Bermuda Cruise 2018
The girls ended their school year early and flew out of Dallas to Nashville. Riley has flown by herself before, but it was the first time for Julia to fly without us. She was a bit nervous - mostly nervous that she and Riley would argue - but had a great flight with no issues.
The morning they flew out Riley had her Spanish final which she completed with an A and Julia spent the morning in class with end of year wrap up items. Their school had 3 1/2 days remaining and the girls, while loving school a lot, were excited to go on their cruise with Grandma and Grandpa.
They met up with my parents in Nashville and spent the night in a hotel. The next morning they woke up early to fly to Chicago and then on to Providence, RI. They spent a few days with their Uncle Jon and Aunt Allison and cousins Matthew and Abby. Riley wasn't used to having a much younger sibling around and Matthew absolutely loved having them there.
On Friday morning, they headed into Boston and got on the cruise ship. They sailed Norwegian to Bermuda for the week. My parents had a beautiful family suite on board and the pictures looked amazing. Julia counted the furniture in the room over the phone..."there are four chairs, one table, one couch, one big bed..." They were excited about the larger room.
We talked on the phone for a bit while they were docked and I was between time with my advisory on the last day of school. We didn't keep in touch during their time at sea and waited a full week to hear from them. I missed them like crazy!! Time with Jeremy was so nice. It was much quieter and we enjoyed binge watching the end of Scandal as well as watching some movies. However, it was so great to hear their little voices again when they were docked again in Boston.
I was excited to see my Mom's name appear on my phone when they called the following Friday morning. When I answered the phone, the first thing the girls said was "It's National Donut Day!" Cracked me up. They said it was a wonderful trip and my mom said she'd share lots of stories later.
Turns out that while it was a wonderful trip, it didn't begin easily. Seven out of the twelve people on their trip came down with a nasty stomach bug - Riley had it quite bad apparently and missed two full days of things on the ship. One night my mom and Julia went to Jon and Allison's cabin to sleep there so that my Dad and Riley (two of the sick ones) could have their cabin to themselves.
My mom had Julia and Matthew quite a bit of the time during those first two days. She said that she took them to the stairway at one point and the kids ran up and down the stairs to wear themselves out. Then they got in the glass elevator and literally took it up and down. Two people got in the elevator and asked my mom what floor they were going to. My mom told them that they were just riding it and any floor was fine. The people laughed.
After the sickness passed, they got off the ship to enjoy the harbor and some gift shops off the port. As it was raining on their final day, they only had one day where they were healthy enough to get off so they didn't do any excursions or see much of Bermuda at all. But they spent tons of time on the pools on the ship and everyone loved their vacation!
Riley won an exciting prize while on the ship. My dad and Riley went to a Key Master machine to try to win a prize. There was a Nintendo Switch at the top and Riley tried to get it. She almost got it that night after a few tries. They said she stayed up all night thinking about how she could get it. The next day, my dad took her to try again. They spent about $20 total (10 times) trying to get the key to punch through the opening. Riley lined up the horizontal angle and my dad went to move it vertically. He said Riley was on the side of the machine and he thought she said "now," so he clicked the button. She hadn't said it, but sure enough - it was the right time! The key went through and out came the box.
They went to get a manager to unlock it and bring out the real box (there's only an empty one in the machine). The guy behind them said that he'd stay there to make sure that no one else claimed it was theirs while they went to find the manager. When he got to the machine, he asked who had won it and everyone pointed at Riley. My dad wasn't aware of the cost of the item and couldn't believe it when he found out that she'd won the most expensive item in the case. Riley was ecstatic!
There was quite a group of people who were standing around the machine who cheered Riley on and congratulated her on the win. My parents said that people would pass Riley in the halls/dining areas and ask her if she was the girl who had won the Nintendo Switch. Some would high five her and others congratulated her. Completely made her cruise special!
The morning they flew out Riley had her Spanish final which she completed with an A and Julia spent the morning in class with end of year wrap up items. Their school had 3 1/2 days remaining and the girls, while loving school a lot, were excited to go on their cruise with Grandma and Grandpa.
They met up with my parents in Nashville and spent the night in a hotel. The next morning they woke up early to fly to Chicago and then on to Providence, RI. They spent a few days with their Uncle Jon and Aunt Allison and cousins Matthew and Abby. Riley wasn't used to having a much younger sibling around and Matthew absolutely loved having them there.
On Friday morning, they headed into Boston and got on the cruise ship. They sailed Norwegian to Bermuda for the week. My parents had a beautiful family suite on board and the pictures looked amazing. Julia counted the furniture in the room over the phone..."there are four chairs, one table, one couch, one big bed..." They were excited about the larger room.
We talked on the phone for a bit while they were docked and I was between time with my advisory on the last day of school. We didn't keep in touch during their time at sea and waited a full week to hear from them. I missed them like crazy!! Time with Jeremy was so nice. It was much quieter and we enjoyed binge watching the end of Scandal as well as watching some movies. However, it was so great to hear their little voices again when they were docked again in Boston.
I was excited to see my Mom's name appear on my phone when they called the following Friday morning. When I answered the phone, the first thing the girls said was "It's National Donut Day!" Cracked me up. They said it was a wonderful trip and my mom said she'd share lots of stories later.
Turns out that while it was a wonderful trip, it didn't begin easily. Seven out of the twelve people on their trip came down with a nasty stomach bug - Riley had it quite bad apparently and missed two full days of things on the ship. One night my mom and Julia went to Jon and Allison's cabin to sleep there so that my Dad and Riley (two of the sick ones) could have their cabin to themselves.
My mom had Julia and Matthew quite a bit of the time during those first two days. She said that she took them to the stairway at one point and the kids ran up and down the stairs to wear themselves out. Then they got in the glass elevator and literally took it up and down. Two people got in the elevator and asked my mom what floor they were going to. My mom told them that they were just riding it and any floor was fine. The people laughed.
After the sickness passed, they got off the ship to enjoy the harbor and some gift shops off the port. As it was raining on their final day, they only had one day where they were healthy enough to get off so they didn't do any excursions or see much of Bermuda at all. But they spent tons of time on the pools on the ship and everyone loved their vacation!
Riley won an exciting prize while on the ship. My dad and Riley went to a Key Master machine to try to win a prize. There was a Nintendo Switch at the top and Riley tried to get it. She almost got it that night after a few tries. They said she stayed up all night thinking about how she could get it. The next day, my dad took her to try again. They spent about $20 total (10 times) trying to get the key to punch through the opening. Riley lined up the horizontal angle and my dad went to move it vertically. He said Riley was on the side of the machine and he thought she said "now," so he clicked the button. She hadn't said it, but sure enough - it was the right time! The key went through and out came the box.
They went to get a manager to unlock it and bring out the real box (there's only an empty one in the machine). The guy behind them said that he'd stay there to make sure that no one else claimed it was theirs while they went to find the manager. When he got to the machine, he asked who had won it and everyone pointed at Riley. My dad wasn't aware of the cost of the item and couldn't believe it when he found out that she'd won the most expensive item in the case. Riley was ecstatic!
There was quite a group of people who were standing around the machine who cheered Riley on and congratulated her on the win. My parents said that people would pass Riley in the halls/dining areas and ask her if she was the girl who had won the Nintendo Switch. Some would high five her and others congratulated her. Completely made her cruise special!
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