We didn’t get great sleep because Katie was coughing all night (even with NyQuil). The kids got up about 6:30 and I was able to ignore them until about 7—they wanted to go out and run around so I sent them out with instructions to be back by 8 for breakfast (Tom was working out and that gave me time to shower). It’s really great to be able to send them out on their own.
Tom and I had to stop to get our usual breakfast Bloody Marys (though the bar here is called Bow & Stern instead of Boot & Bonnet) and Linda joined us. We also enjoyed the people watching.
Then we introduced the kids and grandparents to the huge Windjammer buffet for breakfast.
Owen really wanted to to the flow rider so that was next. The little kids were bummed they were too small to do it but they had fun hanging out together.
He practiced twice on the boogie boards (stomach and knees) which then allowed him to upgrade to surfing at the more advanced station.
Now, just because he passed didn’t mean he was that good, LOL. It just meant that he had passed the bare minimum. Unfortunately he got super bummed on the next level because he kept falling—and they told him he was done. He misunderstood, though, and thought they meant he was DONE with the flow rider… but they just meant his turn was over. But he was also bummed because he didn’t stand up by himself and thought he was a failure. So we had to talk him down from that.
And we might have had a drink or two.
The rest of the afternoon included lunch, a veterans service (we all got medals and cake!), just hanging out around the ship, eating lunch, and watching the ice show.
Interestingly, I noticed this piece of art. Notice where it’s from?!
Tonight was also the first formal night. We were coming from the ice show so were already running behind, and then Tom realized he had forgotten his cuff links…so he ran down quick to the gift shops to buy some…and no one had any!! What?! So we were trying to figure out what he could use…and we ended up using a pair of Katie’s earrings (far from perfect but they worked for a bit). We also took formal family photos on the way into dinner…and one was good enough that I bought it!
The menu is good every night but some nights you just need to order four starters (they typically have four selections that change nightly and four “classics” that stay the same). I definitely took advantage of the Escargot many nights and Tom (and Owen) got the French Onion soup many nights.
Our server Hai was really great with the kids and was already making them balloon and napkin animals on the second night! We wondered what the rest of the week would have in store!
Owen was in the bathroom while this was happening and Aden was super sweet and made sure that she made a sword for him as well.
We took the kids to the Adventure Camp daycare after dinner with our friends’ kids and then went and hung out in our old favorite bar, Schooners. I tried to order my drink that I basically lived on last year, joking with the bartender that he had a lot to live up to…and surprisingly he was less than inviting. And I’d even go so far as to say he was a bit short with me. It was very odd, because normally all staff are very considerate and jovial and he…was not. Needless to say we didn’t go back there after that night.
But! We did have fun, as we ended up meeting our friends’ friends and their friends’ friends that night! So the eight of us just hung out talking and half singing along with the piano guy and having fun for a few hours.
The big joke was that Greg looked like Blake Shelton so I was taking “sneak shots” pointing at him behind me, saying I was going to post them on Facebook saying LOOK WHO I SAW ON MY CRUISE! (If you look closely you can see his wife laughing behind me because we set this up and he was posing.) And then he kept making fun saying JENNIFER HUDSON IS IN THE HOUSE!
Well, come to find out, he is an actual country singer! He joked that he’s famous within a 5-mile radius and I told his wife Anne that it was killing me not to be able to Google him which she found hilarious. So we just called him Blake and it was most of the night before I learned his real name was Greg. The other couple were were with—Mike and Melanie—were great, too.
Then we took a break for everyone to go get the kids from daycare. (Sidenote? They all said they hated it! Apparently all the other kids were rude and mean! No one wants to go back again!!)
And then this happened. I opted not to buy that photo.
Then we sent the kids to bed…and I made this happen because why not?!
From previous conversation, apparently Blake/Greg has a real knack for winning stuffed animals so we ended up going to the casino so the boys could try their hand at the Cash Claw game where a few of them tried unsuccessfully, of course, to win wrapped $100 stacks. It did provide us quite a bit of entertainment, though.
After we left the casino, the professional photographers were still out so we made the boys do this:
Later we determined they were the Bad Back Boys (a la Backstreet Boys grown up).
Shortly thereafter we called it a night and this is what we found when we got back to the room.
