The Last Fun Day at Sea

Day 10: It was a good day on the sea. We found out that they were holding LDS Church services at noon. When I woke the kids up, I tried to help prepare them for the fact that we would be going to church. Let's just say that they were less than thrilled. The lady who told me about the church meeting also mentioned that she was excited to go to church without dressing up. So, crazy me- I didn't make my family dress up. NOT a good idea. We all went to the little room where the meeting was looking very casual. Every other person there had on a suit or very nice church dress. I felt horrible about it! Oh well, better to look bad and go- than to not go at all. There were 34 people there. There was one other family with three children. The rest were of the grandparent persuasion (and the majority of them were traveling together) and all were very nice. The meeting lasted almost exactly an hour. We started the meeting with singing "Come, come ye saints." The speakers talked about some of the places we had seen (Ephesus and Mars Hill) and the Apostle Paul. It was a good meeting. I am very glad we went. It always feels good to be with others who share our own beliefs.

As far as this whole cruise goes, I must say that I was very hesitant to bring my sweet children on this grand adventure. "Six kids on a cruise" sound like the opening lines of a horror flick. BUT- my good husband was right. The ship has been an excellent hotel, restaurant and playground all rolled into one. It has been fun to see exciting things during the day and come back to the same rooms each evening. (Plus when we return, the rooms are clean and they leave fun towel animals on the beds- the kids love it! Tonight we have a monkey and a turkey.) Plus, we get to see lot>s of amazing places without having to drive anywhere.

Camp Carnival has been very fun for all of the short people in the family. They have activities planned for each age group all day long. Emery, Claire and Shelby have enjoyed the dancing and creative activities. Jake has been a bit irritated that they don't let the kids have video game time all day long- but he has really enjoyed the video arcade. (I HATE the arcade. I see nothing of worth here, but hopefully Jake will get his fill and be able to return to the real world ready for some serious reading and homework time.... Okay probably not- but I can dream too!) Kailey has LOVED Circle C- the group for 12-14 year olds. She has just had fun being a big kid and "hanging out" with the two boys who are her age. One boy- James, from the U.K.- also has his room on our floor. When Circle C closes for the night, Kailey and James walk back to their rooms together, so it's nice that he kind of walks Kailey home. (We saw them walk back once and Kailey was touching one wall of the walkway and James was on the other side touching the other wall. I don't think there are any adolescent worries here.)

Each night we have dined in the Golden Pearl Dining Room. The food has been excellent and Nina (from Hungary) and Peter (also Eastern European) are our waiters. They are wonderful. I have been impressed by what my children have tried. They have definitely expanded their food repertoire! (Claire even tried escargot tonight! So did Danny, Cheri and I. I think I could enjoy them if I didn't know what I was eating.) We have one little man who comes over and talks to Madison every night. He calls her his little buddy and has held her for a minute the last two nights. After the first time he held her (this is an older man), I watched his face and he was visibly choked up. He told Danny and I that we were the luckiest people in the world and said that he wished he could be us. We are very blessed. We do have several people a night who come over and chat with us and talk about our children. One day I was walking all by myself on the ship and a woman stopped me and said, "Are you the mother?" I smiled and said, "Yes I am." I can't think of anything else I would like to be labeled.

Tomorrow we stop in Livorno. We will be seeing Pisa and Florence.