Annual Family Reunion Cruise - Wonder of the Seas - Jun 1 - 8, 2025

 May 31, 2025

Everyone arrived safely at our pre-cruise destination.  Most of us stayed at Wingate by Wyndham.  

June 1, 2025

 After our morning gathering at the hotel, everyone journeyed to Port Canaveral to board our ship, Wonder of the Seas. It was such fun exploring this gorgeous ship and getting settled into our rooms.

Sunsets on a cruise are truly spectacular! We love our dining table and servers! It's going to be a fabulous week.

June 2, 2025 - Coco Cay

David, Lily, and I headed out to spend the day at Coco Cay. I parked myself under an umbrella while they ran off to go on all the crazy slides.  I was very proud of how David and Lily would return to me about once an hour to put on more sunscreen!  Eventually, they were hungry, so we went to the Snack Shack for lunch. I enjoyed my visitor.

 Rich, Rachelle, Connor, and Melanie enjoyed their day at the adult pool. Ari and Robert enjoyed the ship with most of the passengers away.

June 3, 2025 - Day at Sea

My favorite days on a cruise - relaxing on sea days. Everyone did whatever made them happy - hanging out at the pool, reading, sleeping, playing ping pong, etc.  Tonight was formal night, so we all tried to look our best!

We attended the hysterical Love & Marriage Show. Connor and Melanie were up on the Jumbotron Kiss Cam.

June 4, 2025 - Costa Maya, Mexico

It was a gloriously sunny and very hot day for exploring Costa Maya.  As we entered the  town, the locals were performing traditional sun dances.

We are having the BEST TIME at Table 436 with Angga and Kevison!!

New Mexico 30 April - 7 May 2025

 30 April 2025 - So, Rob and I had one state left to explore, New Mexico....T volunteered to travel with me.  We flew from Atlanta to El Paso, TX. I used a companion pass, which was upgraded to FIRST CLASS and T & I were off to see New Mexico.  

The El Paso Airport was very patriotic. We easily found the rental car facility, and in no time, was on the road to Carlsbad.  Little side note - we're driving along, enjoying the sighs, when the GPS tells us to exit for Boarder Control.  I immediately say to Teri, "Are we in Mexico, did you make a wrong turn?" to which she is assuring me that we are still in Texas.  She was right.  The border control explained that the road we were traveling on is a master exit for illegal immigrants.  Yikes! 

The route was rather bland.

Traveled for a few hours to our hotel in Carlsbad Cavern, tonight's destination.

Austin - March 17 - 21, 2025 - Girls' Trip

 March 17, 2025 - Rachelle and I rendezvous at the Austin, Texas, Airport. We easily get into our rental car and head to the city. After a delicious breakfast at an awesome crepe place, we head over for our next exploration.

We enjoyed visiting downtown Austin.  After walking many steps, we decide to check out the bars in downtown.  Somehow, we managed to forget that it was St. Patrick's day.  OMG, when we walked into the hopping Irish Bar, "Dead Rabbit" we realized that we were celebrating BIG time. We managed to find a place to sit and enjoy an Irish drink.

The Irish music was awesome! Next, we returned to our hotel to freshen up before meeting our cousin, Mallory Gold, for dinner.

We had such a great time visiting.  We went to a rooftop bar for drinks and to enjoy the Austin nightlife. Such fun!

March 18, 2025, Austin

   Time to explore more of Austin.  We boarded the Duck Tour and laughed until we hurt. Our tour guide driver was hysterical.  We rode past the Capital of Texas, a restaurant owned by Elon Musk, and multi-millionaire homeowners.

Back on land, we enjoyed VooDoo Donuts (not quite as good as the one in Portland, Oregon), but the shop was fascinating!

After a little rest back in the hotel, we ventured out for our evening tour of the Austin Bats!  This was the highlight of my Austin visit. We took a  sunset boat tour on Lady Bird Lake to watch the bat departure.

These crazy little bats fly away each evening from under the Austin bridge to go find food up to thirty miles away.  I was totally "bat-sh*t crazy" watching them fly away!!!

MARCH 19, 2025

Time to drive to our next destination, Waco, TX. The drive was gorgeous, and we arrived safely at J&C Suites Harp Table Design. Our room is absolutely charming!

We quickly settled in and headed out for our tour.

Our next tour was an evening sunset cruise on the Brazos River. It was absolute serenity.

Afterwards, we enjoyed delicious Texas BBQ at Terry Black's BBQ.

MARCH 20, 2025

The day we had been awaiting for had arrived!  We were finally seeing J & C Giles Magnola Table.  We  enjoyed every moment of the beautiful ideas, and we took so many ideas back home!

In the afternoon, we supported the local economy in the adorable town of Waco. 

That evening we dined at the Magnolia Table.  What an amazing meal.

Fabulous way to end our girl trip.

MARCH 21, 2025

   Rachelle did an awesome job driving around Texas! We safely returned our car back into the Austin airport, enjoyed a light lunch, and boarded our flights to return home until next year's girls' trip!