May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 3

[Mom323]

I finally got the pictures uploaded from Drew's 5th birthday party, which we had on friday at Build A Bear Workshop. The kids were so cute and it was a fun time. It was really neat to see them pick out the animal they wanted to take home...then they "stuff" it and "wash" it.

Here's Drew with his puppy, can ya tell he loves him (which he named "Pluto")....

Don't the kids look cute!!!

And now the family shot (notice how DH thought he was being funny and propped a bear on my shoulder....thanks honey .......)

What a nice looking family. The kids are cuties. Don't you love parties that involve no mess at home?

 

[Mom323]

Hi all,

I haven't been able to post since Mom has been in the hospital for the past two weeks, but she got out last night and she's doing better. Yeah! Thanks for all you warm wishes...

News: lwilliam - Lucy and Bob - and me and John are doing our first miniDISmeet. We're going to Friday's on Saturday (Lucy said it took her a long time to figure that one out ) and it's St. Pat's day. We're doing drinks and dinner, alas, no DOD's ... we'll have to settle for the usual stuff.

We each described ourselves and we ironically have the exact same descriptions....husbands are both 6'2", girls are both 5'1" and we all wear DISNEY clothes. We'll have a great time and report back to you all.

MORE News: John and I are now the proud parents of a little 7 week old girl named Angel. She's a long haired german shepherd with sable coloring. I'm going to attempt to put her picture up here soon. She's a little fuzzball and she's cute....wait till you see!

Thanks so much to Carol and Doug....we got our fish extenders and we're thrilled with the way they came out.

John and I want to do the gifting to others and we've got some great ideas rolling around, but I'm not sure which is the best way to go about handing them all out. We'll have to decide as we get closer to the trip and see how many people and how it'll be best to get it done.

I read that Captain Spanx walked the decks and saw parts of the ship he had never seen before at 1AM...how long did it take, John?

Life moves on and it only gets better coz everyday we get closer to Paradise...

Glad to hear you mom is home and doing well.

Have an Irish Coffee for me, wouldn't that be the official DOD?

Puppies are so fun and goofy. Watch out for those baby teeth. When they start falling out, they can be pretty painful if you step on one. OUCH.

If you are handing out your own gifts, I say however you want to do it is fine by me. I'll even visit you with the fish wxtender in hand.

 

[Mom323]

Just have to tell a short story from yesterday.

We went to the Mall of America and as we went past Abercrombie & Fitch, we noticed they had a live (shirtless) male model greeting customers. He looked exactly like one of the models they use in their ads. Wow! My DH joked "do you think he works out?". I was literally speechless. All I could think was "if I was 25 years younger".

P.S. You'll never guess what I bought at the mall. That's right.... shoes!

I confess, I'll cross the aisle at the mall just to catch a glimpse of the ad inside.

If it had been a live model, I would have figured out how to use my camera phone real quick!!!

You don't have to be 25 years younger, I think of all the things I could teach him, now that I'm wiser. What did Noel say about the meat? I would repeat it but Capt Spanx would have an ugly Hooters flashback.

 

[calmom]

I think they are webcams.I found this on the panama canal site.

http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/disney-magic-animation.html

I remember watching live the crossing on the web in Aug '05. I was on bedrest with my youngest. I remember when Mickey got in the cam shot - we went crazy on the DIS boards. It's so hard to believe that I will be there live!!! I can't wait. Lisa

 

[EllaEnchanted]

 

[LiserAnn]

LiserAnn....loved the birthday pics! Would you recommend build-a-bear for a kid's party? We've never done it, but I can guarantee that DD would love it. Just wondering how many kids would be a good number for that?

I would recommend it. We had 13 kids (mostly boys) and it was a tad chaotic, but still a lot of fun. The "Build A Bear" at the Promenade Mall is also attached to "Friends 2 B Made" which is more geared towards girls and they can make dolls which are very cute. I would suggest it and it was a HUGE hit will all the kids....they loved it and loved taking their stuffed animal home. All the mom's really liked it because instead of getting a goody bag filled with junk they got a bear! You can't have a birthday cake though (because they don't have a permit to serve food), so I made bownies and cut them out in a bear face and decorated them. I gave those out in cut "Cars" themed baggie. I would recommend it.....

 

[fourmcds]

I'm a certified Birthday Party freak!

Molly's best at home so far was AG spa slumber party. I set up the backyard like a spa; facial and relaxation lounge, hair style station, manicure, pedicure. I staffed the stations with her aunt, another troop leader, our old nanny and hired a friend who does hair to give them a "libby lu" do. Each station had a doll spot too. When they arrived (in their robes per the invitation instructions) we greated them at the door with a little purse and Molly Money (had another friend make money with her face on it, the best was the 8 dollar bill) they made spa slippers and then each got a schedule took 20 minutes at each spot to enjoy and relax....way over board, but beautiful. Best part I found the matching color accoutraments from Target on the clearance section (towels, shower curtains that hung from the overhang to create rooms...) pictures (of the day before set up stage).....
]

OMG! That looks like a great party! It looks like a ton of work too....how many girls did you have? AG dolls are huge here still and that looks like a great party idea. I might have to try something like that...but it probably won't be outside. DD's bday is in June, but June here is lovely WA is almost always a yucky rainy month (and cold).

 

[fourmcds]

Ok, now I have to do a Mexico cruise in February....I have to do this in my life...I'm SUCH a turtle lover....Let's see, can I fit it inbetween Halloween 07 and May 08, hummmmm
Can you tell that I've really missed chatting with all of you...it's great to be back....

Here is a picture of one of the cuties that we released. It was a so neat. The kept them out of water for 3 days so they would head towards the water when we released them...they are still blind.

 

[fourmcds]

I remember watching live the crossing on the web in Aug '05. I was on bedrest with my youngest. I remember when Mickey got in the cam shot - we went crazy on the DIS boards. It's so hard to believe that I will be there live!!! I can't wait. Lisa

I read through that thread...everyone was so excited about seeing it go through and so many people made movies or a series of still shots of it at each lock. I hope that people do that again this time.

 

[LiserAnn]

uh-oh, what was 'up' with hubby's hand? carpel tunnel? (I've got it too, in fact, I've got EVERYTHING since I turned that magic number of 50!)

No, not carpel tunnel...about a week before thanksgiving all four of us were in a serious auto accident. We were tboned by a uninsured driver (on a suspended license). She turned left on a green light, erroneously thinking she had a green arrow (we were heading straight) and slammed right into us without even braking. The windows and doors were crashed in and her pickup came to a stop literally inches from Ryan and Mark's heads/faces (Mark was driving and Ryan was the left passenger). Anyway, amongst all our injuries, Mark's was the most involved...he broke his wrist on the steering wheel and he required surgery to put a screw in to attach the two broken bones. It's been a huge ordeal. That's his third cast and it's removable. The first two were not. Hopefully at the end of the month he'll have it off completely. He had his surgery on Jan 5th, so it's been a long, long nightmare. Of course, she went to jail and basically since she has zero money, she's off the hook in terms of her responsibility to us. Garnishing her wages costs a ton of money, not really worth it. It's behind us now, I can't waste my energy on becoming bitter about the situation when I have a wonderful cruise to dream about....

 

[LiserAnn]

Great birthday pics LiserAnn! Your boys are so cute! I'm still trying to figure out what to do for Tyler's 5th birthday party in May. He's insisted on a camoflage theme and wants to have it at a park we go to often. It has a great playground, nice bathroom building, covered areas with picnic tables underneath, and a splash zone type water feature so kids can play in the water. I'm hoping I can get a family member to come to town early to help me transport everything there, set up, and decorate. So hard to do all this stuff by myself, but I manage! The things we do for our kids!

Holly - that sounds like a lot of fun for a 5 year old party!!! I will say, though, you should see if you can recruit help! It's a lot for one person to do...between being mommy and working!!! I'd help if I were near ya!!!

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

In Mexico last month, we lucked into a Sea Turtle Release. It was amazing...there were about 80 baby sea turtles that the foundation had been raising. At dusk, everyone got to take one and put it on the sand and watch these little guys make their way to the water. It was so great.

I would love to do this! Where in Mexico were you?

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Glad to hear you mom is home and doing well.

Have an Irish Coffee for me, wouldn't that be the official DOD?

Puppies are so fun and goofy. Watch out for those baby teeth. When they start falling out, they can be pretty painful if you step on one. OUCH.

If you are handing out your own gifts, I say however you want to do it is fine by me. I'll even visit you with the fish wxtender in hand.

Irish Coffee....now, why didn't I think of that??? You are so right! Cheers!

I finally got the puppy pictures up and I even did it myself with the kind help of others here. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. And those baby teeth will OUCH you even while they're still in the mouth!

You are so welcome to visit with your fish extender in hand as long as you have a DOD in the other hand. We're GTY5. I will let you know exact room as soon as we know. I hope it doesn't take until we arrive at the port, then how will we let everyone else know??? Maybe we need an on the boat update for all people with GTYs??? Any ideas would be welcome!

 

[fourmcds]

No, not carpel tunnel...about a week before thanksgiving all four of us were in a serious auto accident. We were tboned by a uninsured driver (on a suspended license). She turned left on a green light, erroneously thinking she had a green arrow (we were heading straight) and slammed right into us without even braking. The windows and doors were crashed in and her pickup came to a stop literally inches from Ryan and Mark's heads/faces (Mark was driving and Ryan was the left passenger). Anyway, amongst all our injuries, Mark's was the most involved...he broke his wrist on the steering wheel and he required surgery to put a screw in to attach the two broken bones. It's been a huge ordeal. That's his third cast and it's removable. The first two were not. Hopefully at the end of the month he'll have it off completely. He had his surgery on Jan 5th, so it's been a long, long nightmare. Of course, she went to jail and basically since she has zero money, she's off the hook in terms of her responsibility to us. Garnishing her wages costs a ton of money, not really worth it. It's behind us now, I can't waste my energy on becoming bitter about the situation when I have a wonderful cruise to dream about....

Wow Lisa, glad to hear you were all OK. Hope Mark's wrist will be cast free soon. Car accidents are so scary.

 

[NotSoLittleMermaid]

Awwwww!!!

 

[LiserAnn]

We did this with our brownie troop when they were in 1st grade from their hard earned cookie money. THEY LOVED IT. The girls loved building the bears, but since we all agreed that the girls had enough animals we guided them towards agreeing to donate them to a childrens shelter. That I have to say was a very proud moment when 10 little 6 year olds handed their bears over to the shelter manager to give to kids that needed them more than they did. The other best part was at BAB the kids got to cover me with stickers (it was a game) okay taking them off was terrible, but while they put them on me I never heard those girls giggle so loud.

How fun...my "gang" would have loved to do the sticker thing to me!!!!

Woo hoo I can't wait to make all those reservations. Then, I will only have 7 months before I will tell DD's and then it will really feel real!

I know, I'm ready to start making ressies!!!

I'm a certified Birthday Party freak!

What a great idea....girls, how nice! Clearly I will never be having an AG party!!!

What a nice looking family. The kids are cuties. Don't you love parties that involve no mess at home?

Thank you!! And yes, I do love parties that don't involve the mess at home. With an almost 9 year old and 5 year old, I've been having home parties forever and I'm just done with it. The kids want to have more "adventurous" parties than the at-home thing, which is fine with me!

 

[EllaEnchanted]

Here is a picture of one of the cuties that we released. It was a so neat. The kept them out of water for 3 days so they would head towards the water when we released them...they are still blind.

Hi Kaylee,

I have never seen anything like this...I have to do this! Where exactly were you in Mexico? Was it a Disney excursion? Tell me more...

Deb

 

[LiserAnn]

Here is a picture of one of the cuties that we released. It was a so neat. The kept them out of water for 3 days so they would head towards the water when we released them...they are still blind.

Both these posts are so cute. The little turtle is amazing!

 

[UKANGEL]

In Cozumle we have gone to Xcaret Eco Archaeological Park and Tulum Ruins with DCL and loved both. Both are on the mainland - Tulum is farther away.

Xcaret has a little of everything - underground river for floating down, ruins, wildlife, and I think snorkeling - we didn't have time. Lunch was included in the excursion and was good - you order what you want at a restaurant.

Tulum was beautiful. the ruins were much more impressive than we expected. And there was a beautiful beach - no changing facilities so wear your suit under your clothes if you plan on swimming. Lunch was Subway - prepackaged, we were told it would be served on the way back but we actually got ours on the way there.

Thanks for all the info

We did this with our brownie troop when they were in 1st grade from their hard earned cookie money. THEY LOVED IT. The girls loved building the bears, but since we all agreed that the girls had enough animals we guided them towards agreeing to donate them to a childrens shelter. That I have to say was a very proud moment when 10 little 6 year olds handed their bears over to the shelter manager to give to kids that needed them more than they did. The other best part was at BAB the kids got to cover me with stickers (it was a game) okay taking them off was terrible, but while they put them on me I never heard those girls giggle so loud.

what a lovely idea to donate them to less fortunate children! well done to those 6 year olds!

In Mexico last month, we lucked into a Sea Turtle Release. It was amazing...there were about 80 baby sea turtles that the foundation had been raising. At dusk, everyone got to take one and put it on the sand and watch these little guys make their way to the water. It was so great.

wow that sounds like a wonderful experience!

 

[LiserAnn]

Wow Lisa, glad to hear you were all OK. Hope Mark's wrist will be cast free soon. Car accidents are so scary.

We were very fortunate....after seeng the totalled car, the fact we weren't taken away in ambulances, was a true miracle. Our injuries are subsiding and it will be in the past (of course, Mark will have the screw with him forever, but that's OK). It was very scarey!