Cruising - Day Two ~ Messina, Sicily, and More

I shared about Day One here in case you haven't read it. 

This was our kids' first time cruising and they thought it was FABULOUS. It was for so many reasons. There is always loads to do on the ship and, I'm sure you have heard before, there is food at every turn. There was an ice cream machine right near the pool and the kids could help themselves... within reason, of course. 

Miniature golf was a huge hit for our oldest son, Austin. He loves golf! Put him on a cruise ship with it and you know where to find him. He spent lots of time there. Towards the end, the amount of time he spent putting decreased some, but not much.

Here's my happy bunch!

Grant was having lots of fun at mini golf as well.

Braaten and Mel

Notice in the background that you can see land and not sea. That was because we were at our first port: Messina, Sicily. I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

We spent some time in the arcade.

I gave Austin a run for his money, but he won 7 to 5 I think. 

I know a lot of you reading this have fond memories of Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man as I do. I can just hear those quarters jingling in my pocket back in 1980-81 when I put one after the other into the machine to see how many of those dots I could swallow up. It still draws me. My husband gets a kick out of watching me play because I'm not too shabby at it. I never came close to the high score, though. It was something like 204,300. I got like 30,000 which is pretty lame, but I had a lot of fun anyway.

Shawn, on the other hand, likes to play Missile Command and he did, in fact, get his name on the screen. He was in the top 3. He even took a picture of it. I think I'm rubbing off on him. He was thinking it was a bloggable moment. I might have to put the score up on my next post.

After those activities, we put the kids into the kids program to try it out. We told them we would be back in an hour because we had a couple of leery children that wanted us to check on them in case they didn't like it. 

An hour went by, we checked, and they stayed. They loved it! 

Since the kids were all happy and cared for, we got off the ship and went into Messina. The shops and restaurants were within walking distance of the ship. We strolled around hand in hand just taking in the sights. Since it was after 1 in the afternoon, half of the town was closed due to siesta. We were able to pick up a few souvenirs, take pictures, and then head back on board.

What a great door! I love the patina finish. It's beautiful. 

Is it not huge,

and ornate?

Just a cool clock tower in the town.

I love looking at boats on the water. This bunch was really colorful. I guess you don't usually call them a bunch of boats, but you get the idea.

This is what we first saw as the ship was docking.

We enjoyed our little trip to Sicily.

After spending the day doing all of these various activities, we put our formal wear on for dinner. They usually have one or two formal nights on most ships which is fun to dress up for. They have photographers around to take pictures of you that can be purchased for a somewhat hefty fee.

While the girls were in the kids program, they met two of the sweetest girls. They are sisters named Jadon an Kyla. Actually Jadon went with her mom on an excursion and summoned Kyla to make some cool friends for her. Mission accomplished and these girls were not to be separated for the rest of the cruise! Good job, Kyla!

Melanie, Braaten, Jadon, and Kyla in the front.

Grant, Austin, and Cooper looking dapper.

Our waiter took a picture of us at our table. The food was delicious every night.

My handsome hubs and I

This picture was taken as we listened to the captain of the ship give his welcome address and before we went to the evening show.

This Elton John impersonator was really great.

Each night when we went back to our room, these funny little animal characters were made and put on our bed. 

Day 2 was great! Stop by again so I can share the rest.