I saw this thread and just wanted to drop in and say HI. We don't have any Disney cruises planned right now but wish we did. We do, however, leave for Disney World in 3 weeks (Thanks to my parents for a wonderful Christmas present). I am so excited.
Captaincrash, how is Julianna? Tell her Brady said Hi. Are you out creating havoc on any other cruise boards right now?
Hey there!
.... Julianna sends her giddy regards! We are reserved for the 2008 east bound repo in August. Leaving 2007 devoid of anything. We wiped our travel agenda late last year on account of someone very close to us developing what was initially thought to be stage 4 lung. So that would have left us with less than a year of survival. Now we think it is a rare advanced form of lymphomia... which is sometimes treatable. AND... the good news is that the emerging word is the response to theraphy has been AMAZING. And full remission may be the result. Of course, we're keeping our fingers crossed that the scans and tests over the next 12 and ... dare I say... 24 months proves this is the case.
So - all of a sudden we are thinking of pleasure travel plans again. SO far we've spent a little more than half our available time traveling to be with the threatened person. We did have a
Disney cruise planned for 2007 but that was canceled when we got the threatening news late last year. Well... we actually rebooked it into the 2008 repo since that was far enough out that we expected the health threat to resolve one way or the other by next Aug.
At any rate... we are "glancing" at 2007
DCL sailings. Not sure if we will do one or just skip til next year. If we skip DCL then we'll look to do smaller stuff probably.
So - in case I had not mentioned it before - I am almost done building Julianna a princess castle bunk bed with work desk underneath. I modified a factory made kit that took a twin bed to take a larger full size bed. I'v added regular stairs in substitution of the ladder - then I shifted the ladder into a new tower with trap door, and the tower spills off onto a slide - which the kids complain is too fast for them. The upper level has fake castle walls which I fabricated from thin plywood, styrofoam sheet for bricks,and granite speckled spray paint with alternating shades of grey on the base. The lower level has the desk - factory finished and nicer than any I could have achieved, and an area curtained off. I might install a revolving wall with book case on one side - and fake wall or door on the other. And I have 2 simulated torches I found at Ikea - they are kid friendly and either flicker or stay lit steady. I still have to select some extra lighting as the huge bunk bed has made some of the room darker then I like. Photos... well... I have some during construction... but I recently dropped my DSLR so it needs repair servicing. And I have not gotten around to posting many pix of the process taken through my back-up digicam.
Oh yeah... we were just informed tht Julianna is going to be among the first students in her K class awarded student of the month. Her award catagory is in science. For this first occassion they are having a school assembly with about 400 kids where she will be presented with her peers, photographed and the photo will be posted. It should be fun. I have Julianna doing math games all the time and I have given her constant and varied inspiration on the sciences, arts and so on. She's also taking a Mommy and me karate - and both girls are doing gymnastics. Kalea gets soccor and t-ball too. COme summer I think we're dropping karate though and picking up AYSO and swim team for J. Kalea may choose to concentrate on either soccor or t-ball... or we may choose to develope something new.
Aside from that... the next thing around here is we're thinking of....
#1) replacing a fence on our hillside (I'll do it),
#2) installing solar power on the roof (probably not as the legislature passed something that killed the solar industry a couple months ago),
#3) building a 220' cabana in our back yard - I will build most of it personally. I'll not mix the 3 or 4 yards of concrete - and I will probably engage an electrician for that part. The carpentry and finishwork will be done by ME though. So - then
#4) ... maybe some limited garden work. As the cabana project will result in damage to some of the landscaping... potentially.
Hope everyones' been well and having fun.
Cheers!
Tom & Alicia
the next time we cruise maybe we'll see some of ya'll again, and we'll look for the thread of cruisers, so that we can plan to hook up.
trying to look something up....
