May 31, 2024
Treetop walk and Slide Avondale, Co. Wicklow

Today was bright and sunny, best weather I have had in Ireland so far. We had such a fun day and it started with a giant slide! About 2 years ago, I sent Edel a photo of this and asked her if she had heard about? ( she lives in Cork - we've been friends for years). Today we got to experience together.
First you do the treetop walk through the forest and this leads to the giant slide. You don't pay to go down the slide, until your are at top and fully committed! All ages join in the fun. We asked one of the attendants, who told us the oldest child he knew to go down was 91 and just last week an 82 year old, celebrated her birthday going down! We were game and he joked that the boxes at the bottom where for those who didn't make it! Fear not!
First went Edel, then me! Weeeeeeeeeee! It lasted all of 17 seconds. And Edel gave me a 10 out of 10, for my fashionable dismount!

On April 30th, Angie and Gian , a shipboard sweet couple that meet during the dry dock delays in Belfast , seven months ago, got married with just 28 close family and friends, at sunset in the Observatory Lounge. They then did another " Tying the knot ceremony" for the entire ship on May 1st on the pool deck, officiated by Captain Val . After each service was a special dinner one in the Thistle Dining room and the other at the Outdoor deck of Palms Restaurant. The above video done by VVR Marketing shows the highlights. I ended up being the Wedding Resident Coordinator for the couple and I have a ton of the behind the scene photos of how it all came about. It was a lot of work, but I got to interact with so many great people and really enjoyed the challenge, logistics and organization of the whole thing! It brought so many residents together, in a common bond, it was really something special to have played such a major role.