August 1st 2009 - Eastern 8/1/2009 The Eastern Caribbean Castaways

[Liltx]

I do not have that many shoes but DH does. He collects Vans, Nikes, and also sunglasses and skateboards. He is such a girl. We had a tax free weekend and I bought 5 pair of shorts, 4 pants, 13 shirts, 2 dresses, one purse, 2 sunglasses, one bra, and 5 necklaces for just at $300. It was so much fun!

I usually buy our tickets around 4-5 months in advance. We always fly southwest when we can because they will refund the money if your flight goes down in price. They also do not charge any baggage fees. We never take one than 2 bags for our whole family but I still like the fact that they do not hide fees.

I started school this last Monday so things are busy here. The kiddos are fantastic and I am already have a great and exhusting time!

I plan to go to New York with my mom in May but still haven't talked to Thom about it. He will be fine with it but I feel guilty that he takes less han have the vacations I do and gets stuck with the child care. Still my parents do pay for most of them. This one will only cost me around $1000. How often can you go to New York for that much?

Monica

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi all,

Well summer is nearly over here -I go back to school on Monday.

I've started having the back to school nightmares already -Although I must admit, above my desk at home I have a large wall calander and I cross off each day until I get to the summer.

I have booked my first 5 nights with DVC staying at boardwalk

Just waiting till I can book my flights to USA -wont be long now
Dave says I spend my life counting down days

I just got this info from a recent thread on the board

I spoke with DCL again today and got a much more knowledgeable CM to help me. She confirmed that the rotations (for the EC) are 1231231, as follows:

PLAPLAP (these would be at 6:00 and 8:30)
LAPLAPL (these would be at 5:30 and 8:00)
APLAPLA (these would be at 5:35 and 8:15)

Pirate night for the EC would be night 4. The attire course would be as follows:

Cruise casual, formal, cruise casual, pirate, cruise casual, semi-formal and cruise casual.

I hope that this is helpful. Now I just have to remember all of this when making a Palo reservation.


What sitting does everyone have?

This will be the first time in 5 or is it 6 cruises that we will have main (early) sitting. We have always had late and I'm looking forward to the change.

Oh well I'd better go as I'm off to the schools library service to pick up some books for school next week - our topic is Monsters

Any Lurkers please feel free to join in our discussion - you are more than welcome!


Take care
x

 

[marcij]

Helen -- didn't you just get out of school? It seems like a short break... Thanks so much for the info. We always have early dining, since we've cruised since the kids were young, but am thinking of switching so we don't have to get ready for dinner so early. Why did you decide to switch -- just for something different?

How are you, Dave and the other fur babies doing since Sally's passing? I've been thinking of you.

 

[MrsJobba1]

Helen -- didn't you just get out of school? It seems like a short break... Thanks so much for the info. We always have early dining, since we've cruised since the kids were young, but am thinking of switching so we don't have to get ready for dinner so early. Why did you decide to switch -- just for something different?

How are you, Dave and the other fur babies doing since Sally's passing? I've been thinking of you.

Hi Marci,

We get 6 weeks summer break here in the UK.
We also get 1 week end of Oct
2 weeks for christmas
1 week middle feb
2 weeks for easter
1 week end of may

To be honest I think I will be glad to get back to school. This year's holiday has been a bit of a downer really. Sally died 2 days before my birthday so we didn't really feel like celebrating that.
We are looking forward to next year!

We switched because the last time we had late dinner (granted it was on the med cruise and our servers were poor) it took ages we were not leaving the dinning room until after 10.30pm. We missed the sailaway party and couple of nights we had not had our starter until after 9pm.

This was on the med and not the norm but as we booked this cruise the day it opened we decided to try early. We have requested that we get the 6pm sitting (not sure if this will come through though.)

How are things in Texas? By the way (off topic) but when do you guys vote on the new president - its all over our news?

Oh we have decided we are going to breed Floss the vets have given us the ok - so we are just waiting for her to come into season.

 

[MrsJobba1]

wow I just noticed our counters

in 4 days we'll be into the 10 month mark

 

[MsLeFever]

Hi ladies!

I started teaching on Monday, my husband went back on Tuesday (he's getting his Master's this year) and the kids started today. It feels good to get back into a schedule. Sometimes the "freedom" of summer gets a little too sloppy for all of us.

We had some sad news last week when our old man kitty "Groucho" had to be put down. Jack actually thought he died in his sleep but he was just paralyzed - his liver had shut down. We all spent some time with him and even the kids wanted to stay in the room when he got the shot. Bennett is still crying every night. We got his ashes today and the ashes are staying in Bennett's room.

In happier thoughts....
We are eating in the early rotation for the kiddos.

Helen - we vote in November for the president.

 

[marcij]

Hi Marci,

We get 6 weeks summer break here in the UK.
We also get 1 week end of Oct
2 weeks for christmas
1 week middle feb
2 weeks for easter
1 week end of may

To be honest I think I will be glad to get back to school. This year's holiday has been a bit of a downer really. Sally died 2 days before my birthday so we didn't really feel like celebrating that.
We are looking forward to next year!

We switched because the last time we had late dinner (granted it was on the med cruise and our servers were poor) it took ages we were not leaving the dinning room until after 10.30pm. We missed the sailaway party and couple of nights we had not had our starter until after 9pm.

This was on the med and not the norm but as we booked this cruise the day it opened we decided to try early. We have requested that we get the 6pm sitting (not sure if this will come through though.)

How are things in Texas? By the way (off topic) but when do you guys vote on the new president - its all over our news?

Oh we have decided we are going to breed Floss the vets have given us the ok - so we are just waiting for her to come into season.

Ah -- that makes sense. You get a lot more time off during the school year.

We usually request the last early rotation, so hopefully we will be eating at the same time!

Texas is good -- but HOT! At least we're not currently 100 or over, but the humidity is ridiculous right now.

You are probably hearing a lot about the election since politics here in the States is gearing back up. The Democrat Party is having their convention to officially announce their ticket now, and the Republican's start their convention this weekend.

Good luck breeding Floss!

Barbara -- I'm sorry about Groucho! Sending PD for everyone, but especially for Bennett.

Good luck to all the teachers -- I appreciate the profession immensley! We have been lucky to have great teachers and since my kids have learning differences and are in a private school, I have had the opportunity to get to know them a little better than probably most parents would with kids in a public school.

For those in the States, have a fun and safe Labor day weekend. Helen -- I hope you and Dave have a terrific weekend, too!

 

[MsLeFever]

Marci - I have never heard the expression "learning differences" before and it is a great one! Bennett has ADD and, we just learned on Monday something called "convergence insufficiency" which means that his eyes don't work together at close range.

In short, it seems that he can't focus because he can't focus! The opthomologist said that his vision correction alone really didn't require glasses but that glasses might help the focus issue. He gets his glasses next week and then we'll see.

He's having that "start of school optimism" right now - that "I can get all As this year" feeling. I hope that he hangs onto it for awhile!

 

[marcij]

Barbara -- I hope the glasses help, and that with that his "ADD" is gone!

My boys are both ADHD (my oldest is very hyper and my younger son is more of the hard to focus and sometimes impulsive type) and dyslexic, and my oldest also has a verbal expressive disorder, so he takes both private and group speech. We have the largest school in the nation for bright children with learning differences here in Dallas, and Randy and I feel fortunate to be able to afford to send our kids there. Educators come from all over the world to train at the school and speech center.

So, this is what my salary goes to -- school and trips!

This year is a real turning point for Andrew. He just started in the middle school division, and the homework is already much harder. They haven't given out grades before this year -- it's all been on if they've turned it in, and if they are progressing at their own rate. We have conferences three times a year, plus the teachers e-mail and call regularly if there are any problems. With sixth grade, they start grading and giving more tests, plus he'll have mid-terms and finals.

He's real nervous about it and so am I! He's been transitioned out of the Association reading program in to Alphabetic phonics, which means he's doing well, but he's a little lost in his AP class now since the method is so new.

Whew -- didn't mean to write a book.

Anyway, good luck to Bennett with his glasses!

 

[Liltx]

I hope everyone's kiddos have a great year at school. My oldest started kinder and my youngest started the program I teach just at a different school. Next year I will probably have her in my room.
I have had children in my special needs classes with ADHD that affected their learning so much. I can't imagine what it feels like to not be able to control your body and your mind. Even with medication some of them struggle so much. I know it is super exhusting for their parents as well.
Sounds like you have a wonderful school though.

I have been burning the candle at both ends lately. I do have to say that my children are just precious and their parents are wonderful. 3 and 4 is a great age! But now you know why I am tired. We have 16 of them!

I am so looking forward to the cruise! It will be just before I go back to work next year.

Monica

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi
Our counters are going down .

Hope you all had a good week last week. I got through it ok - new class think will be quite difficult as I have a couple of lively characters. Its also very hard the transistion between reception and year 1.

Dave is away at the moment - he is scuba diving in the red sea (Egypt) - so its just me and the dogs here. The weather has been terrible here we have had heavy rains for a week and its cold. Where was the summer?

This is why we love going to wdw and have the disney blues when we skip a year.

take care and have a good day.


PS ANY LURKERS come and join our thread as we count down and plan our cruise

 

[MrsJobba1]

I've just booked my flights for next year Sat 18th July - Mon 10th Aug

 

[Liltx]

Marci,

Just wondering if you are expecting a ton of rain from Ike? We will probably not get one drop. My husband actually wants to go to Houston when the Astros/Cuns double header is rescheduled. I told him he could take his own fool self over there. We have a ton of neighbors with family in town. My aunt and uncle stayed but live on the west end of houston and still boarded up. We haven't heard from them yet but I'm sure they are fine. It's so strange watching it on TV and knowing it's only a short drive from us.

Monica

 

[Liltx]

Feeling guilty about not taking the kiddos with us. Hopefully I will get over that soon

Monica

 

[Liltx]

Sorry but one more thing and yes, I want honest opinions. DO you think it is totally lame for a 32 year old to wear a bikini with small tinkerbells on it? It was only $9 so it won't be a big loss if I don't wear it. My dh didn't even notice the tinkerbells on it, they are sort of hidden.

Monica

 

[marcij]

Helen -- hooray for flights!

Marci,

Just wondering if you are expecting a ton of rain from Ike? We will probably not get one drop. My husband actually wants to go to Houston when the Astros/Cuns double header is rescheduled. I told him he could take his own fool self over there. We have a ton of neighbors with family in town. My aunt and uncle stayed but live on the west end of houston and still boarded up. We haven't heard from them yet but I'm sure they are fine. It's so strange watching it on TV and knowing it's only a short drive from us.

Monica

Monica -- yes we are getting quite a bit of rain and the trees are all dancing around. So far, nothing too horrible, though it's raining sideways so all the windows I just had cleaned are going to need to be re-done. I can't complain if that's the only thing that happens.

Sorry but one more thing and yes, I want honest opinions. DO you think it is totally lame for a 32 year old to wear a bikini with small tinkerbells on it? It was only $9 so it won't be a big loss if I don't wear it. My dh didn't even notice the tinkerbells on it, they are sort of hidden.

Monica

I don't think it's lame at all. I just don't have the body for a bikini -- more like a tankini for me!

I have terrific news! The family that lives near us and whose son has been on our soccer team for years is coming with us! We are very excited.

 

[MrsJobba1]

Sorry but one more thing and yes, I want honest opinions. DO you think it is totally lame for a 32 year old to wear a bikini with small tinkerbells on it? It was only $9 so it won't be a big loss if I don't wear it. My dh didn't even notice the tinkerbells on it, they are sort of hidden.

Monica

Hi Monica,

I dont think its lame - I love tinkerbell. If there was one in my size I would wear it - I beleieve what happens on the magic, stays on the magic

Helen -- hooray for flights!

I have terrific news! The family that lives near us and whose son has been on our soccer team for years is coming with us! We are very excited.

I am so excitied now I've got my flights

Thats great news that your friends are on board - point them in the direction of this thread Glad your excited and that your safe in the storms

 

[MsLeFever]

Hey - wear the bikini! What better place to do so?

Marci - I actually specifically came to the thread today to see what weather you were facing - glad that you are safe. Bennett is so glad that there will be boys close to his age on the cruise - when it gets closer we ought to hae them e-mail each other!

My classes are going well - I'm teaching an Intro to Communication class this semester that I was really worrying about. Not only is it not exactly my area (I'm in theatre) - but I've never even TAKEN a Comm class! Luckily I've got a great textbook and a really fun group of students!

 

[Liltx]

Barbara,
How is Bennett doing with his new glasses? Glad that your classes are ging well.

Marci,
Glad to hear you are all OK. Still haven't heard from my Aunt and Uncle but the power is down and they have cable phone so there you go.

And I will wear the bikini. I am trying really hard to lose 10 pounds though so I guess I am hopeful that it won't fit!


Have a wonderful Sunday!

Monica

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hi all,

Happy Sunday

Just thought I'd drop in to check up - hope everyone is ok

Any lurkers out there

you are more than welcome to join us

Its my mam's birthday tomorrow - so today I am making a large strawberry cheesecake for her

My brother is coming ( he lives away) and we are going for a meal tonight.

I am waiting to book my Newyork hotel for next years holiday ( hopefully we are gong to use DVC concierge collection)- I've booked all my DVC disney stops and sorted the dining plan for the first 6 days.

Oh well take care everyone