Love Notes: The Grand Finale

Dearest Jackson & Colton,

We had an amazing cruise planned for the summer of 2020...but those plans were unfortunately ruined.

We rescheduled for 2021 but hit another travel roadblock.

So we committed to making 2022 our year and got something booked on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.

The anticipation for this trip was more exciting than any other!!

The day after school got out for break, we drove down to Andy's house. The Lakes let us stay with them for the night so we'd be closer to the port. We drove the rest of the way the next morning and took our first picture about 30 seconds after walking on board!

We found the Vaughns, explored the ship for a bit, unpacked, and then got ready for dinner. The "kids table" looked exceptionally cute that night!

My date cleaned up nicely too!

It was COLD in Galveston so I stayed in a sweater that first night.

When we woke up the next day we were in the middle of the ocean. We all met up for breakfast and made you kids promise you'd join us for dinner that night!

The adults camped out in the solarium at the front of the ship for most of the day.

At some point, the two of us ran into the two of y'all and that was exciting (for us!).

We were enjoying the ship's floating bar when you two strolled by.

Kate even joined us for a ride up! (the bar was called High Tide and it rose up and down like the tides!)

That night was formal night and this was as dressy as we were getting!

I didn't even ask you boys to pack "formal" clothes. I know better!

We loved that spot by the tree!

We waited in line for the professional photographer and captured my favorite pic from the trip!

You two had your own room. It was connected to our room and we shared a balcony. Colt, you loved seeing what towel animal was awaiting you each evening!

The next day we were in Costa Maya, Mexico.

We didn't have any excursions planned for this day so we just taxi'd to a restaurant on the beach.

We returned to the ship in time to take in some ice skating before dinner.

Dad & I accidentally rocked Christmas at dinner that night.

After dinner seemed to be when the shenanigans went down...

We watched an amazing diving show at the stern of the ship that night.

The next morning brought us Cozumel.

We were 1 of SEVEN ships in Cozumel this day and, although we made reservations for an excursion, everywhere was PACKED. We did a lot of standing around and waiting and it made for some grumpiness. But, when we weren't waiting, we were making friends with some captive dolphins. I tried to find a way to help them escape, I promise!

We skipped dinner reservations that night and took advantage of the ship's entertainment instead. On this night, there was an adults only game show called Crazy Quest. Crazy it certainly was!

We had one more day at sea as we sailed home the next day. Colt, you were the only one brave enough to get in the chilly pool.

Not sure why I didn't get pictures from our karaoke bar event, Mamma Mia! show, or bar trivia activity.?.?.?.

One more fancy dinner to take advantage of the unlimited breads and desserts!!

We took in one more show (a comedian) and this was the final goodbye as we knew that the next morning we'd be back in freezing (literally) cold Galveston.

While it looks like I only took pictures at dinner time, I swear we all had a blast!

Jax, you declared it your favorite vacation ever and are already asking if we can go again! You met other teenagers on the first night and hung out with them more than you did us!

Colt, you honestly struggled at first (heights, claustrophobia, thousands of people, oh my!) but ended up having fun. You played on the sports court a ton, rode on the wave rider, and hung out with Zoltar on the boardwalk!