February 17, 2007

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Okay -- I'm officially obsessed! I woke up at 1 AM and have been up ever since and I'm completely finished with (most) all of my planning for the cruise.

That's it . . . it can't be changed, right? Its all typed up and no changes, right? At least I hope so.

I'm banking on PLA rotation and have requested it through DU and if it doesn't happen, I'll go to the dining changes place when we board on Saturday to see if it can be changed.

I've decided on Palo brunch on Sunday and Palo dinner on Wednesday (St. Thomas night - Master Chef Menu night).

I've decided for us that we're going to Orient Bay on St. Maarten (but haven't decided for sure if we'll do it on our own all day or do it as the Afternoon Beach Bash).

I've decided to do an independently booked excursion on St. Thomas - a daysail that will leave from RedHook or whatever that name is and return to there. It'll be an all day affair with AWESOME food aboard the sailboat.

Castaway will see the two teenagers getting a waiver from me so they can drive the waverunners for the eco tour and DH and I will parasail in the morning.

The only thing not set yet is my spa stuff. I need to research a little more to find out if they offer any port day specials for the spa villas. I believe I'll be successful in booking 2 spa appointments -- a villa and a cabana massage.

Now -- if November 19th would get here already!!!

Its amazing what happens when you can't sleep and are confined to bed with your laptop and a TV! The life of no washing/drying clothes, no lifting, no dishes, no cooking, no cleaning and no yardwork (yes, we still have to cut grass at this time of year in South Louisiana and its time to plant fall/winter flowering annuals right now) is beginning to set well with me!

Hi Lisa

I am impressed! I am at the beginning stages of planning excursions, etc... It is supposed to pour here Saturday, so I am hoping I can get everyone together and make some decisions . Now what are you going to do with your time??? Maybe you could design your door, categorize your packing list and timeline (don't laugh, I did that), make a list of stuff to buy.... hmmm, I better get going!

 

[PhotoLisa]

I still have my surprise to work on but need my desktop to do that. As soon as I can sit down like a normal person, I'll begin working on that.

We've done so many cruises that its like packing for any trip now. I'm not going to stress over that at all. I'm so hooked on over-the-door-shoe-holder organizers that even when we go away for only a weekend, I pack mine!

Since I only have to pack for myself, I don't have to do the worrying that moms have to do when they have to do the packing for all the kids and dh. Courtney has enough clothes to go somewhere for a year and not wash clothes so I'm not worried about her. She'll go off on her own and buy whatever she wants anyway. I'm sure there will be many new pairs of flip-flops and swimsuits in her future. She stays in pjs and swimsuits except for dinnertime so I know she really isn't worried about clothes either.

As for my door - Courtney and Kelli will take care of that during either the Thanksgiving holidays or Christmas holidays. I have some surprises for them to work on as well. *wink wink*

I have 3 different sizes for formal/semi-formal attire so . . . no shopping to do there . . . just have to decide how much weight I can lose in order to fit in something in the closet. Since my surgery, I've lost 3 inches in my waistline!!!! I'm headed in the right direction already!

One thing on my mental list to purchase is an LSU flag for our verandah! I'll have to remind myself to do that when we go to the LSU/Bama game in November. I go to the bookstore for every homegame but I've forgotten for the first 5 home games this year so far. I only have 2 more to opportunities.

I've done more planning for our February cruise than I've done for our December DC trip! I know DC will fall into place.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Lisa-
Great picture!! Is that you and your grandchildren??

 

[PhotoLisa]

Lisa-
Great picture!! Is that you and your grandchildren??

Yes, that is Jordan (5) and Bryce (now 2) from our February 25, 2006 cruise on our formal night.

Just yesterday Jordan told her mom that she is so ready to go back to Disney World and the Disney ship. I really wish I could be taking them all with me again but if I did that, we'd have to start all over taking all of our older children.

 

[PhotoLisa]

Okay -- I'm on a roll today! My St. Thomas excursion is officially booked. I just got off the phone with Capt. Bobby of Rumbaba Charters and we're going to do his daysail! We'll leave sometime near 9:30 in the morning and return at 3:30. They provide breakfast and lunch and the food is to die for!

So far, it'll be us four -- DH, me, Courtney (almost 17) and Kelli (not quite 17). The max number for the excursion is six people so if there is anyone that would like to come, you're welcome to join us.

Our rate is $115 p/p cash or $125 credit. We get sightseeing all the way to St. John and all the way back aboard a real sailboat that will use wind power!

http://www.rumbabacharters.com/

I'm SOOOO excited to have found an independent excursion that is tailored to what we want to do!

wooohoooo!

Now, I'm off to find out information on St. Maarten and doing Orient Bay on our own or deciding whether to do it as a DCL Afternoon Beach Bash Excursion.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

That sounds like a great excursion!
We are still debating whether to make the travel to St. John, or to just go to a beach on St. Thomas. I'd love to go to Trunk Bay, but I guess it's a long ride to get there--not to sure the kids will go for that. We promised them a beach day, and they all said CC doesn't count. Sheesh! We live 45 minutes from the beach, and they never want to go there in the summer. They want to snorkel, but not sure where (except not in St. Martin), they want to parasail (as do I), so we will probably opt to do that on CC. We have no clue what to do at St. Martin. Still more research to do! I guess I'll take on that burden

It is a miserable weekend here! We had about 3 inches of rain yesterday, and today it's cold and I swear either the Wicked Witch of the West will be bicycling by, or Piglet will be flying by on his string very soon! Poor DS12 has his last baseball game today--it should be interesting with all the wind.

So, who will be up at 3:00 AM trying for ressies? Not me--that is one thing I'll leave to fate. I'll try in the morning when I get up. If we can't get anything, I'll try once on board. If I happen to wake up, I may try, but I just can't set my alarm for that time...

 

[PhotoLisa]

That sounds like a great excursion!
We are still debating whether to make the travel to St. John, or to just go to a beach on St. Thomas. I'd love to go to Trunk Bay, but I guess it's a long ride to get there--not to sure the kids will go for that. We promised them a beach day, and they all said CC doesn't count. Sheesh! We live 45 minutes from the beach, and they never want to go there in the summer. They want to snorkel, but not sure where (except not in St. Martin), they want to parasail (as do I), so we will probably opt to do that on CC. We have no clue what to do at St. Martin. Still more research to do! I guess I'll take on that burden

It is a miserable weekend here! We had about 3 inches of rain yesterday, and today it's cold and I swear either the Wicked Witch of the West will be bicycling by, or Piglet will be flying by on his string very soon! Poor DS12 has his last baseball game today--it should be interesting with all the wind.

So, who will be up at 3:00 AM trying for ressies? Not me--that is one thing I'll leave to fate. I'll try in the morning when I get up. If we can't get anything, I'll try once on board. If I happen to wake up, I may try, but I just can't set my alarm for that time...

Sue:

Our weekend was glorious after waking up Friday to awful weather - tornado warnings and lots of rain.

When are you making reservations? 11/4 is the 105 day mark (concierge level rooms) and 11/19 is the 90 day mark (Castaway Club members) with 12/4 being the day first time cruisers for Cats 4-11.

Lisa

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Sue:

Our weekend was glorious after waking up Friday to awful weather - tornado warnings and lots of rain.

When are you making reservations? 11/4 is the 105 day mark (concierge level rooms) and 11/19 is the 90 day mark (Castaway Club members) with 12/4 being the day first time cruisers for Cats 4-11.

Lisa

We will make our ressies at some point on 11/19. I'll probably try when I wake up in the AM.

 

[justhat]

So, who will be up at 3:00 AM trying for ressies? Not me--that is one thing I'll leave to fate. I'll try in the morning when I get up. If we can't get anything, I'll try once on board. If I happen to wake up, I may try, but I just can't set my alarm for that time...

Though I won't intentionally get up then to book stuff ever, my son does a good job of waking me up at 1:30am and again sometime between 3 and 5:30 so I might just be up. If I am, I might book my Flounder's times if I feel like crawling out of my bed. He used to like nursing only in my desk chair (which believe me, I loved-who doesn't want to get out of their nice comfy bed every 2 hours to sit in an uncomfortable chair! ) but he's come around and has been doing just fine with me sitting up in bed since he was around 3-4 weeks old. But we'll see, maybe I'll get up.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Though I won't intentionally get up then to book stuff ever, my son does a good job of waking me up at 1:30am and again sometime between 3 and 5:30 so I might just be up. If I am, I might book my Flounder's times if I feel like crawling out of my bed. He used to like nursing only in my desk chair (which believe me, I loved-who doesn't want to get out of their nice comfy bed every 2 hours to sit in an uncomfortable chair! ) but he's come around and has been doing just fine with me sitting up in bed since he was around 3-4 weeks old. But we'll see, maybe I'll get up.

I remember those days. My kids are growing up way too fast. I kid of miss they days when they were very little...

 

[rubbergypsy]

i was looking on the dcl site and i see your 2/17 cruise is not on there anymore-must be sold out. i am sailing on 2/18 wonder which looks to be filling up as cat 12 is gone and prices went up. anyone here cruised before during presidents week?

 

[justhat]

I remember those days. My kids are growing up way too fast. I kid of miss they days when they were very little...

Yeah, I did too when my daughter got older (yeah, I know, she's only 2.5yo now) but right now I wonder what I was thinking! What kills me with this kid is that he goes to bed every night at 6:30 and sleeps till 1:30, but then he wakes up again between 3 and 5:30. Why can't he reverse that and wake up between 8 and 10pm and then sleep till 6!?! We have to get up around 6 to get my daughter ready for school so I'm up then anyway so the 5am wake up is killing me. I would be one happy mommy if he figured that one out! Oh, and the 6:30 thing is his doing, not mine. If he stays up any later than that he's a very grouchy little boy and goes on this 1-2 hour cry fest till he finally falls asleep.

My daughter, otoh, stayed up till 10 or so at this age, woke up at 3:30 then slept till 7:30am. Worked well for me since I could just go to bed when she did and then just wake up once which really wasn't bad. But even if I wanted to go to bed at 6:30 with this guy, my daughter's bedtime is 7:30 so I don't think leaving her up alone would be the best idea.

Anyway, back to the topic, I think today will be the day I plan out how I'd like our week to go so that I'm prepared for booking day. I've got an idea in my mind, but I think I should write it all down so I can see if anything conflicts or whatever. And I'm banking it on the APL rotation, which I hope we have simply cause it's the earliest of the 3 (at least I think I'm right on that, I hope!). We had to take the 2nd seating cause that's all they had available since we booked so late so the idea of starting dinner at 8:30 if we have that last rotation does not sound so great with 2 young kids. We're on the 1st seating waitlist so maybe that will come through, but I'm not holding out too much hope.

Well, I hear the little man starting to let me know that his nap is done so time to go!

 

[PhotoLisa]

Obsessed or absolutely BORED OUTTA MY MIND? Which one . . . . perhaps both!

I posted this in another thread for someone that was trying to find out sunrise/sunset for their trip.

Warning -- this is contingent on me using all the correct data . . . so . . . double check the data/input/calculation if you're really banking on this to be correct. I think that the calculation is correct as I looked at a 3/2006 navigator and the times were pretty close.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.html

St. Thomas is Atlantic Standard Time (and does not use daylight savings time) which I believe is UTC -4 hours (input on the form as 4 hours and west of Greenwich or UTC). The long/lat is 18n21, 64w56

St. Maarten is Atlantic Standard Time too (and does not use daylight savings time). During the fall winter months, the time in St. Maarten is one hour later than noon on the eastern seaboard of the US. During the spring and summer (when the US in on daylight savings time [spring forward time]), St. Maarten is the same as the Eastern seaboard. The coordinates for St. Maarten are 18n05, 63w12

On my cruise, we will be at St. Maarten on 2/20/2007 and the sunrise is at 6:38 am and sunset is at 6:16 pm.

For St. Thomas, we will be there on 2/21/2007 and sunrise is at 6:44 am and sunset is at 6:23 pm.

For Castaway Cay on 2/23/2007, sunrise will be at 7:41 am (seems late but on 4/7/06, it was 6:53 and 7:32) and sunset at 7:09 pm. (coordinates 26.07 N, 77.52 W and also UTC -4)​

I'm putting it here for when I look for it later . . . . easier to find.

 

[christinou]

Lisa, you are bored out of your mind no doubt about it.........
I am home with a sick kid, and dreaming about cruising. I will also NOT get up at 3 a.m. to make reservation that does seem insane, but I do not need flounders or dolphin swims which seem to go quickly.
So what is going to be our sign to recognize each other, something lime green, we could also have a meet on the first day, say around 3:00 p.m. Anyone interested?

 

[PhotoLisa]

Has anyone been following the GOOD MORNING thread in the DCL forum at disboards?

I can't help but wonder what is the big announcement . . . Ty Pennington, Oprah, Ellen, Tim Gunn, Tommy Lee, Kelly Pickler, and many other celebs are playing into the enthusiasm and anticipation!

Ok -- now that you know where I've been the remainder of the day (reading that 34+ page thread) . . . we'll need to figure out our DISboards identifier for the cruise. Other disgroups have used the lime green Home Depot paint chips or neon green bracelets (like the LiveStrong bracelets).

Rooms are usually open around 1:30 and the muster drill is 4 PM. I think either 3 or 3:30 would be a good time to meet.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Lisa, you are bored out of your mind no doubt about it.........
I am home with a sick kid, and dreaming about cruising. I will also NOT get up at 3 a.m. to make reservation that does seem insane, but I do not need flounders or dolphin swims which seem to go quickly.
So what is going to be our sign to recognize each other, something lime green, we could also have a meet on the first day, say around 3:00 p.m. Anyone interested?

I have a bunch of the Home Depot alien green mickey ears!
I guess we could post photos of our families when the cruise gets closer

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

Has anyone been following the GOOD MORNING thread in the DCL forum at disboards?

I can't help but wonder what is the big announcement . . . Ty Pennington, Oprah, Ellen, Tim Gunn, Tommy Lee, Kelly Pickler, and many other celebs are playing into the enthusiasm and anticipation!

Ok -- now that you know where I've been the remainder of the day (reading that 34+ page thread) . . . we'll need to figure out our DISboards identifier for the cruise. Other disgroups have used the lime green Home Depot paint chips or neon green bracelets (like the LiveStrong bracelets).

Rooms are usually open around 1:30 and the muster drill is 4 PM. I think either 3 or 3:30 would be a good time to meet.

I have been semi-following the thread. Until the big announcement I am just skimming. I don't have enough time to read through all of the posts! I am curious though.

This Friday we are FINALLY getting high speed internet

 

[justhat]

We have those Mickey heads too. We had some on our stroller but that stroller broke last year so I guess we should put some on our new stroller. (Just a side note, it broke the 1st day of our WDW trip, the week between Christmas and New Year. 7am on 12/26 outside the MK when I was 5 weeks pregnant and the morning sickness had just set in. Talk about good timing.)

 

[PhotoLisa]

This afternoon late, something happened to me -- was getting off the thrown when I felt an immediate pull and burn on my insides just below my left lower abdominal incision (I had staples on the outside and still have the steri-strips in place). Talk about SCARED!!! Still am. Talked to the doctor at 6 PM and he said that if it is an internal stitch that popped there is nothing that can be done and that I should just take it easy and come to the office first thing in the morning.

Sooooooo . . . . I will probably be confined to the bed more now than ever! Funny thing is that all I did today was lay in the bed on the disboards! I got out the bed to get a bowl of cereal for breakfast and to go to the bathroom! I can't take it much easier than that!

Therefore . . . I'll do some Internet searches tomorrow after my doctor's visit and see if I can find something for our group to identify us by. I'll let you all know what I find.

Did anyone take advantage of the 25% off sale on disneyshopping.com -- sitewide? I bought a new over-the-door shoe organizer ($11.25 - Mickey mouse of course), a Tink nightshirt ($19.50) and a Mickey comic duffle bag ($16.50). I also picked up a fleece robe for my grandson ($15.00). I walked away with a tab of $74.72 after shipping which wasn't bad at all! I just wish they would have had short sleeve pirate shirts available.

Tomorrow's sale at disneyshopping.com is 20% off.

 

[Sue (mom of 3 boys!)]

This afternoon late, something happened to me -- was getting off the thrown when I felt an immediate pull and burn on my insides just below my left lower abdominal incision (I had staples on the outside and still have the steri-strips in place). Talk about SCARED!!! Still am. Talked to the doctor at 6 PM and he said that if it is an internal stitch that popped there is nothing that can be done and that I should just take it easy and come to the office first thing in the morning.

Sooooooo . . . . I will probably be confined to the bed more now than ever! Funny thing is that all I did today was lay in the bed on the disboards! I got out the bed to get a bowl of cereal for breakfast and to go to the bathroom! I can't take it much easier than that!

Therefore . . . I'll do some Internet searches tomorrow after my doctor's visit and see if I can find something for our group to identify us by. I'll let you all know what I find.

Did anyone take advantage of the 25% off sale on disneyshopping.com -- sitewide? I bought a new over-the-door shoe organizer ($11.25 - Mickey mouse of course), a Tink nightshirt ($19.50) and a Mickey comic duffle bag ($16.50). I also picked up a fleece robe for my grandson ($15.00). I walked away with a tab of $74.72 after shipping which wasn't bad at all! I just wish they would have had short sleeve pirate shirts available.

Tomorrow's sale at disneyshopping.com is 20% off.

I hope you're doing OK today!!
I think I'll check out disneyshopping today. Not so much for the guys, but for me!!
I can't wait to see what you come up with to identify us.

Happy Halloween to everyone!! I love Halloween. It's chocolate heaven. I do miss when all my guys went trick or treating though. Now it's just DS10. DS 15 gives out candy (so DH is off the hook ), and DS12 (almost 13) has decided to just come for the walk this year. It has been fun to watch the groups of kids grow up and new groups start trick or treating. We see lots of kids on the street, but not everyone makes the trek up our 500 ft. driveway--just neighbors and people that know us, which means a few more each year. It's going to be a nice night, in the 60's here, which is warm for this time of year. Fun, fun, fun!