10-14-2006 Cruisetoberfest IV

[jeanniec]

Welcome MickeyFan9194! We didn't know anyone before we went on the cruise last October but we made many new friends and had the best time ever!!!

Fiona -- Wow -- nasty weather up there. Our temp was somewhere around 70 today which is unseasonably warm and great. Going down again, tho, tomorrow and the rest of the week. High's in the 50's, but still so much better winter in Chicago.

Nancy -- Hope you are all better soon. I am anxiously awaiting the new Survivor, too, and wondering why 3 people leave on the first day. I am also an Idol Fan so now that they are both on, I am a happy TV watcher.

As for the turtles, if indeed, one was blind and helping the other one cross the road, they were really slow, even for turtles. They were "crossing the road" when we arrived at Pineapple Beach and also when we left several hours later, as I recall.

Denise -- Was watching Animal Planet yesterday and they had a show about training dogs for work in one of the Maryland prisons. I think they had a 13 or 14 week training period. Fascinating and, of course, I was thinking about you and Chris while I was watching it.

 

[alikat99]

Welcome, welcome, welcome MickeyFan9194! We're so happy that you joined the group. Several of us have met before, but there are still tons that have not met yet. We're a very, very talkative group, so it's tough to keep up sometimes, but we're also a very friendly group.

Jump on in and say HI!!!

 

[jeanneg]

Nancy: No, it's next weekend that we go to Bucknell. Jen has one event each day which means we have to get there by about 8 a.m. Thursday morning. I have bookclub Wednesday evening so we'll probably just head on up sometime between 10pm and midnight. Unfortunately I don't know how much I'll be able to help with the driving. For some crazy reason, that's the one thing that still kills my knee. If I can't help out, we'll just pull into a service center and I'll make John take a short catnap. But anyway, I thought we might have a leisurely drive up on Thursday and we could meet, but that's not gonna happen. Our only option would be to maybe do something Sunday morning before we head home.

Fiona: I'll be at Star Wars......hopefully the midnight showing on the first day! We are BIG Star Wars fans in this family. I hope you got a chance to meet with Nick Malley when we went to Antigua. He was one of the creators of Yoda and he has this really neat little island shop with alot of memorabilia. We bought some stuff and he personalized it for us and was an all-around really nice guy. Did I ever mention my oldest son went to his senior prom dressed as Luke Skywalker.....light saber and all!

 

[Zapp1213]

Mickeyfan9194---Welcome!!!!

My Heidi is also 13 (10/10/91) and David is 10 (8/3/94), so it sounds like your boys are the same ages. They'll be excited.

We met some wonderful friends on the last cruise--and it really made a difference in the fun we all had. My children did not "cling" to me the entire week. I see you are from Minnesota. We plan various "Dis-Meets" throughout the country. Maybe some of us can get together near you. Then you can meet some of the group prior to the cruise.

The posts move quickly on this thread, but don't worry about keeping up. "Just jump in, the water's fine."

My children each spent some of their Christmas money on me for Valentine's. I told them how much I appreciated it, but I do not expect them to spend their money on me. Heidi said, "But Mom. We're learning the joy of giving." Okay, if you need to practice on me!

I'm on hold with Sears right now. The pilot on my water heater was out this morning, and I re-lit it ALL BY MYSELF (I was so proud of myself!) Then, when I got home from work, it was out again. So I went to re-light it (since I'm an expert now! ) and it lights okay, but the grill stays lit only if the temperature dial is set at "very hot". If I turn it down to a more normal temperature, it goes out. I'm sure there's something wrong with it. Just need someone to tell me what's wrong, and then fix it!

I hope everyone's getting through this winter okay. To all that are on the sick list--FEEL BETTER!!!!

Later,
Marianne

 

[Zapp1213]

Okay, DUH!!!

Do I feel like an idiot!

The burner of a water heater isn't SUPPOSED to stay lit. It shuts off when the water in the tank reaches the proper temperature!

I think the lady at Sears wanted to laugh at me. What bugs me is, I asked both my father AND one of my brothers about the problem. Did either one of them think to tell me that!!!

Strike one up for the ladies! Who says I need a man??

 

[mickeyfan9194]

Thanks so much for the warm welcome!

I'm having some serious withdrawl since getting off the Magic last weekend. I can't wait to start planning the next trip. Unfortunately, hubby has to bid for time off a year in advance, so that's why we have to wait so long in between. But I never imagined that the thread for this cruise would be so active! You all sound like a great bunch of people!

 

[BchBabe]

Welcome Aboard MickeyFan9194


BchBabe--- Did you catch Usher at the Grammys dancing with James Brown? Of course you probably have no idea who James Brown was.

Nancy

Hi nancy
ya i saw it but only the end becuse i totally 4 got bout the grammys!! but ne ways i know who james brown is and the dancing was great but then again usher is always GREAT!!!

l8r mary

 

[fortierv]

Hello All,
Two weeks of vacation and it looks like I'm gonna have to spend half of it catching up on the board. Eric, the newsletter sound like a great idea. I just have to find the time to send you some info. I'll have plenty of info for the next edition after our activities the next two weeks. We'll be leaving Friday for Vegas for the Nevada state championship swimmeet. Kylie is swimming in seven events including the mile and is on all three "A" relay's for the team. Elyse is swimming six events and a full load of relay's as well. Elyse just got back in the water after a four month break but had all her qualifing times from earlier in the year. She's just going along for the experience and hoping to swim well enough to make the all-star team again. Kylie has had an amazing year and should make finals in most of her events. She's top five in the north for everything she's swimming and has the fasted time in her age group for the 200 breaststroke this season. McKenna will stay home with her Nana and our new dog, a terrier we picked up from the pound named Bailey.

The following weekend is my boy's trip. Six of us are loading up my buddies trailer and heading to So California for our annual Nascar trip. We'll spend four nights camping in the infield of California Speedway with a few thousand of our closest friends. They sell 1,200 RV spaces for the weekend so the experience is something to write home about. A friend of ours is a pilot for one of the major teams in Nascar so we're hoping he can score some nice pit/paddock passes this year.

After road trips to Vegas and LA over the next two weeks and over 2000 miles of driving I should be ready for a vacation when I get back, but I'll have to go back to work. At least I've got twelve more days of beard growth to enjoy.

Debbie is doing great. We made a trip to San Francisco for a check-up the first week of February and everything looked great. The Doc's think the problem's she had last August were caused by some blood that collected in her tumor cavity. She's almost back to her baseline and the last two MRI's were stable so she's going back to a six month check-up intervel. She'll start physical therapy again next month and we're very happy things are getting back to normal.

Talk to you all soon,
Van

 

[Viking]

Good to hear from you, Van
And even better to hear about Debbie's progress
Enjoy your vacation

mickeyfan9194,
I got your mail, thank you - Now you're officially a member of the gang

To EVERYONE:
I'll do an update on Friday evening or Saturday morning (My time, of course ) So please send all your wishes for changes until Friday Noon CET.

Fiona,
everything cruise-related (Including entries for the CruzLetter) goes to Cruisetoberfest@yahoo.com. All private mail goes to my AOL. But as long as I get anything I don't mind where it pops up: I simply forward it to the respective mailbox.

Kim,
your trip report is highly appreciated. Tracy asked why not put this year's activities of some of us into the CruzLetter. I think that's a great idea
I.e. Anja & I can do trip reports from our vacations in Thailand, Vienna & Boston. I assume that especially Vienna will be very interesting for our American & Canadian friends - and perhaps we're even able to lure som of you into a vacation in Good Old Europe.

 

[Zapp1213]

Hello All,
The following weekend is my boy's trip. Six of us are loading up my buddies trailer and heading to So California for our annual Nascar trip. We'll spend four nights camping in the infield of California Speedway with a few thousand of our closest friends. They sell 1,200 RV spaces for the weekend so the experience is something to write home about. A friend of ours is a pilot for one of the major teams in Nascar so we're hoping he can score some nice pit/paddock passes this year.

Debbie is doing great. We made a trip to San Francisco for a check-up the first week of February and everything looked great. The Doc's think the problem's she had last August were caused by some blood that collected in her tumor cavity. She's almost back to her baseline and the last two MRI's were stable so she's going back to a six month check-up intervel. She'll start physical therapy again next month and we're very happy things are getting back to normal.

Talk to you all soon,
Van

I AM SO JEALOUS!!! Have a great time at California Speedway. I'll be watching. BTW, for which NASCAR team is your friend the pilot? My ex works for a Caterpillar dealer, so we've been to Darlington on them. The pit passes, the hospitality tents. It was very cool!

Great to hear Debbie's doing so well. Tell her to keep it up--we're all routing for her.

Marianne

 

[Zapp1213]

Okay, looking for "delete".

 

[Viking]

Marianne,
I don't know what you want to delete, but if it's in one of your older posts, simply hit the 'EDIT'-button in the lower right corner to edit the respective post.

Your President 'gives' me a day off
My company - like so many others in the afflicted area- established a special policy for GWB's visit: Everybody may adjust his working time for 02/23 to avoid heavy traffic due to all the closures and diversions - or simply stay at home and come in on Saturday to compensate for the time lost, or just 'knock off' some overtime. I spontaneously decided to stay at home If the weather is OK, Anja & I will go to the Frankfurt Zoo, if not we'll have a lazy day

 

[Zapp1213]

Marianne,
I don't know what you want to delete, but if it's in one of your older posts, simply hit the 'EDIT'-button in the lower right corner to edit the respective post.

Eric,
I click on EDIT, and I don't see delete anywhere on the page. And if I just delete the text, the error message says my message is too short, that I need to have at least 5 characters.
I'm trying to delete the one above--that now says, "Okay, looking for delete"
Marianne

 

[fortierv]

BTW, for which NASCAR team is your friend the pilot?
Marianne

Hi Marianne,
He works for Chip Ganassi Racing. I think he primarily flies Casey Mears team around. It's amazing how much traveling those guys do with testing and all.

I'm sure he's well down the line on getting any passes he can send our way but there's always hope. We do have good tickets purchased for the Busch and Cup races (between turn four and the pit road entrance, high enough to see the whole track) so anything he can get is just gravey.

We all get together in Reno for the National Championship Air Races every year in September. There's nothing quite like watching airplanes go around at 450 mph plus except a Nascar race of course.

 

[jeanniec]

Just got a phone call from my SIL in Vero Beach. She has a friend who has a VERY wealthy son. Her friend borrowed her son's yacht last year and took 10 people on a cruise to the Bahamas with their own private chef, etc. Well, that didn't impress me very much because I would much rather be on a Disney cruise than a private yacht.

However, now to celebrate my SIL's and her friend's 65th birthdays, the group of ten is being flown to Italy on the son's private jet. Will stay there for 2 weeks -- hotels will be paid for, but they have to buy their food, etc. She's not sure of the itinerary yet. The jet's stewardess will act as their tour guide for whatever cities they want to visit while there. Why don't I have a friend like that???

 

[Viking]

Eric,
I click on EDIT, and I don't see delete anywhere on the page. And if I just delete the text, the error message says my message is too short, that I need to have at least 5 characters.
I'm trying to delete the one above--that now says, "Okay, looking for delete"
Marianne

That's the only way to do it. Complete deletion of posts is a moderator's prerogative - Sorry

 

[Viking]

Just got a phone call from my SIL in Vero Beach. She has a friend who has a VERY wealthy son. Her friend borrowed her son's yacht last year and took 10 people on a cruise to the Bahamas with their own private chef, etc. Well, that didn't impress me very much because I would much rather be on a Disney cruise than a private yacht.

However, now to celebrate my SIL's and her friend's 65th birthdays, the group of ten is being flown to Italy on the son's private jet. Will stay there for 2 weeks -- hotels will be paid for, but they have to buy their food, etc. She's not sure of the itinerary yet. The jet's stewardess will act as their tour guide for whatever cities they want to visit while there. Why don't I have a friend like that???

Because you have your Cruisetoberfest-Friends - And you can't buy those for all the money in the world

 

[jeanneg]

Van:That's great news about debbie and about your kids' swimming achievements. We too are swim team parents so we can really relate. I don't remember how old Kylie is but that's impressive that she swims the mile. Our daughter, Jenni, who is a junior at Lehigh is also considered a distance swimmer but HATES the 1650 with a passion. In fact, Lehigh just did a press release on her this morning. If anyone is interested, you can check it out here:http://www.lehighsports.com/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=3562
(Wow, I'm so impressed with myself that I did that.......hopefully it works!)
Jeannie: I agree with Eric....your DIS friends are "priceless"!
Could there be a big announcement on the horizon? Please keep your fingers crossed everybody.......I am hoping to report some good news soon.

 

[jeanneg]

Oh what the heck....going for it.......

 

[jeanneg]

Got it?