May 6, 2006 - 7 nite Western - Anyone Crusing?

[DisneyMay06]

The weather is so gloomy in Chicago today! So looking forward to fun in the sun. I think I'm so excited that I can barely function. My husband and I were up late talking last night about all the things we can't wait to do. He was in the Navy for four years and I think he can't wait to get back on a ship. Looking forward to all those starry nights! As for pirate night, we are dressing tropical. My husband went to Wal-Mart and picked up fake gold teeth for the girls. They were super cheap. I don't know what is funnier, seeing the girls with the fake teeth trying to say "ARRH" or my husband's impression of Jack Sparrow. I know that pirate night is going to be a blast! Quick question for those who have been on the Magic before: We booked our trip late so the online ressies for Palo were already booked for the brunch and the tea. Think I'll have a chance once I get on board? Heard that I'll probably have to do the mad dash to Rockin D's to be put on the list. I booked dinner by stroke of luck one day on the website. I just heard that the brunch is awesome. But I got the dinner so I'll at least have gone to Palo's once. I wish it was SATURDAY! Keep on swimming........

 

[DDF]

Another Chicago area family here too! We live in Carol Stream. Are you flying out of Midway or OHare? We leave out of OHare Friday evening. We have 3 families cruising together, with a total of 6 kids...2 girls (7 & 8) and 4 boys (10, 10, 11, 13). I'm not sure who is more excited...the kids or adults.

We decided (very last minute) to do tuxedos for the males in our group. They all went to get measured on Saturday and we placed our order online and the tuxes will be waiting in our staterooms (or so we hope...if not, you'll know who we are as the boys/men will be VERY casual on formal night!).

We had originally planned to go all out for pirate night but time got away from us and we never went to get costumes. Wow...was my 13 year old relieved...he was mortified at the idea of his parents dressing up as a pirate and wench!!! All the more reason to do it I say...hmmmm...do I still have time?

I saw several of you will be enjoying Paradise Beach on Wednesday of next week with us (can you believe it...WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I cannot wait ...I know the kids will have a blast on that floating iceberg and water trampoline. They are looking forward to the waverunners too.

Aaahh...still so much to do this week. Hope to meet many of you...any decision yet on the meet time/place. Look up my picture so you recognize me...you'll find it in the dictionary under PROCRASTINATOR.

Have a great day!
Dee Dee

 

[DisneyMay06]

We are flying out of Midway on Friday at 12:50 on Southwest. This is our first flying experience with our girls (ages 4 and 3). So this should be interesting. Im sure that I'll be so needing a cocktail once we board. We booked Palo's on Saturday night, and so looking forward to the adult time. Anyone else going that night? I stressed over what to wear for formal night. We booked our trip late and with the kids going to prom the selection was bascially crap and crap. So I'm wearing a dressy pantsuit with some nice jewerly and some awesome shoes. And my husband bought a new suit and it looks great. So we're not going all out, but we will still look good and hopefully still feel comfortable. I got the girls princess outfits from the Disney store. So my four year old will be dressed as Belle and my three year old as Cinderella. The four year old refused to take it off when we bought it at the mall. So she wore it home along with her Burger King crown, priceless!!

 

[jillane88]

Welcome DisneyMay06 and Linuxwebguy and any other new ones that joined our craziness!

Thanks for all the prayers and pixie dust. DH's back is better today and he was able to go to work. It still hurts a bit, but at least he can move around and function.

I am getting so anxious and excited - so are the kids. This week will be complete craziness. I have 1 meeting, 2 softball games, 3 appointments and 4 days before we leave! I packed most of the clothes yesterday, just have DD(8) to pack for and then all the misc. and last minute stuff.

DDF(Dee Dee), we have 6 kids between 2 families - 2 girls (8, 9) and 4 boys (4, 5, 5, 7). I am SO looking forward to our day at Paradise Beach. Your men will be stylin in their tuxes! It's all I can do to get DH in a tie. My two DS's are very excited about wearing their new ties though.

Thanks for the coupons Gina!

Heather from NJ - I'll be eating salads all week trying to get those last few lbs off. SInce I've been sick for more than a week, I haven't done any exercise so it's been tough! Oh well, we won't care once we are on the cruise!

Lisa - glad you are feeling better!

To all those of you who have to work this week, I sure feel for you! Hopefully you have sympathetic bosses.

Heather

 

[jcfowler]

Isn't it great just to sit back with tons of free time thinking about sitting back next week with tons of free time? I DON'T THINK SO!!! It's getting crazier as the "hour" approaches and yet I want it to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n or it will fly right past me. Life is already too brief - as we have learned in Dave's case. Before we all get too caught up in the next four days of madness I want to challenge each of you to pause and relish the moments - and for once I'm NOT talking about chocolate souffle's. That's NEXT week.

You are all jogging my memory of (little) children at home. (In spite of that I am enjoying your pre-trip planning!) I remember the wonderful quotes from long trips to grandma's house like "I'm bored", "I gotta GO", "She's (DS) looking out MY window" and so forth and so on. Now they are 30 and 26 and swapping "The Book of Farts" annually at Christmas. Oh, the loss of innocence.

For you first time cruisers rest assured the "unknowns" of today will melt into relief and calm when you plan your next cruise - and I assure you, after next week, you WILL plan another ASAP. (As soon as we hock our furniture and sell a few pints of blood we'll do the same thing!!!) Don't worry. The real difference between "worry" and "concern" is ULCERS. It's all going to work out fine. (Did you know in musical terminology the word "fine" is pronounced "fee-nae" and means the "end"! Remember that the next time someone asks you "How are you?" and you answer "Fine!)

My DW's new bathing suit is supposed to arrive by UPS today. (I thought I was concerned about getting the tickets!) You should see her watching for the "Brown Truck" with binocculars and her track shoes on!! I'm glad I'm the introvert of the family!

If we don't have time to post a great deal this week DW and I want to wish for all of you a very safe trip to PC. Remember the end of the first "leg" of your trip will be sheer "Magic" - and it only gets better from there! We wish you all Godspeed and traveling mercies. Have a fantastic (though busy) week of preparations and relax. It's all gonna be fine - er, uh - great

Later my friends!
Chris

BTW - For the record I have decided NOT to wear a lime green Cinderella outfit and I have gained 6 pounds in the last 30 days - I guess it's the revenge of the chocolate bunnies!! I'm still in shape. (Round is a shape isn't it?)

 

[new2cruise]

But Chris I was looking sooooooo forward to you in a lime green Cinderella outfit? Now I have nothing to look forward to !

 

[jcfowler]

You'll still be able to find me. I just bought a new belt that "beeps" when I back up. Just look for the "Wide Load" sign on my Levi's!

Have a great week and be safe!

"Sing"cerely,
Chris

 

[jillane88]

BTW - For the record I have decided NOT to wear a lime green Cinderella outfit and I have gained 6 pounds in the last 30 days - I guess it's the revenge of the chocolate bunnies!! I'm still in shape. (Round is a shape isn't it?)

Please won't you wear the outfit? We'd all really love to see it!

 

[new2cruise]

I think he's going to make us beg

 

[new2cruise]

You'll still be able to find me. I just bought a new belt that "beeps" when I back up. Just look for the "Wide Load" sign on my Levi's!

Have a great week and be safe!

"Sing"cerely,
Chris

You want to talk about "wide load" I have seriously fallen off my exercise and good eating routine and the lovely Polish man that cleans our offices at night frequently leaves Polish candy in my desk for me - this morning there was the BIGGEST candy bar with nuts in it I have ever seen. It's gigantic - as will be my butt by Saturday! 'Cause you know I have to eat it...wouldn't want to hurt his feelings

I'll be here on and off till the end of the week but anyone who will not be - Have a great week and the safest of travels to the port. Hope to meet at least some of you on board.

 

[jcfowler]

Love to, but I can't get it off my DS (30) - (now THAT'S a scary thought! Hope he's not reading th--OUCH!) If you like green, I'll just stop brushing my teeth! Remember, be "true" to your teeth and they won't be "false" to you!!

(BOY! You folks have got far too much freetime on this board! Now you're ganging up on me! )

Why is it no one was here until I posted and now it's "pick-on-Chris-time"? (Did you know you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose? Although I have never tried to experience that myself!)

We just booked "Dining with Shamu" (the whale, not me in my bathing suit!) for the week after the cruise. If any of you have the chance to go to Seaworld in Orlando be sure to eat there. Remember NOT to put salt on the escargots like I did last time. They all disappeared!?! ( Visualize THAT!)

Bye - again!
Chris

 

[jillane88]

imheather (Heather in NJ) -
I just pm'd you regarding the Stingray City excursion you booked. I'd like more info on it please. Thank you!

You can disregard the above if you want...
I think I just found what I needed. I went ahead and booked the Buccaneer Stingray City Catamaran excursion for Grand Cayman. The pictures looked fabulous.
Heather in WA

 

[new2cruise]

Three more days and counting.......

 

[mazzarafe]

Good Morning all! We are another day closer and I can't contain myself. Had a hard time working yesterday. Of course I had to start sending out emails telling payroll to send it to my boss next and the ladies downstairs who email me timecards to send them to him next week. Although they are all scared that my boss will do something wrong, I know he can handle it because he has done it all before!

Had my first really vacation brain fart yesterday. I've set myself a ton of reminders on my email calendar to do things so I don't forget. Well last week I set one for yesterday and did not write what the reminder was about! Went crazy trying to figure it out for about a hour retracing what I did on Friday to make me remember. Nothing, notta, zip. Hopefully it was something I already thought to do.

Well have a good day, and hopefully I get some work done at work today instead of daydreaming!

Heather, glad to hear your DH is feeling better!

 

[Sneezy63]

Aaahh...still so much to do this week. Hope to meet many of you...any decision yet on the meet time/place. Look up my picture so you recognize me...you'll find it in the dictionary under PROCRASTINATOR.

Have a great day!
Dee Dee

Haha Dee Dee! I thought MY photo was under Procrastinator!! (I had someone ask me yesterday how my packing was coming along and I said "Uh...yeah, I should start that, huh?) (I have lots of stuff laying out and about but wasn't completely organized. I think I got most of my stuff and DS's done last night, though..)

 

[Sneezy63]

DisneyMay....HA! Loved your description of what was available when you went shopping. That seems to be my experience all the time, too.

Also...I need to change my Palo ressies when we board, too....hopefully we'll all get what we want! If not....Oh well! Not gonna sweat the small stuff!

Chris......you are very wise....your post about enjoying the kids while they are small. (Also....choosing not to wear the lime green Cinderella outfit was "wise" as well!! Hee!)

 

[pearlieq]

The day after tomorrow we leave for the airport!

This week feels like it's flying by. I may be starting to panic a little. Just slightly. I'm actually kind of ahead of the game.

I have a huge, tedious work project that I'm trying to get done before I leave, so I don't have to have it hanging over my head while we're on the ship. Other than that, I'm trying to get the last loads of laundry in and take care of other small chores. I also have to go in today and have them do something about my unibrow. Did it ever strike anyone as funny that we do all these things to pretty up for people who have never met us and that we'll never see again?

I hope everyone has a great day today!!!

 

[MickeyD]

Hi Everyone!
Well I at least have ds onboard (pun intended) with the excitement! He is telling me everyday what the countdown is! My room looks like a suitcase factory exploded, but I have absolutely NO organization there. I have just been pitching stuff in the suitcases as I think of it. I'll have dh repack them on Thursday. He's a pro at making stuff fit in suitcases.

Heather: so glad that Marc is feeling better! Tell him to take it easy and lift with his knees when he goes to loading suitcases.

Chris: "lime green Cinderella costume"? Funny, I took you for a "fushia" man!
Kidding!

Hope everyone enjoys their last couple of days in reality. Four more days and we will be sipping mai tais on deck! (I don't even know what a mai tai is, but I'll try it)

Lisa

 

[Miss Jasmine]

DH took down all the luggage for me yesterday. However, I am still just staging stuff in the spare room when I think of them. I'll put everything into suitcases on Friday. I don't want to pack and then repack.

 

[jcfowler]

Don't worry! Nobody's gonna die if all the "chores" don't get done! Besides, you can always blame David!! (The eternal male scapegoat!)
Relax and just try not to think about the fact that the contractor who built the plane you are flying on was the lowest bidder! Hmmmmmm? Not sure if that helps???

Yesterday I got home about 5 PM and discovered my DW had not had one of her better days at her job. Nothing I said or did seemed to be right or would help.

By 7 PM things hadn't improved, so I suggested I go outside, pretend I had just gotten home, and start all over again. She agreed.

I went outside, came back in and with a big smile, announced, "Honey, I'm home!"

"And just where have you been?' she replied. "It's after 7 o'clock!"

Thanks Melissa - I am very rarely referred to as "wise". Most often it is "wise-guy"! (Why? I have no idea!) Cullen Hightower once wrote "Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness." My philosophy is a quote from Robert Louis Stephenson - "Our business in life is not always to succeed, but to continue to fail in good spirits!" In that I have had MUCH experience!!

As to the lime green dress, Lisa - the truth is - it made my butt look fat! (Maybe fushia - whatever color THAT is - would have helped!! )

Time once again to run Have a great Tuesday all - Saturday is coming!!!
Chris

BTY Mai tai is what I usually spill gravy on!