Let The Cruising Begin - At Sea, Days 1 & 2

It's difficult to know where to start with recounting the glory days of the cruise, if only because something very startling and scary happened the first night, and I just have to get it out of the way here.

GrandDad Mike had a diabetic sugar crash.

Without going into the details we all witnessed, because that's Mike's story, I'll say that the first night all 23 of us gathered for dinner in the center of the ship's restaurant, we witnessed what we thought was Mike having a stroke or a heart attack. Really, it was that dangerous-looking and it's what we thought could be the end to Mike.

Medics came and aided him; Kai and Mick and Mike's brothers knelt round him, calm and solemn and brave, providing information; the children and Mimi cried.

When it was assessed an hour later that indeed he'd had a diabetic seizure, it was a tremendous relief that Mike was still with us, and it was an enormous reality check as to the fragility of life. It may not have been stroke or heart attack, but it was just as dangerous.

That said, the rest of the cruise we (or just I?) spent some thought hoping all the diabetics kept sugar levels under control (there are 4 in the family at various stages), and keeping track of family in subtle ways. Keep in mind, we kept Jan, Grammy/Mike's wife, in our thoughts, too, as she'd had to remain home in Washington due to her own health challenges.

But we got that big scare out of the way the first night, and, sign of the cross, nothing else happened the rest of the cruise. So, here's a little of what the first two days at sea held for us:

Aubrey and Indi loved dressing up for dinner. Here they are the first night.

Aubs and Dub Dub.

Danielle and Cindy in the forefront; Danielle's friend Jenny with Mike in the background.

Big Boy Jude got all snazzied up: dress shirt, tie, and sweatpants "For Mimi."

Kai holds up family t-shirts from Tom.

Mick, in honor of Mimi's 95th birthday.

Mimi and her love bug, Jude.

Kai, Mimi, and Jude.

After the crash and the positive word from the infirmary some of us regained a little of our appetites and headed up to the Lido deck to decompress.

It may not have been warm (it was snowing in Baltimore when we left), but on day 2 (near North Carolina?) the kids hit the sea water pool.

Indi and Aubs playing slap-hands.

Jude, Aubs and Dane.

Mick with the newest little Reynolds (well, his last name is actually Clark!), Nathan.

Kai with Dub-Dub, who, the next day was stung by a jellyfish in that seawater pool! It was closed and drained after his screams and welts alerted the crew.

Waiting for kids' camp, which was a little bit of a bust -- but that's okay, the kids just roamed the ship like unruly pirates in search of soft-serve the rest of the trip.

Dana, Rod, Mimi, Mick and Kai.

Rod, Mimi, Kai, me, and Dana.

Dane gussied up.

Doing the girls' hair.

GrandDad. Woops, it's fuzzy.

My growing kids.

Mimi and her greats. (Where's Nathan?)

Kai and Jude.

With my fabulous sister-in-law.

The traditional matching Christmas Jammies from Auntie Dana.

Other than this, we explored the ship's various lounges, cafes, and decks, looking forward to our first day on land: for us, that meant the Orlando Watersports Complex and Harry Potter World. (Stay tuned...)