We need another vacation!

The Icon was AMAZING,

But we need to catch our breaths!

What better way than a trip to the lake?

FOR A WHOLE WEEK!

We did some quick laundry, 

Mowed the lawn, 

packed the groceries…

And headed south!

After a relaxing first night,

We were all about gettin our chores done on Monday

So we could set out on something we’ve never done at the cabin…

An evening on the boat 

We grabbed some Casey’s pizza

And our fishing rods

And hit the water

Ranger was kinda confused

But glad to be along for the ride

We thought that surely the fish would like dusk

But we were skunked.

Not even a nibble.

We headed out early the next day to soak up the sun

And get in all the water sports.

We’re a bit too big to put all 4 of us on these days

So after driving us,

 Jack happily took a turn by himself

Tucker tried kneeboarding again this year

(He said it was more fun than he looks like he’s having)

Beckett, on the other hand,

Looked like he was having the time of his life!

More sun, water and swimming

But at a bit slower pace—

Just what we needed!

Day 8: All good things must come to an end…but not before we see the Everglades!

Really??!?

It’s Saturday already?!?!

Where did the week go?

We hit the Windjammer for breakfast

And the Pearl Cafe for coffee one last time

Before disembarking the Icon…

And heading for one last excursion!

Our flights were moved to the evening

And with a whole day to kill,

We decided to check out the airboats in the Everglades

We look a bit tired

But we’re ready all the same!

We expected to get earplugs

But nope.

Our driver just took off

And it. Was. DEAFENING!

When he stopped to talk about the habitat around us,

It was a welcome relief!

And some lovely scenery.

We came across an alligator or two

Before we headed back to see LOTS of alligators

At the alligator rescue.

There was a show

Where this crazy guy

“Wrestled” them—

But they were surprisingly docile

They apparently have a reflex that makes them chomp down

So as long as you avoid that,

You are “safe.”

Whoa.  

No thanks.

Thankfully,

Our travel was unremarkable

And the crazy alligator man was the highlight of the day.

What a vacation.

Was it iconic?

Yes, absolutely.

Day 7: A truly perfect day at Coco Cay

Today is our day at Coco Cay,

Royal Caribbean’s private island.

When we here 2 years ago it started out well:

But then it stormed, closing the tallest slide in the Caribbean—

Daredevil’s Peak—

While we were in line (and NEXT to get on) 

Not once but twice.

It was a bit cold, 

we had to eat lunch under cover because of the rain,

And eventually headed to the ship early because it just wasn’t that fun.

But TODAY,

Was a different day

We were up and out bright and early,

Determined to do it all.

And that is exactly what we did.

By 11am, we had already done every one of the 7 slide on the Daredevil Tower—

Several of them more than once.

The Dueling Demons, the drop slides, were probably our favorite.

We decided to take a little break in the wave pool

And check out the Adventure pool

Jack, making the lily pads look hard

Wes was determined to perfect his backflip off the zip-rope

While Tucker made it look easy

Then we headed to the Splash Summit for the family raft slides.

We rode them all—

Including each of the 4 racer mat slides.

Whew.

Ok, thrill park,

We’ll be back in a bit.

We’ve got to go find our crazy family in the Oasis Pool

Hurray for this great day!

The pool was fun

But we thought we should check out the beach

Mom especially loved Mandy’s “hat”—

It was her beach bag.

It deserved a picture

We had to show off our castle

Before we grabbed Mema and headed back for more slides.

We took her on all our favorites—

The drop slide, the plunge slide,

A raft and multiple mats

Before we knew it,

It was time to head back to the ship

There was some confusion about Mema’s bag

And she and Pappo rushed back to the cabana to get it.

We were worried they wouldn’t make it to the ship in time

And kept watch for them.

They made it.

Once we were back on ship,

The finality of our day started to set in.

How can this be our last dinner with Prakash and Ariawan?

Beck wanted to make it special 

And show Prakash and the crumb-catcher some love.

Here’s to our amazing dinner crew!

Thanks for making us feel special!

One of our feedbacks for RC on our past cruises was

To keep the pools and hot tubs open late.

Guess what?

They listened!

Sounds like a great way to spend our final night!

Ahhhh!

Top this night off with some Sorrento’s pizza

And some tunes and brews at the pub

And we’ll call this vacations ICONIC

What an amazing trip!

Day 6: Pools, slides, climbs, and the best show we’ve seen yet…

We were determined to live up every minute

Of our second day at sea.

Mom kicked it off with a run

And then drug all of us to the 2 for $30 shirt sale

(We’d already splurged on the $10 sale a few days ago).

Then we were off to the pools.

We tried out Surfside today—

The family pool of the ship.

It was kinda cool

With all these nooks and coves you could hang out in

The atmosphere was fun too—

There was a a New Orleans Jazz Band

Playing on deck today

Then we decided to hit the slides.

But Dad wasn’t up for it 

So he headed to find a chair at the pool.

But, then we found that the lines were really long

And decided to go back to the pool.

Then we couldn’t find Dad.

And now we wanted to rock climb.

But he had all our keys and such.

Beckett was the only one with a key—

So Mom climbed in Jack’s clothes.

The clothes didn’t slow her down—

At one point, Tucker accidentally released his automatic belay

And it soared to the top.

No worries—Mom climbed up (on belay)

And then climbed sideways to rescue the other belay.

The staff was impressed.

We finally found Dad, 

Hit the pool again,

But then had to scramble to get ready for dinner…

It was formal night!

Don’t we look formal?

Yogi outdid himself tonight!

We’re all looking good tonight!

It was a nice night,

Perfect for checking out the boardwalk.

Cooper and Thea wanted to show up

Their favorite spot—

The carousel. 

We embraced the fun

I mean, look at Jackson!

We rode it a few times

And the ride all squished in the bus

May have been the best ride

While some people headed to the arcade,

We headed to catch the Golden Hour with some pictures

What a sunset!

The show tonight was The Effectors.

And whoa, was it TERRIBLE.

The sets were good, there were some cool drone scenes,

The singers were great,

But the script was so bad.

The superpower of the leader of this superhero’s group

Was creativity.

Seriously,

And their battle cry?

“We win!”

Yikes.

Ah well—one bust of the week is still pretty great.