Summer Holidays 2013

Summer vacation of 2013 will be well remembered for several reasons. For one it was our first family vacation since we moved back. It brought back all the wonderful memories that we had in our adopted home country and everything we loved about it. It helped kids connect back with their friends. Such a visit after a 2 year stint in India gave a new found appreciation of the ways of the world and how very different every country is while the common denominator seem to be in relationships and bonding.

Kids school closed on 31 March and the excitement of up coming visit would show up as bright glee on their faces or as a stark contrast to the norm..being nice to each other!

We flew in to Atlanta to join Praveen and his parents. Bisi, Pradeep and Appu drove down to spend the weekend with us. The kids were off to a promising start as an onslaught of cameras capturing the moment kept clicking.

Pradeep and family hit the road on Sunday only to miss all of the entertainment provided by Praveen Jr.
















Here it was.. the long awaited cruise to the Bahamas was just around the corner. We rented a 12 passenger van and decided to drive to Port Canaveral. The plan called for lugging the sleeping kids at 2AM and leave Atlanta latest by 3. Well we managed to get out by 4 so that wasn't too bad...!

The drive was pretty uneventful until Krishnan called to announce his landing in Orlando. The very conversation about Krishnan sent Nishanth's smile from one ear to the next. After all his Krishnan Maman meant the world to him and he was as close as ever to the most sought after moment of the trip.

Pretty soon we were at the port driving past the docked ships as everyone looked out in amazement at the massive ships.

The map, Itinerary and the ship are below.

Day	Port	Ashore	Onboard
1	Port Canaveral, Florida	—	3:45 p.m.
2	Nassau	9:30 a.m.	5:45 p.m.
3	Castaway Cay	8:30 a.m.	4:30 p.m.
4	Port Canaveral, Florida	7:30 a.m.	—

Day 1: Everybody onboard...!

The dock as we head out to sea

Kids on board

Soaking the view from out room

Cooling off at the pool deck

Praveen made his bid to become Nishanth's favorite mama soon after

The tower of kids

Keeping a watchful eye

Lookout for Neetu!

I want to go back!

Day 2: Arrived at Nassau. We did not have anything planned. After breakfast we disembarked the ship and went into the tourism center where we bargained for a snorkel and a beach trip. It turned out to be the best bargain and set the ground work for a wonderful day ahead.

A cruise ship parking lot!! View from our Snorkel boat

View from the ship as we docked

The boat took us by some of the vacation homes owned by well known personalities like Tiger Woods and Oprah Winfrey.

Spotted some celebrities on the ship

As Arjun would say "YO Man me cool !!"

Dancing on the boat

Celebrity vacation homes

Ready to disembark at Nassau

All set to Snorkel

Yep..Me... I survived Snorkeling

Suni singing? Amu's expression says it all!

Describes the day

Formal Dinner

Yummy Micky Ice Cream

Pirates of the Caribbean - Before Dinner Show

Achan and Amma stomps to the beat

Caught gulping down butter...!

Pirate.. Watch out !

After a long day he waits for us back in the room

Day 3: Castaway Cay

Neetu

Arrival Castaway Cay

More food

Lunch Time..

Theater

KK and his girls

Blue waters..

Dressed up for the show

OK.. We give up....!

Fabulous show..

The Kutty's @ dinner table

Neetu's desert

Just love this picture

Day 4: All done.. and wonderful memories to cherish. All of us headed back to Atlanta, Suni, her mom and the girls to Kansas and KK flew across continents to Bangalore.

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