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

[gouodux]

We hope that everyone enjoyed the day with their families. Jenna was asking everyone what their favorite gift was and when she got to her dad he said "just being fortunate to have all of you to spend time with is the best present anyone could ask for".

I feel horrible for him, he won't say anything, but I know this time of year is painful for him. He has lost everyone in his family. His mom, dad, and two brothers all passed away years ago, but I can't even imagine. I feel horribly guilty fielding phone calls from my family. I don't think I could handle everything he has been through.

Anyway, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas.


Now, huge favor for all the MAC experts. Got an iPod Touch today. We have a G5, running Panther. In order to use the Touch we need to upgrade (of course). Does anyone know our options? This is what we are thinking:

Upgrade to Tiger and then update to the correct system.

Just upgrade to Leopard if our system will handle it. Our friend told us Leopard needs a higher processor than our 1.8ghz. Current system is Mac OS X 10.3.9.

Just by a new iMac!!

We also have a new hp desktop that is used primarily for the courses I teach at Rio. The girls got a new Dell desktop (inexpensive version) for their games today.

We hate both of those computers though - got to stick with Mac!

Help!! Thoughts? Are there options we are missing?

Help!! Thoughts??

 

[HollyTyler]

So, another busy day, but fun! I went to Kalamazoo (about an hour & 20 minutes away) to my mom's for a couple hours, even though she came to town yesterday. Her sister couldn't come with her to our house because she worked too late, so today's gathering was so my mom and I could give my aunt her gifts. My mom made shells & cheese with smoky links chopped up on top and also green bean casserole. That's the funniest darned Christmas meal I've ever heard of! But like me, my mom doesn't cook, so that's about all she could handle, and was just enough food for the 3 of us. It's the thought & effort that counts!

Next I went to my sister's house for the get-together with my dad's family. (Dad, stepmom, sister & husband & 2 boys, brother & wife & daugher). Brother in Tennessee & new wife & her 2 kids couldn't make it to town. Normal people understand, but since it's the first time every that he hasn't come for Christmas, this started World War 3 with my stepmom. Good grief.

I came home with a car full of presents for Tyler! I got them all unloaded and put under the tree just in time for Tyler's dad to bring him home at 7pm. The pile was twice the size of what Santa left, so Tyler about passed out when he saw all his presents! Once again, the wrapping paper was flying! He barely got everything opened before disappearing as I was cleaning up. I found him in his bed! He was just so exhausted, he wandered off to bed without telling me. This is the kid who can't fall asleep without his bedtime book and songs! Truly a successful Christmas!

 

[disneylover5]

It has been so crazy over the last 48 hours. With Don being a minister, Christmas eve was mostly church for him. Practice and set up form 6am till 2pm. During that time, I stayed at the hospital with Frank. He is so swollen. He can not stand on his feet, because they are the size of elephant feet. They are so cold as well....no circulation at all. His left hand is a mess too. It is so cold too.

He is still in isolation. It was nice and relaxing to sit and talk to him and hold his hand and try and keep him warm. I tired really hard not to think about everything undone at home....and for the most part I was successful. I fed him lunch as he can not hold a fork yet. He ate pudding, jello and a banana.

Then it was church from 3pm till midnight. Church was peaceful and thoughtful!! Our 5:30pm was a family service and wonderful. The kids marched around the church holding flash lights instead of candles for the candle light. The 7:30 was the most crowded. The music was awesome. Vanessa did a special piece and when we get it on You Tube I will post the link. 10:30 was very traditional. Home by midnight.

Today we opened gifts, talked to Vanessa's family, made a huge brunch. We all went to visit Frank (Don, me Daniel, Vanessa, Annie and Gretchen). He is well enough to see the kids for the first time in 3 weeks. He is still swollen and cold....the doctor's are trying to work on this. Then we went bowling and went to dinner at a sub shop.

I really had a nice day.

Merry Christmas to all!!

​

 

[HollyTyler]

Oh Leslie, I'm so sorry for your husband. What a hard time for him this must be. But it's great he has such a loving wife and wonderful daughters to share Christmas with! If you all just keep giving him all the love I'm sure you already do give him, and some extra hugs & kisses from the girls, that will help a whole bunch!

 

[txSleepingBeauty]

hey guys, just p;opping in to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. It was absolute chaos at my house with assorted brothers, spouses, kiddos, and friends here....but miracle of miracles--no fights!

I got the new Disney Scene It, 2.0...very exciting, I'll bring it for the cruise...

hope evryone had a wonderful hoiday, back tothe grindstone tomorrow, ugh.

 

[HollyTyler]

Lisa, what a great Christmas gift for Frank to be well enough to be able to see everybody today! I'm sure that visit meant a lot to him.

 

[fourmcds]

Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing, chaotic(can christmas really be anything else) enjoyable day! Just popping on to say hi as everything is settling down!

John1: sorry to hear about the Browns...you never know though, if the Titans lose and you guys make it, you could go all the way...that is what those lousy Steelers did they year they cheated their way to beating us in the superbowl! Wish I had read your post last night about batteries as Santa brought the girls a disney video game that needed AAA batteries which we didn't have

Noel, glad everyone finally made it and your vacation is underway!

Deb, sounds like you guys are having a great time.

Holly, glad Tyler had so much fun!

I am sure there were more posts I meant to respond to, but my tired brain can't remember!!!!

We had a great few days with family. Lots of drama yesterday with the IL side, but that is typical. Today it is just us at my mom and dad's so very mellow and relaxing. It has been a Wii day playing Guitar Hero, Dance Revolution, Hannah Montana or HSM Sing Along! Guess what Santa did for us

My mom and dad surprised me today with the Canon EOS Rebel xti!!!!! I am so excited to take pics on the cruise now. It was totally unexpected and my dad just decided to buy it for me yesterday since the present they wanted to get me was on backorder!

 

[disneylover5]

Lisa, what a great Christmas gift for Frank to be well enough to be able to see everybody today! I'm sure that visit meant a lot to him.

I forgot to say how funny it was because we all had to wear gloves masks and hospital gowns. It has become part of my life and I never think twice about it. But I have to say to see all my kids and Vanessa all gowned up, we looked just riduculous (sp?). I told Vanessa she did not need to come to the room, there is a very nice family waiting room. But she said no, she wanted to visit Frank.

We sang Christmas Carols and all the nurses came in. We had a wonderful time.

I wished I had a camera.....it was really fun!!

 

[fourmcds]

So, here is the treasure hunt story with an ending I didn't expect! Scott and I spent tons of time coming up with great clues and each gift was something small that they might need on the cruise (ginger chews, toothpaste, lanyard, POTC notebook, pins etc) and the last 3 were: PC book, fish extender and the postcards that Deb sent us. Around the 7th clue,they figured they were going to WDW. With the book, they got totally confused and then the fish extender let them know it was a cruise and the postcards told them about the cruise length. Jaide started jumping up and down screaming and cheering. Taylor plopped down and started crying. You know those TR's were the surprise was really on the giver...yup that was us. She didn't want to go on a cruise, she wanted Smores (the 300.00 large pony that whinies etc that we told her she wouldn't get because it really didn't do anything and was too much money). She told us she wouldn't go and that was it. So, in all my glory, I started crying because I was so sad after so looking forward to surprising them. After Taylor got some food in her system she realized what the cruise was all about and started to rethink things. Now, we are all really excited about it and can't wait to start planning things to do. It wasn't the story I was planning on telling today, but it is the story of what happened.

I'll try and post pics tomorrow when I get some time to download them.

 

[fourmcds]

I forgot to say how funny it was because we all had to wear gloves masks and hospital gowns. It has become part of my life and I never think twice about it. But I have to say to see all my kids and Vanessa all gowned up, we looked just riduculous (sp?). I told Vanessa she did not need to come to the room, there is a very nice family waiting room. But she said no, she wanted to visit Frank.

We sang Christmas Carols and all the nurses came in. We had a wonderful time.

I wished I had a camera.....it was really fun!!

Sounds like a great day Lisa...

 

[pjpoohbear]

Oh Kaylee!

At least it has ended well. You know those small ones and how they get once their heart is set on something, lol.

Pj

 

[disneylover5]

So, here is the treasure hunt story with an ending I didn't expect! Scott and I spent tons of time coming up with great clues and each gift was something small that they might need on the cruise (ginger chews, toothpaste, lanyard, POTC notebook, pins etc) and the last 3 were: PC book, fish extender and the postcards that Deb sent us. Around the 7th clue,they figured they were going to WDW. With the book, they got totally confused and then the fish extender let them know it was a cruise and the postcards told them about the cruise length. Jaide started jumping up and down screaming and cheering. Taylor plopped down and started crying. You know those TR's were the surprise was really on the giver...yup that was us. She didn't want to go on a cruise, she wanted Smores (the 300.00 large pony that whinies etc that we told her she wouldn't get because it really didn't do anything and was too much money). She told us she wouldn't go and that was it. So, in all my glory, I started crying because I was so sad after so looking forward to surprising them. After Taylor got some food in her system she realized what the cruise was all about and started to rethink things. Now, we are all really excited about it and can't wait to start planning things to do. It wasn't the story I was planning on telling today, but it is the story of what happened.

I'll try and post pics tomorrow when I get some time to download them.

Oh my, I am sorry. I know that lack of food thing with my girls. They meltdown, if they have gone without food for a little while.

As they get excited now.....the cruise will be here before you know it!!

 

[HollyTyler]

So, here is the treasure hunt story with an ending I didn't expect! Scott and I spent tons of time coming up with great clues and each gift was something small that they might need on the cruise (ginger chews, toothpaste, lanyard, POTC notebook, pins etc) and the last 3 were: PC book, fish extender and the postcards that Deb sent us. Around the 7th clue,they figured they were going to WDW. With the book, they got totally confused and then the fish extender let them know it was a cruise and the postcards told them about the cruise length. Jaide started jumping up and down screaming and cheering. Taylor plopped down and started crying. You know those TR's were the surprise was really on the giver...yup that was us. She didn't want to go on a cruise, she wanted Smores (the 300.00 large pony that whinies etc that we told her she wouldn't get because it really didn't do anything and was too much money). She told us she wouldn't go and that was it. So, in all my glory, I started crying because I was so sad after so looking forward to surprising them. After Taylor got some food in her system she realized what the cruise was all about and started to rethink things. Now, we are all really excited about it and can't wait to start planning things to do. It wasn't the story I was planning on telling today, but it is the story of what happened.

I'll try and post pics tomorrow when I get some time to download them.

Oh no! Well, at least she's excited now. Despite the unexpected beginning, I'm glad things ended up fine! Just think of how she can look back and laugh at her reaction when she's older.

I saw a pony called Butterscotch at Walmart for the same price that sounds the same. Tyler really wanted it! Absolutely not.

 

[MrsMork]

Fairly quiet day here. We had our first White Christmas since 1990. It snowed fairly hard here at our house. We had about 3 inches at one point. Big, beautiful flakes this afternoon. DDIL and DGS did not venture out from her mom's. It is about a 20 mile drive and we live at higher elevation, so she did not want to risk it getting worse while she was out. DGS18 came home really early from his other grandma's, also due to the snow and not knowing if it would get worse on the road coming up to our house. So, he had dinner with us - prime rib, mashed potatoes, salad and yummy desserts - with us instead of other GM. DD is also here. Dennis and I played a game of SkipBo before DGS returned home.

DrHug and I were not getting gifts for each other. We just got back on the 15th from WDW and DCL, so we decided that would be plenty. But, I did find a package for me from him. He got Cinderella DVD for me. I felt bad that I did not get him anything until I remembered he just got a new Canon 40D camera just before the cruise and I told him "Merry Christmas" at the time.

 

[nskjerven]

One person rents it and it's up to that person to invite who they would like up to 12 people total. And my understanding is that you can go ahead and book it now, They also have what they call signature tours that you can pre-book.

ok, I'll be thinking on this for the next few days while working and working and working...I still think this cost isn't that bad for the kids, the dophin excursion cost the same amount, so for what it is, I think the price is reasonable, if you have children that would enjoy it and adults that would enjoy it with the kids there....I'm not yet sure that I'd want to do it with mine. On a normal day it would be fine, but sometimes normal doesn't happen when we have expectations, so that's why I'll have to stew on this to think about doing it or not for us.

Thanks for the heads up on other signature tours, I'll be interested in finding out more about those.

My mom and dad surprised me today with the Canon EOS Rebel xti!!!!! I am so excited to take pics on the cruise now. It was totally unexpected and my dad just decided to buy it for me yesterday since the present they wanted to get me was on backorder!

Congrats on this, I'm sure you'll love it. We love ours. Now to get that darn ltele-ense ordered...

I forgot to say how funny it was because we all had to wear gloves masks and hospital gowns. It has become part of my life and I never think twice about it. But I have to say to see all my kids and Vanessa all gowned up, we looked just riduculous (sp?). I told Vanessa she did not need to come to the room, there is a very nice family waiting room. But she said no, she wanted to visit Frank.

We sang Christmas Carols and all the nurses came in. We had a wonderful time.

I wished I had a camera.....it was really fun!!

Lisa, your day sounds like a wonderful family memory of Xmas. For years you'll all be talking about this. So glad you got to have the family time together.

So, here is the treasure hunt story with an ending I didn't expect! Scott and I spent tons of time coming up with great clues and each gift was something small that they might need on the cruise (ginger chews, toothpaste, lanyard, POTC notebook, pins etc) and the last 3 were: PC book, fish extender and the postcards that Deb sent us. Around the 7th clue,they figured they were going to WDW. With the book, they got totally confused and then the fish extender let them know it was a cruise and the postcards told them about the cruise length. Jaide started jumping up and down screaming and cheering. Taylor plopped down and started crying. You know those TR's were the surprise was really on the giver...yup that was us. She didn't want to go on a cruise, she wanted Smores (the 300.00 large pony that whinies etc that we told her she wouldn't get because it really didn't do anything and was too much money). She told us she wouldn't go and that was it. So, in all my glory, I started crying because I was so sad after so looking forward to surprising them. After Taylor got some food in her system she realized what the cruise was all about and started to rethink things. Now, we are all really excited about it and can't wait to start planning things to do. It wasn't the story I was planning on telling today, but it is the story of what happened.

I'll try and post pics tomorrow when I get some time to download them.

Oh my dear, I feel for you. Sometimes we moms have our hearts set on what the whole story should be and then real life sets in. I'm sure that she will come around to find all the joy and happiness and she sees the rest of you so excited.

What is up with these crazy horses (or giant dogs or whatever) Don't ya remember being a kid and wanting that crazyness (word?) too? I totally do. I wish as a mom I could get those crazy things for my kids just to see the joy on their faces, but alas, I don't do many things like that, I get them stuff that I think will be more long term good things.

Molly got lots of AG dolls(3) and stuff for them
Wilson lots of Nintendo games and Magnetics and those silly stacker cups.
I got lots of perfume
Donna Karan Cashmere Mist
Channel Chance
JMalone Grapefruit
Body and Bath Irresistible Apple
Paul & Wilson loved their Hot Wheels Radar guns I got them.

Our best present that has been tons of fun is a puzzle of a map of our house smack in the middle and the surrounding 5 square miles. It is from the 1950s or 60, so much of San Jose has changed since then. We had it out last night and all of us took time (some more than others) working the puzzle. We have just gotten the outside edge completed this evening (it's totally hard) My family is known for their crazy puzzle wars. We take it as a personal challenge to get pieces in before others. We are nuts!!!

Last bit my Xmas story, I got Molly some AG Julie (the girl from 1976)accessories for Xmas and I totally played with them since they were the toys that I had from my childhood. The 45 record player and mini lunch box with thermos. All 70s styled, heaven for me

Off to puzzle chat with you later,

Nan

 

[HollyTyler]

I'm enjoying hearing about everybody's Christmas celebrations!

 

[been2marceline]

Christmas is coming to an end.....we did everything we planned to do, we said goodnight to everyone with us and we're just chilling at home now. John is watching yet another christmas movie and I'm here.

Santa brought me a mickey kissing minnie under the miseltoe pin and the miseltoe moves, more tink tee shirts and tops, more tink slippers and 2 beautiful tink statues....and some other clothes. I got a football jersey for the giants #80 shockey....in the big blue color....oh, I also got a white gold bangle bracelet with diamonds.....nice. Santa was really really good to me.

Santa brought John PC games, movies, clothes, slippers and a dragon calendar....he loves dragons, especially figment...hence his avitar. But he has a big surprise coming for his birthday early Jan....actually two big surprise gifts.....and I'm not telling coz he reads these posts....we'll have to wait and see.

Deb,

So glad that you had a lovely Christmas!

We all got spoiled as well!!

What day is John's B-day in January? My DSis is January 8th!

Karen

 

[been2marceline]

What did everybody else get? Did anybody get anything Mickey?

Deb,

For my Birthday my friend gave me a cream colored minnie turtleneck and a cream puffy vest with swirly designed hidden mickeys. On the inside si Tink (thought of you!) My friend's favorite character is Tink as well.

I was so thrilled as I had been looking for a Disney vest for a long time and had not found one.

For Christmas I received lots of Jim Shore items, which I also love, and one was Pooh and Piglet (pooh is my favorite) and one was the Disney Dasher Reindeer that will go with my Santa Sled.

I'll take some pics and post later!

Karen

 

[LiserAnn]

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We just got home from my sister in laws and we had a great time but it was filled with mishaps. First it started with my BIL, Eric...he was sitting on the couch, took a big stretch, which caused him to knock a lamp over on a sofa table that was behind him. The lamp fell onto the table which had protective glass on it. The glass broke and then gouged the cherry table top. OK, we get that cleaned up and Eric promises to replace the glass and have a professional refinish the table. Next my DH's nephew has some new toy and while we're all distracted we find him scraping it on the floor...normally would not be big deal but my BIL and SIL just had brand new wood floors put in, to the tune of $8K and they really didn't appreciate the nice new scratches he just put on them. So, what else could go wrong?! Well, my MIL puts her cup of eggnog on their grand piano so that she can put her jacket on....somehow she spills it and it goes everywhere INTO the piano...the felt hammers, the cords, everything. And since my DS had just finished playing Jingle Bells, the top was open. So we then we realized it's also in the electronic componentry (it's also personless piano player, not sure what they're called, all I know is it cost about $15K). At that point I'm catching the vibe that my BIL is just wanting us to all leave. It was awful. To add insult to injury on the way out, my DH trips on a sprinkler head in their front yard and breaks it. A minor thing, but adding it to the rest, it just made the whole evening more painful for our hosts. Needless to say, the rest of us had a great time!

Well, I hope everyone had a blessed and happy Christmas!!! Looking forward to seeing you all in the new year!!!!

 

[granmaz]

Good morning. It's Boxing Day here and still on holiday!!

It was great to hear your Christmas Day stories.

Lisa, your days were busy, but it sounds like things went well and Frank improving slowly. I am so sure he appreciated your love and care at this busy time.

We had a lot of fun and actually it was all less hectic than in previous years. The grandchildren are growing up I think! There were 5 there, aged between 6and 9 and they did well.

John and I decided not to buy each other any presents as we had just had a brilliant vacation with cruise, and of course have this one on the horizon. Otherwise I got all 3 POTC movies and other lovely bits and pieces. More today as we go to our son's for the day and are exchanging gifts then.