(4/22/12) Sunday
We had to get up early this morning so that we could have our breakfast before leaving the ship. All of the restaurants close early today, so we made sure we were up at the Windjammer Café at 8:00 a.m. for our last meal on the ship. L
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| For breakfast I had waffles, scrambled eggs, tater tots, sausage, fruit, a Danish, and OJ. |
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| We were very happy to meet my Uncle and his family there. Sadly, our Grandparents had been scheduled to leave earlier so we didn’t see them. But we enjoyed eating with our cousins one last time! |
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| I’m very sad that there isn’t a beautiful, blue ocean to look at in the morning. We’re back on dry land, that’s for sure. |
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| Before we left, we went upstairs to see the Royal (Presidential) Suites. Since the people had already left, the stateroom attendants cleaning the room said we could look. It’s amazing how big they are! |
After walking through the rooms, we went to one of the dining rooms to wait until they called our number. Once we heard it, we walked off the ship and went to claim our luggage. Then we had to go through customs. The lines were really long, but thankfully they were moving quickly. From the time they called our number onboard the ship, until we were standing outside the customs building was only 20 minutes!
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| The building at the docks. |
We caught a shuttle bus to the place where we could pick up our rental car.
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| One last look at the ship! |
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| We loaded up our bags and drove towards our hotel. |
We had to wait awhile to get into our rooms because one wasn’t ready, and the lady who had our key wasn’t there.
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| Waiting by the pool for our key. We were finally able to get into our rooms. We left our bags and then went to find some lunch. |
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| Subway was nearby, so we all got meatball subs and chips. It’s going to take awhile to get used to non-ship food! J |
When we returned to our hotel, it started to rain. For any of you who live in or have visited Florida, you know this isn’t too unusual. It seems to rain at least once a day even if it’s only for a minute or two.
As we were rushing back to our room to escape the raindrops, my Dad’s sister and her family drove up! Mom and Dad had told us kids a few days earlier that they were going to drive down to Ft Lauderdale from their home on the other side of the state. We were very excited as we don’t get to see them very often!
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| They piled into our room where everyone hugged and visited for a bit. Then we changed into swim suits. |
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| Once everyone was ready, we walked a couple of blocks west to the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. Photo Credit: Roma. |
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| The water was a little too cold for our cousins, but those of us with thick, Northern blood thought it was balmy! It was rather windy that day, so there were lots of waves! Our family has grown up near lakes where the waves aren’t nearly as big, so our experience with ocean waves vs. lake waves was exciting! We had to be careful though, because there was a strong rip-tide and undertow. |
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| It looked like it wasn’t going to be a very good day at the beach initially. Can you see the rain dumping in the distance? It did rain briefly, but then the sun came out and it turned out to be the perfect day at the beach. |
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| We had a wonderful time relaxing, jumping waves, chatting, laughing, sunbathing and just having fun together! Rubia, Roma, and our cousin M made this alligator sand-scupture. Photo Credit: Roma. |
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| I love sitting in the sand, listening to the roar of the surf, feeling the warm sun on my skin, and watching the clouds float by. Photo Credit: Roma. |
After a few hours. we went back to our hotel room. Some people took quick showers while others just freshened up for dinner. We decided to walk down the street to an Italian bistro.
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| We were very thankful that there was no more rain since the bistro was outdoors (see above note about rain in Florida.) |
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| The sunshine was a bit bright for some of us! |
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| We ordered a half-a-dozen pizzas for everyone to share. The pizza here is mostly thin crust and very gourmet-style. We had margherita pizza, shitake mushroom pizza, Hawaiian style, and a couple of other kinds. They seemed really good, and I was so disappointed that I couldn’t taste anything. Unfortunately the cold I felt coming on last night did come. |
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| For dessert I ordered Crème Brulee cheesecake. I only tasted one bite of it. I was SO disappointed I couldn’t taste it because it would have been amazing. |
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| But I still had fun visiting with my cousins while we ate. They are so much fun to be around, and we have lots of laughs when we’re together! J |
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| After our dinner we walked down to the beach for some pictures. |
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| Dad and Mom. |
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| The Thinker. J |
Our cousins had to leave around 9:00 p.m. L We had so much fun visiting with them! We miss them a lot. I shed a few tears as I was getting ready for bed. I miss everyone on the ship, and I’m not all that excited about going to bed. This area of town seems to attract a rather loud crowd, and some of the other guests are having quite a party out in the courtyard. It may be a long night. I’m looking forward to being back in my own bed tomorrow night!
Hello everyone:D We had a great time visiting with you in Fort Lauderdale! It is a day that we will remember for a long time. We all were sad when it was time to go. Please come to Florida again and we will take you to the West coast beaches where the water is warmer (us thin skinned southerners like warm water :))
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs...Aunt Debbie
I enjoyed reading your comment, Aunt Debbie! We were so glad that you could come down to Ft. Lauderdale so we could visit! It meant so much to us. We'd love to see the west coast beaches some day! I hear they're really beautiful! (And warm. :-))
ReplyDelete~Bianca