Cruise 10/11/2003

[papa]

Good to hear from everyone and hope that you all have happy holidays.

Know what you mean about the groceries Nancy. Hope that the tournaments go smoothly for you.

Guess that Cathy's computer is down for the count

Still trying to finds some pictures of the cat juggler in action. Guss that I will have to get Shirley to send me some.

Have to pick up the turkey from Kathy's work this morning and we have some visits scheduled for today. Mike

 

[papa]

Just thought I would throw my 2 cents in this morning. Mike and I were late risers this morning and I just can't seem to get into the mood to go and get that stupid turkey. I don't like em and don't really want it but Mike wants it to give away. That is fine with me.

Nancy, you go girl. Bunny showed me the note you sent her. She apologized about not getting back with you yet but she promises to. Her hubby teaches at Webb School in Bell Buckle Tenn and she is a nurse in the NICU. We had a scare two weeks ago when the powers that be said they were getting rid of the LPN'S in the speciality areas. That ment Bunny and my other friend Kim would have to leave the NICU and work in other parts of the hospital. Then after Kim wrote a letter to administration they changed their itty bitty minds. There is a NURSING SHORTAGE! What the heck do they think we are going to do for nurses? We can't get RN's now and we sure as heck don't want to mess with the LPN'S. They are the backbone of the nursing field.

Boy Eric, you wear me out. No wonder Anja isn't big as a minute. Wish I had her problem but I just don't have the energy.

Welcome to the new ones! By the time we cruise you will feel right at home with all of us! On the first cruisetoberfest we all recognized each other from little bits we had gleaned from this thread. Like Dan and Scott were traveling with Dan's mom Nate and we knew them when we saw them in the parking lot. They knew us because of my little red Volkswagen "Scarlet". You will have a lot of fun.

Rosemary, on the cruise in September Ave had a lighter color on her hair than Mary. They were easy to distinguish. But if they have the same color they will be hard to tell apart. They are fun loving girls!

Gotta get up and do some visits. Love it! TTFN Kathy, with a "K"

 

[Viking]

Hi Folks,

does anyone of you know, wether there are any SCUBA-excursions during our cruise?
Anja and me are going to spend the first week of our Florida-vacation in Crystal River. There we will do our PADI-Open-Water, the basic dive training and some extra dives.
The second week we will spend a Cocoa Beach, the third week we will be in Kissimmee to do WDW, USF, IoA and SeaWorld, and finally we'll top off our vacation by cruising with you.

 

[alikat99]

Eric - I don't know anything about the excursions, but I just wanted to say that you'll be on my side FL for the first part of your vacation. We're about 1.5 - 2 hours south of Crystal River. DH has been trying to get me to go get scuba certified, but I still can't bring myself to do it. Maybe I'll get it done sometime soon, especially since I'll be going to the Bahamas in May and the cruise in October.

 

[Windermere]

There were what seemed like alot of scuba and snorkling on the Western when we went in September. DH doesn't do that water thing that much and I remember having only a few choices otherwise.

 

[Viking]

Amy & Nancy,

thanks for your input.


Amy,
last time we were in Crystal River for the Manatee Snorkel Experience we were based in St. Pete Beach (The Palm Crest Motel). We had to be in CR at 0600AM, so we started at 0400AM in the morning at the coldest ever October 1st in Florida at a temperature of 50ºF. We were so glad to get into the warm waters of Crystal River.
The encounter with the Manatees was an experience of a lifetime and our guide Rudy was great. When we were on the island of Fuerteventura this year we did a scuba-tryout in the hotel pool and it was so easy. We were kind of surprised as we had difficulties with the snorkeling in the beginning, but the scuba-diving was a piece of cake. So when we checked out Bird's Underwater for another Manatee-tour we saw that they also offer scuba-training at very reasonable prices. After exchanging some mails with Rudy, our trustworthy dive-guide, we decided to spend 6 to 7 days at Crystal River to do our PADI-Open-Water. We have to see how time-consuming the dive training will get. The training requires 3-4 days, but we intend to do in 3 by learning all the theoretical stuff before the vacation. And after the training we will do another 2 or 3 dives to get more experience.

We're thinking about going South for a day to visit Busch Gardens and do some shopping at the Tyrone Square Mall-our favourite mall in that area and perhaps we could meet you - That's if you would like it.
We hope that we can use one of our days at CR for it, but if we're running out of time we will do Busch Gardens on the trip eastwards to Cocoa Beach. BG from opening til 4 or 5pm and then we drive directly to CB.
(Un)Fortunately we still have nearly 10 months left for planning and we will have a cell-phone with us while in the US, so perhaps we could even meet on short notice.

 

[Viking]

Hi Folks,

edition #11 is in your mailboxes - Check it out.

I did a quick count and there are 18 kids between 8 and 15 in our group with a majority being around 10 years of age. I don't know if some of the kids are lurking on the boards with Mom & Dad already. But perhaps some of you Moms & Dads could have the kids start their own thread or their own list. I would love to help the kids, if required. The kid's-list could involve special interests, hobbies or similar things to facilitate getting started on board.

I'll check the boards tomorrow again for a last time before xmas, because we'll take off northward Friday 0600am (Thursday midnight EST). We will do a stopover of some hours in Hamburg, which is about 310 miles north of Frankfurt and 65 miles before our final destination Kiel. We intend to do some xmas shopping there, before we continue our trip to Anja's hometown. Shops in Germany usually open between 9 and 10am and we want to be there a that time to avoid the rush of later hours.

 

[bettemom]

Eric and Anja...
Wishing you a safe journey and the Merriest of Christmas's
Kim & Bette

 

[padisneyfan]

Eric and Anja--- Have a safe trip and a very Merry Christmas.

Nancy & Norm

 

[padisneyfan]

Eric and Anja--- Have a safe trip and a very Merry Christmas.

Nancy & Norm

 

[papa]

Merry Christmas to all of our dis friends, and safe holidays to all.

Cathy with a "C" sure do miss you here. Mike

 

[alikat99]

Hey Eric -

Chris and I would love to get together with you if you're in St. Pete. We actually are only 15-20 minutes away from the Tyrone Square Mall. Plus, there's a great new mall in Tampa for shopping. It's the International Plaza and it's right near the Tampa Airport. It has lots of new shops and tons of cool places to eat too.

Busch Gardens is pretty cool too. Believe it or not, even though it's closer for us, we go to Disney much more often. Plus, with a little toddler, we wouldn't get to ride any of the rides together without bringing grandma with us. But, Emily is already showing signs of being a dare-devil, so I'm sure that she'll love the rollercoasters when she's old enough.

Well, have a great holiday and a fantastic vacation!!!

 

[Cheese Please]

Eric & Anja,
Have a great trip for the Holidays and a Very Merry Christmas.

And before any of the rest of you Cruisetoberfests take off on travels and/or other celebrations, let me wish you all a very safe Happy and Health Holidays and 2003. Oct 11th is just around the corner.

Dave & Ellen

 

[scootersmom]

I feel so behind again!

Welcome to the new members to the list!

Eric and Anja- wishing you safe travels and a happy visit with the family!
Thanks for the new list. Josh and I were going over the kids/ages, etc. and he asked if it said what their interests are. You may have hit on a good idea for them to get to know each other a little before we cruise.

We have a hectic week going here. Tomorrow night is the Santa Social at Josh's school. Don will be helping Santa again this year.... need to pick up the suit before 3:00. There will be a cake walk, face painting, a craft to make, pictures with Santa, a storyteller, refreshments, and entertainment by the 2nd-5th grade classes all evening. Josh performs at 7:00 and again at 8:00 for the grand finale called the Blitzen Boogie... can't wait to see that one! I'll be taking video so Don can see it afterward. Jen is bringing Becca to have her pic taken with Santa too.

Tomorrow is also my oldest son's birthday.. he'll be 27! So hard to believe that! We're celebrating on Saturday, along with his fiance's son who will be 11.

Nancy--Thanks for the heads up on the Candlelight Processional cd. I'll make a point to look for it. We're getting so excited, only 11 days till we leave!

Twinave--The description of your Christmas Eve shopping had me LOL! I wouldn't be able to take that kind of stress. Good luck!! I have never used duct tape for wrapping, but have used a kid's glue stick.

Mary-- How sweet for your office to adopt the young mother-to-be. I'll be thinking of her and her baby.

Amy-- Hope everything is back to normal after your Friday the 13th fiasco. What a mess that had to be!

Kathy & Mike--Congrats to you and Stacey on her graduation! Our daughter graduated last December, but didn't attend the ceremonies because she was big-as-a-house pregnant. Her degree is in music education, but I think she decided that was too stressful a job and is working at a store and loves it... although she'd much rather be at home with the baby instead.

You all have had some really heart-wrenching cases with the babies lately. Is that uncommon?

Cathy with a "C"--Hope you can get back online soon. We'd all be going nuts without our computer.

One of my bil's had double bypass surgery this a.m. My sister called tonight and all went well. He'll be in ICU for 24-48 hours, then into a regular room, not sure how long for that. We're all so relieved that things are so far, so good. It's sometimes hard living so far from family when things like this happen and you can't be there for them.

Happy Holidays and safe travels to all our dis cruise friends!

Colleen

 

[Twinave]

Hi Everyone! WELCOME to Spectram!!! So glad to have you along!
Viking: What can I say! What a Man!! Arnold eat your heart out.
Nancy: Glad to hear you are glowing and going. By the way also have a nurse sister in Oregon, works in OB. One more sister in NY, nurse, works in pych.
Cathy: We miss you, hope your puter is better soon.
Scooter: GLUE STICKS, now why didn't I think of that? Great idea, if I can only find them in DD bedroom. Maybe I'll just "stick" with the duct tape. LOL
Alikat99: Hubby has been trying to get me Suba Cert. too. But I'm really very happy with my snorkle.
Kathy; Thanks for your kind word re: LPNs. Just wish more folks felt the same way.
Hope everyone is enjoying this Holiday Season!
Later, Ave'

 

[Viking]

Amy,

I think we've been to the International Mall in Tampa last year. It's very (Caution: British English ) posh, with lots of marble, comfy couches everywere, if I remember it correctly. Is that the one you're talking about? I think we just found it accidently in the GPS-database of our rental Volvo.
As soon as we have finalized our plans, which will probably happen February/March we should really talk about a meeting.

I'll check the boards again tonight once more (Afternoon for you).




5 TO GO TO 1K

 

[papa]

Eric and Anja have a safe and happy holiday to Kiel and tell everyone there we said hello. Do not eat too much over the holidays as we would not want you to have to spend all that time on the stairmasters.

It is a little on the warm side here for the week before Christmas. The high yesterday in Nashville was 64 degrees F. We have had the windows open and it has been nice.

We have a Christmas party tonight at the home of Fred Miller one of the NFL players for the Tennessee Titans football team. Looking forward to that

Have to run, everyone have a safe and happy holiday season if we don't get to talk to you before then. Mike

 

[@GoofyNut]

FYI - I'm not dead but my computer sure it! Last storm we had did it in ... don't quite know how, cause it was plugged into a surge protector. Needless to say I'm going crazy with no puter at home.
Our ageny has put on filters and so far I am still able to get to the DIS Boards but a lot of the other stuff I check on is filtered.
Today I tried to print out some coupons on Gateway Computers and that is filtered!

Art's on my tush to get a new one asap BUT I'm a little anxious when it comes to parting with Big Bucks on something that is generally outdated in a months or so later.

Thinking of a Gateway Basic Model. My first puter was a Gateway about 20 years ago and gave me no problems. The one I had was about 6 or 7 years old and realllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly slow.

Now just how do I get all my DIS Cruise stuff off of the dead one and onto a new one! I may be out of commission for a little while but don't fear ... as soon as I can I'll be back working on our logo, etc.

Thank GOD I had printed out my Christmas Card mailing labels and customized some of my cards before the poop hit the fan.

I want to wish everyone a VERY MERRY, WEALTHY, HEALTHY HOLIDAY SEASON ... awfully busy at work and down to a staff of 2.

Everyone take care ................... I'll be a little nuts for a while (I know that's nothing new) but I'll be back when I can.

 

[papa]

CATHY!!!!!!!!! Welcome back to the land of the digitally challenged Hope that you are able to get a new computer soon and who knows, they might even be able to get some broadband access in the Pocono's before long Tell Art not to shovel too much snow, by the way it was 64 degrees here yesterday and we slept with the windows open last night.

Hope that no one runs into what happened to 4nana and her group.

Check back later. Mike

 

[alikat99]

Hey Eric - you are exactly right. The International Mall is very posh. Some of the stores are a little pricey for me, but I do love to go there to window shop and people watch. And, the comfy couches make that pretty easy. Plus, they have some great restaurants there too. Once you finish you plans, let us know and we'll see if we can plan a little visit before the cruise.

To everyone else - thanks for the well wishes. Luckily, the water into the house wasn't too bad. We contained it to the family room, and it was only about 1/2 of that room anyway. And, thank goodness, it's all tile and rock and just a couple of area rugs, so it wasn't too bad. The biggest cleanup was sanitizing all of Emily's toys, since that's her play room.

Well, it's my anniversary today, so I'm going to go relax while Emily's napping. I took the rest of the afternoon off of work. DH and are going to see the Lion King tonight at the performing arts center here in Tampa. It's only here for a few weeks, and I made DH stand in line this spring at 5am to get us good seats for our anniversary. I've heard that it's really good, so I'm really looking forward to it.