melmar02

We're in terminal traffic. Tons of people still disembarking. The Facebook rumors are that someone had to be taken off the ship in handcuffs before anyone else could leave the ship.

Parked and on the shuttle to the terminal.

Ha! I was up by 5am. Showered and it's like the towels were brand new but had never been washed - little bits of fluff were flying all over the room like fuzzy snow. Breakfast was underwhelming but free. And the kids are all about a Texas shaped waffle. We got notification to complete the safety video a few minutes ago. Done. We're leaving the hotel in a few minutes. Forgot a belt for DS so we have to stop at Wally World on the way. There's one about 5 minutes from the hotel. We're going to be really early to the terminal, but that's OK. I'm hoping they have coconut ranger cookies waiting for us.

Thanks for the hair love . I just went back to purple a couple months ago. I was this color for a while pre-covid, and no way was I going to maintain that on my own when everything was shut down. I feel like me in this color.

With traffic in Houston, we didn't make it to the hotel until almost 8pm. We got the luggage out of the car, and I ran nextdoor to Micky D's to pick up dinner. Spicy chicken sandwiches for me and DH and happy meals for the kids. I haven't had McDonald's in years, and it was surprisingly better than I expected. DH is currently opening our traditional night before the cruise bottle of wine. Time to settle in and finally start to feel like we are on vacation. I'm on my cell from here on out, so hopefully there won't be too many typos. I may post more pictures than words and then come back to fill in the details once I'm back to the real world with my laptop. Dinner and room photos. Living room and kitchen master and master bath 2nd bedroom and bath

Dogs are dropped off, and we're headed to Houston. We should be at the hotel around 7pm.

Travel day! We got home from our co-op at 4 yesterday afternoon, unloaded the car, and took my MIL to dinner. She recently moved to be closer to us, and we wanted to see her before we left. Got home, packaged cookies, filled lemon tarts, and started decorating today's groom's cake. Went to bed about midnight. I have cupcakes left to ice, but I should be able to start packing by 7 this morning. I don't think we will leave by 11am, but hopefully by 2pm we will be on the road. I plan on sleeping in the car.

I haven't been to the Miami airport in about 20 years. It was crazy then; I can't imagine the horror now.

We love the rolls with seeds too - they are always the first to disappear from our little bread basket.

I'm still trying to determine when I will actually pack so I think a good list is mandatory.

Just my opinion - take the jeans and wear them early in the cruise.

Updating the packing list while the kids have their piano lesson. They have testing tonight at taekwondo, and we have our co-op tomorrow. Here's the hot mess with all my notes and updates on it.

@Sweety thanks for the info. That's cool. I just received our boarding day info email. The stateroom request form isn't really set up for 2 BR suites. There is no place to indicate in which room we want the beds separated. I think I'll just wait until we get onboard for that request to avoid confusion. I am asking for an extra blanket, so I'll let you know if it is there when we arrive, or if we have to ask for it in person anyway.

@asquared17thanks. It's still not what I would have picked, but it will be cute for our embarkation photo. Also thanks. I have DS about 70% packed and DD has pulled all the clothes she thinks she should pack together. The rest of their packing should go fairly quickly.

@FireFishII I laid the shirts all laid out on the couch to take a picture just in time for the timer to go off on the oven. I rotated my cookies and came back to this. We may be a little furry on embarkation day. For our first time, I think they turned out pretty good, but I would do some things differently next time. First, I decided we would dye the shirts outside so I wouldn'thave a mess in the house, but it was 85 degrees here yesterday. The ice melted in 30 minutes and didn't have time to pull the color through to the back. We flipped the shirts added more ice and more color to the B Side. Next, I would have saturated the shirts with color more. The colors were really dark straight out of the bottle, and I didn't trust that the color would fade to what was on the label. That's why I had to add more to DHs this morning - the dark blue and red are what I added. Finally, I should have done this weeks ago. It was a tad stressful doing it right before we leave with everything else we have going on. Here are the finished shirts...sans fur baby. And in case you were wondering how school was going...

That duck you found looks like I feel this morning. I've been yelling at the kids to fold their laundry for days so I can get them packed. I finally had it this morning and said if you're not packed by 2pm today, you're not cruising. That got their butts in gear.

Here they are being rinsed. DH's seem to fade quite a bit so I added some more color to his this morning before throwing all the shirts in the washer. I may have gotten the color a bit intense in spots to make up for the fade. They are in the dryer now, so I'll post finished pics soon.

Went to the bank this morning for tip and casino money, and then I ran some errands for this week's cake order and co-op lessons. Got home and gave son a haircut. We tie dyed the shirts today too, and we're currently waiting for the color to do its thing. I'm still not sold, but hopefully they turn out better than what I have pictured in my head. We (I) decided that we would ice dye them which should give them more of a watercolor look than the traditional swirl.

Out of curiosity, what's your favorite machine in the casino? I usually just amble around until I can find one that has lots of bonus-y type things (must entertain me!), but that strategy doesn't always work in my favor.

The nerve of some people! I think my defense mechanism would have been the heel of my hand meeting the bridge of his nose.

Adult comedy, or people panicking that they've unintentionally dyed towels?

I thought so, but wasn't really sure. I never got a bill from Cesar's, so I figured it must have come out. I was dark purple on our last pre-covid cruise, and I don't remember it washing out as much as when I go a little more pink.

Just kidding- headliners are there. Day 3 and 4 Days 6 and 7 Also night 7.

DS finished his last subject this morning, and DD just needs to complete and edit one final paper. We're almost on summer vacation! 🏝 I went to the county courthouse this morning to renew our vehicle registrations. We're taking my car, so I wanted the updated sticker before we left otherwise I would have just done it online. I had visions of being pulled over two blocks from the cruise parking lot and having my car impounded for an expired sticker. After an hour of waiting, I can say my car is legal to hit the road on Saturday. Currently, I'm sitting at the hair salon getting my purple hair refreshed. I'm a bit more magenta than @Ampurp85, and it's pretty much all over color so I am bringing my own towel. I don't want to turn Royal's pink... I may or may not have accidently done that at Cesar's in Vegas the first time I went with a vivid color a few years ago. Dropped DH's clothes off at the cleaners this morning, and I started the "need to iron" pile. The only time I drag that thing out is for a cruise! Still no headliners in the app. 5 days to go!