We came down to Galveston a day early so they could enjoy playing on the beach and we could avoid the long drive the same day as embarkation. This was Alex's first time to see the beach and the older three had not been since before Alex was born. Everyone was really excited to get up and go the next morning.
The weather was CHILLY! Ok, I'm just a wimp. It was in the 60's, cold enough for me to wear a jacket the entire time, but the kids did not seem to mind at all and spent the entire day on the beach playing, building sand castles and other random creations, and running in and out of the water. By late afternoon everyone was worn out (and I was frozen) so we headed back to the room for showers, dinner, and bed.
We stayed at the Best Western right across the street from the ocean. We thought it would be a great idea, but it ended up being a nightmare! We were all settled in to bed when around 10:30 I began to hear water dripping in the bathroom area. I thought perhaps it was rain, but realized there was another floor above us and that couldn't be possible. It turned out that the toilet in the room above us had backed up and was flooding all over. It went down three floors and was flooding into the garage below. The flooding in our room was so bad we had to wake up the kids and transfer to a new room with all of our luggage at 11:30. Not. Fun.
We were SO ready to get away from that hotel that we were up and checked out by 10am. Embarkation was not supposed to be until 12:30, but for lack of anything else to do we went ahead and headed to the terminal. Turns out they let us check in and walk right on the boat with NO lines! The kids and I spent the next two hours investigating the boat and searching out all the fun things to do. We had a huge lunch and then lounged around by the pool until our rooms were ready at 1:30. There was a bean bag toss game right by the pools that kept the kids captivated for quite some time, with Christian winning the majority of the games by a large margin, and not quite humble about it either.
My friend Rachael and her family also booked to join us on the cruise and the met up with us after lunch. Her daughter Hannah is the same age group as our boys and once she arrived they were all off together to terrorize the boat.
They played basketball, miniature golf, ping pong, went hot tubbing and swimming together and discovered the hot chocolate and ice cream bar. Completely contradictory, I know.
Late afternoon we had to assemble at our muster stations for the required safety briefing. Alex got just a bit bored, as you can see.
By the time the sun set on this day we were all beat. As I type the kids are all in their adjoining room having a pillow fight with each other and Hannah and laughing hysterically.
They have let me know that tomorrow they want to "wake up early, eat breakfast on the back of the boat where it is peaceful and quiet, have some more hot chocolate, then hit the water slides and swimming pools."
Alex said that the pretend grass at the mini golf course was the most amazing thing ever!
Amanda said her favorite part to this point has been riding up and down on the glass elevators where you can see 11 floors! Crazy!
William has enjoyed swimming in the "freezing pool" and drinking unlimited hot chocolate.
Christian also says that having endless amounts of food at his fingertips has been awesome.
We really want to schedule a family cruise with all of the extended family for this next Christmas. The kids would all have so much fun with all of their cousins. Crossing my fingers that we can all somehow make it work.
We are at sea all day tomorrow. Lots of sun block required.
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