The Hoyt’s invited us over for the holiday, so we celebrated Johanna’s birthday with our special friends.
An extreme badminton game.
Marguerite bought her balloons.
I love this little girl and I love this family God is allowing us to do life with.
It was a rainy weekend, but the sun always shines through this one’s smile.
Our newest teenager!
She’s going to have a great year!
we hurried home from our vacation so that we could attend graduation parties and the ceremony.
These beauties will get their moment NEXT May!
We visited Costa Maya in 2016. We had a great day there on that visit, but the region had been hard hit by both the lockdowns and hurricanes. We knew going in that our day would be a little weird.
The ship was not going to dock until 1PM or so, so the morning was ours.
Daddy visited the coffee shop and brought the girls back some pain du chocolat.
We went to the main dining room again for breakfast. It was such a nice view and our meal was excellent.
We all did, um, things? for the next few hours. Johanna tried the rock climbing wall.
Tab absorbed vitamin D.
Marie found a covered lounger.
Johanna went for a swim.
And came back with a beverage. These kids know how to cruise!
John and Nigel.
After some lunch from the buffet, we got the all clear for disembarkation.
I had some basic idea of getting through the port area and finding a cab to take us to the Malecon where we could find a beach to chill on.
On the outer edge of the port, there was no shortage of men and women offering beach packages. We found one that sounded safe (you need to re-read our 2019 nightmare to understand this was a HUGE leap of faith for us), and we headed to a very popular beach. The package was inexpensive, and drinks were also reasonable. But we had to endure SO MUCH SOLICITATION. To the point that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. It was exhausting.
We had real Coke! Yum.
And after a few hours we decided to request a cab back to the port. Here, we paused to enjoy some flamingos.
And take a photo with the same sign we have a photo of Tab and Hanny with from 2016.
It was few hours until dinner, so we all kind of found things to do and eat. The pizza was not terrible. The sauce and cheese were actually good.
This is where I need to brag on Katriel.
The area where you can get pizza is also the area where you can get small sandwiches and pastries. The pizza line is often super long, while the sandwich/pastry side is much shorter. Katriel had discovered earlier in the cruise that if you were in the line for a sandwich or pastry and also asked for pizza, they would get you both.
She’s a genius! She got a donut for her and two slices for me and no one was sad.
As the ship was pulling out of port I was able to get a cool video of the sun setting.
Tab was with us for dinner, but wasn’t feeling photo-y. No problem.
Most of us had coconut shrimp.
Tab had bao tacos.
Katriel had the fruit cup.
She also had mac and cheese again and ice cream again.
We really did try a wide variety of dishes.
DH and I had the jerk pork. It was amazing.
I only ate 25% but it was so so good
Tabby had tiger shrimp.
Nigel is the least excited about food with a Caribbean flair; he opted for pesto pasta.
Johanna had NY strip AGAIN
And Marie had the Caribbean chicken. We’d been told it was quite spicy, but she said it was perfect
Most desserts were represented.
The carrot cake was a 6/10 to Tab and I. Needed more frosting.
The sunshine cake was a 7-8/10 for three of us.
The brownie was 10/10, as was the chocolate cake.
Tab and I got up and hit the gym. The view was gorgeous. It was the only sunrise we saw, and the only gym time we logged in.
I got some coffee at the Starbucks included with our drink package.
And ran into these two. ♥
After getting cleaned up, I grabbed a picture of the shower so I could demonstrate just how compact they really are.
We took some photos around the ship and had a seat to enjoy our coffees.
And then headed in to breakfast.
This is the one main dining room. At dinner time we eat on the third floor at 8PM.
For breakfast we are seated on the first level.
The girls enjoyed picking out pastries.
I had bagel with salmon and avocado.
And grits.
When we headed upstairs we saw that our steward had visited our room already.
We lounged around the pools most of the morning. Some went to play golf, and others did some slides. Katriel spent some time in the kids’ club.
We went to the buffet for lunch because we didn’t have other options. I ate two kinds of fish and some fresh veggies. It’s so weird how little appetite I have anymore.
We went to the lounge to play a Disney music trivia game.
We tied for first place.
The kids had ice cream number 2,420… or close to it.
After much hanging around we finally got ready for dinner.
We struggled to find great lighting.
It was dress up night.
French onion soup
Rainbow salad (Katriel)
Calamari
Caesar salad
Butternut squash soup
Lobster tail.
Katriel got fettucine alfredo.
Beef Bourguignon
Beef tenderloin
Some asparagus risotto
Cappuccino chocolate cake
Creme brulee
Apple cobbler
We went back to the room to watch a movie.
We were pretty tired.
I had planned this cruise to go out of Galveston because we had hoped to couple a shorter cruise with some TX road tripping. As it is, we will not be doing that post-cruise. There are a few activities going on with our homeschool co-op that Tabitha and I would like to attend, so we essentially drove two days for a five day cruise, and then will drive two days back home.
Breakfast was as good as yesterday’s.
We had to stop for a hole punch, bc I had noticed this morning that mine was missing from my cruise bag. We use it to punch a hole in our cruise card so we could put it on our lanyard.
I sincerely enjoyed the drive down the Bolivar Peninsula on the eastern coast of TX on our way to Galveston. It is a beautiful area, and yet you can see how it would have been devastated by Hurricane Harvey. So much of the area is newly built up. We had to take a Ferry to Galveston Island.
As soon as we exited the Ferry we could see our ship just a few miles away.
The parking was a bit hectic compared to most of our other cruise experiences, but everyone had an awesome attitude and we hoofed it to the port authority.
It wasn’t long before we were almost to the gangway.
And next thing you know, we were at the buffet followed by a trip to the ice cream.
We looked around the ship a bit.
And when we made it to our room I just about died. This was absolutely a terrible error on my part. The room did NOT have a couch/bunk bed set up. This tiny space was for four of us. (Nigel, Marie, and Tab had a similar set up, but with twin beds.)
I panicked for a moment, and then realized there was nothing we could do but suck it up.
We all went our different ways. Johanna, Katriel and I went for sodas.
And to look around the sports court.
We ran into John and hung on the deck for a while.
Some opted to try water attractions.
And we went to the art gallery.
Prior to dinner, we went back to our stateroom to get dressed up. This is how the room would remain for the rest of the voyage.
It was cramped, but we did what we could to maximize space.
The main dining room was gorgeous – I took photos another night.
Crab cake
Escargot
Artichoke dip
Pan-roasted fish filet
Prime rib
Stuffed portobello
Fried chicken
NY Strip
ahem
Key lime
Boston creme pie
Royal cheese cake
Dinner BEGAN at 8PM and was done around 9:40PM. We were all tired, and we headed back to our rooms for the night.
And the view from my bottom bunk.
Nigel, Marie, and Tab had one room, and John, Johanna, Katriel, and I had another. We were all up early and headed down for our breakfast.
We were on track for packing up and getting out and it didn’t take long to get moving.
Believe it or not, there was only ONE Buc-ee’s on our route, so we made sure not to miss it.
The overall drive from Greenville to Galveston is about 15 hours. I broke our days up into nicely sized chunks to let us do some sight seeing mid-day. Today’s overall driving was for 10 hours, but we were driving west and therefore gained an hour.
We stopped at The Cheese Cottage for lunch in Mobile, AL.
Because neither of us are big eaters, Katriel and I split a turkey and cheese club. Everyone else had the same sandwich, but a full one.
It was a cute little stop and a beautiful day.
We wanted a little something to do mid-day and I had read about Fort Conde in Mobile.
Access to the Fort included the Museum of Mobile, which we had not anticipated.
It was something to do, and it was amazing to read about the centuries of natural disasters that have plagued that region.
We saw the Port of Mobile where the Carnival cruise ships dock. It was right across the street from the fort (which is a recreation).
This fort is build right above the expressway!
No sooner did we get back to our van and start on our way than the sky opened up and it started to pour. AND – our wiper was dilapidated. We stopped by the FANCIEST Walmart I’ve ever seen, and John replaced the wiper and on we went.
We stopped at a Whataburger to say we did. No one hated it, but no one begged to return.
A few hours later we rolled into TX.
We stopped for the night in Winnie, TX, and the hotel left a little to be desired. But it was a great deal.
We left town after John got home from work and the car was packed.
Stewart was not able to join us as he not only has a new job, but he also needs to save vacation days for his upcoming wedding.
Of course it rained, but that was ok. We only had about 3.5 hours to our first overnight stop in Newnan, GA.
This was my first time in Atlanta. I have heard many horror stories about the traffic there, but thankfully we hit it just right at 8PM or so.
We stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Newnan, GA.
I was invited to join the other moms in Johanna’s AHG squad to go axe throwing.
I can’t even describe how amazing it was.
I actually felt tension leave my body as the ax left my hands.
I threw that ax at Covid lockdowns.
I threw that ax at rumor starting teenagers.
I threw that ax at people who make my kids cry.
I threw it at the elite ruling class.
We had so much fun.
Then we went and got BBQ and I ate 1/4 of my food. Because I apparently don’t eat anymore.
Dayspring Disciples 