Adventurous Last Day at Sea and Heading Home

Well, we have finally reached our last day at sea.  Thanks for those of you who stuck with me through the details of the days.  My primary purpose of this blog is a journal for my family.  I love how my friend The Park Wife puts it - "a love letter to my family."  I know that years from now, my children will cherish these words and pictures. 

That is my motivation to blog.

We didn't have many pictures taken at the baby pool this day, because we spent it videoing our little butterfly as she flitted from one thing to the next.  We decided to make an adventure out of our last afternoon on the ship.  Russ volunteered to take Millie Janalee to the room for a nap so he could begin the packing up process.  While he was away, the guys and I decided it was time for some real fun.  Thankfully, Millie Janalee woke up from her nap in time for them both to witness our craziness.

One of the fun activities our cruise ship offered on the back of the boat was "Flowrider", a simulated surfing session.  I think they even gave lessons during the week.  Which you will soon see we did NOT take a lesson.  Ha!  Lee and Daddy were watching just checking it out...maybe even bordering on chickening out.  There is a stadium seating full of spectators at all times.  I'm not sure what possessed me, but I jumped up and got in line motioning for them to follow.

And there we were.  In line tightening swimsuit bottoms and me wearing my coverup as advised since the impact of the water would prove to have the ability to take them down.  We witnessed this a few times with those before us.

Watching on

Finally, after several minutes of observing and trying to figure out the best strategy of staying on the board, it was my turn.  The surfer instructor had an Australian accent, so try to imagine this conversation:

Instructor: Have you ever surfed before.
Me: No NEVER!  VERY FIRST time! (as I step onto the board)
Instructor:  Well, if you would like me to help you, you might want to turn around on the board.
Me: Oh.  Of course. (Hearing laughter from Lee and Daddy as I made my first mistake.)

Then the session began.  The instructors hold your wrists loosely, but I preferred to hold his as well.  I didn't trust him.  This is against the rules I later found out.  I asked him not to let go, and he said, "Well, I have to at some point."  Oh my!

Very unsure and VERY unstable.

Notice I go down holding his wrist!

Then, it was the guys' turns.  I'm just gonna let these pictures speak for themselves.  But it was pretty hilarious watching.  And rewatching the video!

Mama describes Lee as Jell-O.  I dare not judge!

He GONE!

Daddy saying, "I got this!"

Hmmm...

What I don't have pictures of is the waves strength shooting Lee and Daddy to the back of the surfing area into the water.  I merely fell to the side, because as Daddy reminded me...I never got very far from the instructor.  Ha!

After reliving the fun, we all loaded our belongings and strolled down to the fifth deck so Russ, Rhonda, and Michael could climb the rock wall.  Kristin forbid Lee to climb it.  I'm not sure if Lee even ever wanted to.  But it was SO HIGH!  Looking up from the ground, it looked as if the wind could blow you right off the edge of the ship.  Even though that couldn't really happen.  Remember the high diving theater?  The rock wall is even higher that that!  Of course it starts higher too.

Feeling manly.  Ha!

Show off!  Climbing the "advanced side of the wall."

Ringing the bell at the top

I cannot even tell you how fast he climbed that rock wall!  Those leg muscles were working overtime.  I'm so proud.  Not proud enough to try it myself, but proud nonetheless.

Rhonda and Michael decided to climb the rock wall together.  Rhonda has shoulder problems so she only climbed to the first bell.  They rang them both at the same time.  Way to go!

We all headed back our staterooms to shower and dress for our final dinner onboard.  The thing about "my time dining" is that you can order as many entrees and desserts and anything else you want.  It's all included in the cost of your tickets.  It was a running joke every night when dessert time came.  We would all go around the table discussing what we would order (the menu changes every night), and Russ would typically respond with "I'm gonna go with my top three."  Haha!  Even if he didn't finish them all, he wanted to taste them all.

So he did.

Our luggage had to be packed and outside our staterooms by 11:00 that night for pickup, so we pretty much went straight to our rooms.  The next morning we woke up and all strolled to the waiting area where they called baggage numbers for disembarkation.  We snacked on pastries and juice.  We made it back through customs without any hiccups...except the banana I had to turn in.  Oops.

We caught our taxi to the Ft. Lauderdale airport.  I typically try to stay upbeat on here, but I must say that the Ft. Lauderdale airport is by far the worst airport I have ever been in!  By the time we FINALLY got checked in (after standing in line outside in the heat for two hours) and got food for lunch (after standing in another line for an hour), I was over it.  And saying, "Get me outta here!"

Whew!

I sat with Millie Janalee just inside the door so she wouldn't get overheated while the rest of the crew moved ever so slowly in line to check our baggage.

"When can we get out of this place, Mama?"

Our flight was fairly uneventful...except flying in during tornado watches and flooding warnings in the Memphis area.  Remember my fear of heights?  Yeah, I pretty much cried when the captain said, "Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for turbulents as we near the Memphis area.  Flight attendants take your seats."

We landed safely.  A week full of fun and adventure!