December 13, 2008 Western Caribbean!! Let's get acquainted!

[dweitzel0]

I haven't started on my fish extender (most likely because I am not much on sewing but I am going to give it a shot). It won't be pretty that is for sure.

Who needs a sewing machine, isn't that what hot glue was invented for?

 

[PenskeSth1]

It doesn't matter if I use hot glue, fabric glue, or the sewing machine, it still won't be pretty. It will definitely be one of a kind!

I think Andrea (where are you?) said she would cordinate the exchange.

Lucinda, Just tell yourself "I am going to have an amazing time, I won't think about all the bad stuff that scares the bejesus out of me!" The ships are very stable. We hit the tale end of a storm back in 2003 and we were rockin and a rollin on the way back to port, but made it to PC all in one piece. That probably didn't help hu? The comedian on board at the time made the comment that the drunk folks were walking straight and the sober folks were walking like they were drunk!

 

[Stinasmom]

I have missed having a spare second to read and post on the DIS boards!

I just caught up on this thread and will add the new comers to our roll call list on page one.
WELCOME!! Katherine, Mandy, and Kerri!

Got the kids back to school today YEAH! Another milestone to cross off my mental countdown to this trip in December.
We were out of town all last week... family trip to Central Oregon.
Notice I said "family trip" not "vacation"... inlaws, aunts, uncles, you know, NOT a vacation!

I'll catch up more later today... off to teach a Jazzercise class then meet my DH for lunch at The Tav (a bar... no kids), for our annual back to school super-mother burgers with the works!

Marcy

 

[PenskeSth1]

Wow Marcy your kids were lucky our kids have been back in school since the 18th of August.

We seldom do anything with our relatives which is find by DH and I becuase nobody seems to really get along when there all together....LOL

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Ok, I will definately try not to be too scared of it, DH told me that I used drive 80k pounds down the interstate doing 90 ( I admit to nothing! lol) the ship should be a piece of cake.

Ok someone is going to have to hook me up with a pattern for the fish extender, not too sure what I am making!

Funny about the relatives Michele, we are doing a trip to six flags this weekend with 30 of ours lol We do everything with ours it seems!

Good to see some of the previous posters back!!

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

The Clampetts? You're not planning on bringing your pitchforks and straw hats are you? Try walking around with four kids and try to fit in! We get the "look" everywhere we go and lots of questions like "are they all yours?". I like to look at the baby in surprise and say "Not that one, where did you come from little girl?"

Funny story the only place that we "fit in" was the airport in utah. I was sitting there with all 4 of my kids (and no husband) waiting for our flight and DD who was 6 at the time said "look mom, there's another family like ours" a few minutes later "look, they have MORE kids than US!" and it went like that for 30 mins before I realized...DUH, we're in Salt Lake City, we are probably a small family here!

too funny!! Caseys mom said she would do similar, by the time her last of her 10 was born she had 2 grandkids and they all went somewhere once, I couldn't imagine!! There was five kid in our family, and to be honest, I wish we would have had at least one or two more but am grateful for what I do have!

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Ok, ok.....I am no longer a lurker. Since my cover was blown I am now officially "friendw/boys" aka Mandy. Hello all my fellow cruisers. My family is very excited about our cruise in Dec. and by the way, I am no longer speaking to my once dear friend......Andrea.

Welcome and

 

[KATIESMOMMY]

Oh, Kattie's Mommy,

We ARE the Clampetts and I've got the pictures to prove it! One summer, before children, we took a vacation jet skiing/camping at the Colorado River. My DH packed a portable air conditioner for our tent. I laughed so hard at us, but it was 125 degrees that weekend and it saved us.

How old are your DC?

Andrea,

The system wouldn't let me PM you until I have at least ten posts, but thanks for "booing me" brought a smile to my face.

Katherine

Well of course you would, we do the same I wish we would have last camping trip!

Ok am post hogging,sorry!

 

[PenskeSth1]

Ok so I was thinking How do we go about organizing the fish extender exchange. Do we just get a list of all who want to participate and how many are in each cabin and just leave X amount of goodies each day? I'm trying to plan ahead so I can order a few things from oriental trader.

The magnet exchange was pretty easy, just slap a magnet on participating Disers doors and sneak off.

Lucinda, Just go to the thread on the main cruise line page that has fish extenders and there you can get some ideas of patterns. I'm just using pirate, pooh, and Mickey fabric. DD wanted Indiana Jones fabric for her pouch, but I couldn't find any. There are some really cute ones over there made by some really talented folks.

 

[SILLYANDI]

Last cruise I just hung a little basket off my fish (I think it might have been a straw purse but it was like a little girl's purse) and that worked just fine.
For those of you who don't sew you can buy them on ebay or at least look at pics there to get an idea. I think they are asking way too much money personally. You could take a long piece of material, fold it over a dowel, glue on some fabric "pockets" and stick some Mickey stickers and call it done for under $10.

As far as the exchanges I am more than happy to coordinate them if no one else wants to.
For Magnets I will get a count of who wants to do it and a list of room #'s to distribute just before the cruise. We will each bring enough magnets (that represent where we are from) for the people involved and we could slap them on the doors whenever.
For fish extender gifts-depending on how many people want to do it, we could take turns each day...say Me Sat,Mandy Sun, etc so that we don't have to break the bank buying things for everyday (not to mention lugging that much stuff!) but we'll all get something fun each day. I will collect a list with the # of adults & kids in each room and distribute it closer to cruise date.
Do we want to be specific and set a price per person (say $1-2 per person) or do we want to do one "family" gift for each family (say $5-7 per family)?

Let me know your input and also...
If you are interested in the magnet exchange PM me your name & cabin # if you have it so I can start a list.
After I get answers about people's choice for the FE exchange then I will ask for those PM's.


Now who is going to coordinate a meet or room crawl??????

 

[SILLYANDI]

Here's a pic of my non-fish extender from last trip!

 

[PenskeSth1]

Do we want to be specific and set a price per person (say under $1) or do we want to do one "family" gift for each family (say $5 per family)? /QUOTE]

I don't know if you all have the dollar trees out there but I think $1.00 per person is plenty. It's the thought that counts. I keep forgetting that NOT everyone lives in Florida! I can't imagine lugging a suitcase full of items just to give away, especially with the extra charge from airlines. On the bright side once all the stuff is given out that leaves more room for souvi's...

Andrea when did you cruise in 2006? was it in Dec? I am wondering if we were on the same cruise.

 

[SILLYANDI]

OOps, Michele- I vaguely remember asking you the same ?? We were on the Wonder Dec 10th. I think I remeber you saying you were in WDW during that time then got on the ship after us?! Or maybe that was Marcey?

 

[Aunt KatKat]

I have missed having a spare second to read and post on the DIS boards!

I just caught up on this thread and will add the new comers to our roll call list on page one.
WELCOME!! Katherine, Mandy, and Kerri!



Marcy,

Thanks for the welcome. I am currently REALLY obsessing over this trip. The week my DD was born I had my DH open up a special savings account for this trip. That's six years of savings, a bit at a time, that will give us this great vacation.

Thanks for putting me on the list. My DC were playing and they heard me say, "Yeah" we were added to the list!"

Thanks,

Katherine

 

[SILLYANDI]

I can't believe there are 4 families in our group from Cali, and within an hour of each other to boot! That is so cool. We should do a mini meet here at DL or something!
Maybe we can wait until Michele comes out?

Has anyone else booked their air? Mandy and I booked 3 months ago and I was worried because we paid $400, I thought it would go down. I just checked and our flights are going for $772!!! Now I'm glad we did it!

 

[Aunt KatKat]

An idea for a mini meet: I haven't done this, but it has come to this mommy's ears that down town Disney is really fun right before Halloween.

Maybe we could meet up and take the little ones trick or treating towards the end of October.

Just a thought, I would love for my family to meet you, and for the children to have "built in play mates" on board.

Katherine

 

[PenskeSth1]

Andrea, that's right we were on the Dec 2nd- the 9th cruise. So you did get on right after we got off.

The flight costs are what I am worried about the most coming out to DL next year, well that and the fact that I HATE TO FLY! DS and I flew Southwest when we came home this summer and it was only like $60.00 a person one way. I wish SW flew out west. I am sure we will pay through the nose and DH refuses to drive. (I don't blame him though)

 

[dweitzel0]

I can't believe there are 4 families in our group from Cali, and within an hour of each other to boot! That is so cool. We should do a mini meet here at DL or something!
Maybe we can wait until Michele comes out?

Has anyone else booked their air? Mandy and I booked 3 months ago and I was worried because we paid $400, I thought it would go down. I just checked and our flights are going for $772!!! Now I'm glad we did it!

Who are the other families from Cali. We are in Thousand Oaks (about 1 1/2 hours from DL) and would be up for a pre cruise meet.

I booked airfare back in March. Fortunately I had Sky Miles for 3 of the tickets and the third I picked up for around $500 (Delta). I really envy the people who live in FL or other areas close enough to drive.

 

[PenskeSth1]

Living in Florida does have it's perks! I'd still rather live back up north though.

I believe we are officially in the double digits aren't we?

 

[Stinasmom]

I booked airfare back in March. Fortunately I had Sky Miles for 3 of the tickets and the third I picked up for around $500 (Delta). I really envy the people who live in FL or other areas close enough to drive.

I would love to live in Florida for this very reason, but DH will have nothing to do with it.

We used 160,000 miles on Alaska Airlines to get exactly the itinerary and flights we wanted. If we would have paid for these 4 tickets it would have cost over $3400!!

DH travels enough and we use their Visa (along with the Disney one) to replenish the miles eventually... but, not in time for next summer, I am afraid. We were going to try to go to Hawaii for our 20th wedding anniversary in June... alas it will have to wait a year.

Katherine--- great job saving for 6 years for this trip! It will be worth it! I can sure sense your excitement!

Castaway Club members - September 14th is approaching! One more big milestone! (booking our excursions, Palo, etc.)

I am going to go ahead and book a snorkeling excursion on GC, but if we get a group together as previously bantered about, I can cancel.

Marcy