The Updating Blues
Don't you just hate it when you have a system down pat and then you update and it jacks it all up?! Ugh!
I just updated to iLife 11 which updated my iPhoto...while that's all great and dandy besides having to figure out the new format of it....it put all my albums in chronilogical order UNTIL Feb 2010...then I had to MANUALY organize them last night and that was a HUGE pain...sigh. Now it's adding my new albums to the top of the organizer and not the bottom...sigh.
So I AM working on my Christmas post and the rest of the cruise posts and hoping that the software will cooperate with me sometime soon!!
Christmas 2010
Christmas was great, especially so because Mr. B was here to celebrate with us this year. While he did join us via Skype from Afghanistan last year, having him here in person was much better :)
Last year the kids and I decided to not cook a huge meal and instead head to Shogun's Japanese Steakhouse...well Mr. B liked the idea so much that we carried on the tradition this year as well. It was great no cooking & cleaning to mess with!
Bea & Bubby got electric scooters and they have been on them non-stop. Bubby's goes fast so we were wondering if we'd end up in the ER...you know with our luck and all ;p But nope it was Bea who had a run in with the neighbor's mailbox and smashed her fingers...thankfully it was only smashed and nothing was broken. I have a feeling she'll be steering clear of mailboxes from now on :)
Christmas Eve 2010 Boo's 14th Birthday!
Wow, having a 14 yr old sure makes one start to feel OLD, LOL! Scary to think that next year he'll be getting a driver's permit...time sure flies!
Another funny fact...Boo has spent a little over 6 years of his life in AL...almost half of it, LOL! Would've never guessed that one.
We went to the new Narnia movie The Dawn Treader, then we went to the Christmas Eve service at church. Headed home & picked up Domino's for dinner and had cake & ice cream. Then we opened our traditional Christmas Eve gifts...new pjs & an ornament. Even funnier was that I had told Boo that I didn't buy matching pjs this year...I did that when they were younger and lo and behold when we opened them they were all coordinating/matching and it was unintentional!! I even bought them at different places & different times...it was a hoot!
So why is there a gorilla in the picture you say? As you can see Mac is trying to figure that out as well! Boo had really been wanting a gorilla costume and just for kicks Mr. B and I laughed endlessly as we bought one for his birthday...I have NO idea why he wanted one but at least we get to laugh every time we see him in it ;p
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Boo & Bea
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| Boo & Mr. B |
Cruise Day 2 - Day At Sea
Tuesday was our first official 'day at sea' it was also formal dining night as well.
When we woke up the kids watched the new version of the Karate Kid while we got ready for the day.
We got up and headed to breakfast at Tiffany's around 9 am, it was a bit busy and our group of 7 had to split up at 2 tables until we could get 2 together. We found the secret to getting food quick and easy...just walk out to the buffet by the pool...there is never a line out there! While the inside lines are often backed up. There is a bar in Tiffany's where you can use your soda cards. OJ, Apple juice, & Milk were the 'free' beverages available.
The buffet was okay, I'm not really a fan of buffets in general - but the food was good, nothing superb though.
Bubby & Bea headed to Camp Carnival until lunch pick up time (12:30). Mr. B, Boo, & I walked around the ship to check it out. We found the casino but just walking through it about gave me lung cancer from the smoke, LOL! So I took a pic and we moved on. Mr. B & Boo played some ping pong on the Lido deck. It took us awhile to figure out where to get the ping pong balls & paddles from...you go down to the pool deck and check them out from the little hut.
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| Decorative ceiling lights |
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| View of the Casino |
For lunch we decided to try the Imagination dining room where we ate our dinners. It was fun as we all tried new items that we might not normally try...Boo even ate sushi! It was good but I did not walk away feeling 'stuffed' which is really a good thing, LOL!
We then headed out to the pool despite it being a bit chilly. There was no rain yet it was still a bit windy. The pool was salt water and unheated. Bubby & Bea had fun on the slide & in the pool despite it being cold...we didn't hear a complaint from them...they didn't even want to leave when it was time. Mr. B tried swimming but said it was too cold for him, he said it was like jumping into an ice bath, LOL! Boo headed into the Mikado lounge to watch Bingo.
Some of the Diet Cokes we got tasted a bit flat...despite being poured from a can, the ginger ale seemed to hold up better.
Formal/Elegant night was a blast and much less intimidating than I expected! Dress attire showed up in the forms as simple as slacks & button up shirts to Tux's and gowns. We rode the middle line and went semi-formal. Lobster was on the menu that night and Mr. B had 2 and said they were good, I choose the Cornish game hen. The waiters even put on a 'mini-show' and sang "When the moon hits your eye..."
Our waiter Ryan was great! And the drink waitress knew our drink order by the 2nd night and already knew to bring who Diet Cokes and who regular Cokes. When we went in for lunch she recognized us and knew what to bring out, it was great. That's one of the perks of having the same wait staff every night.
After dinner we took some pics and then Bubby went to Camp Carnival while the rest of us headed to the new show "Just Rock" in the Mikado lounge. It was like watching a live version of Glee with lights and pyrotechnics-who would think pyrotechnics and a ship would go together?! They had only been showing the show for 1 months, it was neat. Bea loved it but unfortunately at the end couldn't hold on any longer after the busy day and passed out on the mini-couch and Grandma Donna's lap. They sang oldie classics like 'Simply Irresistible,' 'Jailhouse Rock,' & even some 'Monster Mash.' The costumes and the sets were well done and it was fun to watch.
Unfortunately Mr. B was left with the task of carrying a heavy sleeping Bea all the way down to the room, the elevators were hopelessly crowded after the end of the show so we braved it all the way down the 4 flights of stairs.
Also discovered that the Mark Twain library has lots of board games and tables, although we never did find out how to check them out and get them out of the locked cases. My recommendation would be to bring your own set of cards (Skipo, Uno, ect) so you'll have them...I sure wished I had brought ours.
Our evening towel animal was an elephant :)
Cruise Day 1
So after checking out the room & schedule we head up to the Mikado bar to grab everyone a soda and head out to the top deck to watch the ship leave the port!
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| Looking up from floor 7, it was decorated for the holidays |
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Skylight on ship
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| Bea waiting for her soda |
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| Me |
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The boys waiting on their sodas
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| Soda with Sign & Sail card, the small square sticker is the soda sticker for unlimited sodas |
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| Artwork on the walls |
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| Bea strinking a pose |
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| Giant Chess set |
We ate dinner at the Imagaination dining room and despite our large party size of 7 we got seated with another family of 3. It was a great way to meet new people and I've since became Facebook friends with them!
Dinner was good and we had the famous melting chocolate cake for dessert, it was a must have staple for the boys, with Boo even ordering 2 and the end of the trip for dessert!
We got the kids signed up for Camp Carnival (Bubby & Bea) and Club C (Boo) and Bubby & Bea stayed and played at theirs and had a fabulous time!!
Mr. B, Boo, & I checked out the show "The Great Game Show" it was okay but I was starting to get tired from our long day.
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| Duck Towel Animal |
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Our room made for the night, beds down and towel animal on the bed with chocolates, I do have to say that the chocolates were pretty nasty...no one would eat them
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Since we had left the port the boat was quite rocky BUT I do have to say that while it was rocking a good bit it was NOTHING compared to our Westmann Islands ferry trip...I think us & our friends are still tramatized from that ferry ride! So while others on the ship were apprently getting sick...which is why I assumed the staff started taping up vomit bags in the bathrooms and near the elevators, it didn't really impact us. Mr. B said he felt a bit off, but that was it. I did wake up several times in the night and felt the boat rocking and swaying, my body is not used to sleeping and moving at the same time, LOL, but I was able to easily go back to sleep.
Oh yeah, and remember our missing luggage? Well around 4:30 pm we asked our room guy and he told us to go check with Guest Services, and sure enough it was there! Along with 20 other bags. Thankfully I had attached brightly colored ribbons to the bags so we were able to easily identify them and grab them. The scary part was that we just told them the bags were ours and walked away with them...hopefully they don't have many dishonest people onboard. We found out that our luggage tags (that we put on when handing to the porter) had gotten so wet they had fallen off, so next time we'll cover them with clear packing tape to ensure that they stay on.
