Our Latest Adventure, Part I

We offered the kids a couple of choices for Christmas: we would buy gifts or we could take a family trip. They all opted for a trip, so we started looking for ideas.

Samuel isn't too sure about our plans. :)


We convened at Kregg's parent's, 14 of us in all, including our 7 children, our son-in-law, our soon-to-be-son-in-law, our grandson, and Kregg's parents. We spent the night there and then drove to Houston the next day (almost 600 miles). 

The whole crew assembled for dinner. We spent that night on the south side of Houston. By the way, I learned an important lesson about booking hotel with those online companies: after you book your reservation, call the hotel and confirm that they received the information from the online company. I booked four rooms, but the hotel only received the info on 3 of them, and it took several hours to iron out the problems. I had no idea that could happen. Next time, I'll know. :)

We were supposed to be at the pier to board the cruise ship at 1 pm, so we spent some time walking around in Kemah. Little did we know the fog that morning would change our plans.

The fog was so thick all cruise ships had been unable to make port that morning. So, we suddenly had several hours to kill.

We had a lovely lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

I was so thankful this snake was NOT real! 

Then we spent a couple of hours playing on the beach.

Rebekah found a live barnacle.

Aren't they cute?

Of course, Benjamin can always find some way to entertain himself.

Someone has a really interesting sense of humor, don't you think? What a name for a port-a-potty!

The pelicans were so adorable.

We spent a couple of hours exploring a submarine and ship from WWII.

Can you imagine spending months at sea with this as your bedroom?! 

Rebekah needed to hone up on her gunnery skills.

Josh and Ben (and all of us) surely did enjoy Caleb's break between semesters. We got pretty used to having him around again.

My mother-in-law is so adorable!

Silly, silly boys!

Kregg and Elizabeth are practicing "Land Ho!"

The cruise line had sent us a message to be at the pier by 6 pm. We got there about an hour early, and it was a good thing. The line took a couple of hours.

But, of course, Ben was more than willing to provide the entertainment for us, and anyone else, while we waited.

Samuel took it all in.

By the time we finally boarded, it was late and everyone was really hungry.

A problem the dining room quickly remedied!


To be continued . . .