ELEVATE! Is that a whale out there? A three-generation cruise to Alaska!UPDATE 8/29

[RGirl]

You described it perfectly, that would have been hilarious to see! I can just imagine that young woman in her sequined, feathery dress up on the rail at just the right moment.

I cannot believe that Palo was only $20! That's insane! It sounds like an absolutely incredible meal.

Yay for Judy 1 enjoying herself so much! That's great to hear. I'm glad that you were able to book 2 more meals there.

And Yay Willow for getting back on the top bunk!

OOOOhhhhh. I can't wait to hear about breakfast!

Well, I'm glad at least some of the humor of the moment came through! I wish I could describe the timing of it better.

Palo is definitely more than worth the modest up-charge. Of course, you end up tipping on what you think the meal and service were worth (or at least we did), so that does add up a bit!

BTW, tomorrow is earring day. I am so nervous.

 

[shan23877]

Well, I'm glad at least some of the humor of the moment came through! I wish I could describe the timing of it better.

Palo is definitely more than worth the modest up-charge. Of course, you end up tipping on what you think the meal and service were worth (or at least we did), so that does add up a bit!

BTW, tomorrow is earring day. I am so nervous.

Good luck on earring day! I think you'll be fine mom.

The hardest part for me was convincing Maddie that it really was going to hurt. She didn't believe me. You might want to plan on going out for ice cream after. And, lots of pretty new earrings helped too!

Can't wait to see pics!

 

[RGirl]

Good luck on earring day! I think you'll be fine mom.

The hardest part for me was convincing Maddie that it really was going to hurt. She didn't believe me. You might want to plan on going out for ice cream after. And, lots of pretty new earrings helped too!

Can't wait to see pics!

We are making it a Big Day. No one in town does it, so we have to go the "city" an hour away. We are planning to head out in the late morning. I actually have to get mine re-pierced (they closed - I didn't think that was possible after about 30 years, but apparently it is), so we will do it together. We will do a little school clothes sad1: - seriously, school clothes shopping??!!) and then go out to lunch. A friend of mine may join us and make a big deal about how special it is - Willow LOVES this friend, so it would be super-special for her to have Amber join us as a surprise. We will see how it goes. As Willow says, "I want to get my ears pier'ed." (I did talk to her a lot tonight about what that actually meant, and she does seem to know. We shall see. )

 

[shan23877]

We are making it a Big Day. No one in town does it, so we have to go the "city" an hour away. We are planning to head out in the late morning. I actually have to get mine re-pierced (they closed - I didn't think that was possible after about 30 years, but apparently it is), so we will do it together. We will do a little school clothes sad1: - seriously, school clothes shopping??!!) and then go out to lunch. A friend of mine may join us and make a big deal about how special it is - Willow LOVES this friend, so it would be super-special for her to have Amber join us as a surprise. We will see how it goes. As Willow says, "I want to get my ears pier'ed." (I did talk to her a lot tonight about what that actually meant, and she does seem to know. We shall see. )

That sounds like an awesome day! I hope Willow feels like the most special little girl in the world. I think she'll do great, she seems to know what to expect. And, since she really wants it done she should be able to look past a few minutes of pain.

I didn't know ear piercings would close after that long either. I still have the faint mark from an ill advised nose piercing from college, and I haven't worn that one in 13 years!

I can't believe that it's almost time for Kindergarten. I am freaking out a little. Maddie on the other had couldn't be more excited. She's been peppering my SiL (a Kindy teacher) with questions about it--almost exclusively wardrobe related. I'm sure she'll have lots to say about her school wardrobe when we hit the stores in the next week or two.

 

[RGirl]

That sounds like an awesome day! I hope Willow feels like the most special little girl in the world. I think she'll do great, she seems to know what to expect. And, since she really wants it done she should be able to look past a few minutes of pain.

I didn't know ear piercings would close after that long either. I still have the faint mark from an ill advised nose piercing from college, and I haven't worn that one in 13 years!

I can't believe that it's almost time for Kindergarten. I am freaking out a little. Maddie on the other had couldn't be more excited. She's been peppering my SiL (a Kindy teacher) with questions about it--almost exclusively wardrobe related. I'm sure she'll have lots to say about her school wardrobe when we hit the stores in the next week or two.

It is 100% her choice, so I think she will be okay with it. I just wanted to make sure she knew what it meant. I am still kind of wanting to smack the parents of the little girl at school her got her ears pierced. I probably wouldn't feel that way if it wasn't the same child who has caused every questionable thing in my child - every bad word (that she didn't learn at home ), every weird idea, and worst of all the idea that she can make her non-white skin light with lotion - I almost lost it tonight when DD told me that this kid had given her this great idea! However, I do think it is okay for her to get her ears pierced, so I am not going to stress over the fact that the idea came from this kid. Thankfully, she is going to a different kindergarten. Phew!

You know, I was shocked that my ear piercings closed - I really didn't think I had gone THAT long without earrings, but apparently, I really did give up on my appearance for about as long as any human woman can!

Just like Maddie - Willow is crazy-excited for kindergarten. Just today at the store, she was talking about how she was going to pack her own lunch and about how I was going to cry when I had to drop her off and not go in with her. Dear lord!

 

[shan23877]

Ok, I actually gasped when I read the thing about the lotion. It would take everything I had not to shake a 5 year old when I heard that. I know that there will always be a friend who's a bad influence, but I'm glad that Willow won't be around that little girl anymore.

I always figure that as long as Maddie looks cute, I'm covered too by extension. But now she chooses her own clothes so...

To be honest, most days if it weren't for oversized sport t-shirts I'd have nothing to wear. And, I've pretty much worn the same earrings every day for 9 years. I think I put on a necklace 2 or 3 times a year, and it's always the same one. You are so not alone.

I was 4 when I got my ears pierced, so I didn't really mind that Maddie wanted to. I've never understood the arbitrary ages that people put on that. Honestly, I think that Maddie is learning important lessons about responsibility by having things like that at such a young age.

 

[hstrickland]

Nice updates!!! Love the look of Palo! We didn't do it but wish we had...did Remy instead. But I'm thinking the food looked just as good at Palo if not better. And totally cool that you were able to see whales!!! Not many people get to experience that.

The pictures you have on the balcony at 10pm are unbelievable! How strange to see a sunset when it should be dark. You were smart to have a verandah! Several years back, my parents took an Alaska cruise and didn't book a balcony....had a big window. They said it was the worst mistake and never again.

Great installments!
Heather

 

[amandaw]

Love the update! I think you have completely sold me on trying Palo, so I will be trying to get us a reservation there.

That is so awesome about the whales! And the story about the lady in the short dress had me !

I can't get over how light it was at 10pm. That would be so weird. Did it affect your sleep at all?

Can't wait to hear about the character breakfast. I want to say I read somewhere that they won't be doing the character meals on the Dream or the Fantasy. If so, that has me a bit bummed.

 

[JLCJMC]

Roni -

First of all the update was a delight, as always The whales must have been amazing! What a cool thing to have happen at your special dinner! And the food looks and sounds just fantastic ... I am so pleased you were able to go again! and that your Mom was enjoying herself. (and the short dress story was too funny! Loved it!)

Now I have to say that the story about Willow and the lotion just left me sad. I am overly sensitive about this issue as it is something that I have been exposed to with my own child. People can be just plan stupid. The things that they say and do are just flipping outrageous sometimes. Now I know from your story that this was a small child, but seriously -- that is a learned behavior/attitude! Willow is beautiful. (So is her mom ) I know that you are raising her so that she knows that being beautiful starts on the inside and shows through, but I am sad that she has to be exposed to ignorance too. I do believe I am rambling here. Like I said it is something that hits so close to home -- I guess I just wanted to say that I understand, really. And I am so sorry.





J

 

[RGirl]

Ok, I actually gasped when I read the thing about the lotion. It would take everything I had not to shake a 5 year old when I heard that. I know that there will always be a friend who's a bad influence, but I'm glad that Willow won't be around that little girl anymore.

Yeah, I was stunned silent for a good minute when Willow said it. It was so unexpected. These kinds of comments and things are absolutely the hardest thing - so difficult to know if you are giving the right response and explanation.

I always figure that as long as Maddie looks cute, I'm covered too by extension. But now she chooses her own clothes so...

To be honest, most days if it weren't for oversized sport t-shirts I'd have nothing to wear. And, I've pretty much worn the same earrings every day for 9 years. I think I put on a necklace 2 or 3 times a year, and it's always the same one. You are so not alone.

So funny! I know exactly what you mean. I actually ended up kind of enjoying dressing up a bit for dinner every night on the cruise - I had forgotten that I could!

I was 4 when I got my ears pierced, so I didn't really mind that Maddie wanted to. I've never understood the arbitrary ages that people put on that. Honestly, I think that Maddie is learning important lessons about responsibility by having things like that at such a young age.

Agreed. When Willow first asked, I was all . And then I realized that I didn't have a single good reason to say no. So.

 

[RGirl]

Nice updates!!! Love the look of Palo! We didn't do it but wish we had...did Remy instead. But I'm thinking the food looked just as good at Palo if not better. And totally cool that you were able to see whales!!! Not many people get to experience that.

The pictures you have on the balcony at 10pm are unbelievable! How strange to see a sunset when it should be dark. You were smart to have a verandah! Several years back, my parents took an Alaska cruise and didn't book a balcony....had a big window. They said it was the worst mistake and never again.

Great installments!
Heather

We so enjoyed our Palo experience. It was just a truly perfect evening.

I honestly don't think I would cruise if I couldn't get a verandah - I knew that even before I went. I would feel SO claustrophobic. And, honestly, I spent at least a little time on the verandah every day - and that is with COLD weather!

Love the update! I think you have completely sold me on trying Palo, so I will be trying to get us a reservation there.

That is so awesome about the whales! And the story about the lady in the short dress had me !

I can't get over how light it was at 10pm. That would be so weird. Did it affect your sleep at all?

Can't wait to hear about the character breakfast. I want to say I read somewhere that they won't be doing the character meals on the Dream or the Fantasy. If so, that has me a bit bummed.

Palo would be a perfect date night. So lovely.

It was bizarre having it so light at night. I always got a second wind at about 8:00 or so, and I think it was totally because of how light it was. It didn't really bother us for sleeping - there was a very heavy curtain, so the room was pretty dark.

That is horrible if there won't be character breakfasts on the Dream and Fantasy! We love our character meals.

 

[RGirl]

Roni -

First of all the update was a delight, as always The whales must have been amazing! What a cool thing to have happen at your special dinner! And the food looks and sounds just fantastic ... I am so pleased you were able to go again! and that your Mom was enjoying herself. (and the short dress story was too funny! Loved it!)

Now I have to say that the story about Willow and the lotion just left me sad. I am overly sensitive about this issue as it is something that I have been exposed to with my own child. People can be just plan stupid. The things that they say and do are just flipping outrageous sometimes. Now I know from your story that this was a small child, but seriously -- that is a learned behavior/attitude! Willow is beautiful. (So is her mom ) I know that you are raising her so that she knows that being beautiful starts on the inside and shows through, but I am sad that she has to be exposed to ignorance too. I do believe I am rambling here. Like I said it is something that hits so close to home -- I guess I just wanted to say that I understand, really. And I am so sorry.

J

Thank you. You know, one of the things that I loved about the cruise was that there were quite a few transracial families onboard. And, of course, there were families of all shades as well as CMs from countries all over the world. It was a neat place for us to be.

Hearing that Willow's friend said that to her was stunning to me. I just couldn't imagine how a child would come up with that. On the other hand, her parents *seem* like very nice and friendly people. And, to be fair, DD has made comments about wanting lighter skin to me in the past (I think it is perfectly to be expected as her entire family is very light-skinned, so we have talked about skin color a lot), so there is the possibility that DD actually planted the idea in this kid's head. I just don't know. I wanted to cry though. We talked about it some more today and about how she can just say, "I like my skin just the way it is" and go play somewhere else. It's so hard to know how to handle these things!

 

[RGirl]

Well, I hope you will all indulge me in a little real-life update tonight!

Earlier this week, DD asked to get her ears pierced. I made sure that she was sure - explained to her what it meant, etc., and let her think on it for the week (and let myself think on it!). Anyway, she was quite certain, so we made a day of it today. We do not have anywhere in town to get it done, so we traveled an hour away to a larger town - with a mall!

DD was excited:

DD watched me get mine done first (mine had closed a while ago, so it was necessary). And then it was her turn. She was still pretty excited.

Getting a little nervous.

But she did great!

After, we did a little school clothes shopping and went out to lunch.

It was a great girls day out! (And probably not one of you will be surprised to hear that my darling diva chose the absolute most expensive pair of earrings available for piercing. )

 

[shan23877]

Yay Willow!! What a fun girls' day! I'm glad that she did good, does she love them? Maddie would not stop looking in the mirror after she got hers done.

Of course she picked the most expensive pair! She's a princess!

 

[RGirl]

Yay Willow!! What a fun girls' day! I'm glad that she did good, does she love them? Maddie would not stop looking in the mirror after she got hers done.

Of course she picked the most expensive pair! She's a princess!

She does love them! We had to swing by my mom's house on the way home so that she could show Nini.

However, she was dying for new flip-flops and got those too - I'm not sure which was more exciting for her!

 

[shan23877]

She does love them! We had to swing by my mom's house on the way home so that she could show Nini.

However, she was dying for new flip-flops and got those too - I'm not sure which was more exciting for her!

She's all girl--jewelry and shoes. The perfect shopping day. Don't let her watch Project Runway. She may go Michael Kors crazy like mine.

P.S. Have you seen the Ballerina Princess hoodie and sweatpants set at the Disney Store? I don't think that I'll be able to resist them. And since I promised to get DD the princess backback for school it may or may not be on my back-to-school/dance/soccer shopping list.

 

[RGirl]

She's all girl--jewelry and shoes. The perfect shopping day. Don't let her watch Project Runway. She may go Michael Kors crazy like mine.

P.S. Have you seen the Ballerina Princess hoodie and sweatpants set at the Disney Store? I don't think that I'll be able to resist them. And since I promised to get DD the princess backback for school it may or may not be on my back-to-school/dance/soccer shopping list.

Oh, Willow LOVES Project Runway!!! She hasn't seen it in a while, but we watched it together last summer - I have very happy memories of returning from a camping trip , exhausted, unloading the car, showering, and then curling up on the couch together for the entire day watching PR episodes.

No! I haven't seen that set! I will have to check it out on-line. I am kind of cursing myself for standing firm and not actually ordering anything with that last sale. That was just dumb - I could have gotten her backpack and lunchbox. GAH! Instead, we are doing another girls day next Saturday (before I leave on a work trip on Sunday ) to hit Target (yes, we have to travel an hour away for a Target! ) for school supplies. I hope she finds stuff she likes, because that is going to be it for school stuff for a while.

 

[DisSarahK]

If it makes you feel any better, it could be something entirely quirky that set Willow's friend off on the skin lightening thing. I'm pasty white (you can see my veins through my skin!) and yet when I was a little girl I was convinced that to be truly beautiful you had to put on makeup to lighten your skin because someone read me a story about geishas. So I went through a period of time where I patted on massive quantities of baby powder and slicked on cherry chapstick because that was as close as I could get to being a geisha. Brilliant, eh?! My mother would have been horrified had she known what I was trying to do/be.

 

[shan23877]

Oh, Willow LOVES Project Runway!!! She hasn't seen it in a while, but we watched it together last summer - I have very happy memories of returning from a camping trip , exhausted, unloading the car, showering, and then curling up on the couch together for the entire day watching PR episodes.

No! I haven't seen that set! I will have to check it out on-line. I am kind of cursing myself for standing firm and not actually ordering anything with that last sale. That was just dumb - I could have gotten her backpack and lunchbox. GAH! Instead, we are doing another girls day next Saturday (before I leave on a work trip on Sunday ) to hit Target (yes, we have to travel an hour away for a Target! ) for school supplies. I hope she finds stuff she likes, because that is going to be it for school stuff for a while.

That's awesome! Maddie and I love to watch PR together too. I have them all on DVD so she requests specific episodes now. She even told me last week that there was a new season starting!

I found a poster that I have to buy for my sewing/craft room too. It's a picture of Tim Gunn and says "Keep Calm and Make it Work". I love it.

I didn't buy anything during the last sale either. I was actually in the store (DD spending her own money) and forgot to use the friends and family coupon!

I got Mads the ballerina princess bag last year for dance class, so I think I have to by the sweats set. I'm thinking that DD and I will go shopping with out DH...

I would not know waht to do with myself living an hour from Target! I consider it a successful week if I only go twice. And, the Target closest to me now has a Home Goods right next door! I may as well just give them the contents of my wallet every time I drive by.

 

[RGirl]

If it makes you feel any better, it could be something entirely quirky that set Willow's friend off on the skin lightening thing. I'm pasty white (you can see my veins through my skin!) and yet when I was a little girl I was convinced that to be truly beautiful you had to put on makeup to lighten your skin because someone read me a story about geishas. So I went through a period of time where I patted on massive quantities of baby powder and slicked on cherry chapstick because that was as close as I could get to being a geisha. Brilliant, eh?! My mother would have been horrified had she known what I was trying to do/be.

That is a fantastic story! Every mother's dream - her daughter wanting to be a geisha!

Given all the questions DD has had about skin color and the fact that we are a transracial family, I am pretty sure that I know where the conversation started at school. That said, I do not blame the other little girl - I am sure that it is possible that it started with something DD said. I think it is more the fact that this child has been at the core of every weird thing that DD has brought home from school that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end!

That's awesome! Maddie and I love to watch PR together too. I have them all on DVD so she requests specific episodes now. She even told me last week that there was a new season starting!

I found a poster that I have to buy for my sewing/craft room too. It's a picture of Tim Gunn and says "Keep Calm and Make it Work". I love it.

I didn't buy anything during the last sale either. I was actually in the store (DD spending her own money) and forgot to use the friends and family coupon!

I got Mads the ballerina princess bag last year for dance class, so I think I have to by the sweats set. I'm thinking that DD and I will go shopping with out DH...

I would not know waht to do with myself living an hour from Target! I consider it a successful week if I only go twice. And, the Target closest to me now has a Home Goods right next door! I may as well just give them the contents of my wallet every time I drive by.

Gah! Okay - I know now that I can't keep my TIVO'ed PR episodes for myself to watch at night. I will have to save them so DD can see them too.

I love your poster!!!!!

Oh, there are a lot of things that I do NOT like about living here. We have specialty cupcake stores and a wine tasting room on every corner (and in between), but there is not a single store where you can buy kids' shoes. And no Target, no Costco, nothing. Ugh - it sucks. However, we have great friends, and we can be here for my parents. So we are going to stay. I think. Really hard for me. I just don't think I can leave my parents now, and DD has such CLOSE friends here - I would hate to take her away from them. If only my job was better. Blah, blah, blah.