Cruising the Caribbean TR... Finally! Nov. 6-13, 2015 updated 7/8/2016 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Cruising the Caribbean TR... Finally! Nov. 6-13, 2015 updated 7/8/2016
Hello everyone!
For those that followed along with my PTR (Cruising the Caribbean PTR!! Nov. 6-13, 2015), you know that following this trip we got home and got very, very busy. Between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, restarting homeschooling after New Year's and then Pat getting a new job with a totally crazy, yet amazing schedule that he just started a few weeks ago, I have not had a lot of time on my hands. But, I really wanted to write a TR for this cruise. We had an amazing trip and I want to share it.
So, how about we begin, at the beginning.
To start out for those that may not have read the PTR, let me introduce our family.
Me - Stefani - I am probably the biggest Disney fanatic in the house, but I think Hunter is a close second. I do all of the trip planning (with a lot of input from the family, but not much help). I am a stay-at-home-homeschooling mom and Pat and I have been married for going on 19 years in July. We live in a tiny little town in rural NM and we now have 87 chickens, 7 alpacas, 6 ducks and 4 dogs.
Hubby - Pat - My hubby is the best! He is always hard at work whether at work or at home. As I mentioned in the PTR his job takes hime overseas a lot and he almost didn't make it home in time for this trip. His new job is amazing and he will be working 60 days overseas and 60 days home. When he is home he doesn't work anywhere except at home around the farm. He is currently overseas now and will be gone a bit longer this time. We are going to change our homeschooling schedule so that when he is home we are off school as well.
Daughter - Shana (15)- Shana is our sweet and snotty teenage daughter. She cycles between those two at the speed of light. Most of the cruise we had sweet Shana and left snotty at home. Shana's favorite thing to do is read, and read, and read. Oh and did I mention she likes to read? She also sings on the worship team at our church and she loves art as well.
Son - Hunter (12 during cruise, turned 13 in January)- Hunter loves video games, and video game, and... well you get the point. He also likes reading and writing, and has also made some comic books. During preparing for the cruise we had a lot of concern about Hunter going to Edge, because he is not always the best at checking in and following rules. You will see how this all worked out in the TR.
Here's a sneak peek photo of all of us from during the cruise!
To get started let me back track a little. Pat was overseas 30 days before this cruise with a scheduled return date of Nov. 3, 2015. This was a bit tight and there was a lot of concern about how we would get to Galveston in time. The company Pat was working for requires you to fly to your home airport. While this is normally not a problem for us, this time it was. I didn't want to have to pick him up in Albuquerque or Lubbock and then have to get to Galveston. We were really not sure how we were going to make all this work.
Well, the stars must have aligned and it worked almost perfect. Pat ended up flying into the country landing first in Houston on November 3rd. He was suppose to have a 5 hour layover and then fly to Lubbock, but after going through customs, he accidentally took his bags with him and got lost and ended up at a hotel that I had conveniently booked in Houston near the nature and science museum.
While he was flying home and checking into the hotel, I was busy packing us all up, and trying to make sure we were ready to leave early on November 3rd. Before heading to bed on the 2nd I did my nails.
Toes:
Fingers:
The kids and I loaded up in the van early on November 3rd and started driving to Houston. We decided to take a slight 10 minute detour and got through Austin to be able to stop at a In-n-Out Burger for lunch. We love this place and there isn't one anywhere we normally go so it is always a treat!
For the most part our drive was very uneventful, until we got into Houston at about 6pm! Yeah, that was poor planning on my part. Shana was helping me navigate, along with our two GPS's, but there was a ton of construction in Houston and at one point we had a split in the road and couldn't tell which direction we were suppose to be going. Siri was unclear and wasn't showing our exit for another mile and the car GPS was not taking the same route. So, we missed our turn. This really wasn't a big deal, and when we exited at the next exit the GPS rerouted and took us basically through downtown, which wasn't too bad except for the construction and heavy traffic.
I don't remember what time we finally arrived at the hotel, but I do remember we went around the hotel 3 times before we were able to find the parking garage and get into the building. This is not a location I would typically pick to stay at on vacation, but it was really close to our destination for the following day.
We finally arrived and everyone was happy to see Daddy and we went down to eat dinner in the hotel restaurant, which definitely wasn't the world's best food, but we were tired and just wanted something to eat. After a little catching up and Daddy handing out souvenirs from his trip we crashed.
Next Update: It's a School Day on Vacation!
__________________
Stefani
Last edited by duck addict; 07-11-2016 at 10:27 AM..
Glad it all worked out for everyone to reconnect in Houston! Can't wait to hear more
It was a bit worrisome, but it worked out perfect. We had a back up planned if Pat didn't make it, but once we left for Galveston we had to hope everything worked out. Once he was on a plane to Houston I felt much better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MayraLR
Great start! Glad you're back and ready to write this TR! Looking forward to reading it.
I have been so busy I didn't even load pictures off my phone until last week. I'm just glad to finally have a little free time to spend writing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by manticorjenn
Great start. Can't wait to read the rest of your TR!
Before I start today's update, I need to let you know... I did not take any notes, journal or in anyway write down what we did each day. So, I am using my pictures, navigators and my memory to backtrack through this trip. I'm pretty good at that, but I'm certain I am going to forget some things or mix up the order of some things, but I'm sure it will all come out okay.
Today's Update: It's a School Day on Vacation!
We woke up on the 4th around 8ish and we decided we would go find some breakfast. We saw on the maps app that there was a Chick-fil-A nearby so we headed out. Well, we never found it and I'm guessing it was inside one of the hospitals in the area. But we did run into a Burger King and we got some food and sat down to eat.
After breakfast we walked back to the hotel and inquired about the shuttle that could take us to the museum. At first the front desk told us the next shuttle that was available would be leaving at 1. It was only 11 at the time. We started talking about driving but then the manager came out. He had checked Pat in the day before and Pat is a platinum member with the hotel and he said to meet us outside. We went out and he drove up with one of the shuttle vans and loaded us up. There was a group of bodybuilders wanting to get in with us (there was a bodybuilder convention in the hotel) but he told them it was a private shuttle and their's would be along soon.
We were soon at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the kids were very excited. They love museums. I had purchased tickets through Groupon that included a planetarium show and both kids wanted a different show, so we decided to split up for the shows. We had a couple hours before the first show, so we headed off to explore.
I love adding museums to our vacation, because I count them as "field trips" for homeschooling. Nothing like school, on vacation.
Here are some pictures from the museum:
This was the coolest clock! It is in the main entry and the cricket "walks" along it making the little lights move. The outer ring is the seconds and the lights spin around it with each move. The second ring is the minutes, so the picture is showing 18 minutes after the hour. The third ring is the hour, and it is showing in between 12 and 1 and so it is 12:18. We stood and watched this for so long and it was amazingly fascinating. I wish I had a video because the picture just doesn't do it justice.
I am pretty sure I took this picture while Shana and I were waiting to see our planetarium show that started at 12:30. Shana is fascinated by Egyptian history and so the show we went to go see was Stars of the Pharaohs. It was actually quite interesting. After our show was over, Pat and Hunter went in to see Black Holes.
After the shows I think we got lunch at McDonalds, which was the only place to eat in the museum. Then we continued exploring.
I loved this next section with the sections of tress. I could not believe how beautiful some of this were and some were enormous!
Hunter really liked this periodic table, that actually had products and items showing the use of most of the elements.
This is Rhodochrosite, it is Colorado's state mineral. We are originally from Colorado and large amounts of Rhodochrosite were found at Sweet Home Mine near Alma, Colorado.
I think the museum should have let me borrow this necklace for the cruise.
We spent a lot of time in the Hall of Ancient Egypt. It was one of the largest I have seen.
If you look at this ponchoit is actually made of feathers. It was absolutely beautiful, again pictures do not do it justice.
We left the museum at little before closing and called the hotel for the shuttle to come pick us up. While we were waiting we snapped a couple selfies.
After we arrived back at the hotel we decided we were hungry and we wanted some barbecue for dinner. We looked up a place that wasn't too far away (although it still took us about 40 minutes to get there with all the traffic). We ended up at Jackson Street BBQ. We had recommendations to eat at Gatlin's but it was not close enough for our tastes. We found out that Jackson Street is partnered in some way with Gatlin's. The food was amazingly good, and the staff was really nice. I think I was too hungry to think about taking any pictures.
After dinner we made the traffic contested trek back to the hotel and crashed for the night.
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She also sings on the worship team at our church and she loves art as well. 
He also likes reading and writing, and has also made some comic books. During preparing for the cruise we had a lot of concern about Hunter going to Edge, because he is not always the best at checking in and following rules. You will see how this all worked out in the TR. 
Shana was helping me navigate, along with our two GPS's, but there was a ton of construction in Houston and at one point we had a split in the road and couldn't tell which direction we were suppose to be going. Siri was unclear and wasn't showing our exit for another mile and the car GPS was not taking the same route. So, we missed our turn. This really wasn't a big deal, and when we exited at the next exit the GPS rerouted and took us basically through downtown, which wasn't too bad except for the construction and heavy traffic. 
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
Waiting for our next adventure after enjoying our Alaska cruise. 
Jenn
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