August 22nd 2009 Western Carribbean Anyone?

[kimlam1]

I think it's so cool that we have so many scout families on this cruise!

I hope everyone is doing well.

Kim

 

[stsomewhere]

Everyone must be pretty busy -no a lot of activity on the board.

Last week, Erik and Matt went to DAy camp for scouts and then Matt went to stay with his friend and got home on Sunday. Marina went to stay with my grandma on Thursady and came home on Saturday. Erik had a scout dinner on Friday, so I had the whole day to myself and I did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING Productive. I watched a few movies, read a book and relaxed.

Yesterday, I took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. They loved it. We meet some friends at the movies that they haven't seen in a while. Marina went back to my grandmas to spend another night. SHe is going to get her nails done with her this morning. Matt and I will go pick her up in a little while.

I have to do Matt's laundry and pack. He is leaving for Orchestra camp in the morning. This is the first time he will be going to camp with out a parent. I guess he is growing up.

Sometime this week I have to shop for MIL birthday present. We are getting together with them over the weekend. It is very difficult to shop for her.

My grnadparents want us to camp with them next week for a few days. I haven't decided, if I want to go or not. Every year , my grandpa says it's his last time( He's 85). But, this year I can see a big change in his health. He is very quiet and distant at times. I know he would love to have us. I stayed with them last year and I swore I would never again. Grandpa has bad snoring/sleep apnea. I would hear the snoring and then, nothing. I would wait for him to breathe again. My aunt laughed when I told her because she had the same experience.

Matt is getting his expander put in on the 3rd. I am hoping that he is not in too much pain. My dad and his girlfriend(of 23 years) are coming up from TX on the 4th of July. We are taking them to The Henry Ford ( historical muesum and village) to hear the Detroit symphony Orchestra. It starts at dusk and they will shoot off cannons and fireworks.

 

[wayneg]

Everyone must be pretty busy -no a lot of activity on the board.

Yesterday, I took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda. They loved it.

I have been very busy with work past few weeks, just quietened down this week.

I think the Panda movie is released 4th July here, don't know if we will get to see it here before our August trip, hope its still showing at Universal if we don't see it before.

Hope everyone is well.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

June was insane for me up until last Friday. My kids had four pool parties in four days.

Now it is blissfully boring. I'm off to sew an entire year's worth of Girl Scout badges and patches on DD's uniform.

 

[stsomewhere]

.
Now it is blissfully boring. I'm off to sew an entire year's worth of Girl Scout badges and patches on DD's uniform.

I just did this for DD and DS.
I only stuck me finger 2 times

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

I just did this for DD and DS.
I only stuck me finger 2 times

You are an expert sewer.....my problem is sore fingers from pulling the needle through those patches that must be made of stone.

Why on earth do they make those patches so thick?

 

[stsomewhere]

You are an expert sewer.....my problem is sore fingers from pulling the needle through those patches that must be made of stone.

Why on earth do they make those patches so thick?

My shoulder and wrist hurt. I found out if you sew into the semmimg around the edge, it is easier. I must of sewed on 50 patches between both kids.
I moved all of Marina's from a sash to a vest becasue she was getting so many. Matt - he had a bunch of activity patches for his brag vest. Erik - he can sew on his own.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

My shoulder and wrist hurt. I found out if you sew into the semmimg around the edge, it is easier. I must of sewed on 50 patches between both kids.
I moved all of Marina's from a sash to a vest becasue she was getting so many. Matt - he had a bunch of activity patches for his brag vest. Erik - he can sew on his own.

I do the same thing....sew along the edge and hope there is enough fabric to hold the thread.

I know what you mean about getting so many patches. DD's Brownie and Junior vests are completely covered in the back with patches. Some of these patches are just too big.

Last year I bought the Girl Scout 95th birthday patch - that thing was monstrous.

And I think the cookie sale patches are just too big.

Oh and speaking of buying things for Scouts.....my Junior troop earned their Bronze award this spring. Those bronze award pins cost $7 each!!!! I had 11 girls earn the bronze award. I was not expecting to spend close to $100 just to purchase the bronze award pins.

 

[stsomewhere]

I dropped Matt off at camp this morning. He was very nervous on the way up there. This is his first time at camp without a parent. Has only gone to scout camp in the past with one of us.

He felt much better when he spoke with the camp director about his orchestra teacher. Matt's teacher will be an instructer ther next week.

He is living in luxury!
I remeber when I went to camp you roughed it. I was lucky I had a light to switch on. I had bats in the attic and mice/snakes in the walls.

He is staying in a bunk house with INDOOR bathrooms and showers. He even gets AC. It has carpet and the bunks are very comfortable. They are twin beds and very sturdy- not the metal one I've slept on at scout camp that shake and squeak or are so narrow your sleeping bag falls off.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

I remeber when I went to camp you roughed it. I was lucky I had a light to switch on. I had bats in the attic and mice/snakes in the walls.

Its true - kids' camps today are way too luxurious. My kids go to a local day camp and they have a catered lunch every day!!! They eat better at camp then they do at home.

Funny enough.....a few times I've taken my Girl Scout troop camping in "rustic" cabins....no heat/electricity/bathrooms. There was a central bathhouse with electricity and hot water.

We had a blast. Its the ultimate back to nature when you need to hang a propane lantern in the cabin to get light. And you somehow sleep better when there is no heat in the room - it did get chilly that night but you just cuddled in your sleeping bag.

I'm out of my surgical boot now and I'm wearing some high-tech looking ankle wrap. But I am now 100% on my feet - no more crutches.

I started physical therapy. I walk like a drunken sailor - not in a straight line. I'm going to go three times a week for four weeks. After that I should be all finished and back to normal.

The ankle itself is all healed. The damaged ligaments are all repaired. But the muscles in the lower leg have atrophied and need to be strengthened and regain range of motion. That's why I'm having problems walking.

Having beach weather here in NJ this weekend.

 

[bellebud]

boy the board has been quiet!

we're back from our NC Outer Banks beach trip w/ my whole family. The weather was perfect!! We did a whole lot of nothing, which was so wonderful! sleeping late, eating big breakfasts together, beach, pool, movies in the 'theater room', cooking big dinners, crab hunting at night, and a little shopping.

And we decided when we dropped our dog off at the kennel last week that we're getting a new puppy! We have a 1 1/2yo german shephard male who is a big teddy bear, and he needs a playmate - and i need something to take care of... it was this or a baby... dh opted for the dog Our kennel woman is also a trainer, and she breeds Goldendoodles, and her female just had puppies monday. she had 11, and 5 are boys, which is what we want. I don't care the color or size, just the right temperment for the kids. We're very excited!! We're going tomorrow to see the puppies, and we'll get to take one home at the end of august, which will be perfect timing since we'll be getting back on a schedule for school, etc. I can't wait!!

We're going to disney in 3 weeks for a week , so I must start finalizing plans for that! dd8 and I have the best time in disney together! DH and ds join us and have fun, but we're the disney people in our family. We're staying in boardwalk villas, which we love!!
Hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer vacation!

 

[wayneg]

We're going to disney in 3 weeks for a week , so I must start finalizing plans for that! dd8 and I have the best time in disney together! DH and ds join us and have fun, but we're the disney people in our family. We're staying in boardwalk villas, which we love!!
Hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer vacation!

You are probably just leaving as we arrive. We arrive 1st August for 24 nights, can't wait. 1st 18 nights at Country Inn and Suites LBV, 4 nights RCCL cruise then for last 3 nights just got a great rate at AKL with AP, $144/night.

 

[bellebud]

You are probably just leaving as we arrive. We arrive 1st August for 24 nights, can't wait. 1st 18 nights at Country Inn and Suites LBV, 4 nights RCCL cruise then for last 3 nights just got a great rate at AKL with AP, $144/night.

I can't imagine 24 nights - I would absolutely LOVE that!! Good for you guys and hope you really enjoy yourselves!! You do this every summer? I know you have to stay a while to make the plane trip worth it, but how do you all get off work for that long?

And wow - $144 at AKL is great! We stayed there 2 years ago, and just loved, loved, loved it!! I was like a little kid running back to the room when we'd get off the bus saying "come on! let's see if our giraffe's are near our balcony!" I really didn't think I'd get so into it, but I really did! I'm considering staying in the AKL villas for our January trip - haven't decided yet. I'll decide after this July's trip where we'll stay.

And you'll have to let us know about your RC cruise - which ship? I was considering them instead of this disney cruise, but not having cruised w/ the kids before, Disney's *family feeling* won out. but i can see an RC cruise in our future when the kids are a little older.

 

[stsomewhere]

Matt is home from string camp. He loved it. He wants to go back again next year. He voila playing has improved quite a bit. They practiced about 4 hours a day.

The camp where is stayed is offering summer camps. The M-ASTA (string) just rented out part of the camp for a few weeks.

Matt wants to go to Survivor camp at the end of July. He said that he felt more responsible after having to take care of himself. zhe even did the dishes without being asked.

No disney vacation here. The last time we went we went for 10 days. That was perfect. We planned on going to each park twice and a day or two for rest.
DH and DS ended up playing two mini golf courses and DD and I went to get the rest of the princess autographs she needed.


My kids said that they don't want to go back to disney would rather cruise or see other prts of the country. But, I bet the would go if they had the chance.

I may go up north for a few days with the kids. I have to check on the weather.

 

[wayneg]

I have my own Florist shop in a village about 4 miles to the next Florist, keep my prices very low, sell fresh good flowers. Thankfully have loyal customers who come right back to me when I re-open, They have little other option really, overpriced Florist, supermarket or back to me.
DW gets 6 weeks vacation a year + bank holidays (2 days Xmas, 3 days Easter, 3 days in May, 2 days August) plus she when she goes in for meetings + Training she gets addition time which usually adds up to another 1-2 weeks a year off. She is allowed as much time off at once as she wants, over so many days has to be authorised but we never do so many, 25 is our max in 1 trip.
We did same cruise last August, 4 nights on Sovereign of the Seas. Its their oldest ship in their fleet, its ok not in the same league as Disney Ships but is $400 each for an outside cabin, Disney was about $800 for same dates and only inside cabin. One thing we found better on RCCL was the food, never got to table service the buffet was so good, puts Disney to shame, it was outstanding. This year is the last for Sovereign its being replaced for next year.
We have done well with cost of flights for this trip, using some of our airmiles for a free flight out so just had to pay for the return flight, only cost us about $650 each, full price for August is anything from $1000-1500 for an economy direct seat.

 

[stsomewhere]

Wayne
We really like RCCL. We had a 10 night booked on Explorer out of New Jersey but, we decided to take a Disney cruise before the kids got too old.

Our favorite is HAL. It's the small things that make the difference.
We usually look for good deals and are pretty flexible about travel times.
OUr last cruise was on the Carnival Truimph in JAn and it was $1600 for the 4 of us for a 7 night. Not too bad. We had a good time but, the kids were dissappointed with the kids program.

Erik was just watching heavy metal music vieos from the 80's and got an idea for his pirate costume.

 

[wayneg]

Our favorite is HAL. It's the small things that make the difference.

We are still planning an Alaskan cruise for next May, there is a HAL cruise on the dates we want leaving Seattle that has just come down in price a little, its an outside cabin for 7 nights $2,777 for 3 of us in 1 cabin and $1,409 for DMIL in her own cabin. Don't know anything about HAL, read a little on cruise critic. I have Frommer's guide to Alaskan cruises I am trying to read. The ship name is Zaandam. The flights are released in next few days so we are going to have to make some choices.

 

[stsomewhere]

We sailed on the Zaandam. They had the best chocolate covered strawberries.

Good luck with your flights.

I just read in the newspaper today that Southwest airline is cutting flights to Puerto Rico from 91 flights a day to 50. I wonder how it will affect the cruise industry down there. I believe there are 10 ships based out of there. The airline does not want to make it the airfare to high, so they are cutting flights. People may be able to afford to fly but may not be able to get a flight.

 

[Ski-and-Sea]

Its scary out there trying to book flights and things. My 2008 cruise/flights are already booked and paid for and I'm so relieved that I have this 2009 cruise already booked and know the cost.

I am concerned about the cost of 2010 cruises on DCL with the prospect of the Magic going somewhere special again. Those Med/California cruises were just outrageous in terms of price.

The kids don't want to cruise anything but DCL. So we may opt for the shorter Wonder cruises and a trip to WDW.

DD's birthday was this weekend and she had 7 girls over for a sleepover party. We survived.

All kidding aside - it went quite well and it was dirt cheap. Just the cost of pizzas for dinner.

 

[stsomewhere]

Ski-
DD has been asking for girls to spend the night. So, far we have only had 1 or 2 friends at a time. When time, DS and DD each had 2 friends spend the night. It wasn't too bad the boys played video games in the basement and the girls were in the bedroom playing barbies.

They are still at an age where not a lot of kids are doing sleepovers. Now I have done bronie sleep overs . After last year, I told the other parents someone else had to chaperone the gymnastic overnight with 100+girls.