on the ground with all the Florida anoles running around brought back memories of when I was a kid in Florida. Liam brought a coconut over and we broke it open so he and Miles could see what was inside. I caught an anole and let each of the boys touch and hold it. All were hesitant at first but they all came around to holding it. At one point we got to a wall that surrounded a vacant lot and I told them all kinds of tropical plants and creatures were probably living in there. Liam was convinced it was the perfect jungle to explore and all the boys wanted to climb the wall and explore. I told them "maybe another day." I pointed out the Spanish moss and asked them what they thought it was. After various answers from plant to animal, I told them it was a plant and that Spanish Conquistadors thought it was the beards of old men that had gotten caught in the trees. Ian had been studying Columbus and Spanish explorers in history and thought that was a cool story. All that talk about Spanish explorers in Florida prompted the boys to name the lizard we caught "Conquistador." We got back to the hotel rooms and showed Ellie the lizard and then let him go outside the hotel. After that, we all got ready for bed looking forward to the new adventures the Carnival Conquest would take us.

Liam

“I went to rainforest in Florida. I liked the lizards. Airplane ride was good. It went so higher and I worried. I went with Maga and Miles in the hotel. I went outside to swimming pool.”

Matt

We all got up the next morning and packed our luggage. We snapped a picture of all of us in our vacation shirts and then checked out of the hotel. We took a shuttle to the airport which then connected us to a shuttle that would take us to the docks. I know it sounds complicated, but it was the cheapest way to do things. Boarding the ship and passing through all the lines was as tedious as it always is, but the ship looked great and was set up almost identically to the Carnival Magic which was reassuring to Liam. We had to wait for our rooms to be ready, so we went to eat lunch at the buffet and then played games in the library. We finally got to our cabins in the afternoon and we were able to rest until the safety briefing was given. I was holding Ellie in the intense heat and sweating profusely. One of the crew members saw me, and was probably anxious that I might get heat stroke and so he released our group early. We then went back to our rooms and prepared for dinner.

Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed a lovely view of the ocean as the dining facility was at the back of the ship. We had a great window seat and had great views in the back and on both sides of the ship. The moon was bright and a beautiful sight shimmering on the water. We went for a little stroll around the top deck and then went to bed early because the next day we had fun planned in the city of Nassau.

Ian

“We started heading to the dock where this boat called ‘the Carnival Conquest’ was. We went on. We had lunch. It was kind of bad for us because we had to wait to get our rooms. Once we had eaten we went to the library and got some games. We played battleship. I eventually won. Liam kept on cheating. When we went to our rooms it was first small. When we had connecting rooms it was big. I liked our rooms. We pretty much stayed there until we went to a fancy dinner. Then we went to bed.”

Liam

“I went boat trip. I playing games. I play checkers.”

Miles

“We got to pick what kind of dinner we wanted on the menu. We got to pick out what kind of breakfast on the menu. We got our own lanyard and our own room keys. Every time that I looked out the window all I saw was the water. Sometimes I saw islands and seaweed, but I didn’t always see islands and seaweed.”