This is a picture I took of the breakfast area in our Hampton hotel. It was so beautiful, and the staff was very friendly, even packing us extra bags full of food for the rest of the road trip! Poor Josh had finally gotten some sleep after working the day AND night shifts at the hospital, before driving for 12 hours the day before.
Right after I took that last picture, we loaded our luggage into the cars and I finally had a chance to sit and check my emails on my phone. We had received an email from the cruise line, saying the fog in Galveston was so thick that the port had been closed and the Disney ship was still in the water offshore, waiting for the port to open. At this point, they told us there would be a 4-hour delay, meaning we couldn't board the ship until at least 4:00. We were disappointed, but decided to get on the road and drive the last 3 hours to Galveston before deciding how to kill time while we waited for the port to open. While the kids were getting in the cars, they bumped into each other and Brynlie's brand-new iPod fell on the parking lot and shattered. Many tears were shed, so we looked up an Apple store and stopped there on our way to Galveston. $100 replacement fee and we had a very happy (and spoiled) girl. Finally, after having a view of the back of the Napier's white SUV for many hours, we saw this sign. We were there!
FYI, I had so much fun playing around with my new camera during the drive! I was an expert on the camera's functions by the time we made it to Galveston.
Right after our arrival in [the very foggy] Galveston, I received another email from Disney, telling us our delay time was now 6 hours. Someone else was enjoying our day on the ship, and eating my delicious cruise ship food! The Napiers have friends that travel to Galveston often, and recommended a great restaurant across from the ocean called The Spot. We ate lunch and met several other families who were also waiting to board our Disney ship, but were displaced due to the weather.
After killing time in the restaurant, Christine had the idea to take the kids to the Rainforest Cafe, where they could go on a jungle ride while the husbands watched the Broncos game in the Sports Bar. The ride ended up being more expensive than we thought, but somehow my children talked Josh into buying them tickets. They know that Josh is a softie and will give in when their parents are being mean!
The Broncos, who were predicted by many to win the Superbowl this year, ended up losing this game. Ryan's heart was pretty broken. Good thing he had a fun cruise to wash away his sorrow!
With all the news stories about people getting washed out into the ocean, I realize we look very irresponsible because we let the kids walk out to the end of the rock pier and get so splashed by the waves that it knocked them down. Everyone is still alive, so it was worth it!
I couldn't believe how dense the fog was. There are tall buildings behind these trees that are completely hidden. As annoying as it was that we had to wait to board our ship, we were glad the captain wasn't trying to maneuver a giant cruise ship in this weather! It was funny that the street lights were on, even though it was only the afternoon.
Haha! The waves knocked Lindsey off her feet in this picture! I swear it wasn't as dangerous as it looks!
We took the shivering, frozen kids back to the restaurant and had them change into dry clothes.
We drove to the port where we parked our cars and began squealing loudly with excitement (maybe that was just me)! We got on a shuttle that drove us to the check-in area. Ryan let a "porter" (someone that helps carry your luggage) take our bags with the promise that they would be in our room by the time we arrived. We started walking through security when Brevan realized he didn't have his cell phone. I may have let a choice word or two slip because he had caused other chaos in the day, such as when he was in charge of Chloe and left her outside by herself. The rest of the family went ahead through security while I ran outside and tried to track down the shuttle we had taken from the parking lot. After speaking with many people, I found the shuttle but did not find his phone. I walked back to the check-in area where Brevan apologized with tears in his eyes and told me he will never make me cry because of his actions again. Sweet boy. I reassured him that he could never do anything to make me love him less; it had just been a stressful few days. We never did end up getting his iPhone back.
But we were finally boarding the ship! We went immediately to see our rooms. We had reserved 3 rooms for the 2 families, so the girls from each family ended up getting their very own room! It had a door that connected it to our room, so Ryan and I could check on them often, but they thought they were in heaven being able to come and go as they pleased. I took these pictures of the stateroom where Ryan and I, Brevan and Logan stayed. They wouldn't be considered "roomy" by most hotel standards, but as far as cruise ships go, these rooms were awesome! Brevan's bed (the top bunkbed) went into the ceiling every day, and Logan's bed (the bottom bunk) turned into a couch. There were two bathrooms for getting ready, plus a large balcony in each room. In the second picture you can see the open door on the right side that led into the girl's stateroom.
Our luggage still hadn't arrived, so we walked around the ship to see the different areas. We were awestruck at the size of the ship! Brevan was excited to visit "The Vibe," the club where he would end up spending most of his time. He had free reign to come and go as he pleased, so he fully enjoyed his freedom!
Since we didn't board the ship until about 7:30 due to the weather conditions, we had missed our usual dinner reservation of 5:45. We chose to eat at Animators Palate, a fun black-and-white restaurant that slowly turns colorful during dinner. This was the only time we were all separated during our dinner, and the girls loved having their own waiter and being able to order whatever they wanted from the menus. For the first couple days of the cruise, the kids would ask us, "so, I can just walk into any of the restaurants and order ANYTHING I want off the menu?!?" The homemade macaroni and cheese was a big hit with the kids, as well as the wide variety of desserts!
When we got back to the room, our luggage had arrived and Ryan immediately went through his laptop bag to make sure nothing had been taken. Our $700 in cash was gone. He immediately called security and started speaking with them about what could be done. I organized everyone's clothes into the closets while crying. My word, I'm not usually a crier! The money stress of the past few days (broken furnace, broken oven, and now missing cash) were so frustrating and I couldn't stop tears from falling as I wondered if it was a mistake to spend so much money on this cruise. OK, and there's the fact that I was dealing with a huge dose of PMS. After a couple hours of searching, we prayed that everything would be OK and when Ryan looked in his bag again (which we had both searched several times), the money was there. Either we are the worst lookers in the world, or God knew we'd had enough. I dried my tears and laughed about my recently crazy up-and-down emotions.
Since the evening's schedule was messed up due to getting on the ship 6 hours later than planned, we missed the first theater production while we were eating dinner. Then we all had to attend a very short safety presentation at 10:30 at night! I felt badly for all the crew who had been busy with the previous group of travelers for most of the day before welcoming us on board and having to work late into the night. Before going to sleep, the kids checked out the clubs they would each be able to attend. Chloe, Lindsey, Logan and Parker attended the Oceaners Lab, as well as the Oceaners Club. Madelyn and Brynlie loved "The Edge," a club for 11-13 year olds.
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