Cruise 2010 Day 4

**I originally wrote this post on Tuesday afternoon (July 6th)**

We have had a great time in Bermuda!

Yesterday we went to the zoo/aquarium, which was really cool. There were a lot of animals I had never seen before and the exhibits were set up in ways that you were really close to the animals.

From Cruise 2010

Nicholas couldn’t really pick out some of the ones I thought were most interesting (like a wallaby and this thing that looked just like a dinosaur), but he loved the flamingos and he was fascinated by the bright red birds and orange monkeys that walked right past him in the free-range section. He actually tried to chase the birds, but luckily they are speedier than he is (even though his walking is getting pretty good).

We then spent some time in Hamilton, where Nicholas made friends with the owner of the little diner where we had lunch and was captivated by sailboats.

From Cruise 2010

The rest of yesterday afternoon was really rough. After spending a lot of Sunday fighting to get Nicholas to nap (culminating in taking him out of dinner to nap after only 10 minutes because he was melting down so much he couldn’t even work up an interest in eating strawberries), he napped a little better yesterday but was still a complete wreck. Nap didn’t help, crackers didn’t help, bath didn’t help. He just couldn’t deal with the world. I finally concluded that he must not feel right and was a little worried because even though he didn’t have a fever, he has been pretty congested and I was worried it could be something more than a cold.

Then the idea popped into my head from nowhere that maybe that fourth molar that poked through a little a few weeks ago and then just stalled might be finally really coming through and hurting him. We figured it was worth putting a little Orajel on the spot on the off chance that was it. Literally within about 5 seconds he went from an utter mess to delightful. I was so glad that was the solution but felt bad because he was probably hurting for days and I could have fixed it but didn’t. Major guilt trip.

This morning we went to the beach, which Nicholas thought was really cool. He did his usual thing where he spends the first half of the time studying it and then can start having fun.

Here he is in the studying phase:

From Cruise 2010

He then got really brave, charging at waves and pushing in deeper and laughing.

From Cruise 2010

If the water came up higher than his waist, though, he started to get worried.

He was so worn out from playing in the ocean, the sun, and just trying to take it all in that he fell asleep on the taxi ride back to the ship. Falling asleep in the car isn’t unusual for him, but falling asleep in someone’s arms definitely is. But he was out like a light in Joe’s arms.

Here are a couple more pictures from Horseshoe Bay, which is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen:

From Cruise 2010

From Cruise 2010

From Cruise 2010