in Tampa

After the shortest night imaginable with Oscar and John in a full

size bed with me (with Oscar pushing me out of the way most of the night so that I had a 2 inch space to sleep on), we got up and met mom and dad in the lobby of the hotel.  There were birthday presents for Oscar and we went for breakfast, hit a target and walmart for last minute things like more diapers

 that I didn't want to pack.  I tried to find sandals for Oscar because there were none available in Michigan when we left, shocking, I know.  But even in Florida, there were not many sandals out.  They had boots out as if in 80 degree weather the kids need fur lined boots simply because the

calendar says that it is winter.  How ridiculous is that? Although, when we get off the ship, I'm coming to buy cheap winter boots for Oscar after Christmas.  We spent some time at Ikea in the play area and then finally went to the cruise port to get on the boat.  Met up the Schillim family and spent the

hours in the line waiting to board getting reacquainted.  This was the worst boarding that we've ever experienced and we thought that it didn't bode well for Norwegian cruise line, but someone in line said that it was a Tampa cruise port problem and not the fault of the ship, so we'll reserve

  judgement.  Finally got on board at the time when you had to be on board and found out that our room was already ready for us, which was new.  We also got to look around and get familiar with the kids' part of the buffet which would become our main place on the boat for the next week.  We 

signed Oscar up for the kids' group and signed all the waivers that he could eat the vegetable based paints that they used in the toddler group....We weren't sure once we saw the rooms how the family of five next door would fit in there, but after dinner, the steward had set up the extra bed that took up the full space across the room and dropped down the bunk.  So, there was actually room for a ton of people in that room.  It was

shocking and Oscar didn't want to sleep in the bunk of course, but hit his head on it before we put it back up, so another head injury I'm sure.  This is the first time on this cruise line and in an interior cabin and we realized the problems with that the next morning when we

 woke feeling like it was still nighttime, and found out that it was 9:30am and we were going to mess breakfast soon.  It was so disorienting to have no natural light and we were making up for the crappy night on the plane anyway.  We got the swimsuits on and headed to

 the kid pool where Oscar could swim with a swim diaper on.  Everything I had read told me that he would not be allowed in any of the pools, but they had made this one especially for under 3 with a tiny slide and wading depth.  Oscar played for a while, but I realized that while I had tried on his summer 

 clothes before packing them, I hadn't tried on his swim diaper which was the largest size available.  I had just naturally assumed that it would still fit, but it's cutting off the circulation in his legs because it's so tight.  So, the first order of business when we dock tomorrow in Cozumel is getting some swim diapers.