Cruise Finale, Back to Routine & Howl-O-Scream

We had a really fun day on Sunday. Originally, we planned to get off the ship and see a couple of things in Nassau. But, people were tired and wanted to have a more relaxing day. Everyone was still up early; Thomas and Jack went to the gym and then we all had breakfast in the Windjammer. Luke did the flow rider after breakfast. 

He did great, especially for his first time.

Our next activity was laser tag. We were second in line and made it in the first group to play. I’ve never played laser tag on a team, which made it super fun! It was aliens against robots and we were split up on the two different teams, so half of us won and half of us lost. After laser tag we had lunch and then we decided to go and do another round of laser tag. It was just that much fun! That time, we did have to wait in line for a bit, but it wasn't too bad. From there I took Luke to the kid's club so that the rest of us could see Grease. It was good and everyone enjoyed it. Then we had dinner followed by ice-skating. 

We ended the night with some late-night pizza, then went back to the room and packed. We were among the first off the ship the next day (we got lucky and used the front staircase which funneled us to a different exit then everyone else on the ship. It actually created a bit of problem, because Kara took an elevator and we had to get them to open a huge door to get her to us). But, we figured it out and were in the car by 715.  All the kids went to school, where they were very tired.

Kara outside the laser tag/ice skating venue.

Our week back to normal life was busy! Jack stayed after school on Monday for basketball "open gym". Anna went to a teen leader's club meeting at the YMCA. They are going to do volunteer activities, activities to strengthen leadership potential, and an end of the school year retreat to North Carolina. She is obviously very excited about the last part. 

On Tuesday, Jack had band practice, Luke has baseball and Kara had theater. Theater was really important because Kara had to practice her monologue, which she performed as part of the arts exhibition on Wednesday night. She was one of two theater acts chosen to perform (out of over 30) and she did a great job! Luke went with me, but Thomas had to take Anna to ice skating. 

We picked up some cupcakes to give Kara after her performance, Luke tried one too.

Performing her monologue. Closing her eyes while she waits for some thief to return her purse.

Thursday, was more baseball and band. Friday night was middle school night at the high school football game. That meant Kara got to go and sit with the band through half-time. Anna and I dropped her off, then grabbed a quick dinner at Chick-Fil-A before going to the game. We left after half-time, but had a good time. I went back and picked up Jack after the game ended.

Saturday, I took Anna driving for about an hour. Thomas took Luke to a baseball tournament. I took Anna skating and that night Jack had a basketball game. Sunday, I took Jack driving. Luke's tournament continued. Kara babysat and we did a little shopping. 

Sunday night, I took Kara to Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld. I got a free ticket for donating blood and bought a second ticket from another donor who didn't want it. We had a really fun time. It was way more relaxed than HHN. It was also smaller and a completely different atmosphere. We went through all of the houses (some of them twice), saw two shows, and had a snack. There were no long lines or huge crowds. In fact, we went through 3 of the haunted houses by ourselves! I probably like HHN better, just because the houses there have such amazing designs, but I would definitely got back to Howl-O-Scream. 

First scare of the night, we had just walked in and were looking at the map, when a door opened (totally obvious now that there is a hole in the map, but we didn't see it at first) and some guy popped his head out and yelled at us to ask if we needed help!

First house of the night.

Any surprise that our favorite house was cruise themed?