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| Our room steward made up several towel animals for us. |
The kids loved the kid's camp so much they begged us to spend as much time as they could at the kids camp. That gave Dad, Madelyn and I some time to enjoy final moments with family, relax and go to the pool. Below are some other highlights of things we enjoyed.
On our second to last morning, Isabelle and I, along with Grandma and Grandma and Megan, Adam, Mason and Willa enjoyed a Dreamworks breakfast complete with Shrek, Fiona, and Puss. The kids loved it!
And then Gabriel and Michael got up enough guts to say that they are as brave as their mom. They decided to do the zip line. Gabriel went first and while he acts all tough and brave, he was a bit scared- see his face below. But if you ask him today he'll deny it all.
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| This is his, "I'm NOT SCARED" (really I'm petrified) look! |
Then it was Michael's turn to go and while he says he loved it, I think he had his moment of fear too!
I was proud of them for trying it, and I think they are happy they got to experience it also!
And of course we made more time to eat! By this point, none of our clothes were fitting right.
The cousins loved spending time together.
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| The whole group! |
Also on the final night of the cruise, the kids program had a talent show which Gabriel and Michael decided to show of their athletic/acrobatic skills by jumping through hoops, making crazy basketball shots and high jumping. They did it together with a friend they made named Santino from California. And Gabriel's best buddy Nick from Montreal. To this day Gabriel still talks about him and is impressed that he remembers the guy. In fact he's trying to figure out how he could track Nick down online, even though all he knows about him is that his first name is Nick and he lives in Montreal. He's hopeful and we decide not to burst his bubble.
Here are some photos of the boys doing their thing...
And here is Isabelle at her talent show...
And here is Isabelle at her talent show...
The very last night they had a farewell parade down the promenade and it featured the Dreamworks characters. We went and the girls loved it, even though Madelyn isn't acting like it, we told her she liked it. :-)
And of course we had to ride the carousel one more time!
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| Michael must have had a bucking bronco! |
And take pictures of the counsins together!
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| Mason wasn't sure at first if he wanted to be in the picture! |
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| Love this picture! Love those kiddos! |
And another favorite highlight was the after dinner shots we enjoyed. They mostly tasted like candy, so it was easy to take them down each night! This particular night we did a toast to our Uncle Bob who passed away right before we left on the trip. He was a wonderful man who we will all miss. We knew he would be smiling in Heaven knowing we enjoyed a "fix" for him.
To uncle Bob!
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| We will miss you Bob! |
He is balancing all of those forks on one toothpick
On our final night on the cruise we took pictures on my parents balcony of their room. There is nothing like a sunset on the ocean. It's one of those things I think everyone should have on their bucket list as a picture never does it justice.
As I wrap up our cruise highlights I realized I left off a few stories I need to include.
So about my phone. It was pretty dramatic for me, well all of us, because the kids know Mom is addicted to her phone and she can't live without it because it has all her Noah pictures. So we were all stewing about me losing my phone and while I had given up and figured we were going to have to buy a new one, dad was determined to find it.
He checked with the concierge many times until they offered to put "security" on the case. They came to our room, filed a report, searched our room (which was pretty intense- I guess many people report missing items only to find them in their rooms) and confirmed it was indeed lost. The whole room search process was very thorough. They searched through everybag, ever pocket, under everything- 4 of them, in our tiny room, while the door was propped open and everyone who walked by saw security searching through our stuff. It felt kind of violating but I was open to it, if it meant they'd help us find my oh so important phone.
After realizing it was indeed missing, they decided to retrace my steps, from the dining room, through the casino, the elevator and into the ice skating ballroom. Jarrett accompanied them, while I stayed in the room and stewed. About 30 minutes later they returned to the room, and as Jarrett opened the door and said, "MOM" I could tell there was a glimmer of hope in his voice. Actually a lot. He continued, "Mom, they found your phone!" I screamed and leaped toward the door. The lead security officer appeared and without thinking I hugged him. I then said, "I hope its okay I hugged you." He smiled. I started crying and felt the need to explain. I said, this phone is so important to me as it contains the photos of my son. He smiled and said, My phone had pictures of my kids too." I continued, The photos of my little boy who passed away and I look at them everyday. I can't tell you what a gift you've just given back to me." I seriously would have given him a million dollars if I had it. Those pictures of Noah mean more than anything one can buy.
So yay, my phone was recovered in the Ice arena in a place I wasn't even at. Somehow it "walked" several rows down from where we sat and was in the middle of a section I had never been. I don't have answers for how it got there, I'm just so thankful I now have it.
And one final thought about this family vacation. After Noah passed I wondered if I'd ever feel joy like I wholy felt before. I feared I would always have hurt in my heart knowing my one baby isn't here. And while that ache never fully goes away, I've found there have been moments in life when the ache doesn't hurt as much, that joy is overflowing and that life is oh so good.
There was one of those moments on the cruise. As we sat on the beach in St. Maarten. The kids had been playing on the beach for hours together, building a sandcastle, without a single second of fighting (it was kind of unbelievable).
Jarrett played with them, helping them with some design flaws in their moat and I sat on a beach lounger holding sleeping Madelyn. Looking out into some of God's most beautiful creations (my family included if I say so myself.:-)) I started crying. Jarrett came right up to me and said, "what's wrong". I couldn't help it. I looked at him and said, "When Noah passed away, I never thought I'd feel happiness like I do in this moment. I know in my heart he would want us to live life like this and to soak up this time. Look at the kids, they've grown so much, we've found a way to go forward in life and be happy again. I never thought I'd feel this way again. Then the tears flowed like the waves crashing into the shore. Happy tears. They say something magical happens when you sit on the beach and I have to agree.
Enjoy the moments, right now in the present BIG and small. For they'll one day make up the memories you'll cherish down the road.
What an incredible vacation.
Until next time,
Angie
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