Jan 6th, 2020 Cruise Day 3 of 128

Another wonderful day at sea.  Today school was officially back in session for the girls.  They went off this morning with books, lesson plans, and materials in hand to trek out designated areas that had been set aside for them to do their studies.  Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out the way they were expected too.  The library was way too loud, and people kept stopping at the table to ask them about their studies, the next area was too busy to find an open table and lastly, the space that was designated for them to work in a private space was between two water color classes, only the lady who teaches reset all the table with supplies and there was no space to work. We are flexible and understand that we are in transition and things are going to work out amazingly in time.  We found a couple of other nooks and crannies to try out tomorrow to see how it goes.  They did manage to get today’s work accomplished.  They enjoyed lunch with Geoffrey from club HAL and then met with the Math tutor.  Valerie thought she was amazing.  She worked with Valerie and helped her to better understand her assignment. Valerie was impressed with her teaching techniques and personality.  Another wonderful blessing that God has provided for us.  While the girls were schooling mom and I went to a nice breakfast complete with Mimosas.  Then it was back to the room for some more unpacking and settling in.  I am giving myself grace that it took more then a day to pack, it is going to take a few days to unpack as well.  We organized all our excursion tickets, I believe we have like 35+ excursions that were all booked prior to getting on the ship, wrote up a master calendar that shows the girls our excursion schedules so they can see day to day what our schedules are, and then made a duplicate copy for mom to have in her room.  Welcome cocktail party and our first Gala was tonight.  So we were all getting ready starting around 3:00pm as the party for those of us with the first seating in the main dining room had our welcome party starting at 4:30pm.  We had met the officers last night so we really went for the drinks.  There was a nice presentation and all the senior officers were introduced.  Then it was off to our first opportunity to go to our reserved table for dinner in the main dining room.  We were given a bit of a hard time and were even told at one point that they had given our table away because we missed the first two nights.  Really?!?  We were too exhausted the first night and last night we had a time conflict with our cocktail party.  After a little encouraging by me to accommodate us, we wound up at our table. It is a beautiful table at the very back of the ship.  It has a window and we can see why other people would want out table.  Not sure who arranged that table, or how the assignments are decided, but we felt beyond blessed to be sitting there looking out the back of the ship and watching the sunset.  Oh, and it was steak and lobster night as well.  We all had Escargot, Shrimp Cocktails or Duck Liver Pate…yes my girls are foodies, for appetizers and then filet mignon and lobster for our entrees.   Mom and I shared part of a bottle of wine, and then they take it away and bring you the rest of the bottle when we sit down for dinner tomorrow.  I think we could have taken it with us too.  After dinner we popped over to the Main Stage to see the show “John Bressler – exceptional music and comedy.”  He was amazing to see…the way he played the piano was extraordinary; he is a very talented man.  He shared some comedy through out his performance and even the girls had a good time.  Then they raced off to Club HAL to have some kid time or I should probably call it adult free time.  Mom and I went to the bar at the back of the ship for our nightcap.  The breeze was so calming and it blew away whatever cares we had left from the day.  The weather was a perfect 75.  It would have been the most heavenly place to be on the ship except that it is also where the smoking section is for the entire ship.  We will keep trying out places till we find our favorite.  So the biggest obstacle we have is how to get everything we want and need to do in the day into the hours we are awake.  There are art classes, and talks, and watercolor classes, and trivia games and on and on and on.  We are working on our exercise, school, and activity balance. We’ll get it…I am confidant of that. For now, bedtime.  We are floating off the coast of the Dominican Republic and tomorrow is another seas day before we come to our first port on Wednesday. I really hope you are enjoying following along with our adventure.  Feel free to comment and ask questions if you like and I will answer them as I can.  So far I am pretty impressed with the Wi-Fi, but we have been close to land most of this time.  Enjoy the pictures of us all dressed up with somewhere to go.  Hugs and Love from us all…Debra