EARLY CHECK IN: December 15th, 2007 - Seven night Western - 12/15/07

[cristit14]

Thanks Stacie. They are outsourcing his job to India. Oh well.... he was getting fed up there anyway. I think as long as he finds a job by summertime we should still be able to go on the cruise as long as the new job would let him off.

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

Hi Cristi, So sorry about your DH getting laid off. My BIL was laid off a couple of years ago. He got a nice severence package and found a job, so he had extra income for a while. I hope the same works our for your DH. You've been such a huge part of this board. I'd hate for your family to miss the cruise.

Stacie,
Thanks for the report on your cruise. How was it cruising with Andy? Did you take a pack-n-play or did the ship provide a crib?

Last night John was awake from 10:30-3:30. It made for a tough night and a tough day today. We'll see how tonight goes. DD got her Baby Annabelle that cries and drinks from a bottle. She's been playing with her a lot today. She also brought her toy swing downstairs and put it by John's swing.

Welcome Audrey and family.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Susan--We almost bought a "travel bed" at Target and decided not to. The ship had a pack and play that our stateroom host sat up each night and took down each morning. He never changed the sheet though. I could have asked for a clean sheet each night but instead, I had a couple blankets down in our box so I just laid one out on the bottom each night. We had also sent down his boppy pillow and bouncy seat. They were life savers! We also requested a real fridge and a diaper genie that they put under the desk and took out the little stool. We only did laundry I think three times, we only came home with one duffel of dirty clothes. For supper, we put Andy in his stroller and sat him at the end of the table where they had taken a chair out for him, we had a table for 12 (big oval) so it worked well. For the next two cruises we are in staterooms 6600 and 6602 which are kind of aft but close to the laundry, Flounder's is directly one floor up, and we used the aft stairs all week to get to Topsider's and the other restaurants. We were really impressed with Flounder's the first night we went there were a couple older kids that were screaming but the parents had been paged to come and get them. They stayed open late a little bit for Andy when we had to take the tender into St Thomas because we had to wait so long to get on and again to come back (it was close to a shoving match to get on to get back to the ship).

I hope you get some sleep tonight or tomorrow. Hang in there!

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

Stacie...thanks for the information on taking a baby on the cruise. John will be 9 months old for our cruise. We have a pack-n-play and have extra sheets. Maybe I'll bring our sheets.

Cristi...what kind of work does your husband do? My DH works with computers. There is an opening in his dept.

 

[cristit14]

Susan, my DH does software testing and he is also working on his masters in database admin. I think you live a little too far away for DH to apply where your DH is. Heck of a commute.

 

[Pinkprincessmom]

When you said "outsourcing to India", I thought it would have something to do with computers. I hope your DH is able to find something soon. I don't think DH has any connections where you live. Please keep us posted.

 

[yearbook50]

Hey everyone!

I'm still alive here in Africa.

Only 41 more days until I'm back to Worcester.

Very boring here since I"m working 50 hour work weeks for the Namibia Tourism Board trying to figure out domestic travel patterns...

I get to go on a 6 hour game drive on Sunday which is exciting.
But I'll be happy when I get back into the states because the food here keeps getting more and more questionable (like being served chicken feet and half of a cow heart...um..)

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Melissa--You are way braver than I. If I visited a foreign country for an extended time I'd have to bring a lot of Ritz crackers and Jiff Peanut Butter. Hope the rest of your trip goes well.

 

[cristit14]

Hi Melissa! Good to hear from you! The game drive sounds pretty cool, but I am with Stacie on the food thing. I might need the peanut butter and crackers too

Stacie, I noticed a new trip ticker for you. You are hooked. Cute pic of Andy too!

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Cristi--To say I'm hooked would be an understatement. DH was glad to meet other DIS husbands on the cruise. I think they may be starting a support group for wives addicted to Disney Cruises and the DIS.

We booked the double dip for Thanksgiving 2008. It may be the last time we can pull the kids out of school (they'll both be in high school after that). By giving up the Cat 3 on this cruise we can about pay for both.

 

[Queen2]

All everyone I wasn't mia, just trouble getting on the site. Keep giving me an error. Welcome to members it is nice to see our group is growing.

christi, sorry to here about DH. I still have my fingers crossed that I can make the trip. Beth's dad was last day was Friday He still plans to move to Florida.

Glad babies are doing somewhat good.

My trip to China is costing me more then I thought, so that maybe another factor in me going on the cruise. plus I'm going on a Med cruise with a friend
October 22, 2007. I come home from China October 12. Good thing I'm retired to have the time off.

Well Stacie, I don't need the backhoe any more finally was able to get most of the remolding done. Now I need a hug dump truck to throw unused & unwanted items items away. We have a 16x 20 shed & it is full from top to bottom & wall to wall.

Well that is all the news on the east coast

Hope all is well with everyone

 

[yearbook50]

Melissa--You are way braver than I. If I visited a foreign country for an extended time I'd have to bring a lot of Ritz crackers and Jiff Peanut Butter. Hope the rest of your trip goes well.

've tried some weird things so that I wouldn't insult people but yeah I really want some normal food like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or Pizza or something like that. Although tonight we are taking over one of our advisor's apartments to make tacos and brownies because many people here are needing something slightly normal.

Oh the food here is definitely making me lose weight, which is a good thing.
I put on a pair of pants this morning for work and well...they feel right off of me. So, well, I had to change of course. But most of the clothes I brought with me no longer fit right anyway...I still have one more month here and by then nothing is going to fit right. At least its good for the wedding dress shopping I get to do this summer.

The game drive was awesome though. I got 6 feet away from a wild leopard and I had a cheetah 2ft from me. Kinda scary but wicked cool. The leopard started to begin to pounce onto one of the guy's in our group but the driver had to startle it with shooting a gun. This weekend we are going to Etosha National Park for 5 days where we will camp along the river which is going to be weird since Elephants and Giraffes like to walk wild around there. I've never camped before either so it should be an experience.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Sharon--Glad to know you are still around. You are a busy lady! China followed by a Med. cruise 10 days later? I guess there would be no better way to recover from jet lag than on a cruise ship.

Melissa--It sounds like you'll be Girl Scout leader material after all this. After all camp food is not that great and you never no what might come crawling in your tent, although I've never had an elephant or giraffe in my tent. Sounds like you are having a great trip and the weight loss is an added bonus.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

I hate posting twice in a row but I'm bumping us back up from page 3.

Does anyone have spring weather where they are? The week we got home it was in the 70s and 80s. Yesterday it was 23 when I got up and we had 35mph winds all day. Needless to say, Andy and I didn't leave the house.

Well, to cure my let down from being home from the cruise, I've started to plan this cruise. Have any of you been on the Western before and visited any of the beaches in Grand Cayman and/or Cozumel? I can't believe how much DCL charges to go to the beach!! I'm pretty sure we'll just be taking a taxi and then we can come and go as we please. I think we might try to do the Nautilus sub thing on our own too. There are two places to do it, one charges admission for babies!!

Key West looks fun but we don't have very much time there. There is a Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum there. I wonder if my kids will notice if we just walk on by. I really don't want to pay to see a bunch of freaky things. The ship museum sounds ok though.

 

[cristit14]

Hey Stacie, thanks for saving us from page 3.
Our weather has been nice, but it is supposed to rain today and tomorrow I think. I guess that would be spring weather.

We haven't been on the Western. When we did the Eastern we only did an excursion at one port and then did things on our own at other ports. This time we will probably do an excursion at Cozumel and Grand Cayman. I want to do snorkeling in Grand Cayman and we want to do a ruins tour in Cozumel. Key West we will probably just do something on our own. Castaway Cay we like to just hang out. I would like to see if I can make it to Serenity Bay this time though.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

OK, I just have to post a quick vent...I called the school administration office today to see if they have decided on the dates for Christmas break next year. They have, break is from Mon, Dec 24 to Wed, Jan 2.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, this is the same district that makes kids go to school the Monday after easter and counts kids absent if they go to school events like G&T, and orchestra fest. I guess they'll just miss five days of school.

There I feel better!!

 

[cristit14]

Sorry Stacie, your kids will just have to miss like mine will. Our break is listed as starting on the 24th also, but last year it was listed the same way and we got off the Thurs and Friday before that too. I am hoping it is the same way for next year.

 

[unixadm]

We have the same problem.

Every year since we lived here (and before we moved here), the winter break has been the last two weeks of December. (This past year, they were off Dec 16th-Jan 4th)

They put out the new 2007-2008 calendar and they are off Dec 22nd-Jan 7th.

We still plan on going. My son is in Kindergarten this year and is a great student. His teacher even sent a letter home during Parent/Teacher conferences saying that we don't need to come it unless we want to since he is such a good student.

We figure that once he starts 1st grade in August, we will see how he progresses, then talk to his teacher.

It will be considered "Unexcused" absences, but it won't be enough to get him into any trouble.

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a good day with family and friends!

 

[dutch_girl_scout]

Hi All,
We'll be joining you all on 12/15/07
Me (40) Dh (45) Dd (16)This will be our second Disney cruise although we have cruised with Princess cruises before. We're soooooooo excited Staying in a cat5 same as last time. Nice to meet you all
Audrey

Audrey--I think I missed you joining us while I was gone. Welcome!!! I'm working on the group website today (see the info in unixadm's first post of the thread). If you get me your info I'll be happy to add your family.