May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 9

[LisaG520]

We're heading out to dinner soon but first I wanted to wish everyone a

Merry Christmas

 

[birkner]

Well, the saga continues with a phone call from DD Jennifer at 11:45 am on Sunday morning to let me know that they were stirring. I was still comatose but decided I better get up and get moving. Staggering to the shower, it took me at least 10 minutes to fully wake up under a steady stream of water.

Next thing on the agenda was to call DH since he should already be at airport and no phone call. Call his cell phone and no answer. Call the hotel and have them ring the room, no answer. About now I am completely freaking out that he is still sleeping and going to miss this flight when the cell phone rings and it is DH! He has bags checked, gone through security and flight is on time!! HOOORAY!!

DD's Jen and Samantha call and say they are on the way to pick me up to go grocery shopping and to get some clean clothes for Pete. Doesn't that sound fun? NOT!! They pick me up and we spend the next two hours buying out the grocery store to the tune of $400. and three carts.

After unloading, DD Samantha makes lunch and I am told our next mission is to go shopping for a swim suit for GD Aspen and Rash Guard shirt for Pete. Next two hours are spent in a dressing room with GD who can not decide which suit she wants. Finally a decision is made and we can go home!!

At this point, I am blitzed and I want to sleep but can't because still have to pick up DH at 10:00 PM. Can't have a glass of wine either because I have to drive!! So everyone goes swimming or into the hot tub and I type on the computer for a bit.

DD Samantha comes upstairs at 9:30 and we are off to the airport. All goes smoothly with DH's flight and he is off the plane and has his bags by 10:25 PM. We drive back to the Dolphin and DD Samantha drives back to condo.

After unpacking DH's suitcases and plugging in all electronic gizmo's, we are ready for bed by 12:40 AM.

Much better end to this day.

 

[HollyTyler]

BIL is a firefighter so the years he is on shift for Christmas they have Christmas a day early. So Santa delivers to firefighter's houses a day early too!


My dad was a firefighter also so we also had Christmas a day early.

I'm going to try to remember to tell Tyler about that! He's such a huge firefighter fan (has been for over 3 years), he'll love hearing that.

 

[HollyTyler]

Holly,

This was so funny! Is it Mother Goose and Grimm by Mike Peters?

I haven't had a chance to tell everyone that we met him on our November cruise! He and his truly lovely wife were in the suite next to ours! We met them after the Couples Spa and invited them for the wine party we had. WE didn't know who they were, just that they were lovely people! We had a couple more parties with them and enjoyed them tremendously!

Karen

I've never heard of him, so I don't know. Sorry! My friend Cindy e-mailed it to me and I loved it so much, I just had to share.

 

[HollyTyler]

Here you go Holly . . .

A little early morning color correction for you!

Thank you John! Sort of like a Christmas present!

 

[HollyTyler]

I bet it doesn't look like that right now though!!! There will be paper everywhere.

Oh, you'll see pics like that very soon! I have a few to share as soon as I catch up here.

 

[lillygator]

the quietness is shattered....well, Haley is still asleep.

Oh, Amber opened her Wii lsat night...it was pretty cool!

 

[HollyTyler]

Hello Ladies . . .

A little quiet for me here at the office, as the stores are busy, with no time to call me or worry about anything but taking care of our customers. A good chance for me to clean up in here, and try to get ahead for the new year.

I think I am going to try and get out for lunch now.

Also looking good for me to have the next few days off after 8 days in a row!

You sure deserve some time off! And Amy & Sophia will enjoy the time with you too.

 

[HollyTyler]

To quote my DGS18------"Good luck with that!"

But here's something funny.....we did a bunch of shopping today because of all the 1/2 off sales and there were NO lines at Sears, Walmart, Meijer, Kmart and World Market! No problems parking either. Strange.

 

[HollyTyler]

So Tyler came into my room sometime when it was still dark and excitedly said, "MOM! SANTA CAME!" He climbed into my bed and said it again, and I told him how exciting that is, but that it's not time to get up yet. Then before he could respond, I said, "But it's Christmas, so lets go see what's out there!" It was 4:50am. But he was so excited, and it only happens once a year, so what the heck. We had fun! He was thrilled with everything (pics coming soon) and had me put his Flying Dutchman together right away. He played with both that ship and the Black Pearl and Kraaken ALL DAY, with only a couple breaks, until I took him to his dad's at 8pm! I was literally falling asleep sitting up by 10am, so I told him I'm really sorry, but have to sleep a little bit and asked him to try to put together the Kraaken set while I napped and that I'd finish when I woke up. Told him to just let me sleep for one show (we had abc family channel on which was showing Christmas shows all day). Well, he ended up crashing too (I peeked at him and saw him asleep on the couch before I fell asleep) and we both slept for 3 hours! Then, back to playing!

My mom had to work until 4pm, so she didn't get here until 5:30 and stayed until just before 8pm when I took him to his dad's. Very fun day!

 

[lillygator]

lasagna is prepared and in the fridge...just made the ceasar salad and now working on the shrimp pasta and spinach dip.

 

[lillygator]

I couldn't find the stockings....well, the correct ones except for John's huge one.
Last night we all cleaned up...the girls got Island Princess Barbie - dolls and the movie and playset. Haley got a really nice baby doll set - carrier, stroller, etc. Disney Princess registers...some other Ariel or something playsets....John John bought them 5 DVD's ones we don't have - Jungle Book Cinderella 2 the new Princess one that is out, Barbie 12 dancing princesses and something else. My Grandma made them Xmas outfits with a Santa face on them, they weren't too thrilled with them, rather have the toys! She also got them new Proncess sheet sets and blankets!

My mom was good and stuck to her word, a bit...she gave me a Miracle gift set, Lancome gift set, Bath and Body works robe, TInkerbell sweater, the luggage set, portable dvd player, couple different Estee Lauder holiday makeup gift sets, and $$$ a lot of Disney Dollars! Yeah! And Amber gave us $50 Disney $$'s as a family gift! So we have official cruise spending money!!!


It was so funny, Haley was kind of being shy but after she opened the playset John John went about putting it together, now he is BIG...6'6" or so and just big in general. Here he sat on the couch putting together a baby doll stroller and Haley sat on the arm of the couch watching him holding the baby. It took him a while but she sat there so content - but it was such a cute thing, big John John and then little ole Haley on the arm. Every now and then she would give him a chomp! He had an FSU shirt on (he graduated from there).

 

[lillygator]

we had fun, I kind of wish their property were closer. They have five acres and in the middle a big cookshed that has all the grills, TV, fridge etc....we had a bonfire and had oysters, beer and crab legs down at the cook shed....both my uncles came. But one after the other left. and the one uncle was drunk when he got there. He has to be about 57 but is a biker, always has been and mom was good and invited him, but it became a scene when he was leaving...yikes!

 

[HollyTyler]

It was so funny, Haley was kind of being shy but after she opened the playset John John went about putting it together, now he is BIG...6'6" or so and just big in general. Here he sat on the couch putting together a baby doll stroller and Haley sat on the arm of the couch watching him holding the baby. It took him a while but she sat there so content - but it was such a cute thing, big John John and then little ole Haley on the arm. Every now and then she would give him a chomp! He had an FSU shirt on (he graduated from there).

SO CUTE!

 

[kimerinc]

I wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! DD says Merry Christmas too. She can't sleep. Too wired.

Kim

 

[HollyTyler]

I wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas! DD says Merry Christmas too. She can't sleep. Too wired.

Kim

Tell her to count reindeer! That's what Tyler told me he'd do to fall asleep last night, but he didn't need to because he was asleep before 7pm.

 

[HollyTyler]

Pictures from this morning.

Dr. coat that says Dr. Tyler on the front. He wore this the rest of the day, even out to do our shopping later. Came with a Dr. bag that also says Dr. Tyler and has tons of stuff inside.

Tyler's happily pointing out the picture on the box to me to show me what's inside. Ambulance with figures & tons of equipment that goes inside it.

Dr. Tyler pretending to check his own heartbeat.

That sneaky Santa put some coal in Tyler's stocking! (It's chocolate wrapped in black foil & shaped like coal pieces).

A big hug for Sparty!

Flying Dutchman fully assembled (good job Mom!).

Playing with the Black Pearl & Flying Dutchman side-by-side.

Tyler told me Kraaken pulled the Black Pearl under the water!

 

[lillygator]

cute pics Holly....I am so tired! Food is done for tomorrow....now on to wrapping and stuffing!

 

[HollyTyler]

cute pics Holly....I am so tired! Food is done for tomorrow....now on to wrapping and stuffing!

I can't imagine how you get through all the stuff you're doing for Christmas! But how fun and rewarding it must be when it's all done. I hope you're able to get some rest after it's all done!

 

[HollyTyler]

I'm watching the Pope's midnight mass. I'm not Catholic, but I watch every year on Christmas eve. My mom started me doing that as a child. She's not Catholic either....not sure if she's even Christian. But my dad's mom had a Catholic background and taught me lots even though she hadn't been a practicing Catholic since she was a little girl. So I often wonder if my mom was trying to encourage those values because she probably saw how interested I was in my grandma's faith. Not sure. This might sound strange, but although I've always attended Methodist churches, I've always felt like there's a Catholic inside me trying to get out.