Avalon's Birthday Cruise - Day 1

I can't believe a month has passed since we set sail on Avalon's birthday cruise! Since we have another trip coming up right around the corner, I figured I'd better get my act together and blog about it before I have a backlog of vacation posts (but oh what a good problem to have!). 

I have long thought that it would be awesome to celebrate Avalon's birthday in Avalon, the town on Catalina Island that is named after her. ;-) I was browsing the Carnival website one day in February when I logged into our account and noticed we had an amazing offer for a deeply discounted cruise fare... so we figured, why not this year?!

You might remember that we cruised back in December for my brother's birthday...and in May before that...so this was our third family cruise in under a year, sailing the exact same 4-day itinerary to Catalina and Ensenada. I don't think we could ever get sick of it!

We sailed on the Carnival Inspiration this time, as we did last May (and has Shaun and I have done on our own twice before as well), but got to enjoy some new updates to the ship that were made when it was in dry dock in February. What made this cruise a truly new adventure, however, was the fact that we all squeezed into ONE INTERIOR room this time instead of having two connecting outside rooms, as we did on the last two cruises. And you know what... it wasn't too bad!

We set sail on Monday, April 25th and returned on Friday, April 29th. It was an absolutely amazing trip with only one downside...

Our plan to celebrate Avalon's birthday in Avalon was foiled! My heart sank when we were handed this flier upon check-in:

Talk about best laid plans going awry! But fortunately, I was the one most disappointed by the change of plans. After realizing that no one else (including the Birthday girl) cared much about it, it didn't take long for me to get over it. Hey, there's always next year, right? :-)

We sailed through check-in and security without much of a wait at all and were on board before 1pm. We headed straight to our room (M-53) to check out our "cozy" accommodations, and that's where our adventure begins! 

First pic in our stateroom! As you can see, a case of the sillies had already begun to set in! The girls changed into their swim suits (which we had packed in our carry-on) and off we went for lunch and some fun in the sun.

The girls asked me to take this pic of them in front of a graphic of a cruise ship in the hall across from our room

Eddie digging into his first meal of the cruise

Avalon was devastated about having to wait until after lunch to swim, but this chocolate milk boosted her spirits

Posing on a couch in route to the pool deck

Mom and Dad with drinks in hand means the cruise has officially begun (Avalon took this pic!)

The pool was ice cold so the girls hit the hot tub instead

While the girls relaxed in the hot tub, Eddie got to know some members of the crew

Eddie was definitely the "MPP" (Most Popular Passenger) from day one!

First visit to one of our favorite spots on the ship... the Waterworks!

Time to dry off and get ready for the muster drill

Trying her life jacket on for size

Life jacket pics are a "must" on every cruise!

After the muster drill it was time for sail away and our first dinner of the cruise

Cheese!

Goofballs :)

 Avalon wrote us this heartbreaking note while she and Ellie were in the kid's club after dinner. They were both a little upset when we picked them up after only a little over an hour. :( Luckily it was only first-day jitters (not to mention exhaustion from the long, fun day) and they were excited to go back later in the cruise.

Posing with our first towel animal after returning to our room

This is what a room for five looks like come bedtime. Cozy!

The last pic of Avalon as a 5-year-old! Showered, PJ'd, tucked into bed, and excited for her birthday the next day!