Hubby's 40th Birthday Adventure- Our very First Cruise! Wonder 2/7-11/10 Lots of PICS

[KelsiesMommy]

Ok, I've never written a trip report before, but for some reason feel compelled to do so now! I'm not particularly witty, but I've enjoyed reading trip reports from all sorts of people, so hopefully this will entertain and inform at least one person :)

Cast:

Me- Heidi- 34, SAHM, lifetime Disney Fan, drags DH along with my obsession- very nervous first time cruiser who has major motion sickness issues.

DH- David- turns 40 the day before we embark. Financial Advisor who works hard and hrdly ever takes much of a vacation. First time cruiser, appreciates Disney quality and service, loves his wife and kids so keeps renewing our DLR APs :thumbsup2

Background:

This 4 Day Cruise on the Wonder was to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday. I booked the trip in August, with the intention of keeping it a secret to surprise him. Especially since I knew a cruise woud be the LAST thing he'd ever expect- seeing as how I SWORE I would NEVER EVER get on a cruise, despite his working me for the last 8 years.

However, I just couldn't do it and by mid-September I told him. At first, he was a little confused- you see, I'm the huge Disney fan, not him. He asked a few times why a Disney cruise- we weren't taking the kids, so why Disney? I convinced him after ALL my extensive research that for a short trip, we wanted to avoid the "partying all night mentality" so why not cruise Disney? Besides, no one can do Customer Service better, right?? ;) Win for me!

I of course spent MONTHS scouring the DISBoards and learning EVERYTHING could about cruising. Joined our Meet thread right away and started to get excited!

Week before we leave: Got kids prepared, MIL arrived safely on time from Seattle to spend 8 days with our girls- we would return on oldest dd's 7th birthday on the 12th; youngest dd is 5. They were excited to spend time wit Grandma, momy was ready for a break from the kids!!

We flew to MCO on Friday Feb 5- 2 flights and a LONG day later, we arrived at the airport. Flying cross country is a pain- especially when you're not too keen on flying in the first place :) Luckily we didn't have maor weather problems to worry about- just the fact it would be much colder in FL than we had hoped!!

DH wanted to go to Universal for his birthday- Saturday. He's always wanted to go, since he was young and went to WDW with his mom, he saw them building Universal and had always wanted to go- so, we bought one day park to park tix and on Saturday I followed him around as he rode every wild and crazy ride he wanted to. Remember me? The one highly prone to motion sickness? Yeah, I nearly got sick on the Cat in the Hat Ride...

Anyway- he had fun, got it out of his system, and promised on our last day in FL after we debark we could go to Epcot :) Yeah!! :cool1:

Up next: To launch or not to launch? and Disney Wonder Here we come!

[BeautyFan]

:thumbsup2reat start...I can't wait to read more about your trip!:cheer2:

[KelsiesMommy]

We learned from our ever informative DIS family of the scheduled shuttle launch for 4:30amon Sunday. We had a great view from our hotel in Orlando and were assured we'd be able to see it well. So, we set our alarms for 4:15 a.m. (1:15am in CA!!) and turned on the TV to see if it was a go...it looked like it was for a while, and the we heard the no go for launch :( While bummed we wouldn't get to see a launch, we welcomed the chance to get back to sleep! I've seen shuttle landings, as we live about an hour away from Edwards AFB where they send the shuttles to land if they can't land in FL..but never seen a launch live...probaby never will, but that's ok :)

So, we really tried to get up early- I wanted to leave Orlando no later than 9am, but with the time change and such, it just proved too difficult. We made it into our rental and when I looked at the dash it was 9:55 when we started on our way to Port Canaveral. Not too shabby.

We arrived at the Port and David dropped me and the luggage off and I went in to check in while he went to park the car. All the reading and planning paid off, check in was a breeze! We hung out in the terminal, made our last phone call home to tell the girls we loved them and to be good for Grandma, and sat almost awestruck that we were really about to board that beautiful ship very soon! We may not have gotten there super early, but we had a boarding card # of 9 and were called within 10 minute of the first group boarding.

We heard our number called, got right in line and before we knew it we were being announced!!

I was taken aback with how beautiful the lobby was in person- of course, I'd seen TONS of pictures but seeing it in person was totally different! We decided to eat at Parrot Cay since it was rather chilly and we wanted to sit inside and enjoy our first meal!

This greeted us in the lobby to celebrate SuperBowl Sunday:
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After lunch we headed to WaveBands to try and get a Palo Brunch ressie- I'd already reserved my dinner like a good DISer, but decided at last minute to do brunch as well....lucky me, I got the LAST one before waitlists!!

On our way back to explore some more we had a lovely couple take our picture-- we later found out it was Disemimi and her hubby! :)

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We explored the ship a little while waiting for our stateroom to be ready, trying to get our bearings... our attire tells you it was a bit chilly as we embarked...it got even colder later!

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Once our stateroom was available, we went to our room, 6086, and David found this waiting for him from Melody at The Perfect Gift:

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We decorated our door and our luggage arrived promptly so we put everything away and got settled in.

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We then headed to the Promenade Lounge for our DIS Meet where I met the lovely people I'd been chatting with for months and would doing our FE with. Wish we would have taken a picture! :confused3

Then it was time for muster drill...
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Not much to report, it went quickly and smoothly, and then it was off to Adventure's Away....

Next up... Adventure's Away and will someone please stop this boat from moving??

[mb1976]

Fine job so far. popcorn::

[DisneyDaddio]

Joining in. Great start.

Cool to see that they did stuff for the Super Bowl.

[KelsiesMommy]

Sunday Feb 7, Part 2:

After the Muster Drill we had up to stake out a spot on Deck 10 to watch the festivities. At this point my excitement was winning out over my anxiety- soon I'd hear the ship's horn for real, in person and I'd be off on an adventure with my hubby! Of course, we weren't moving yet, so that had a lot to do with it :)

We had a nice spot where we could see all the fun and participate as little or as much as we wanted. Had our kids been with us, I think we'd have chosen to be down on Deck 9 in the midst of the dancing, but it was nice to just see it all from a distance.

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After we heard that Wonder-ful horn we were off! We walked around the top decks just seeing the people waving us off! But as the sun started setting it started getting COLD- so we head down to get warm and to decide what to do next. I *really* wanted to see The Golden Mickeys, but as we walked down to our room, then down towards the gift shops and browsing around, I started to feel the motion. Now, let me stop for a minute and explain something- I get dizzy/nauseous/motionsick in almost ANYTHING that moves- elevators, swings, backseat of cars... so, I came armed with everything I could think of. At this point, I had the patch that I'd put on that morning, sea bands, and back in the stateroom I had ginger capsules as well as motionease- a homeopathic oil that you put behind your ear (the one NOT with the patch!) and works immediately. So...at that point I told DH I didn't think I could handle being in the theater to watch the show, so, we could go somewhere and watch the SuperBowl- so, we went up to the Goofy Pool whee Pikey and DJ Frankie were trying to excite a meager crowd who braved the cold, bundled up in blankets, to watch the SuperBowl on the ArielView TV. They had some trivia questions going as well as raffles for those who made guesses on who would win, the score, and MVP...It was actually kinda fun, but also COLD! We were in jeans and sweatshirts still and had blankets draped over both of us to stay warm. We lasted for part of the game when finally my nose was frozen and it was time to start getting ready for dinner.

Ready for our first dinner aboard the Wonder:
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Our rotation was APPT- I was most excited for Animator's Palate. But even the walk down to the restaurant was already proving to make me rather uncomfortable. I scoped out the nearest door that led to fresh air so that I would know where to head should I need to during dinner.

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We met our great dining partners Mary and Paul who we really enjoyed their company for the 4 nights! Our Servers were Lito from Philippines and Felipe and for the life of me I can't recall his home country... They were SO WONDERFUL!! As we introduced ourselves I told them in advance if I had to leave, it wouldn't be personal, and I had to focus a lot on our conversaton and kept my eyes on only a few focal points. Which meant I missed a lot of what was going on around me, but that's ok...I made it through dinner!!! Lito promised me that around 10pm I'd start feeling a lot better...I told hi I was going to hold him to that promise!

During dinner, Lito came up to me to confirm David's birthday- ad then came out with a surprise for him!
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We all sang Happy Birthday and Lito came and cut the cake for all of us to share- he even cut mine in small bites because he knew I wasn't feeling well and didn't need to cut my own cake :lmao:

Here we are- you wouldn't know how yucky I was feeling by this pic :)
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True to Lito's word, by around 10pm I was feeling a lot better and the ship wasn't moving as much- and we were able to go hang out in WaveBands for The Feud for awhile. Looks like I survived the first part ok- and I could go to bed fine knowing I was getting off and onto land the next morning!! :thumbsup2

Up Next: Day in Nassau and thankful for a stationary ship!

[DisneyDaddio]

Had not heard of motionease before, I'll look into that. Thanks!

Glad to hear you started feeling better.

[ldeninge]

subscribing - great job so far!! Enjoying that you have so many pictures!:thumbsup2

[jessrose18]

great report, can't wait to read the rest. I was also going to ask doc for motion patch for my next cruise, glad to hear it worked ok. Bands didn't help me last time.

[KelsiesMommy]

I woke up this morning just before the sun, so I peeked out our verandah window and got excited that I might be able to get some sunrise pictures...grabbed my camera and tried very unsuccessfully to open the verandah door....:confused3 I think the fact I was hurrying made me have the handle just off so I couldn't get out- I was rather frustrated! Finally got DH out of bed and he opened it for me, but by this time I'd missed it-- so here's what I got:
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We both started getting excited about our adventure off the ship- we'd toyed around a lot of options before leaving home, and ended up deciding to go on our own over to Atlantis and just explore the resort as much as possible and see The Dig...

Arriving in Nassau...
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Enjying the SUN at BBB for breakfast- the only morning warm enough (for me) to do so!!
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We got off the ship and waited at the end of the pier with a guy from Jersey and his mom (so sweet!) and we decided to take a Taxi over to Atlantis together- we ended up getting a few more people in the van with us, all in all I think we waited about 20 minutes- The drivers were desperate- we were the only ship in port that day and not many people were wanting taxis!

The drive over to Atlantis was as expected and we went in and found where to purchase Day Passes- no problem this day getting any we would have wanted. In effort to save some $ we decided just on The Dig- and ended up basically getting to see anything in and around the grounds we wanted to. Not sure if that's because it wasn't busy AT ALL or what- glad we didn't pay for the Day Beach Pass- while the beaches were beautiful, it was windy and the waves were too high to even want to go in...though they do have a sheltered lagoon where you could swim, too.

The resort is BEAUTIFUL and we enjoyed spending about 3-4 hours here jus walking around and taking pictures.

The Dig aquarium exhibits:

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[Señor DonDuck]

What a great way to spend a milestone b-day. Enjoying this report.

Thanks for also posting pictures of Atlantis. Looks cool.

[KelsiesMommy]

The first part of the Dig is through tunnels and indoor/underground- when we came out the first part someone was "supposed" to be there to direct us where we were to go next. But! No one was there- so this is where we set off exploring! We walked all around the grounds, over by the waterslides, onto the beach and no one even gave us a second look. I think it had to be because it wasn't busy at all and we weren't in bathing suits, so it wasn't like we'd be using the pools/slides/beaches...

Anyway- more photos!

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Funny: :lmao:
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After we'd explored as much as it would appear we would be able to see, we walked a little around the Marina shops, tried and bought some pineapple rum cake and a very expensive Jamba Juice Smoothie to tide us over till we went back to the ship. We waited and waited with a guy for a taxi back- he was trying so hard to fill the van, but what can you do when there's NO ONE around? We finally told him we'd give him $12 for the both of us if he'd take us now...which he did...DH talked to him for a bit and we found out he'd lived in CA for awhile and was a musician who'd recorded a CD with a group that had recently disbanded...he also said that when the U.S. required Passports for it's citizens it greatly affected the tourism in Nassau and most of all they get now is the cruisers who are only there for a little while.

Home!
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We got back on the ship hoping to lay out in the sun and read a bit- Only 2 problems with that- One- the sun wasn't very warm anymore with a strong cool (cold!) breeze up top and Two- no chairs! LOL We tried it for awhile but after about an hour or so and me with a sweatshirt and 3 towels over my bathing suit- I decided I'd rather change and rest up so we could have fun tonight. We went back into our stateroom for a nap before Toy Story The Musical...which was by far my least favorite :( But because the ship wasn't moving until 2am...I knew I could enjoy myself the rest of the night without worry of feeing ill!!

It was dress up night (though many didn't get the memo AT ALL!) and we were in Parrot Cay for dinner tonight, wich turned out to be one of my favorite meals! Maybe it had something to do with the fact the ship wasn't moving? Maybe!

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(So glad for the steamer trunk for taking half-way decent photos!! :rotfl2:)
Once I scan my Shutters photos then I can show more dress-up pics!

After a wonderful dinner we went back to WaveBands to catch the end of WonderQuest (it seemed we enjoyed our dinners and dining partners so much we were among the last to leave dinner every night!) and to listen to One Hit Wonders...we enjoyed just watching the fun around us, talking with each other, and not worrying about having to be anywhere or if our kids were ok! :) I had to laugh histerically hen Pikey caled out at the end of WonderQuest for a Man in a woman's bra- How QUICKLY the women got their bras off and how fast the men ran up with them "on" :rotfl:

Up Next: Castaway Cay- will we make it? Previous cruise before us didn't.... (and we all know what happened right after we left with the Magic!) and Palo!!

[parrotheadmom]

I'm enjoying your TR and all the pictures!

[KelsiesMommy]

great report, can't wait to read the rest. I was also going to ask doc for motion patch for my next cruise, glad to hear it worked ok. Bands didn't help me last time.

One word of caution on the patch- while yes, I think it was my savig grace on this trip, it does have some side effects- the dry mouth was no problem..drink more water ;) When I switched patches on the third day was when the blurred vision came, which was fine enough to deal with until I got on the plane and was trying to read...

The worst of it I wasn't prepared for: once I took it off, about 8 hours later I felt REALLY sick!! Lying on bathroom floor with every window open miserable sick...I never actually got sick but had HORRIBLE nausea...of course, it was then read the insert.. may experience dizziness, nausea, etc etc when removing the patch because of withdrawls!

It took 6 days aftr removing the patch to feel back to "normal"

[Señor DonDuck]

Whoa, 6 days after removing the patch, before you felt normal? Yikes. Sorry to hear that.

Did the motionease work well for you? I haven't heard of that before and have been looking into types of motion sickness remedies with as less of side effects as possible. Thanks!

[Lemola]

Great report so far! I'm sorry you had so much nausea during (and after!!!) your cruise!

We had Lito for our server in January. LOVED him!

How much was the price to get into the Dig at Atlantis? We are thinking about doing this on our trip in April. Do you recall if there were different prices for kids?

Can't wait to read more and see more fantastic pics!

[KelsiesMommy]

Great report so far! I'm sorry you had so much nausea during (and after!!!) your cruise!

We had Lito for our server in January. LOVED him!

How much was the price to get into the Dig at Atlantis? We are thinking about doing this on our trip in April. Do you recall if there were different prices for kids?

Can't wait to read more and see more fantastic pics!

It was $35 for adults, and not sure on kids' prices, but they were less. I think we were lucky to have pretty much all access to the grounds, but the Exhibits and Aquariums were pretty cool!

[Kay1]

Thank you for the info regarding the patch. :confused: I may pass and try the Bonine instead.

[Mtopher4]

It will be my 40th too on my daughters MAW cruise..
Hum.. I'm scared of getting sick :( WAAAA

[KelsiesMommy]

It will be my 40th too on my daughters MAW cruise..
Hum.. I'm scared of getting sick :( WAAAA

Don't be! I am HIGHLY prone to any motion sickness, which is why I refused till now to ever try cruising- while I'll be honest and say there were moments where I didn't feel well- I never got sick, and learned quickly to stay busy and keep myself occupied (no problem there!!) to not dwell on it. It never was bad enough where I wasn't enjoying myself and wanted to go home ;)

I just wanted an honest report out there for people like me who are prone to motion sickness and worried about it- Yes- you will feel the ship moving- most of the time, it will not affect you- if it does, you'll learn how to cope rather quickly!

And, yes- I would (and hopefully will) do it again!!!!

[KelsiesMommy]

Tuesday Feb 9

This was the day I'd waited for the moment I booked our trip- Castaway Cay!! I was SO hoping the weather would be cooperating so we could enjoy our day in Paradise!

We woke up rather early and looked out our balcony to see what I'd only ever seen in pictures- Castaway Cay! Would we make it?

It was still a way off and so I hurried into the shower to get ready for the day, hoping to rush back out onto the verandah and watch us dock. Sure enough after my super speedy shower I went out and was able to see crew members on the dock preparing for us! It was a little windy making tha air a bit chilly for this CA girl, but I put my bathing suit on and got our beach bags ready, adding my hoodie to keep me warm. It was still early, I figured it should warm up eventually!

We once again enjoyed the buffet at BBB, but this morning was too windy and chilly to eat outside. We weren't the only ones who must hav thought that! We ate quickly and made our way down to the gangway.

As we stepped off the ship, I started immediately to not feel well....paranoid me thought oh no, I must be getting ill!! I didn't tell hubby, I just walked slowly, thinking maybe it would pass, and formulating in my mind what would I do if it didn't. We walked past the Post Office and stopped a moment to have our photo taken with the ship in the background (still need to scan my Shutters photos!!). I think I was somewhat in shock, not believing where I was

A little walk aways we were welcomed officially!
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We also stopped so David could get my pic with The Flying Dutchman (never did make it back to meet Captain Jack.... :()
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I'm happy to report that by this time, a mere 8-10 minutes later, I was feeling fine again. We figured out later my body as having a hard time figuring out when I was on land or at sea! Soooo glad I wasn't sick!!!

We were discussing our options for the day when we ran into these guys- along with our tablemates who proceeded to tell David he *had* to take a photo and they'd be happy to take it for us ;)
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They also took this one for us :)
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We decided to go rent snorkel gear for David- I decided it was too cold and windy for me to try it out- but said if the weather changed, I'd change my mind later or just us his. We then went to go rent our bikes- I'd told David the snorkeling would be best early in the day but he wasn't warm enough yet and said he'd rather go ride bikes while it wasn't hot :) We said goodbye to Paul and Mary who were off to their snorkeling excursion and we parted ways.

A few photos along the way:
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We had a blast riding our bikes all around, though it was dfficult since we had all our stuff with us! We took our stuff and rode to Serenity Bay where we ditched the beach bag and towels and then rode the bike trails. I haven't been on a bike in it had to be around 20 years- so I was hoping that the old adage that you never forget was true- it was! :)

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http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip528.jpg

We rode up to the Observation Tower where we had some great views:

Privacy, please?
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip538.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip539.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip537.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip533.jpg

zoomed, the Wonder looks like she's in the tree tops!:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip532.jpg

After our bike ride we went to chill out on Serenity Bay. We ran into our tablemates again who mentioned that all the excursions were cancelled for the day because the weather wasn't favorable for boating :( Guess we wouldn't be riding a water trike today!

I enjoyed laying on the lounger reading my book not having my kids bug me to play with thm, to swim with them, to build sand castles with them... wow, it was so nice to hear peace and quiet and no complaining.... no, wait...I take that back, there were a few young adults who were sitting next to us who had a lot of complaining to do...whine, we can't go parsailing, I better get my money back, whine, this beach isn't near as nice as...blah blah blah..geez!! Appreciate much?? :confused3 You're on a beautiful beach in the Bahamas, people!!!! Pulled my iPod out and turned it up full blas to tune them out...ahhhh...back to Serenity!
:thumbsup2

While I was relaxing, David was out with Paul our table mate, exploring, nearly causing an international uproar when he came back to shore with this:
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip548.jpg

It was dead when he found it, and they brought it in to shouts of "put it back!!" to show the wives...who, of course, had to take a pic of it! LOL

After enjoying the rest of the morning on the beach, we went to get lunch, where Lito had told us he'd be serving! I had the most YUMMIEST Mahi Mahi ever (and I don't even like fish!!!) and some rib eye steak that was pretty good. Of course, had to try the cookie dough soft serve which was as good as the hype said it was! Trust the masses!!!

Relaxed a bit more on the beach until we headed to the family beach so David could snorkel- and where we hoped the sun would be out more. It was cloudy most of the time and a cool breeze kept coming up so I'd have to keep putting a towel over me every once in awhile so I wouldn't be too cold!

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip556.jpg

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f66/KelsiesMommy/Disney%20Cruise%202010/Davids40thbdaytrip557.jpg

The family beach seemed to have more direct sun, but was also windier. David headed out to snorkel, I grabbed a Konk Cooler and my book and soaked up as much sun as I could! By 2:30-3ish, it had gotten too windy for me to enjoy sitting on the beach, ao we head back to the ship, bidding farewell to Castaway Cay :(

Up next: Palo and Rainy Pirates!

[dredick]

loving the report! do u know what the diffence would have been if u booked the atlantis trip w/ DCL? We are also going w/out the kids this time and really want to try Atlantis:goodvibes

[Golfing Goofy]

Thank you for your report. I wish I could convince my DH to go on a Cruise...sigh...but oh well... :upsidedow I am truly enjoying your photos. It looks so pretty out on the island.

[Mtopher4]

:thumbsup2
Love your trip report.. so glad you didn't get sick and came prepared :-)

[OhToodles2]

:) Just found your TR!

You're the 2nd person I heard that didn't like the Toy Story musical. What didn't you like about it?

How long were you at Atlantis?

I love your pictures!
can't wait to read more:)