“Messenger of God” is the meaning of the name they chose. It’s very fitting because I’ve watched them pour God’s Word and truth into their other two children. I have no doubt Anthony and Abbe will raise lil’ Malachi to also believe in the Lord and be a light for Him!
We packed a lot of moments into our morning together because, as we all know, it’s so important to document all the football throws, twirls and cuddles!
Congratulations to this special family! I’m so happy they are adding more messengers!
I ALMOST STARTED CRYING IN THE GROCERY STORE TODAY WHEN I HEARD A BILLY JOEL SONG BECAUSE IT REMINDED ME OF SPECIAL TIMES WITH ROSS!
‘I am a very sentimental gal.’
I realize it’s not just with my OWN kids, but also with the children I’ve had the privilege of photographing over the years. I could have already posted this a few hours ago, but instead, I pulled out my hard-drives to look at their sweet family photos from the past twelve years.
Matthew is very optimistic. When people ask him about Croatia, he simply says, “I really want to go back!” I smile because that’s a very nice way of saying, “We missed many of the highlights and was so delayed, we almost missed getting back on the ship!”
Viator cancelled our (ONE and ONLY) excursion (LAST MINUTE)(FOR NO REASON). Although we booked weeks prior (and was even receiving confirmation texts the morning of), we arrived to the dock surrounded by complete chaos with no record of our (PAID) tour.
As optimistic as Matthew is, he’s equally determined. So, needless to say, he found a way to get us around to some of Croatia’s islands.
We may have missed some highlights, but do you know what we DIDN’T miss… a chance to JUMPOFF a 33 FEET high diving platform into the Adriatic Sea!
As I watched from the ground, I noticed a group of guys who kept giving up their turn- too afraid to jump. It made me smile to watch Rayna show them how it’s done!
That’s a wrap, Croatia! Hopefully, we’ll see you again!
As the sun was just starting to rise (and my family was still enjoying a few more hours of sleep), I was eagerly waiting in the ship lobby to claim early tender tickets for SANTORINI! (Even if you don’t know the name, you’d certainly recognize the picturesque Greek island with white-washed villages, blue domes and beautiful hints of color all around.)
But despite all my research and early morning ticket, my secret dream to become an ‘international travel blogger‘ crumbled into pieces that day on the slick steps of Santorini. It hurts to say this, but that picturesque town, Oia, that draws in visitors from all around the world… well, we totallyMISSED it.
We planned on hiking nearly 7 miles to Oia, but you all have already seen how Ross gets distracted when he spots a big rock or mountain…
Matthew and I were happy to sit in the shade (and pray that Ruthie didn’t get hurt) as the kids hiked to the top.
After the hike and unexpected adventure up the mountain, everyone was hot, tired and hungry. My crew didn’t seem to care that there was a world-famous sites just around the corner, so the majority-VOTE (after hours of being in the hot sun) was to stop our intended hike to Oia and start hiking back to the ship.
Regardless of if we made it to ‘THE‘ spot, we saw plenty of otherGORGEOUS spots along the way.
Truth-be-known, my crew was probably highly motivated to get back to the ship early- knowing the Flowrider would be less crowded!
For the months leading up to our cruise, I assumed Athens would be my least favorite stop. I heard it was incredibly hot in the summer, as humid as Florida and extremely crowded. And although it was all of these things, it was ALSO:
BEAUTIFUL, VIBRANT, RICH IN HISTORY and FULL of KIND PEOPLE!
We heard there were many pick-pocketer in Athens, but we had the OPPOSITE experience! After paying for gelatos, Matthew accidentally walked away- leaving his water thermos on the counter. When the business owner realized this, he immediately left his business alone, yelling and chasing us down the busy street, trying to RETURN it!
Aside from using a cab (to get to the train station) then the train (to get to a few areas), we skipped all the recommended tours, guides and simply walked around the entire city. It was a long day (and Ruthie got terribly hot), but I wouldn’t have changed a thing!
We visited: the small, colorful town of Anafiotika(don’t get your hopes up about seeing a lot of cats), the Acropolis(students were FREE with an ID), Partheno, Plaka, Monastiraki Flea Market and Areopagus Hill(or “Mars Hill” where Paul preached, recorded in Acts 17).
Can you imagine traveling almost 6,000 miles to Olympia, Greece and NOT laying eyes on the birthplace of the Olympics games?
Since our ship would be stopping in Athens next (where we’d be seeing a lot of ancient ruins, historical sights and tourists), I thought it would be a great excuse to have a beach day instead!
Prior to our trip, I spent hours doing research and found the PERFECT“hidden and local favorite”BEACH. But when I told the taxi driver, he simply replied,
“No… You don’t want to go to that beach. I take you to one better and cheaper to get to.”
The driver was correct!
This beach was not super crowded and the water was CRYSTAL CLEAR! And our highlight was walking past the crowd to find a nice rock for Ross to UNKNOWINGLY REALLY IRRITATE A MOTHER BIRD AND HER HIDDEN BABY CHICKclimb. (If you look closely at the photos, mother bird is continually swooping down towards Ross to make sure he’s not messing with her little one.)
In case anyone wants to visit this beach as well, my iPhone coordinates recorded: 37° 39′ 54.462″ N , 21° 18′ 35.028″ E. (My guess would be Ai Lagoudis Beach.)
On our way back to the ship, we were excited to try their local cuisine… GYROS!
We made the VERY best of this stop, but for anyone going to KATAKOLON(the official name of the cruise port closed to Olympia, Greece), I would be remiss not to mention:
* Credit cards were accepted most places, but still BRING EUROS. * If you’re wanting to save money or take the road-less-traveled, PLAN AHEAD and CONSIDER POSSIBLE PROBLEMS (ie: transportation apps being different; internet connections being unavailable at times; shortage of taxis; taxi driver straight-up saying NO to where you want to go, etc.). * The beach at the end of the gift shops was very dirty and run-down. * The “fun bus” that many tourist use to ‘hop-on-and-hop-off’ was over crowded and late- almost resulting in a physical fight between two people arguing about who could squeeze into a tiny space.
For years, Matthew and I have dreamed of going on a Mediterranean cruise. We already LOVED cruising, so the thought of simply being ‘dropped-off’ at several beautiful, European locations made it even more exciting!
Meanwhile, we’d been seeing first-hand how quickly time races by with children. As we watched Ross and Rayna stepping into the next stages of their lives, we were reminded of just how precious one final ‘family trip‘ would truly be. So we finally took the plunge and booked the trip!
We chose Royal Caribbean’s ‘Explorer of the Seas‘ because, the only thing we love more than cruising with Royal Caribbean is cruising on one of their ships with the FlowRider Surf Simulator!
But even if you don’t enjoy surfing (or simply watching, like me), there’s always SO much to do! Matthew passed on his COMPETITIVENESS to the kids, so we got to all cheer one another on as titles were awarded for basketball games, rock-climbing races, FlowRider advancements and, well, Ross’ excellent effort to win a karaoke competition with Elvis’ “Hound Dog”.
As much as we loved seeing new places and being entertained, eating delicious meals together(at least three times a day!) was one of our BEST memories of the trip!
Don’t you LOVE how dressed-up with all get on the ‘formal‘ night? It’s okay though. Even though the only pants Matthew had were his sweatpants for the plane, he couldn’t have possibly looked any better to me!
We didn’t feel fancy enough to get a professional photo, so I just set everything up on my camera and asked a stranger to snap a photo. (I’m not complaining that it’s sideways, because at least it’s clear!)
It sounds silly, but I usually get behind with my daily Bible reading when I’m on vacation. I don’t like reading my Bible digitally (on a device), but I also avoid packing my Bible on longer trips when it could get damaged.
As I sat on my deck one morning, I was reminded how much I NEEDED God’s Word in my life DAILY, so I used my phone app to open my Bible-in-a-year ‘assigned daily reading’ plan. Looking out at God’s spectacular creation, none other than Psalm 19 appeared on my screen!
(If you know me, you know how passionate I am about reading through God’s Word each year. I firmly believe that God CAN and WILL speak to you through His Holy word- even going page through page on a ‘assigned’ plan.)
[…] two years, it’s been nothing short of impossible. I figured my last resort was her senior trip- our big, Mediterranean cruise! I casually asked her, “Hey… you know how Ross wanted me to take his senior photos on our […]
