09/16/06 Double Scoop Group- see ya real soon!!

[gssmks]

What do you guys think about the weather? It's been quiet and dry all season and now that September is here, there are storms everywhere. I want good weather!!!!!!!!

 

[JOANNEL]

Gail, that's a deal. We will walk over after dinner and see if you are still out there. I don't know what time we will be arround. So if any one wants to hang out at the Radisson pool we will see you there. Other wise it's deck 10.


Two weeks from today will will be on Castaway Cay

 

[ericamanda01]

Amanda, after church I drove through the P.O. and dropped the money for our bracelets back in. I had completely forgotten to do this after it was returned the other day. I am surprised that they returned the last one. I had the address correct. I just don't have the best handwriting in the world and Greenbud looked more like Grunbad. It was marked as insufficient address. Go figure. Anyway, when you receive it let me know. I feel so bad that I haven't put it back in the mail before now.

No problem. I should get it before I leave. But I have to ask that everyone else wait to pay me at the port.

Did I mention that Eric and I are leaving on Friday morning, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! 5 days! After waiting 2 years it's amazing that it's less than a week! Poor Eric, I have been jumping around the house like a kid all day! Just like this -->

 

[bahogg]

I hear you Amy. I feel exactly the same way. Maybe it's because we only have one child, or maybe we would be involved parents even if we had more (I'd like to think so!).

DH lives and works in D.C., he is a mobilized reservist. So he is gone more than he is home with us. We have to make the most of the time we are together, because we want Kelsey to have good memories of this time in her life, instead of remembering it as "when Daddy didn't live with us."

Judy
You would be as good of a mom with as many as you have, when it is already that important to you it doesn't matter how many kids you have you do what you need to for them all..... And man I have no idea how "single" parents (wheather becouse of job or devorice or death) do it. I know I need my husband to help, But I am very fortunate to have parents and a sister that is very involved in my kids lives. I don't even have to ever get a baby-sitter. My kids have probably had someone watch them 3 or 4 times that was not my family and my oldest is 11.
When ballgames come up and I have one that is playing in one city and another playing in another city I can call my parents or my sister and they will take one while I take the other. It is a great blessing.

amy

 

[JNorris]

Judy- dh is on permanent get ready to be mobilized because of his rate (he's Navy Reserve). Can you share your husband's MOS? It would be better to be mobilized to DC than the other places dh's unit has gone.

Julie

Julie, I'm not sure how to answer that (sorry, I don't have a real good understanding of alot of military stuff, believe it or not), but he is a Major working at the Army Operations Center at the Pentagon. He was in the National Guard and was asked to fill a position at the AOC. He took military leave at his regular job,and he has been in DC for a little over a year. He will probably be there a total of 2 1/2 years.

Again, I don't know if that answered your question.

 

[JNorris]

Did I mention that Eric and I are leaving on Friday morning, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! 5 days!

Yeah, Amanda, you might have mentioned it once or twice!

ANOTHER TOP OF THE PAGE FOR ME! YEAH, THIS IS FUN!

 

[gssmks]

Gail, that's a deal. We will walk over after dinner and see if you are still out there. I don't know what time we will be arround. So if any one wants to hang out at the Radisson pool we will see you there. Other wise it's deck 10.


Two weeks from today will will be on Castaway Cay

Sounds good. What time will you be on the shuttle to the port Saturday. DD and I will be on the 10:00 a.m. shuttle.

 

[gssmks]

No problem. I should get it before I leave. But I have to ask that everyone else wait to pay me at the port.

Did I mention that Eric and I are leaving on Friday morning, I can't wait!!!!!!!!!! 5 days! After waiting 2 years it's amazing that it's less than a week! Poor Eric, I have been jumping around the house like a kid all day! Just like this -->

Now I'm jealous. We still have 12 days before we leave. I hope you guys have a great week at WDW. Make sure you ride Expedition Everest for me. I just can't wait to ride it.

 

[seashells]

Do any of the staff stay on the island? I had read somewhere about how bad the bugs are on the island in the evening. I would think that they would have to leave someone on there over night to clean up the island and get it ready for the next group of cruisers. Besides, I would think that there would be security conserns. Can you imagine sailing around out in the ocean and running up on Castaway Cay on a day when no ship is docked and going ashore and having that Island all to yourself?

I read somewhere that some staff does stay on the island. Sure it must be a mosquito heaven, but Im sure its no worse than anywhere else in the Caribbean. Most resorts down there spray somekind of smoke/fog that helps to keep the bugs at bay. Also, after a month or so you become immune to the bite. The mosquitos keep biting but you dont swell or feel any itching.

So when is the meet again..1/2 hour after Magic leaves This is me waving at the ship!!!

 

[seashells]

Ok now is it just the women in my family or do other women do this. I can't leave on vacation unless my house is spotless.

Im sooo with you on this Amanda01, the last thing I want to see when I walk in my door is a mess. I will already be in a depressed state!!!!

 

[seashells]

Were there and interested in a meet. Not sure where to meet inside the park as it is likely to be pretty crowded and kids will probably want to just collect candy.

We could just pick a place to get a group costume picture.

Has anyone been to the MNSSHP in the past? Any tips?

We will be at MNSSHP too, no tips for you though as this is our first time, also our first time at Magic Kingdon and WDW....I dont know if I would be able to meet as I see us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Between the parades and costumes, to the rides and candy and not knowing where anything is....

I confess...Im not wearing my pirate outfit for MNSSHP, just the kids...I know I know..party pooper!

 

[gssmks]

I read somewhere that some staff does stay on the island. Sure it must be a mosquito heaven, but Im sure its no worse than anywhere else in the Caribbean. Most resorts down there spray somekind of smoke/fog that helps to keep the bugs at bay. Also, after a month or so you become imune to the bite. The mosquitos keep biting but you dont swell or feel any itching.

So when is the meet again..1/2 after Magic leaves This is me waving at the ship!!!

Sounds like we have three families staying on Castaway Cay. Anyone else interested.

 

[seashells]

Well I am going to float for a while.

If your not coming out of the pool, your going in it!!!! You mention it many times and it pops out in 3D to me! I love the way you write about so casually...like taking a bath...It must be nice....sooo lucky Joanne

 

[JOANNEL]

Yes, living in Florida has spoiled us. It is so nice to have a pool. The beaches are too crowded in the summer to go. My kids were there yesterday and they are packed and the jelly fish were bad. I can actually float and do laundry at the same time. I get out every 40 minutes or so to fold and start a new load. I am a little sunburnt with this new suit. It has a different back. I only have one more weekend to work on it. And I may have to work all week end to get all my stiff done. Doing accounting I have some tax deadlines that won't wait until I get back.I don't want the stronger caribean sun to fry it. When the kids were smaller I loved having them all in my back yard. I knew who they were with and what they were doing. Now I have lots of teen agers back there. Which is fine with me. I just go through a lot of soda during the summer months.


Gail we are parking at the port. So we will be there early also. The day we get back we have to be out of there quickly to get to a football game in Tallahasse. I don't like talking about getting off the ship before we even get on.........

 

[skoi]

Judy- sort of answers it. We're looking for alternatives to some of the deployments. Dh has no issue going places people would normally not want to go, but there are easier postings he doesn't want- like Saudi Arabia and a few other places. We're thinking if he volunteers, he has a better shot at getting a shot somewhere that's not where all his friends are- where the housing is under water half the time, the toilets are a good distance away from the berthing area, and they're cramming 9 -12 guys into huts made for maybe 5. He's not worried about bombings and getting shot, just dysentary, typhoid, malaria, or going somewhere he can't go to church. Weird.

Your husband's deployment is long. Wow. This cruise will be a great break for you.

Julie

 

[skoi]

We're surprsing our kids with this- they have no idea we're going. Dh didn't have any idea about it either, until the other day when I showed him the DVC discount and promised him we didn't have to leave for the port at seven like we did last time.

We went the week before Halloween in '04 and we had a great time. We probably won't be in costumes, since it's a surprise. We were just going to show up and say, "oh, by the way, guess what we're doing tonight?"

So we're up for a meet. They herded us all into Tomorrowland while they cleared the park, so if they're doing that this year, that might be a good place to meet.

Julie

 

[ericamanda01]

We will be at MNSSHP too, no tips for you though as this is our first time, also our first time at Magic Kingdon and WDW....I dont know if I would be able to meet as I see us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Between the parades and costumes, to the rides and candy and not knowing where anything is....

I confess...Im not wearing my pirate outfit for MNSSHP, just the kids...I know I know..party pooper!

Eric and I are with you, no costumes. Amanda, her DH, Eric and I are all going to Universal that day, so costumes are not on the agenda. I think we will be so busy running around to the rides and trick or treating I really don't want to have to worry about a costume.

 

[JNorris]

DH and I are not wearing costumes. My DH has the complete Jack Sparrow costume, but I didn't want to wear a costume, so he's not allowed to wear his. Only DD will wear a costume, she has a genie costume (girl genie, not "Aladdin's genie").

Funny thing about DH's Jack Sparrow costume: When we went on our 7 night cruise last Sept, he wore the costume on Pirate Night. There was almost no one dressed up at all, and certainly no one dressed to the hilt as he was. He had little kids on the cruise coming up to him for autographs! I nearly died from laughter!

 

[JNorris]

I am a little sunburnt with this new suit. It has a different back. I only have one more weekend to work on it. .

Joanne, I have that same problem. All summer, I have worn a bathing suit with a high neck, and have just recently bought new ones with regular necklines. I have been trying to get some float time in our pool, so I can get my chest all one color! My problem is, I never have "alone" time to just float and work on my tan, because DD thinks I need to be her plaything in the pool. I'm going to try to take a day off this week when DD is in school to enjoy the pool. We just put it in this year, and we are loving it.

Do you guys get to swim year round? I wonder how long we will be able to swim. I really don't like cold water, and it has been chilly for me this week several times. We have a heater, but try not to use it unless we plan to swim several times in a couple of days, or unless we are having people over.

 

[seashells]

We're surprsing our kids with this- they have no idea we're going.
Julie

How cool, my kids have no idea either...they still think we are leaving on the 16th straight to the cruise!!!