Monday

Okay, so will I unpack the suitcase today? Probably not. There's still a lot of other stuff that I will do, thereby ignoring the whole suitcase thing. For one thing, I need to return the library books that I checked out for the cruise. That I didn't exactly read.

I did read this book: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy.  It's the story of a boy who, with his mother and father, were deported to Auschwitz after surviving in a ghetto and a labor camp. He was only 10 years old.

The book tells about how his parents met and were married and about his first years. There are some photos that were miraculously saved (and found after the war) that show what a happy family they were.

The title of the book comes from the fact that a fortune-teller told Tommy's mother that he was a lucky child. And he was, as he manages to escape several times from being killed by the Nazis.

The author waited until he was an adult to write this book. He admits that some of his memories might not be as accurate had he decided to write the book earlier in life. But he also admits that he probably couldn't have dealt with the memories had he done so. The memories he shares are sad yet miraculous, and worth the read.

As far as other things I need to accomplish, the list is lengthy. The plan is to deep-clean a couple of rooms each day so that by Friday, the house will be a sparkling example of housewifery delight. And maybe even the suitcase will be unpacked!

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Blessings today include: catching up on bills and paperwork; returning books on time (and finding out my ten cent overdue fine has been forgiven, since the library is no longer bothering with overdue fines)

Back Home

Since we ended up getting home last night around 11pm, I have not unpacked. Basically, everything is tossed on the floor, awaiting unpacking. I did have to unzip the suitcase to get a few things out, so that makes everything look even worse. Luckily I am spry enough to walk over the stuff on the floor and pretend it doesn't exist.

Anyhoo, today is the day to start all that stuff, as well as start the cleaning process (like it has ever started). Marilyn and I are giving a wedding shower for our nephew David this coming Saturday, and I'm thinking the guests might prefer being in a house that doesn't have the potential for being condemned. Or on an episode of "Hoarders."

But the actual cleaning will probably have to wait until tomorrow. Tonight we are planning to have Maribeth's family birthday party (her birthday was yesterday) and I have to figure out what we will have to eat. Steve suggested steaks, so I guess I will head to Kroger to purchase those. And a few things to add to the meal.

Luckily, Mathieu made a cake and cupcakes yesterday, so that's off my list. KB is coming to the party, because she, Lynnette, Molly, Maribeth, and I are also having an Alaska cruise meeting at some point tonight. And KB and I also have to do some last minute party planning (she's helping keep the shower to a certain level - which is more than the "Krystal and gifts" theme I was considering.

So in other words, the unpacking is going to have to wait a bit. Like probably days ...  Like, when do I need an empty suitcase again?

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Blessings today include: fun at Kroger seeing Cindy and my favorite Kroger dude; dinner of steak and shrimp and stuff; fun with the girls; good Alaska cruise planning session

Road Trip!

Today we had to get off the ship. The plan was to pick up a car and drive home. Why? Because the rental for the car was $10. Generally, while the drive is long (10ish hours), it's really not a bad drive, so why not?

We never do breakfast in our dining room on debarkation day, because it's generally bus and everybody has their carry-off luggage. Instead we went to Cabanas, where we saw our pal and Palo server Amanda. After eating and saying our goodbyes, we headed to the atrium to await deboarding.

When we got there, there was quite a crowd. Usually it's not filled with people, but today it was. It seemed to be a large number of people doing "early walkoff" where you tote all your luggage off yourself. We waited awhile, then determined that anyone that wanted to was getting off, so we joined the crowd. Including the dude who was getting off with his box fan that he was carrying on his back.

There was a lot of waiting, because the crowd was so large, but eventually we made it to the customs room/luggage room, found our luggage, and headed for the rental car van. Later Molly found out that the reason there was such a crowd was because the Customs people delayed debarkation because apparently the Border Police had to escort someone off in handcuffs. Guess we missed that. At least it wasn't us for supposedly not going to the safety drill!!

Anyhow, we got to the rental car van just in time. The two families in the van with us had about a billion pieces of large luggage, so we couldn't carry any more, so our driver took off with us to the rental car center.

This time, we were renting with Alamo, and the service center is way different than the usual rental car place we use. It's like the difference between going to your local one-a-year carnival that sets up in the mall parking lot and Disney World. Alamo's service center was huge and nice and lovely - quite different from the gas station that we usually rent from.

Anyhow, Steve, our rental agent, enjoyed renting us our car, which ended up having only 5 miles on it - new car!!  I loaded it up while Molly visited the bathroom facilities, and soon we were off! Since we had to go through Orlando anyway, we decided to stop at the outlet mall, and may have purchased a few things. As well as we did at Ikea - hey, we had the space, so why not?

The trip home was not as wonderful as I had hoped. For one thing, we kept running into rain, sometimes quite powerful rain. And then there was the traffic, sometimes quite slow traffic. We did discover the quick toll road through Atlanta that uses our Florida toll pass, so we made up some time there. Also, I am quite spoiled with satellite radio, and was bored when I couldn't find any kind of talk radio on the car radio. Molly came to the rescue and found some podcasts of Mike Rowe which entertained me (and put Molly to sleep).

Anyhow, we stopped once for lunch and once for gas and once to get snacks (at possibly the worst and filthiest Chick Fil A ever). We breezed into Nashville, trying to figure out the rental car return. After attempting to make plans with various family members, we finally decided that I would take Molly home, unload my stuff at home, and then head to the airport to turn the car in and wait for Steve, who was returning from Moldova.

Once at the airport, I waited for an Alamo person, who never materialized. Finally a lady walked over and said to just put the keys on the dash, because the car got time-stamped when we drove over the spikey things. We'll see on the final bill if that was true ... By the time I got the car checked in (supposedly), Steve had arrived and was waiting at the Uber stop for our ride home.

It's nice to be home again - now time to get stuff done until the next trip!!

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Blessings today include: great rental car experience in Port Canaveral; safe trip home; Molly finding something to listen to; Steve's safe trip back

Castaway Cay!

Today is our last day, period, and it will be spent at Castaway Cay. Molly is doing the 5K, but since the temperature is between “very hot” and “super duper hot,” I decided that I would pass. Instead, I will get off the boat ASAP and head for Serenity Bay (the adult beach) to secure us a primo location.

After breakfast, Molly headed for the 5K meetup and I got off the ship. I walked over to the Serenity Bay shuttle and grabbed the first hammock – right by the entrance. I went in the water a bit and it wasn’t freezing so it felt really great. Soon Molly joined me. She finished the 5K, said it was unbelievably hot, they ran out of water, and she had already downed two tankers of water.

I decided to go out in the water again, and saw Sylvia and Dude (Debbie and George were in their respective chairs on the beach). We chatted a bit and then it was time for lunch! Today, we actually all sat at the same table and talked about kids and grandkids and childbirth and such. After lunch I decided to return to the ship (for the air conditioning) and Molly and the rest went back to the beach to do their own thing.

Once back on the ship, I took a cold shower (heavenly) and a nap (even more heavenly) before Molly returned and we went to see “Spiderman.” I’ll review that later. Once that was over, it was time to return to our room and start packing – we’re going to have to leave the ship tomorrow!!

And with that sad news, here are some photos of today ...

See Dumbo? Our room is the floor just above to the right of his ear - the three long windows.

The view from our verandah - apparently Dumbo needed some sprucing up.

Panorama of Castaway Cay

When I found our seats, I also met a native of the island ...

Since I hustled off the ship, I got a great location - with hammock!!

Panorama of Serenity Bay - the adult beach

The view from my hammock ...

More Castaway Cay natives ...

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Blessings today include: beautiful day at Castaway; lunch with our tablemates; BLT from room service for our pre-dinner meal; saying good bye to our servers and our new friends

Sea Day!!

Today was our last sea day. We started with brunch at Palo, and of course our server was Amanda. We started with the seafood, cheese, and bread area, where there are truly too many good things to eat. After munching on that a bit, Amanda took our true brunch order. Molly and I both ordered chicken parmesan and then also ordered a apple cinnamon giant Mickey waffle and beef lasagna to share. To say it was all delicious is an understatement. Oh, and did I mention then it was time to visit the dessert table? Somehow we managed to rouse ourselves from our table, waddle to the elevator, and return to our room. I was time for a nap, and then Molly decided to go watch “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” (once was enough for me, thank you).

Eventually we went to dinner. Tonight we were eating in Animators, and it was show night. That means you color on some paper and then it gets animated on the big screens. It’s truly amazing – you should cruise the Fantasy to see it for reals!

Anyhow, we had fun with our wait staff. Zoltan pretty much already thinks we’re nuts, mainly because we keep asking him questions. So far we have found out the following facts about him:

· His grandfather died of alcoholism.

· He has four half-sisters because his father slept around in the village

· Zoltan is a city boy so he won’t marry one of his sisters

· His parents divorced when Zoltan was 2, and he hasn’t seen him since

· He has a stepfather but he doesn’t like him – he’s never liked him. His stepfather likes old cars and sour things and Zoltan likes new things.

· Zoltan doesn’t like anything with lemons or sour things

· He has one half-brother who is 18 so Zoltan still has some influence on him

· He watched “LaLa Land” and he almost cried at the end – he wanted them to end up together

· He doesn’t like cold weather and identifies with Florida snowbirds

· He collects magnets of places he goes and puts them on his refrigerators in his cabin. He is very particular about which magnet he chooses.

· He likes new things and doesn’t want to be on the older Disney ships

· He likes to fold clothes

I know, a lot of information, but since we are the only two at our table, we like to talk to him. Also, tonight I decided to order from the children’s menu which really kinda threw him (and August our assistant server). Oh well, he can return to normal people next week!

And now some beautiful photos from our verandah!!

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Blessings today include: lazy day on the sea; blog catchups (keep in mind that most of these will be photos of amazing grandchildren) 2016: August 10, 12-15; September 19, 28, 29; October 3, 10, 21; November 22; 2017: January 1, 5-9, 13, 20-23, 25