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.)
Is this trip over? No! It’s JUST started!
Next up on the blog is our first stop in OLYMPIA, GREECE: https://christymartinphotography.com/olympia-greece-part-2/ !
[…] Part 1, it’s ALL about what started this adventure- a MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE! Here’s the link: https://christymartinphotography.com/our-mediterranean-cruise-part-1/ Come back, because mine and Ross’ favorite stop is NEXT… Athens, […]