any November 15th eastern 7 ngt cruisers out there?

[Jo-Anne]

Steve - you're probably right about the water taxi thing...I have a hard time keeping the two islands straight...which beach is where etc! So sorry to hear about the theft..that's a ton of good stuff they took - any hope of getting any of it back? I hear there are a lot of cheap Tropical shirts, skirts etc. on St. Marteen which is the stop on the day of the Tropical party. Might just keep my eyes peeled for something a little more "wild" than my subdued red and black flower thingy! Jo

 

[kimszath]

Lisa & Jo-Anne,
I'm pretty sure that the tendering at Charlotte Amalie puts you right there at downtown where there's plenty to do... shopping is very good in that area (I honeymooned there in 1994, and we spent more time walking around the shopping area there in town than we did over at the mall--prices about the same). The Disney rep said the tendering is very quick, so nobody should have time get sick. My hubby, who is not fond of smaller boats, isn't concerned at all. I think alot of folks would have taken the taxi into town--better restaurants, if you're eating "off the boat." The taxi over to the mall shouldn't be too expensive.

Thanks fo the update on the DIS get-together. I did get my wonderful nametags from Michelle, and am planning to attend! Will plan on Topsider's around 11 AM on Sunday. Who's making the Palo brunch ressies? I'd love to go with you all!

One more ting--I bought a gorgeous dress this evening at Dillard's, probably for formal night! I bougt it intentionally just a bit snug, ensuring I'll stick with my diet and execise so it'll fit perfectly! I did make sure I could zip it up all the way, and could get by with it now (no breathing) if I didn't lose another pound. Hmmm... better make a beauty shop appt for formal night morning!

More soon....
(Hey, how long does it take the DIS Wish mistress to update the "poundage" thingies? I sent her a note early last week...)

 

[mkauffman]

Kim, thanks for the update on the tendering. I've never tendered in so I didn't know what to expect and I was a little concerned. I'm not sure what we're doing in St. Thomas. That's probably going to be our shopping day. Maybe we'll go to St. John, I'm not sure.

11:00 Topsiders and High Tea at Palo on Sunday. Sounds good. I hope I can keep this all straight. We are exactly 6 weeks from sailing this coming Saturday. I just watched the video again with DS. He says he can't possibly wait 6 weeks! I have to play the responsible adult and say "of course you can wait six weeks, it's not THAT long!"....when secretly I'm thinking that I'm not sure I can wait 6 weeks, either!

You all are very welcome for the name tags. If anyone would like and didn't get, just let me know. I now have a box full of them!

Michelle

 

[Jo-Anne]

Michelle - I think I have the right nametags as someone (sorry, short memory) sent them to me on line. I just printed them out and now have to find a plastic thingy to insert them into! Thanks for taking the time to design them. We'll be at Topsiders at 11:00 on Sunday and I'll be doing the tea on Sunday at 3:30 and hopefully doing the "power" walks in the mornings to burn off all the Bahama Mammas! We're so busy over the next 6 weeks that I'm hoping time will just fly and before you know it, it will be Nov 15!

 

[mkauffman]

Jo, you should be able to find name tag holders in any office supply store. Let me know if you don't have any luck.

We're also very busy over the next 6 weeks and I'm sure this trip will come before we know it! After all, the time up until now has really flown by.....I can't even remember where the summer went!

Michelle

 

[nedleycan]

I love coming home on Sunday nights from the cottage and reading all the posts!

I am very happy about the change of docking in St. Thomas. The mall area has nothing there and you have to take a cab to get anywhere. The Charlotte Amalie area is great! Tendering is no problem at all. It is usually really quick and don't worry about the motion. Plus, if you are going to St. John, I think Charlotte Amalie is more convenient too. It is all good news, believe me!
I am doing the reservations for Tea, Kim. When the date gets closer, I will get a final count from everyone.
DH will wear a hawaiian shirt (not a crazy one, a Tommy Bahama conservative one). I will wear a sun dress, but not sure which one yet. DD will also wear a sun dress, and haven't found a shirt for DS yet... hope to find something soon!
Jo-Anne, you can get the name tag holders at Business Depot or Grand & Toy.

 

[lbgraves]

Gosh! I checked in this morning because I couldn't believe that noone else had posted all weekend. Somehow I stopped getting emails.

IMO 7 days on the Magic would be a perfect vacation to me. We aren't big shoppers or beach goers so missing a port doesn't really bother me too much. We aren't booking excursions so I'm not really pressed to get somewhere by a certain date.

I'm probably more stressed about DD's PTing right now. She will do everything for DH. When he is gone, she doesn't even want to get on the thing. I try to be as calm & encouraging with her as possible but I am ready to just give up & let DH handle it when he is home. We have told her she can meet the princesses & other characters more if she does this & she gets all excited. More PD please!!!!

 

[mcampbell_22]

Good morning everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend.

I spent some time last night making my packing list for the trip. I (psycho anal planner that I am) have a spreadsheet checklist broken down by day and by person with items needed for day and night. I'm planning on putting the kids outfits into ziplocs to make it easy for them to get ready by themselves for each day. They like that independent feeling.

The one problem I encountered was when I tried on my "tropical" dress. It is WAY to big. I look like I'm wearing a mumu. It needs to be taken in alot. My try to do this myself (I'm a pretty good sew-er (spelled it this way otherwise it says I'm a pretty good sewer!! LOL) but DH's tux pants need to be taken up so I may just have the tailor do it. I suppose I could always look for another dress (Hmmm, a valid reason to go shopping...)

Off to get the kids ready for school. I'm also headed into Boston to get a blood test to see if I'm a match to donate a kidney to my brother's son! Poor kid is only 25 and started feeling tired a few months ago. Went in to get his blood tested (thought he might be anemic) and they told him he was in TOTAL kidney failure! He spends 6 days a week for 6 hours a day on dialysis. Luckily we are a big family and there are 6 of us that have matching blood types and are being tested. 3 of his siblings are most likely going to match so I and DH may not have to cross the decision bridge. I can understand his POV but it I am the decision between life and death for my nephew, how can I say no?

Have a good day all. Talk to you soon.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Gosh Mary, I really hope someone is a perfect match for your nephew! I'm sitting at desk right now in office saying a quick prayer. Good news about the dress looking like a mumu tho, if you know what I mean. I'm getting really "depressed" about all the talk about weight loss and I can't muster up one ounce of will power right now! Just kidding....I'm happy with myself and have a wonderful family, so the weight loss for me will have to wait until a better time in the future!
Lisa - hang in there with the PTing. I think it might be a good idea to hand over the reins to DH...do you have a quiet weekend coming up where the only thing your DH focuses on is PT? Well, off to do some work! Take Care everyone. Jo

 

[mkauffman]

Lisa, I know how frustrating the PTing can be, but really, hang in there. One day she'll just go and that will be it. It really will seem like it happened overnight. Even kids have their own schedule for things and when she's completely ready, she'll just do it. Maybe you should just let DH handle it. Maybe she knows you're the pushover . It's funny how kids "know" that stuff.

Mary, I'm sending a lot of quick prayers and pixie dust your way. This is a decision that must come from your heart and like you said, maybe you won't even be forced to make it. I've always wondered what I would do if this ever happened to me, but in the end, I know exactly what I would do. My family would do it in a heartbeat for me and I would do the same for them.

Jo, don't fret at all about the weight loss. That, too, happens in it's own time. When you're really ready from the inside out, it happens. In the meantime, we're going to have the vacation of our lives!

Michelle

 

[nedleycan]

Mary, I hope everything works out for the best. Your nephew must be so scared!
I think I better get shopping to get some new clothes. I would love a really pretty tropical dress.

 

[mkauffman]

Linda.....I just saw your signature. Is it new? I hadn't noticed it before. How sweet!! I feel the same way! This trip just seems so much better because I have so many new people to meet.

I just noticed (can you believe it) that we're in the 40s now!! Is there a 40s dance that we can do?? Maybe we should save any new dances for one of the deck parties.

Michelle

 

[nedleycan]

I just did it last night... thanks for noticing!

Boy, the next 40 or so days are going to go sooooo quickly! Yeah!

 

[mcampbell_22]

Just back from the blood test. Hopefully we'll have an answer back in a few weeks. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts.

It's been a tough year for my brother and his kids. Almost a year ago his wife of 30 years started to transpose some numbers and was getting a bit confused. Went to see the doctor and they discovered she had 5 brain tumors and the cancer had already spread to other parts of her body. Gave her less than 6 months. She only lived another 6 weeks. Now to have this tragedy happen to his son! It seems that they can't catch a break and everything is already at the terminal level upon initial diagnosis.

We have high hopes though. Big family, lots and lots of potential donors and nephew is otherwise young and healthy. On top of all this my brother has also been diagnosed with Minears (sp?) disease which results in deafness. No cure! Thank goodness we have each other and we all live very near (5 next door to each other) so it's easy to lend a hand and support.

Thanks again.

 

[sherry]

I would like to add my thoughts and prayers for your family.

 

[JulieGS]

Mary --

I just wanted to send my thoughts and prayers as well. Wow, all that heartache puts things in perspective, doesn't it? Hang in there. We look forward to helping you relax and forget about your family worries during the cruise...

Julie

 

[mcampbell_22]

Thanks for all your heartfelt thoughts and prayers. It's greatly appreciated!

It is actually a good feeling to have things "started." The whole process is very time consuming so it's great to finally have things off and running. Once a match is found and they are contacted and agree to go ahead, there are 3 months of tests (both medical and psychological) to make sure the donor is healthy enough, has no underlying conditions and it also gives them time to make sure the decision is the right one for them. The healing time after surgery is roughly 2 months so you also have to be ready for that (financially too). All things to consider but in my eyes it's a no-brainer. He's family and helping out family is just the right thing to do whether its helping someone move or donating a kidney. That's not to say I'm not scared. Of course I am, I have two small kids to think about but I know I would find it very hard to live with myself if I was his one chance and didn't do it.

Who knows, I may not even be the one. When I got the blood taken today and was on my way back down the elevator I felt wet on my arm. Looked down and my arm was covered in blood that soaked through my jacket. Vein hadn't closed up right. Maybe its a sign that I may not be the right one. Anyway it sure was messy! Leave it to me to bleed all over the place and not even realize it!

Back to happy thoughts! Started setting aside items to pack. The pile in the corner of the bedroom is getting bigger. Later this week I'll go up in the attic and bring down some suitcases to start putting items in. Just a reminder for everyone to pick up sunscreen on clearance when you can. It'll be gone before you know it and who wants to pay big $$ for it on the cruise. I'd rather spend it on a cocktail or bingo!

Speaking of bingo. Maybe this is something we could all plan on doing together some night. Really get the place jumping and maybe some of us could even walk away with some prizes!

Ok, enough of my chatter for now. Have a great night everyone and thanks again for the well wishes.

 

[nedleycan]

I think that is what my dad has. He has ringing in his ears (not all the time)... but it doesn't necessarily mean that he will go deaf. In fact, he doesn't think this will happen at all. So, there may be hope for your brother too.

 

[mcampbell_22]

Linda,

Glad it's better knews for your dad. My bro already had hearing loss and was wearing hearing aids so the Minears is just the thing that's putting him over the top in terms of hearing loss. The docs told him to modify his diet to help retard the disease but it's hard to totally stop all sodium intake as well as caffeine. Right now he has a lot of trouble with certain tones and pitches. But at least he can still hear some. It's tough for him in the doc visits for his son when he really wants to hear all the information. We do pretty good taking notes so he feels like he got it all.

 

[mkauffman]

For some reason, I'm not getting notified of new posts by email anymore.

Anyway, Mary it sounds like your family has had enough bad news. You really need this vacation! I'm hoping the next 6 weeks goes especially quick for you!

I wasn't quite ready to put my summer stuff on the back-burner, but it's COLD here now, so I guess it's time! Today is the last day of September, it's not supposed to be this cold yet and needless to say, I HATE IT! This will be my excuse to get the suitcases out this weekend and get stuff washed up and packed away. We have a soccer game on Saturday so I don't know how much I'll get done. Maybe I'll get to Wal-Mart and find some sunscreen on sale. What a great feeling to be buying sunscreen when everyone else is buying gloves and hats!

Mary, keep that bingo idea in your thoughts. Maybe we can discuss that at our Sunday morning meeting or Palo brunch. Sounds like fun (don't discuss it around my mom, though...bingo is her life!).

Michelle