Virgin Islands Vacation Surprise

I'll start by saying we are not very spontaneous.  Especially when it comes to travel.  I love to travel, but I also love to plan travel.  Because we have a special trip planned for later in the fall, we decided to stay close to home this summer.  So, I had absolutely no upcoming travel plans other than maybe a quick weekend trip over to Niagara Falls for late in the summer.  That's why I was stunned one Sunday morning in church when Jacob turned to me in between songs and whispers "Let's get away somewhere for a cruise vacation, but it has to be the last week in June."  I sat beside him through the service certain that I must have misunderstood.  My brain only caught "getaway", "cruise", and "June".  After church, he confirmed what I thought I had heard and told me to go see what I could find!  And then the search was on!

Now, the one time I booked a cruise on short notice was only because I had already combed through all the options, done all the research, and had everything lined out. All I was waiting for was the go ahead from Jacob that his schedule would allow him to go.  This was very different!  Jacob's schedule provided a very definitive time frame to start my search, but still there was lots to consider and only a short time to do it in.  How many days to cruise, where to go, where to leave from, and which ship to take.  I called my travel agent bright and early Monday morning and we got to work.  By Wednesday, we were booked in a beautiful suite on the brand new Norwegian Getaway departing from Miami to the Virgin Islands in T-minus 15 days!  I spent the next day arranging flights, a pre-cruise hotel, transfers, and a cat sitter.  The rest of the week I researched ports, shore excursions, dining options, and entertainment schedules for the ship.  The following Monday, we wrapped up the last day of school and then Brenna and I spent the next three days packing and shopping for last minute supplies.  It was a very exciting two weeks with the anticipation and preparation.  And just like that, it was here!

Jacob worked Friday morning until mid-day.  When he got home we packed up and headed for Detroit to catch a late afternoon flight to Miami.  The flight was uneventful and we got into Miami late that night.  We caught a taxi straight to our hotel and got settled in for the night.

The next morning as the sun came up, we caught our first glimpse of the Norwegian Getaway from our balcony.  After a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant, we went back to the room to pack up and head to the port. 

Good Morning Miami!  First view of the Getaway!

Pioneer Field Trips - Wrapping up the School Year

Our final month of school was jammed packed, which made the time fly by.  Our school is beginning a $1.2M renovation this summer.  Due to that, the board made the decision to drop the final three days of school, to allow the teachers more time to pack up their classrooms ahead of the demolition.  Because of that, there were no free play days and we pushed hard on our studies all the way until the end.

Our final social studies unit was on pioneers.  This unit took up most of our final month.  We had a special project to make a very creative log cabin along with an instructional flow diagram describing the process.  Our teacher also organized two field trips as part of the study.  The first field trip was to the Sarnia Quilter's Guild Quilt Show which was hosted at one of the local churches.  The group had prepared a special presentation for our class.  It started with reading a wonderful story about a quilt maker who helped a king learn to be generous.

Chatham-Kent District Track and Field Meet

On the big day, we woke up to a perfect 65 degree day with clear sunny skies.  We were up bright and early, since the meet was roughly a 2.5 hour drive to Windsor and Brenna's first event kicked off at 9 AM.  Sarnia Christian, along with 6 other area Christian schools came together for the annual Chatham-Kent District Track and Field Meet.  Brenna qualified to compete in 5 events.  She participated in the 100 meter, 200 meter, standing long jump, running long jump, and the girls relay team.  Due to safety concerns, no age groups were allowed to complete in the high jump this year.  Brenna was a bit disappointed over that.

She worked hard and practiced hard, but Jacob and I knew this would be a different level of competition that Brenna was not accustomed to.  My little competitor likes to win!  We coached her for weeks leading into the meet, that just being able to go was a reward, and as long as she tried her best, that's all that mattered.  She understood this clearly.  But what her head knows and what her heart feels can be two very different things.  I was worried that she'd get discouraged if she didn't earn a ribbon.  Only 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places are recognized.

She was tested immediately on her first event, the 100 meter.  She gave a valiant effort and came in a close 4th.  She handled it well!  She walked off the track sucking wind and told me, "Those girls are fast!"  We moved on to 200 meters, where she again came in 4th.  Silently, I was thankful that she was at least competitive and not the last kid to cross the finish line.  I was holding out hope that she could come away with at least one placement ribbon.

We moved on the standing long jump.  This is a strong event for Brenna and I hoped this would be our time.  Unfortunately, she get off to rough start.  Her first jump was great..........except, she was pushing so hard for distance that she fell back instead of forward.  She got a bit upset, but she shook it off and prepared for her second jump.  Her second jump was fantastic!  So, going into her third jump she felt pretty confident.  Again, her third and finally jump was great, except she fell back again trying to stretch out the jump.  She came back to me almost in tears, but we talked it out that she had one good jump and sometimes that all you need.  Turns out, we were right.  She managed a 2nd place ribbon on her one good jump!

Next, it was on to the running long jump.  She jumped well, and walked away with another 4th place. All this took up the entire morning and we finally got a break in our events around noon.  We grabbed some lunch and watched some of the older kids compete while we waited for our final event.

Brenna ran the first leg of our girls relay team.  Our biggest concern was that someone would drop the baton.  Despite practicing for weeks, we always seemed to have issues with the hand-off.  Either the girls had to really slow down for the hand off, or they dropped the baton.  Brenna devised a plan that she would run as fast as possible to get a head start and then slap the baton into Lucy's hand!  She followed through and with the help of the Lucy, Miriam, and Emma our girls came in 3rd (very nearly 2nd)!  I was glad that she got to celebrate that victory as a team!

It was a long day, but so much fun!  I was proud of all the hard work that our athletes put in.  Thanks to their efforts, Sarnia Christian School placed 3rd overall and came home with a new Track and Field banner to add to the gym!

First thing that morning.  They said "We got this!"