New Years Vacation Day 4 - At Sea

We were at sea for our 4th day on vacation and that was nice because we decided to enjoy some of the activities on the ship and relax before we rang in the new year that night. We got up (we slept in - all of us until 10:40 AM! We are such slackers) and enjoyed a buffet breakfast again, delicious. We had promised Jasmine that we would go swimming and she had been looking forward to it. Before we hit the pool however, Lorne and I decided to take a dance class offered on the ship. We took a very fun waltz class with 2 of the crew members from the shows - Sandor and Juliana. It felt a bit like that scene in Dirty Dancing when the parents are taking the cha-cha class. Lorne and I had a blast and despite me being more pregnant, we did a great job and got complimented by the teachers. We love to dance together and I can think of no funner activity than to dance with my husband on the last day of the year.
So after dancing, we all got ready and headed up to the pool deck where we found a lot of people had decided to hang out and we had a hard time finding a chair for our things. We did finally find one and we readied to go in the pool. We were surprised to find that that the pool was a salt water pool with chlorine added to it. Jasmine and Lorne got in and swam around like champs. I never got my head fully under as it was my opinion the water was a bit on the cold side for me.After an hour of pool enjoyment, we headed back to our rooms to relax and change our clothes. Jasmine took a little nap and Lorne and I enjoyed reading our books. After Jasmine's nap, we decided to try out family bingo and we had a great time doing that. We didn't win a thing despite that they had 8-10 different rounds and they played different versions to keep the kids interested.After Bingo, Jasmine went back to the Fun Factory and we spent some time roaming around the ship. We checked out the art auction and casino and some of the shops. It is amazing what they can pack onto a ship - really. We also spent some time reading and taking a nap. It was so nice. When we picked up Jasmine from the afternoon activities (it was a pirate themed day with a scavenger hunt and face painting), she looked like she had had a blast and was decked out in pirate attire. Her role had been the Captain's girlfriend - I thought it was super cute and couldn't resist taking a few pictures.That night at dinner was formal night and since they take your formal pictures too, I wanted everyone to look their best since we hadn't had a professional family picture done yet in 2008. Jasmine looked amazing and her picture turned out so cute. Our family one was nice too and after the little photo session, we headed into the elaborately decorated dining room for a nice dinner.It was so nice because at our place settings, they had New Years hats and tiaras for us to wear and it was fun to see everyone in such a happy mood while they ate their last meal of 2008. And what a meal it was. As always, the food was amazing and even Jasmine enjoyed her food and the palette cleanser sorbet they brought for us.After dinner, Jasmine went back to the Fun Factory for some evening fun and Lorne and I caught the show. It was this guy named Steve who was amazing with his voice. He could make his voice sound like tons of stuff - trains, musical instruments and other things that he fit into his comedic act. He was very enjoyable and entertaining.The ship hosted a New Years party for everyone on the pool deck and of course we didn't want to miss it, so after the show, we headed up for the festivities. They had some live music and they had decorated the deck with flags and an ice sculpture that read 2008. We secured a great spot and then Lorne went and got Jasmine so she could be with us. They passed out noisemakers and champagne (we got some Sprite in the champagne glasses) and when it was midnight, Father Time and Baby New Year came out and smashed the ice sculpture number 8 with a sledgehammer and they replaced it with a number 9. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed it. I like that we didn't have to do anything but attend the party - they had already thought of everything.We were pretty tired and decided not to hang around for the after party and so we headed back to our rooms, but first stopped at the ice sculpture so that Jasmine could have a closer look. I loved being able to share this great night with my little family. I also loved that we could ring in the New Year with such a bang! Here's to 2009!