(A little behind on posts now – started writing this one the day prior to Sydney which was yesterday so we’ll post that one tomorrow – we’re in Melbourne tomorrow!)
Today we came down and watched a ship competition on the aft deck. Teams got together at the start of the trip and all worked on making a boat with anything they could find. The boat had to prove sea worthy in rough seas (turning on the hot tub jets) and then be able to hold plenty of cargo (a six pack of coke) they were then given additional points by highest crowd applause. During the cruise we occasionally had people stop by our table and ask for milk cartons the boys had used so we knew the competition was going on. We had no idea how elaborate some of the boats would be. We had some lunch while we watched people explain the features of their boats and watched the teams come out and cheer on teammates. I have no idea where people were storing these huge things for 3 weeks.
We’re starting to see more and more Halloween décor popping up throughout the ship on cabin doors and some of the ships floral arrangements suddenly have huge spider webs and fake spiders on them. We’ve had several people tell us they’d like the boys to stop by their room for trick or treating and the ship is supposed to be having a big party. We’ve learned that all the kids but Henry and Grant are getting off in Sydney and only one 12 yr old and one 17 yr old are getting on for the last part of our trip. So it will be interesting. I hope they do something fun. The wait staff have all been so good with the boys, between showing them magic tricks and making them origami they’ve all been really sweet with making them feel welcome. Tonight the kids are saying goodbye to their friends in the kid’s club at the Pajamarama. I think there will probably be tears. They have seen these kids every day/night for the past 27 days. It will be weird with them being the only younger kids on the ship. Fortunately this last leg is a TON of port days so we’ll be keeping really busy until we’re off in Auckland.
We’ve decorated our door for Halloween too – Ours is the Zombie crossing one. Grant is standing in front of another decorated door on the ship (there are a few others as well)… The ship is having a big Halloween party as well that the boys are looking forward to!
After the first week on board Henry told he had made two nice new friends that weren’t kids and they played soccer with him for a long time. That afternoon I had one of the dancers stop me at the drink station and ask if I had a little boy named Henry. She said that she and a friend (another dancer) were up on the sports courts and they played kickball with him all afternoon and that he was adorable and really super sweet. Since then we’ve passed her occasionally around the ship and Henry gets a little googly eyed and embarrassed and waves hi and walks quickly by. Last night at the show she apparently took a fall and is out on official rest for the show tonight. Henry was concerned and then asked me if they booed her when she fell and then decided to make her a get well card. It was really cute. We handed it off to some of the dancers to give to her.
We are still seeing people on this cruise we have never seen before, which is quite an accomplishment considering we’ve been all sharing the same space for the last 28 or so days. Honeymooners seem to have spent the first 2 weeks or so in their cabin and they keep popping up out and about and we had a walk through the casino and I’m not sure those people even have cabins. They don’t seem to move except to raise their arm to pull the slots.
Again, I’m feeling extremely lucky about the length of our vacation as we see people packing and walking around with a sort of “oh no it can’t be overrr!” aura around them. I guess the fortunate thing in having so little time to plan this trip is that you don’t have this “wow, 6 months of planning and looking forward to the vacation and now it’s all over” feeling. Feeling incredibly blessed and happy at the moment and that’s not just the Sunsicles talking. Have I not mentioned the Sunsicles? They’re my favorite thing ever. I have no idea how many oranges this cruise ship goes through but they have the most incredible fresh squeezed orange juice at breakfast every day. A Sunsicle is a cocktail that uses this orange juice. Best thing ever.
Henry enjoying desert night on the lido:
Boys imitating art:
We’ve been tracking the cruise progress on an inflatable globe:
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