Operation D.A.T.E. Day 7: Last Hoorah

Friday, day 7, was our last full day on the Harmony of the Seas.  It was our last hoorah before we began our trek back to Wisconsin and our normal life that awaited there.  While we were very excited to see our boys and give them all of the hugs and kisses that they were lacking from us, we were also sad with the understanding that our D.A.T.E. was drawing to a close.  In all honestly it would probably be months before we had any one-on-one time together again outside our home (even just for a few hours) and several years before we had another kid-free vacation like this.  So, with that knowledge lingering in our minds we did our best to make the most of our last day at sea...

The morning view from our balcony.

We didn't do anything really exciting our amazing today.  Rather we took full advantage of the simple moments of meals that we didn't have to prepare, rest we could get, soaking in the vitamin D that would be absent at home, finishing the Grisham book I'd started almost six years prior, uninterrupted conversations and quiet moments between us and more.  It was an incredibly low-key day but still amazing time together.

For our last lunch on the ship we ate in the Windjammer as always and being that it was the last day of the cruise they seemed to have a theme of Go Big or Go Home.  There was the largest apple pie that either of us had ever seen, a gigantic submarine sandwich and a huge chocolate Thank You cake with ridiculously portioned slices...

The Apple Pie

Me with my ridiculously huge slice of chocolate cake.

The Submarine Sandwich

As we were walking out of the cafe, I noticed  for the first time that these whisks hanging from the ceiling were actually lights!

In the afternoon we took a break from the outdoors to enjoy the Grease Musical in the Theater.  They had just switched the cast of the show and this was the new casts' first ever live performance.  It wasn't Broadway, but I thought they did a great job and really enjoyed the show and the songs.

When Grease was finished we headed back to our lounge chairs to relax for the remainder of the sunlit hours.

There's no place like gnome?

Day 7 Itinerary

Eric got us a plate of nachos for an afternoon snack.

I FINALLY finished my book!!!
FP Post: I used to read all the time and I could not wait to get my hands on @johngrishamauthor ‘s new books every time a new one hit the shelf. In 2012 I was pregnant with our first child and I began reading this book (The Litigators). I was half way through the book when it was time for our baby to be born. Naively, I even took the book with me to the hospital hoping to read more during the down times of my labor. 😂 Fast forward about 2 years and I was pregnant again but with my toddler starting to become more independent I picked up the book again, starting from the beginning. ...and again I made it half way through before it was time to deliver. Since that day in the fall of 2014 I’ve taken the book on most of our weekend trips and all of our family vacations in hope to finish but with 2 little boys time for mom to read is extremely limited. Now, on my last day of our first adult-only getaway on the @harmonyoftheseas_ I am thrilled to report that the book is finished!! Tomorrow I will be back to #momlife, but for now I’ll enjoy the win and maybe even start the next Grisham in line with hopes to finish it in the not-too-distant future #operationdate2018 #investinginmymarriage💍

After watching the sunset in Florida one last time we headed back inside to the Royal Promenande to watch the Farewell Parade.

When the parade was over, we spent the rest of the night (our last night on the Harmony) trying to enjoy what the ship had to offer for one last time... 

We went to the gift shop and bought a scaled ship Christmas ornament.

We looked at our RC pictures for the last time...

...and decided to purchase this one...

We headed to the Windjammer Buffet for dinner.  On the ride up we saw this couple, which I quickly realized were Sandy and Danny from the Grease show we'd seen earlier in the day.  As the elevator went up everyone got off on different floors and soon it was just us and them.  Eric told them that they did a good job today and we enjoyed the show.  They both quickly laughed, said thank you and got huge smiles on their faces.  Then the girl said that we were the first people to recognize who they were (as I said they were new to the ship and had just performed their first show in front of an audience that afternoon).  It was pretty obvious that we made their day.  It also became obvious that they were heading the same place that we were and that they had no idea where they were actually going.

We ended up in the cafe together for dinner where they met up with more of the cast in what happened to be the table that Eric and I had been sitting at all week and had deemed "our spot".

After our dinner (and of course dessert - I had fruit and chocolate fondue) we said goodbye to some of our favorite spots on the ship and then tried one last thing we had never done (rode the Rising Tide Bar from deck 5 to deck 8) before returning to our room to rest up for the trip back to Wisconsin the next day.