10/4/08-Buccaneers Take the West! Cruiser List in Post #1

[glindamood]

Lois is correct and I should not have sounded as "carefree" as I did. Jan and I had chatted via email before we met at Ruby Tuesday's that Saturday. It is so sad that we all have to be so careful these days but I can say that I could not be happier that I had lunch with them that day. Do what you feel is most comfortable for you.

 

[Grandma4ever]

Lois is correct and I should not have sounded as "carefree" as I did. Jan and I had chatted via email before we met at Ruby Tuesday's that Saturday. It is so sad that we all have to be so careful these days but I can say that I could not be happier that I had lunch with them that day. Do what you feel is most comfortable for you.

Gail, I am so sorry if you felt I was saying that you were being careless. I did not make that assumtion. I was trying to let others know that it was ok not to take the risk if it was not comfortable and to give options to overcome thoses fears. Please do not take offence.

I love to try to set up mini meets if I discover anyone who live close. However, always in a public area where there would be other people and do not give out my home address or phone until I feel comfortable doing so. I must say that I have only been to one mini meet and it was at WDW.

It is so neat to hear of the friendships that have developed on this board. I understand (being a social worker) the risk on meeting folks on line but I refuse to live in isolation. I guess that makes me a risk taker but so far I have manage to keep safe and put my trust in my inner voice (and a higher power I choose to call GOD) Lois

 

[glindamood]

Lois - I didn't take it that you felt I was being careless - I just thought you said it much better than I did and wanted to agree with you. I think it is a sad state of affairs that we do have to be as careful as we are but it is what it is and we all have to stay safe.

OK - more personal Gail stuff - my oldest DS proposed last night to his DGF and she said YES!

 

[momm2four]

Welcome Wynn!!!! As others have said, a meet doesn't haven't to be uncomfortable or indepth. You can do what you feel comfortable with. On my Oct 05 cruise (4 night), there were about 7 or 8 of us who chatted regularly and we met before the sail away party just to say hi and take a picture.

It wasn't long and drawn-out, and I didn't make any long time friends, but it was nice to see familiar faces on board. I even ended up on the same galley tour as one couple from the DIS, and I think it made it more enjoyable to chat about what we were seeing.

Gail...congratulations to your son! Do they have an idea of when they will have the ceremony? I guess we know it won't be Oct. 4, LOL.

Lori P.

 

[glindamood]

Thanks Lori - no word on a date as yet. There is another family wedding in July so I am thinking not then, it may not even be 2008, that is just my guess.

So much for closets - I am at work! DS had internet issues at home with his online college aps (we live in the woods and only have dial-up) so in we came in to use the internet and take DH's truck home from Friday's adventure.

 

[kimmcbee]

Hey all
Been a while since I have been around. Welcome to all of our new cruisers who are now with us.

We have started to get the boys passports. We will do one a paycheck till all three are done. Boys have no idea about the cruise so we have told them that everyone has to have them "just in case". DS5 has decided he needs one to visit Kentucky. Guess if that keeps him happy.

DS13 had football championship game yesterday, and they WON!! We are all so proud of them. They had to workl hard at this game. The other team was really good.

Lori- Our 4th graders are coming to Chattanooga tomorrow. They are leaving Smyrna at 7, and going to Ruby Falls, IMAX, Aquarium. They will have a full day. Wish I could have gotten off work love it see those places. Maybe we can get down there before cruise time, and have lunch with the kids.

Off to get everyone ready for school tomorrow. Talk to you all later
Kim

 

[JanDave]

Welcome all new families!!!

Dave and I just got back from a wonderful DVC member cruise and WDW. The weather was great. Best part of the cruise was being at Castaway Cay twice.

I will try to post pics later.

I have updated post #1 to add the new families.

Jan

 

[Wynn]

Thanks for the welcome. It's myself, DH, DSs 10 and 6. Cannot wait to share plans. We have been to Cozumel and Grand Cayman before but not with Disney. Love Disney. I don't think I will ever stray again.

Dave-Welcome back. Did you get to meet any of the legends? Can't wait for pics.

 

[NZMUM]

Jan, welcome back. Glad you had a great time.

Welcome Wynn. I have never met dissers before either. I'm shy around new people - not that you guys will be very new by then I'm sure.

We've had lovely weather this week. Temperatures around 21 degrees celsius (70 fahrenheit). Of course the forecast is for rain by the weekend.

School has started end of year testing so the kids will have a couple of weeks of tests.

Have a good week

Tania

 

[momm2four]

Tania, What does your school calendar year look like?

We go from mid August to late May with 1 week off for fall/spring breaks, 3 days for November (Thanksgiving) and 3 weeks off at Christmas. Just wondering how our calendar compares to yours.

Anyone do year round school?

Lori P.

 

[glindamood]

Tania, What does your school calendar year look like?

We go from mid August to late May with 1 week off for fall/spring breaks, 3 days for November (Thanksgiving) and 3 weeks off at Christmas. Just wondering how our calendar compares to yours.

Anyone do year round school?

Lori P.

Michigan public schools can't start until the day after Labor Day (state law) we we start the beginning of September (guess that would technically be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in September) and go until around June 10th. Our town has an elementary school that goes close to year round but once the students hit 6th grade and the middle school it is a traditional school year. Here is their calendar/website http://www.vikingnet.org/lincoln/cool_school_calendar.htm

Our oldest DS just got his engineering degree from a true co-op university. They were on semesters and the students rotated, one semester of school and then one of work through the entire program. Interesting - and a good engineering school plus he found a job so YIPEE!

 

[NZMUM]

Tania, What does your school calendar year look like?

We go from mid August to late May with 1 week off for fall/spring breaks, 3 days for November (Thanksgiving) and 3 weeks off at Christmas. Just wondering how our calendar compares to yours.

Anyone do year round school?

Lori P.

Lori

We have 4 terms in the year, with the terms being around 10 weeks each (usually Term 1 is slightly shorter because of Easter. It's made up for in theone of the other terms). We have a 2 week break between terms.

The school year for primary schools is Term 1 starts in the 1st week of Feb (approx). It finishes in the first full week of April (although if Easter is at the end of March the term finishes then). Term 2 starts mid April and goes until the end of June. Term 3 starts mid July and goes until mid September. Term 4 starts beginning of October and this year goes unil 18 Dec (although they may say the kids don't have to go to school in that last week as all they're doing is cleaning & clearing). Secondary schools (High schools) usually finish approx a week earlier.

We have a long weekend at the beginning of June (when we celebrate the Queens birthday), and the 3rd weekend in October (Labour day). Term 3 has no holiday weekends and it feels the longest because we're in mid winter.

The dates are different each year. Next year the September holidays are the 2 weeks that we are cruising, which is later than normal. We are taking the last week of Term 3 off & the first week of Term 4 to go to Disney. It's worked out really well since the Magic is in dry dock when we would normally have holidays.

And in 2011 Terms 1 & 2 are going to be longer than normal & Term 4 shorter because NZ is hosting the Rugby World Cup (our national obsession) and the government wants the schools on holiday for the final stages.

What is year round school?

I have a question for you. What age do kids start school? Do all new children start at the beginning of the school year?
Our kids start as soon as they turn 5, but in Australia all 5 year olds start at the beginning of the year, even if their birthdy is in Feb (therefore being nearly 6 when they start). Our law is that they can start at 5 but it's not compulsory until they are 6. I don't know anyone that has waited until 6.

Tania

 

[Grandma4ever]

Here in the US our traditional school year runs from early fall (Aug/Sept) till early Summer (May/June). Year round school run on about 9 week quarters with a 3 or 4 week break in between. I believe most of our kids begin school when they are five or within a few months of their 5th birthday. I believe all US public school begin a new year each fall and that we new students are expected to begin and current student move up a level provided they passed the prior year. Since my kids are now in their thirties I really am not sure what is going on. I know my grand kids start the 3rd week in August and end the end of May or later if there has been too much snow.

I think the year round Idea works best but too many older school do not have the AC to keep cool during the summer. Kids don't work on the farm like they did years ago.

If anyone else has ideas to share please feel free to correct me. Lois

 

[NZMUM]

Thanks Lois .

So year round school is similar to our school year except they have slightly longer breaks between and we have a long summer break? I can't imagine our kids wanting to go to school in the summer. In fact there has been talk of moving the summer holiday to mid/late Jan-mid/late Feb as the weather in Feb is much hotter and drier. I guess that's climate change for you. Not many schools are very keen on that idea though.

When I was at school we had 3 terms with 2 weeks holiday in May & August. The weather in Jan used to be great. I don't remeber much rain. Now it seems to rain from Christmas to the first couple of weeks in Jan (it doesn't really rain non stop for that time, just seems like it ).

A lot of parents can't wait for their kids to turn 5 so they can ship them off to school. Most kids start the day of or the day after their birthday. I waited for the day after, but both of mine were keen to start. It was me that had a problem . Especially when my baby started.

Tania

 

[momm2four]

As Lois said, our kids start in the fall each year. Here in Tennessee, a child must be 5 years old by Sept. 30 to start school that year (the date varies a little from state to state) My son was born on Oct. 7, so he couldn't start until the next school year, so when his preschool buddies went to kindergarten in 2001, he had to wait until fall of 2002.

Most of the time when people decide not to start a child on schedule, it's because they have a birthday close to the cutoff date, and they are worried about the maturity/ability level of their child. The compulsory age for attending school is between 5 and 7 depending upon which state you're dealing with.

Year round schooling varies as well. One of the most common ways to do this is to attend school for 6 or 7 weeks and then be off for 2 weeks. I think the summer break would be 6 weeks versus 10 in a year round scenario. A school year here consists of 180 days. (I'd love to do 7 weeks on, 2 weeks off, so if the vote ever comes up, I'll say yea!)

Did anyone go trick-or-treating tonight? We went to McDonalds and then headed over to some friends' home where the dads took the boys around the neighborhood, while the moms sat inside and talked.

It's amazing how much candy four boys can collect!

Lori P.

 

[glindamood]

Posted by Lori - Most of the time when people decide not to start a child on schedule, it's because they have a birthday close to the cutoff date, and they are worried about the maturity/ability level of their child. The compulsory age for attending school is between 5 and 7 depending upon which state you're dealing with.

I have 3 boys - DS1's birthday is May 1st and I let him start when he was five although in retrospect, I don't think I should have. The other two were actually six when they started - DS2's birthday is August 25th and DS3's is June 20th. They both did better - IMHO anyway but I am sure that DS1 would not agree.

 

[Grandma4ever]

Bump. Found us on page 2. Hope every one is well and looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Lois

 

[Grandma4ever]

Bump. Found us on page 2. Hope every one is well and looking forward to a relaxing weekend. Lois

Found us back on page two!! It soooo lonely back there. Where is everyone?

Got to shower. I going into the office to work while everyone is gone so maybe I can get something done. Works great then I can come in late during the week. I will check in later. Lois

 

[momm2four]

Hi all! Thanks for saving us, Lois! LOL

Nice day here. I actually cleaned my bedroom today. I feel so accomplished. I put away a tote of spring/summer clothes and hung up a tote of fall/winter clothing, so at least the boys have some long sleeved tee's for next week.

I think I may take the boys to see Underdog tonight since it's now out at the $2.50 movies. I LOVE going to the movies. What's funny though, is that I didn't watch any movies on the Wonder. I went in to see one with my DH and one of my sons, but I left b/c I felt I was wasting my time being in a theater (don't know why, just did). I wonder if I'll feel differently being on a 7 night.

Think I may take a nap first, though, so talk to you later!

Lori P.

 

[Grandma4ever]

Hi all! Thanks for saving us, Lois! LOL

Nice day here. I actually cleaned my bedroom today. I feel so accomplished. I put away a tote of spring/summer clothes and hung up a tote of fall/winter clothing, so at least the boys have some long sleeved tee's for next week.

I think I may take the boys to see Underdog tonight since it's now out at the $2.50 movies. I LOVE going to the movies. What's funny though, is that I didn't watch any movies on the Wonder. I went in to see one with my DH and one of my sons, but I left b/c I felt I was wasting my time being in a theater (don't know why, just did). I wonder if I'll feel differently being on a 7 night.

Think I may take a nap first, though, so talk to you later!

Lori P.

Your welcome!!

As far as watching movie on board I never feel like I have time to do that. I can watch the movies at home. The only one I did watch was Chicken Little the day it was released at 12:01 in the middle of the night. Did it for the kids all three of them.

I went to work and really got some stuiff done. Feels pretty good too. Meeting some friends for dinner. Write more later. Lois