Empty Nest In The Midwest

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 5

2022-10-03T02:31:00.000-05:00

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 5 - Going home!

I woke up around 6:30 AM and got ready for my day.

I had a few more things to pack, and I made sure to check the room thoroughly to be sure I wasn't leaving anything behind.

I decided I was going to eat breakfast at OHana that morning, even if I had to eat alone. My flight was at 12:40 that day, so I had plenty of time to get to the airport.

At 7:25 I went over to the Great Ceremonial House to check in for my 7:30 breakfast reservation.

This was the first time in my life (and probably the ONLY time) I have ever or will ever eat a meal in a sit down restaurant by myself.

It was HORRIBLE!!! It was awkward!

The food was all very good. The horrible awkward part was because I was seated between 2 families, and the tables were about 6 inches apart. it was actually quite horrifying, LOL! Where in the heck am I supposed to look??

My waitress was sweet. She called me "Hun" and she checked on me a lot.

Here is what they served. It's all you can eat.

She brought some really good pineapple sweet bread, fresh fruit, and Pineapple/orange/guava juice.

Then she brought a skillet with biscuits, sausage, ham topped with pineapple sauce, eggs, and potatoes.

I also got MICKEY WAFFLES!!! and some Lilo & Stitch waffles too.

It was all very good, just awkward.

I'm glad I did it, but I will never do that again.

After breakfast I went back to my room till it was time to go to the airport.

I took an Uber (also awkward alone), and I had a wonderful older man driver. He told me he worked in maintenance at Disney World for 30 years. Very cool! He told me some interesting stories about some of the resorts.

At the airport, I snapped a few pics before i went through security. I love this part of Orlando airport. It has a hotel built right into the airport. I wish more airports had this. How convenient.

My plane landed in Kansas City and my husband and my son Allen came to pick me up.

That trip went by SO FAST!!!

It was a bummer that Lisa had to leave early, and the rain kind of sucked, but all in all it was a great trip. I got to do quite a bit in that short trip, and I got my fill of Disney for a bit.

I'll be back soon Disney!

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 4

2022-10-03T02:30:00.001-05:00

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 4 - EPCOT DAY

Lisa and I woke up early, showered, dressed, and got our backpacks packed for a day at EPCOT.

It was our last day at Disney World. We were both flying home the next morning.

We talked about our plans for the day. We both had some rides we wanted to ride, and we wanted to walk around the World Showcase Pavilions and try food from different countries.

Just as we were ready to head to the park, an issue came up with Lisa and she HAD to go home right away. She had to leave!!

YIKES!

It all happened very fast.

It was nothing involving our Mom, or any health issues. Everyone is fine. It was some personal stuff she had to go home and deal with immediately. It was a bummer that this couldn't wait ONE more day but she had to take the next flight home.

She was packed and gone before I could say Mickey Mouse, and suddenly I was there in the room alone.

I thought I should probably just go home too. No reason to stay here alone, and I was supposed to fly home the next morning anyway, so I called the airlines to change my flight.

Just as the phone started ringing I hung up.

No.

I'm not going home a day early.

I'm here at Disney World, my favorite place to be. I am in a bad ass room at the Polynesian Resort that is already paid for.

I'm staying.

I talked to Tim on the phone, and he gave me the courage I needed to stay at the resort alone for 24 hours. I decided I would just hang out at the resort for the day. I didn't really want to go to EPCOT alone.

As I sat there on my patio and people watched, I worked up a bit more courage. I decided I would take the shuttle bus to Disney Springs and go shopping.

I could do that by myself, couldn't I??

So I got myself ready and I went out to the bus stop.

I saw a photographer outside our resort, so I stopped for a solo photo shoot.

Cute pic!! I love Little Orange Bird :)

* I need to get the Disney Watermark off of this picture. Lisa has the PhotoPass info, and I can get a clean copy of this pic from her. At the moment, I'm in a hurry, so this one will have to do for now

Done with my photoshoot, I went over to the bus stop.

In about 10 minutes, the busses started coming by.

This first bus was going to Typhoon Lagoon, one of the WaterParks.

I waited for the Disney Springs bus, and I hopped on.

It was about a 10 minute ride to Disney Springs.

There are a lot of high end stores at Disney Springs,

But this one is MY store!!!!

LOOK at all of this Disney stuff!!!

This is my favorite department.

The 50th Anniversary department. :)

As a consolation gift to myself for having to spend the day alone, I bought myself this adorable and comfy zipper hoodie. It was $65.

OOOhhh! I love it! I will keep it and wear it for a long time. I still have the one I bought in 2003.

I also got my grandkids a few more goodies while I was here.

I spent about an hour looking around the store and then I decided I was hungry.

I was thinking about going out to find a sandwich shop or something I could grab for lunch, but I decided to just head back to the resort. I could eat there.

This is what the shuttle bus corrals look like. They have about 10 of them and you just need to find the correct one that goes to your resort. Busses should come by every 10 minutes or so.

When I got back to the resort, around 11 AM, I started thinking about EPCOT. I was really wanting to go. There were 2 rides there I really wanted to ride. Soarin', and Test Track. Since I went to Disney Springs by myself, I could go to EPCOT by myself too. I was feeling brave.

So I packed my backpack and got myself ready to go.

You can get to EPCOT on the monorail from the Polynesian resort now. It involves taking a monorail to the TTC (The Ticket and Transportation Center) and then getting on the Epcot monorail.

Here comes the orange one!

It's really not as fun to ride the monorail alone

Disney world is beautiful. You can see the Grand Floridian Resort and another monorail in this picture I took on the way to EPCOT

EPCOT stands for "Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow". This was supposed to be a city. Back in the 60's, Walt Disney wanted to make a utopian planned community of the future. He didn't live to see the city happen, but after he died the Disney Company took some of his ideas and made a theme park.

I made it!! I'm at EPCOT!!

That giant ball thing is called Spaceship earth.

As soon as I got there I signed myself up for DAS Passes for the two rides I wanted to do. Then I realized I was SO HUNGRY!!! I hadn't eaten anything all morning. I had some time before my first ride time so I looked around for something I could grab. I found a hotdog stand and I got a hot dog and chips.

Yikes, this hotdog and chips (with no drink) cost $9.99

The hot dog was actually really good. I could have ate two of them but I didn't want to pay $9.99 for another one.

After I ate, I made my way to The Land pavilion to find my first ride, Soarin'.

Inside the pavilion, this is place was BUSY!!

I had to make my way all the way around to the other side and down to the bottom floor.

I found where the ride line started. I found a nearby bench and waited around until my ride time came.

This ride is a giant 3D screen. You sit on these benches and seatbelt in. The benches raise up in the air and you watch an amazing giant movie that makes you feel like you are soaring over all these cool places in the world. There are smells, and breezes at the right times. You really feel like you are there.

We soared over all of these places, and many more!

After I rode Soarin' I walked to the other side of the park and found my next ride.

TEST TRACK!!

The ride is inside this building.

By the time I got over there I only had to wait about 3 minutes for my ride time to come up.

For this ride, you ride in little race cars.

Before the ride, you use computers to "build" your car.

Then on the ride, you are checking the performance of the car you built against the other people in your car. At the end of the ride, you go outside in your car and race around a half circle and then back into the building. It's very fun!

Here is the photo the ride snapped of me. I'm in a car with some random family.

- Another one I need to get Lisa to remove the watermark on.

And of course I am on my phone, snapping pictures!

As a matter of fact, I was snapping THIS picture! LOL!

This is just as we left the building to test our car's speed.

FUN ride!! I loved it!

The sky was still blue so I walked down toward World Showcase so I could see some of the countries. I love this area. I also thought I might try some food from some different countries too.

I walked around Mexico:

Then Norway:

Next was China:

I crossed a bridge and saw this funny boat in the water. Looks like the EPCOT fireworks! I didn't know they set off the fireworks from a boat.

Interesting

And you can see the progression of the sky getting grayer and darker in my last few pictures.

By the time I got to Germany, it started raining really hard.

I ducked into one of the little gift shops and waited a little while.

It wasn't getting any better and my weather app said it would be a while before it stopped.

What to do??

I finally decided to put on my poncho and get my umbrella out and walk in the rain back to the monorail and go back to the resort.

It was a loooooonnng walk! I'm really slow. I got soaked......

It took me about an hour to walk back though the whole park and ride 2 monorails back to the hotel. It was totally pouring rain the entire time.

It was really windy too. Twice my umbrella got caught by the wind and bent backward! LOL!!!

Fun times!

I was glad to be back in my room. I showered and put on dry clothes. Good thing I brought a lot of clothes with me on this trip. I needed all of them.

Over here at the resort it wasn't raining and the sky was looking OK.

The view from my patio around 5 PM

I hadn't eaten anything since that hotdog and that seemed like hours ago. I decided to go to Captain Cooks and get Buffalo wings and french fries for dinner.

After I ate I saw a pretty rainbow over the resort :)

As it got later, the resort lights came on. So pretty just sitting here.

I ventured out to the Great Ceremonial House and look at what happened to my Tiki Guy :(

He's gone! I have only been here 3 days and I feel sad that I watched him disappear into the construction void.

Here he is from my first night here:

Then they put a gate up:

Now he's gone. I will have to look for him next time I come here.

I walked around the resort a bit as it got dark.

This is a little bar/restaurant area.

They had movies for kids to watch.

The resort is really beautiful at night. Especially with the Hawaiian and Polynesian music playing over the speakers. Its has a very calming and nice atmosphere here.

I went into the gift shop for a few last minute gifts. I wasn't sure what to buy Tim. He is not a Disney guy at all, so he wouldn't really want any Disney souvenirs, LOL!

I finally got him this tin of lemon cookies that were made in Hawaii. He must have liked them, he ate them all in about 2 days :)

I also bought myself one final gift. I kept seeing this piece of art in the Polynesian resort gift shop and I resisted buying it. It was $40 and I didn't really want to spend that much. Finally, on my last night there this artwork was calling to me. I was thinking I would regret it if I went home without it.

So I bought it, and then I paid another $7 to have it shipped to me.

This is SO cute!! And look at Little Orange Bird :)

I really like that Orange Bird. He was a character created by Disney in the late 60's/ early 70's to promote Florida Orange Juice. He is making a big comeback at Disney and I saw Orange Bird merchandise all over the gift shops.

I'm glad I bought this art. It makes me happy, and I am anxiously waiting for it to arrive. It should be here this week.

*EDIT to add: My artwork arrived and it was crushed and bent when it got here. I was so sad when I saw it! I called Disney merchandise guest services and they are sending a replacement to me. It's actually UPS's fault it got crushed, Disney had packed it very well. Disney can deal with UPS. I do appreciate that Disney is sending a replacement. These are only sold at the Polynesian Resort and I would have to go back there to get a new one.

Artwork aside, it was my last evening at the resort. At 9 PM I walked over to the big beach - well, now it's the ONLY beach at the Poly because the smaller beach is now blocked off for the construction.

The fireworks were going to start soon.

After the fireworks I went back to my room and got busy packing. I had a wet poncho and a wet umbrella to dry out. I left them out on my patio overnight and they dried completely by the next morning.

I also had 3 pairs of very wet shoes to pack..............I did have plastic bags to put them in to get them home.

Lucky for me I had sandals to wear home.

I watched some TV and enjoyed my last night at the Polynesian. It was a very relaxing night.

The next morning, my sister and I had a breakfast reservation at OHana Restaurant. I wasn't sure if I was going to cancel it or keep the reservation and eat there alone.

OHana is one of Disney's more popular restaurants, and reservations there are hard to get. I decided to wait and see how I felt in the morning.

That night it took me a while to fall asleep. My feet and legs were really hurting from all of the walking. The bed was so comfortable, when I finally fell asleep I slept like a baby.

Day 5 is HERE!

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 3

2022-10-03T02:30:00.000-05:00

Disney World 2022 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom/ Mickey's Not So Scary Day

We woke up around 6:30 AM

We wanted to get an early start on this day. We were going to visit Animal Kingdom park. Surprisingly, I had NEVER been to this park. We always choose to go to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios parks instead, but this time I was finally going to go to Animal Kingdom!

We also had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party later that night. I had never been to that either, so this would be a fun day of firsts for me! So exciting to explore new Disney things :)

So our plan was to get to Animal Kingdom as early as possible, and try to do as much as possible before it got too hot, and before it started raining. Then come back to the resort and rest during the afternoon. And finally go to Magic Kingdom in the evening for the Halloween Party. It was going to be a really long day but we were ready for it!

We left our room before 8 AM and we walked over the bridge where I dropped my phone charger in the water the night before. Look at this TINY space it fell into. Unbelievable! Truthfully, I was still a little mad that had happened.

Here is what my beloved phone charger looks like. The poor thing is ruined now sitting on the bottom of the lake.

That charger was really fast at re-charging my phone. I have several portable phone chargers at home, but that one was my best one and my favorite one.

Just to give the phone charger story a happy ending, I did buy an identical charger as soon as I got home. It has already arrived and I am happy. I am healed now, my problem has been solved. But I will always remember my poor lost charger in the bottom of the Polynesian Resort lake.

OK, moving on...........we went to the little bus stop to wait for the shuttle bus. On this morning it was taking forever for any busses to come by. After we waited about 25 minutes without seeing any busses at all, Lisa and I decided to call an Uber. As soon as we were ready to push the Uber button, an Animal Kingdom bus came by.

We cancelled the uber plans and got on the bus. About 40 people crammed into this shuttle bus with us for the 15 minute ride to Animal Kingdom.

I snapped this pic inside of the crowded bus, but looking at it, It's really weird that it looks like it's full of only men.

You can't see any of the women and children sitting in the seats, LOL!

Finally, we arrived at Animal kingdom park.

After we entered the park, I got my first look at the Tree Of Life.

It is the centerpiece of the park. It's really HUGE!!!

there was a park photographer there, so we did a quick photoshoot.

They direct you how to pose. This one is a little blurry.

I love this one!

this was an Extra Magic photo. The photographer told us where to look and then later inserted "Kevin".

Kevin is a female bird from the movie UP.

I think the photographer asked us to do a "tiger claw" or something like that. Kinda cheesy, but its all in fun.

This one is an Extra Magic fail.

Sad that we aren't pointing in the right place. If anyone has photoshop and could fix this photo for me,

I would reeealllly appreciate it!

It could have been sooooo cute!!!

As we wandered around the park, it was a beautiful morning!

The park was very nice. I am impressed with it.

When we got to the land of Pandora (from the movie AVATAR)

I was amazed!

WOW! They did a fantastic job with the theming for this area.

These huge mountains and waterfalls were towering over us as we walked through Pandora. They were hundreds of feet high, and that is real water. It was quite amazing.

I used my DAS Pass and booked a ride time for Na'vi River Journey.

Its a ride themed by the movie AVATAR, and I was very excited to go on this ride. We had a while to wait for our ride time so we wandered around Animal Kingdom park, and took in the scenes.

We stopped for a quick photo when we saw a Photographer.

When our wait time was up, we were able to get on the Na'vi River Journey with about a 10 minute wait.

The ride was spectacular!

We rode in boats, like these (LOL! More boats!)

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The scenery and theming was just amazing. Everything sparkled and moved around.

It was really like we were dropped into a scene of the movie.

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The pic below is a pic I took. WOW! I finally got a good pic indoors while moving on a ride.

The pink things fluttered and floated around us. It was beautiful

That was a very good ride.

Next I set up a wait time for Flight Of Passage. This is another AVATAR ride.

I heard it was really good and I was so excited to finally get to ride it!!

the wait time was really long, but Lisa and I entertained ourselves.

We stopped in this place and got a quick bite to eat. It was still early and they were still serving breakfast.

Google image

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Finally it was our turn to ride Flight of Passage.

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This is inside, going through the ride line. It went very fast.

Next we went into this area. We had a "briefing" on our mission for the ride.

We finally got to the actual ride.

We had to sit on these things.

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When we were all seated, we had to put 3D glasses on. The screen thing in front of us opened, and we were looking at a giant movie screen.

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The ride simulated that we were flying on a banshee through the land of Pandora.

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It was breathtaking! The ride lasted over 4 minutes and it was one of the BEST rides I have ever been on in my life.

It really felt just like I was there! I really loved it.

After Flight Of Passage, we wandered around the park some more, and we spent about an hour looking around the gift shops.

Next we decided to meet Mickey and Minnie!

We walked around some more and we saw beautiful flowers throughout the park. It really was a nice park.

We saw an anteater!!!! I have never seen an anteater before :) That was cool

More beautiful Animal Kingdom scenery

And a final picture on our way out of the park.

We left Animal Kingdom around 1 PM and made it back to our resort before 2

When we got back to our room, I went out to have a smoke.

Remember this Tiki guy from my first night at the resort? Several of us had been smoking over in this area, because they had blocked off the regular smoking area due to construction.

We were hanging out here, and we all made sure to clean up our cigarette butts. The resort was spotless, and I noticed the smokers were very respectful.

On this day, when I went out to smoke, The area was closed off.

Every day, they blocked off more and more of this side of the resort with construction barriers.

They are building a huge Disney Vacation Club high rise tower in this area.

That was fine, but where was I supposed to smoke?

The area where I was standing to take this picture was in a very much used walkway. So many people using this sidewalk. Surely they didn't want me to stand there on a busy sidewalk and smoke?

I asked one of the maintenance men as he drove by on a golf cart. Where should we smoke?

He said we can smoke anywhere we want, just be respectful of other guests.

So I walked around the less traveled paths on this side of the resort and smoked. It was kind of a pain in the ass, because people with little kids would walk close to me and sometimes I would have to move very quickly to avoid people.

And I don't move very quickly.

I was having a really hard time finding places to smoke and still try to stay away from other guests.

This was now blocked off too.

Then I had a brilliant idea. I just stayed on my patio when I wanted to smoke. I used an old cup for an ashtray, and I made sure to keep the area spotless. We had a giant hedge separating us from the walking path. No one knew I was there because of the hedge, and I could sit out there even if it was raining.

Very brilliant! It worked out perfectly for the rest of my stay. Lucky me!

Here is my view from my new "smoking lounge".

I know that smoking on my patio was a special circumstance, and I probably will never get to do that again. The construction was moving things around so quickly, the resort hadn't had any time to figure out where to send the smokers. I am sure that very soon there will be a designated spot somewhere out of the way for smokers with rooms on that side of the Polynesian.

Smoking aside, it was time for Lisa and I to get ready for the Mickeys Not so Scary Halloween Party!

This Party was taking place at the Magic Kingdom resort. The resort closed for regular guests that night at 6 PM, and the Halloween Party started at 7 PM. We had to purchase tickets to get into the Party, and we bought out tickets months ago as soon as they went on sale.

We had a dinner reservation at Liberty Tree Tavern at 6:30 PM. We took the monorail to the Park and used our Magic Bands to enter the park at around 6 PM.

I remembered to get a pic of the entrance of Magic Kingdom Park.

The sky was turning very gray as we entered the park.

And just as we got inside the park and started walking down Main Street, it started raining.

We passed by a sign that said the Halloween Party was sold out for that night.

We arrived at Liberty Tree Tavern and took refuge from the rain. It was very warm and cozy inside.

Our meal was amazing. They serve all you can eat homestyle cooking.

Soup, Salad, Pot Roast, Turkey, Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Macaroni & Cheese, Dinner Rolls with soft Butter.............

All comfort foods, and it was a perfect hot dinner on a rainy night.

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We ate slowly and we stayed as long as we could. We were hoping the rain would stop, but it just kept on raining.

When we were done eating, we put on raincoats and ponchos, I got my umbrella out.............

And we ventured out into the rain.

We were each given a candy bag for the halloween party. Lisa got a really nice fabric bag, but I was happy with this plastic bag. It was raining and I didn't want my candy to get wet.

They had areas set up all over the park with Cast Members giving out candy.

They had huge barrels and as you walked by they put handfuls in your bag.

Lisa and I walked around and Trick-Or-Treated for awhile.

We rode the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride and the Peter Pan ride.

We Trick-Or-Treated some more.................

We found a spot to watch the Halloween parade, but it was still raining and they cancelled the parade.

Bummer.

Instead of the parade, they drove 3 cars past us that were full of characters.

It was such a sad little parade in the rain.

We trick-Or-Treated some more. We got soooo much candy!

At 9 PM we went over to the castle to watch the fireworks.

We found a pretty good spot. It was still raining, but the laser and fireworks show was very good.

I had on my poncho with my hood up, I was holding my umbrella up, I was getting drenched, but I still managed to take some great pictures of the show

Too bad it was raining! It was a very good show, but I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't soaked.

After the fireworks we went into the Confectionary and spent some time looking around and shopping for more goodies to take home.

Since it was raining, the store was full of people and the floor was very wet and slippery again.

We tried to hang out in there as long as we could, waiting for the rain to stop.

By around 10PM we decided to give up and go back to the resort.

So sad, our Halloween Party was kind of a bust because of the rain.

As we exited the gate they handed out these posters. Somehow I managed to keep mine dry. It is going to get a frame and I'll find a place on our wall to hang it.

We left the park and got on the monorail. We were back in our room by 10:30

We each took a warm shower, and put on dry comfy pajamas.

My bed felt SOOOOO good. My feet were killing me after 2 days of so much walking.

Tomorrow we were going to spend the day at EPCOT! Well, we were going to spend as much of the day as possible at EPCOT. The weather didn't look good for the next day at all. It would be clear and hot for the first half of the day, but very rainy after around 2 PM.

Our plan was to get up early and do as much as we cold before the rain came in.

Day 4 is HERE!

DISNEY WORLD - 2022 - Day 2

2022-10-03T02:29:00.000-05:00

DISNEY WORLD - DAY 2 - MAGIC KINGDOM DAY!

Lisa and I had set our alarms for 7 AM. It was a beautiful sunny morning.

Here is the view we woke up to from our sliding glass door/ patio.

WOW!

We both showered and got our backpacks packed for the park. I packed water to drink, a cooling towel, my umbrella and poncho, money, etc........

Before we left the resort, we walked around a bit. It is such a beautiful place.

Tiki guys everywhere, and beautiful polynesian and Hawaiian music piped in all over the resort.

In this picture with the firepit, you can see the boat launch where you can catch a boat to Magic Kingdom, or to the Grand Floridian Resort. You can see the Grand Floridian behind the boat dock

Upstairs in the Great Ceremonial House.

The Monorail platform is on the 2nd floor.

Heeeere it comes! We get to ride in the pink one today :)

I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures as we entered the park. I must have been too excited!

Here is a stock photo of what it looks like just outside the gates. I just LOOVE the 50th Anniversary colors! The blue/purple with gold is fabulous!!

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And just after you get inside the gates, you see the castle.

Amazing!!! The castle is breathtaking!

Here is my first picture of the castle.

We had paid for the PhotoPass before we arrived at the park.. There are photographers all over the parks and at some of the resorts that will take pictures of you and then they link the pics they take to your account. Lisa and I spotted a photographer in front of the castle so we posed for a little photoshoot.

Then we spotted another photographer beside the castle.

They also do cute "Extra Magic" photos.

Someone behind the scenes will add special things into your picture.

Or is it done by computer?

I guess it's part of the magic of DISNEY and I may never know how they do these photos.

I just love this one!

After we played around at the castle for a while, we headed to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean.

I used my Disney App to sign Lisa and I up for this ride using my DASS Pass. The wait time was 45 minutes, so we were given a time to show up for the ride after we waited our 45 minutes.

When we got to the ride, we were directed to go through the Lightning Lane line.

We waited in line for about 10 minutes before we got to ride.

This is an indoor boat ride. The boats look like this:

As you ride in the boat, they play "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life For Me" and you look at the Pirate scenes as you ride by. The ride lasts about 5 minutes and is a Disney fan favorite!

It's so hard to photograph indoors in the dark, especially while you are moving. I found an old picture of the ride from back in the 70's. The boats have changed but the scenes basically are the same.

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These next two are my pics. They are a little blurry, but the scenes are almost identical as the 70's pic above. Look at the 2 guys on the bridge.

Of course, after the ride you will find Jack Sparrow outside signing autographs

I noticed as we walked around the park, when we got close to a golden statue, my Magic Band Plus would light up and vibrate.

We saw Tigger running around. He was so cute!!!

And Pooh wasn't far behind him.

We had a lunch reservation at "Be Our Guest" Restaurant at 11:30 AM

This was a really hard reservation to get. This restaurant is very popular.

11:30 is really early for lunch but I took what I could get. I figured it would be noon by the time we got our food anyway, so it was fine.

I really love this restaurant! Beauty & The Beast is my favorite Disney movie.

I have eaten here one time before, and we had breakfast that time. This time I was looking forward to trying their lunch menu.

The entrance to the restaurant is pretty neat.

While we waited for our table, we saw the big stained glass. It looks just like in the movie.

I was SO HAPPY when the hostess seated us in the Grand Ballroom!

There are 2 other rooms with tables in them, but this room is the best by far!

Disney is amazing! It really feels like you are in a scene from the movie. Everything is themed so well, right down to the servers outfits.

We ordered our food, and look who made an appearance??!!!!!

THE BEAST!!!!

I don't know why Belle never comes out at this restaurant, but I was very happy to see the Beast!

He walked up and down the center aisles and bowed at everyone...............

Then he got to me!

I was so excited to see him, and he paid extra special attention to me!

How fun!!! Whoever was wearing that costume really made my day!!

It was SOOOO fun!!!!! I was having the time of my life!

Our food came out, and it was all WAY better than I expected. Disney food is usually good, but not excellent.

I have to admit, this was the best meal I ate the entire time I was there.

It was all excellent. (except the dinner rolls. I didn't care for them).

My meal was so good!

I had the French Onion Soup for an appetizer.

I picked the Filet Mignon with Yukon Potatoes, asparagus, and mushrooms in a red wine sauce.

All AMAZING. I would definitely order this meal again.

For dessert I had the trio with a Macaron, a Dark Chocolate Truffle and a Chocolate Tart with the "Grey Stuff"

It was all very good, and so fun to try the Grey Stuff, just like Belle does in the movie :)

(It's actually just frosting colored grey.)

That entire lunch, for one person, was $62.00 plus tax and tip.

YIKES!!

Disney is VERY expensive.

It was well worth it for the excellent food and the experience, if you are into that kind of thing.

We left the restaurant and we decided to ride Buzz LightYear's Space Ranger spin.

LOL, we had just eaten lunch so we didn't "spin" very much. You get to control how much you spin on this ride.

Its a cute ride where you sit in a small car and shoot at targets as you go past them.

I didn't get a great photo of the ride, so here is a Google pic.

Google Image

And here is my score!

I WIN!!!!

Back outside, we spotted Buzz entertaining a crowd.

Next we went into "Carousel Of Progress"

This is a neat little show that Walt Disney created himself for the 1964 World's Fair.

Its a rotating animatronic stage show with 4 stages. The audience sits in theatre style seating, and the theatre seats rotate around the stage, kind of like a carousel.

Hard to explain, but very neat to see.

This is the first stage. Its set up like a 1900's home. The animatronic man in the chair moves and talks to the audience about what it was like to live back then. He talks about the newest inventions of the time and tells a bit about his life.

The audience rotates around to 3 more stages. One for 1940, one for 1960, and one set in modern times. At each stage, they give a short little 5 minute show about life in that time period.

Its interesting because there are no humans in this show. It's all robots, or as Disney calls them, "animatronics".

It's also a nice 20 minutes to sit down and cool off on a hot day!

Next Lisa and I rode the People Mover.

This is a fun little ride, and one of my favorites!

You ride on a little train that is on an elevated track. The PeopleMover takes you on a tour above Tomorrowland.

Here are the little People Mover trains

And this is the People Mover track

You get a nice breeze riding on the People Mover, and another chance to sit down for about 10 minutes. It's also fun to say People Mover.

It was turning into a very hot afternoon.

The kind of hot that makes it hard to do anything.

By this time it was about 2 PM and it was about 90 degrees out.

We tried to keep going and do as much as we could. The rain was going to come in the next few hours, and it was looking like it was a huge storm coming in.

As we were walking around, we stopped to watch the show in front of the castle.

It was really fun! Lots of music, singing and dancing

I just LOVED Minnie's Dress! It was her 50th Anniversary dress :)

Next we walked over to Haunted Mansion.

This ride is always fun!!

Its inside this spooky castle..........

Oh MY! Look at all those people waiting for this ride!

The wait time was 55 minutes, but I used my Dass Pass and we showed up at our appointed time. We were on this ride in 15 minutes.

For this ride, you ride in little 'Doom Buggies"

Google Image

They take you throughout the castle and show spooky scenes in each room, while playing silly spooky music.

"Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize" <--- If you have been on this ride, you know that song :)

Google Image

This is the photo that was taken of us as we rode through the castle.

Of course I was on my phone trying to take pictures. I should have just put my phone down and enjoyed the ride. I didn't get one single good picture inside that ride!

We came out of Haunted Mansion just in time to catch the Parade!

These gals were so daring to dance around on hoverboards!

I kept thinking they were going to roll over the front of their dresses and do a faceplant, but somehow they didn't..................

We saw Anna and Elsa from Frozen

And this interesting creature who walked around on sticks. She stopped and posed right in front of us.

It was boiling hot watching the parade in the hot sun. My sister is more into the parades than I am, so I gave up about half way through.

I walked back about 15-20 feet and sat on a bridge in the shade while she finished watching the parade.

I had a nice view of Tom Sawyer's Island.

It was a beautiful afternoon! It was cooler sitting by the water.

See the pretty blue sky?

It doesn't stay blue like that for long....

It was so hot out that Lisa's phone shut itself off while she was taking pictures of the parade.

She was a little upset about that, but we sat in the shade until her phone cooled down.

As we were getting up, we saw a Photographer so we took a little photo shoot in front of the river

These next 2 Extra Magic shots are SOOOOO cute!!!

We headed over to ride the Jungle Cruise. While we were sitting on the bridge, I had used my Dass Pass to get a wait time for this ride. By the time we got over there, it was time to check in.

This is another boat ride, only this one is outside on a river.

The gal in front on the microphone, is our Skipper. She's taking us on a 7 minute safari through the jungle. She drives the boat around the river, points out fake animal scenes, and tells really stupid jokes.

Its supposed to be so stupid it's funny,

and its actually very funny

Here we are in the boat.

Here is one of the fake animal scenes.

While the elephant sprays us from his trunk, our Skipper said something like " does that look like water? Because it's not!"

Only she kind of said "It's Snot!

Veeeery funny! After we just got sprayed :) :)

After our Jungle Cruise we went to find the Winnie the Pooh Ride.

As we were making our way to each ride, we meandered along and stopped to check out shops or anything that interested us along the way.

Winnie the Pooh is a cute little ride.

You ride in a little Honey Pot and go through scenes out of the book.

Adorable!!

Next, we walked over to see a little show called Mickey's PhilHarmagic.

Uh Oh!! Look at the sky!!

It wasn't raining yet, but it was coming and it didn't look good :(

The show was a theatre style show.

It was nice to sit down inside in a comfortable seat for 20 minutes.

We had to wear 3D glasses

The characters popped out of the screen at us, and at times we felt water misting on us, and air blowing at us. It was a cute little movie.

Google Image

We left PhilHaemagic and hurried over to ride "It's a small world".

Now we were trying to get as many rides in as we could before it started raining.

We used my Dass Pass to grab an entry time, and we strolled around, and then sat for awhile and waited for our turn to head to the ride.

Google image

WOW! Look at all these people waiting to ride!

It's A Small World is another boat ride. (Disney seems to have a lot of boat rides!)

Keep in mind, there are a lot of rides at this park that we didn't go on. Plenty of roller coasters, water rides and much more than just boat rides. I had to stay with the mellow rides.

Here is a pic of what this ride looks like. While you ride around, you see little people from every country around the world dressed in their native clothing. During the entire ride they are playing the song, "Its A Small World After All"

Google Image

I'm pretty sure they play it over and over about 100 times while you are on that ride.

When you get off the boat, it's very hard to get the song out of your head :)

After It's A Small World, the sky still looked very frightening.

It still wasn't raining yet so we hopped over to ride Peter Pan's Flight ride.

This is one of my absolute favorite rides!

You ride in little boats, but they actually fly through the air.

As you fly around in your boat, you look down at scenes from Peter Pan.

Google image

Of course, they play the song, "You Can Fly!" throughout the entire ride, so then you get that song stuck in your head.

Google image

When we came out of the Peter Pan ride, it was starting to sprinkle.

It was about 4:30 PM and we decided to head toward the front of the park.

As we got closer to the castle, I snapped a few pics with the gray rain clouds above it

As we walked, we had to stop and get out our ponchos and raincoats.

It was starting to rain a bit harder.

Of course, we can't leave the park without stopping in the Confectionary on Main Street.

We stop in there for goodies and sweets every time we come to Magic Kingdom, just before we leave the park. It's like a tradition.

Google image

Oh My! This place smells SO AMAZING!!!

Everything looks delicious!

Its hard to not get one of everything!

And all the Cast Members in their little baker's outfits........

Its all so perfect and clean.

At this point I was wet from the rain, and the floor in the Confectionary was getting a little slippery.

I fall A LOT. My balance is terrible now. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front if everyone in the store so I put my phone away and carefully walked around and picked out some goodies to take back to the hotel.

Here are some Google Images of some of the treats you can get at the Main Street Confectionary:

It's so hard to choose! Everything looks so yummy!!!

Of course they had some treats for the 50th Anniversary Celebration

I bought a sack full of treats to take home to my kids and grand kids. I brought home Mickey rice krispie treats, rock candy, Chip 'n Dale cheesy crackers, Minnie Mouse gummies,

and I got myself a CUPCAKE to eat when I got back to the resort.

After we purchased our goodies and treats, we looked outside.

Oh Yikes! It was pouring rain out there!

We waited around for a while in the doorway but the rain was not letting up.

We decided to head toward the exit of the park, and then to the monorail.

We waited around longer getting up the courage to go out in that pouring rain. Main street was flooding and we knew we were going to get our feet soaked. I put my poncho on over my backpack, so I knew my stuff would stay dry.

Then we made a run for it!

When I say we "made a run for it", I mean we walked slowly.

Like I said, I have balance issues so I am definitely not running anywhere, LOL!

So we headed slowly toward the Monorail. Within 30 seconds, my legs below my knees, the part my poncho didn't cover, was soaked. I mean completely drenched.

When we got to the Monorail entrance, it seemed everyone else had the same idea.

We ended up standing, and moving VERY slowly on the ramp going up to board the Monorails.

Oh MAN! While we stood on that ramp, packed like sardines, we were all soaked, AND it was hot.

It took a good 30-40 minutes just to get to the top of the ramp. Meanwhile, water from the pouring rain outside was running down the ramp like a river. It was up to our ankles the entire time. The water streamed right through our shoes and it just kept coming! It was crazy :)

We were lucky the Monorails were even still going in such a storm. We were glad we weren't standing outside waiting for the shuttle busses! We were sure those lines were even more backed up than ours.

We FINALLY got on the Monorail and got a quick ride back to our resort.

How convenient that we were dropped off at the Great Ceremonial House. It was a short (but wet) walk over to our Fiji building.

I got straight into a warm shower when we got back. Ahhhh!!! It felt so nice to take that shower and then get into clean dry clothes.

When we were both cleaned up, we were hungry.

Since we had already eaten our 'big" meal for the day at Be Our Guest, we were going to do something simpler and cheaper for dinner that night.

It was about 6 PM, and we wandered back over to the Great Ceremonial House. We ordered from their quick service restaurant, called Captain Cooks

I ordered Buffalo wings and french fries, As an afterthought I ordered their special Thai Coconut meatballs. I had heard they are very good, and I figured I better try them while I had the chance.

We took our food to go, and we went back to our room to eat. There weren't any available tables indoors. Because of the rain, everyone had the same idea we did to run in and grab food from Captain Cooks.

The wings and the fries were very good. I didn't care for the meatballs.

I am glad I tried them though.

The wings were huge and it was enough food to fill me up.

After we ate, we laid around and just hung out in our room. The hard rain had let up a bit and it was only a light drizzle.

At 9 PM I heard the fireworks going off at Magic Kingdom! Every night, rain or shine, they light off a HUGE fireworks show over the castle. We have a great view from across the lake.

I grabbed my phone and ran (ok, I slowly walked as fast as I could) to find a place outside of our building where I could see the fireworks. Lisa stayed in the room.

I found a nice spot to stand up against a railing on a bridge just outside our room.

I had a great view of the fireworks over the lake. I could even rest my elbows on the bridge railing to keep my arms steady while I was taking pictures. Perfect spot! It was only drizzling, so I wasn't getting that wet.

The Polynesian pipes in the music that is playing over at the castle for the fireworks, so we got the whole effect of the show.

The fireworks were spectacular!

And then.............

OH SHIT!!!!

Because of my nerve damage, I have no feeling other than pins-and-needles and shooting electrical pains in my hands. I am also losing muscle tone in my hands. As a result, I drop things constantly.

Sooooo, as I was engrossed in the beautiful fireworks over Magic Kingdom, my phone charger DROPPED out of my hands, and fell right into the lake!

PLOP!!!

I heard it hit the water. Oh no! I just bought that charger specifically for this trip, so I could keep my phone charged while we were in the parks.

WOMP, WOMP. WOMP.

Now it was in the bottom of the lake.

It fell into this tiny 3 inch space between the bridge railing, and the dock. It seriously could have landed ANYWHERE but into that tiny 3 inch space of lake. OF COURSE that's exactly where it went.

I guess I'm lucky I didn't drop my phone at the same time! That would have been disastrous

After the fireworks, I made my way back to the room and told Lisa about my misfortune :(

It really wasn't a big deal. It was replaceable.

After all, it really WAS a great Magic Kingdom day! (before the rains came!)

We had ridden 8 rides, we saw 3 shows, we watched a parade, we ate at Be Our Guest, and I got to see the fireworks from right outside my resort room!

What a fantastic DISNEY day!!!

I fell asleep on the very comfortable bed thinking about the next day.

We were going to Animal Kingdom Park in the Morning, and a special treat.....

We had tickets to Mickey's Not SO Scary Halloween party for the evening!!!

Oh my goodness! I couldn't wait to wake up and get started on the next fun day :)

Day 3 is HERE!

DISNEY WORLD 2022 - Day 1

2022-10-03T02:28:00.000-05:00

Disney world - Day 1 - Travel Day

I've been waiting over five years to go back to Disney World. I was so excited to finally get to go back. My older sister Lisa and I planned to take this trip together. She is 2 years older than me. She lives in Minnesota so we don't see each other very often. We love to travel together and we both love Disney. We decided to go for 3 days, so we picked 3 parks to visit while we were there.

We chose Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT.

To prepare for this trip, we picked our favorite restaurants and made our reservations. Some of the more popular restaurants are hard to get reservations for. We had good luck getting all of the ones we wanted.

We also saw that the weather had been rainy all month. We knew it would rain while we were there but we were going to make the best of it. I brought 3 pairs of shoes with me. I usually don't pack that many shoes but I didn't want to wear wet shoes if we got rained on and couldn't dry them. I also brought a very compact umbrella, and a rain poncho that folded up very tiny.

The last thing I did to get ready for this trip was to get myself a DAS Pass.

DAS stands for Disability Access Services, and Disney will give a DAS Pass to anyone with a disability that makes it hard to stand in the ride lines. I have a very severe spinal cord injury. Because of my injury, I have balance problems, mobility issues, and I have severe nerve damage in my hands and in my feet. I have serious neck problems also resulting from my surgery. My surgery saved my life, and I am very lucky I am not paralyzed, but I was left with a lot of issues. I made an appointment with the DAS people, and got scheduled for a video chat with a DAS team member to get approved for the pass. During my chat we spoke about my injuries and my limitations, and I was able to be approved for a pass.

This DAS Pass, does not allow me to skip the ride lines. I still have to wait the entire wait time for each ride I want to go on. If the wait time for a ride is 55 minutes, I still have to wait 55 minutes. I just do not have to wait in the line. I can wait off to the side sitting on a bench, or wherever I am comfortable. When my wait time is up, I can get in the Lightening Lane line, and be on the ride in 10-15 minutes.

Before my trip I was cleared by my Doctor to ride low-impact rides. No roller-coasters or anything that had a warning sign. Nothing with a big drop or anything that would jar my neck or back.

HA! Sounds like I shouldn't be going to Disney world with all of these problems, but I'm not going to let all of this stuff stop me from going to my Happy Place!!! I'm definitely going!!! I'll see how much I can actually do, and I'll make the best of it :)

Turns out, there are a lot of rides I can ride at Disney World!

So, bright and early on a Wednesday morning, my daughter and my baby grandson Kam dropped me off at the airport.

My flight was on time leaving Kansas City around noon. I found a window seat in row 8 and I settled in for the almost 3 hour flight to Orlando.

I like to put in my ear buds, listen to an audiobook and try to sleep on my flights.

Sleeping makes the flight go so much faster.

As soon as we landed in Orlando (around 3 PM), the skies opened up and it rained and poured. It was like a monsoon!

They got us all off the plane just before the storm hit, but the luggage was still on the plane.

Because it was lightening out there, the guys couldn't get the luggage off the plane.

So we all waited for the storm to let up, or the lightening to stop............

We waited............

and we waited...............

People were laying around the baggage claim area, everything was backing up. Planes couldn't leave because luggage was stuck on planes.

My sister had landed in Orlando about 30 minutes before I did. So we sat outside and caught up on all of our latest news. I kept going inside to see if the luggage was moving yet.

While we waited, I used my phone app to order a case of water and some snacks to be delivered to our hotel. I used SHIPT and the delivery went just fine. The SHIPT person did the shopping and delivered our groceries to Bell Services at our hotel. Later Bell Services delivered everything to our room. It worked out really well.

Meanwhile, we were in a hurry to get our Disney vacation started, but we were still sitting around waiting for my suitcase.

We ended up waiting there for THREE HOURS!!!!

Finally, the storm let up and we all got our luggage.

Around 6 PM, Lisa and I hopped in an Uber and headed for THE POLYNESIAN RESORT !!!!

I was so very excited to get to stay at this resort! It's very expensive. WAY too expensive for me to ever stay there. Its usually $700 to $1200 A NIGHT! YIKES!! That is ridiculously expensive.

When We booked this reservation, Covid was in full swing, and also the monorail platform was being fixed at this resort. We booked this at just the right time and we got our reservation for about $300 a night. Still expensive, but MUCH better, and we split the bill so I only had to pay half of that. It was kind of a chance of a lifetime for me to get to stay at this resort.

Here we are, in the rain, entering Disney World property.

WOMP. WOMP. My picture of the Disney sign is pitiful! LOL!

This is what it's supposed to look like:

(Google image)

I wasn't going to let our rainy entrance bother me, I was so excited to be back!

The Disney World property is actually huge. It's 40 square miles.

Inside the property are 4 amusement parks, 2 water parks, and 32 hotels and resorts.

After we entered the property, it still took about 10 minutes to finally arrive at the Polynesian.

As we arrived, we didn't get to really see the front of the resort. We pulled in from the side. Since it was raining, I didn't walk out and take a pic of the front of the place, but here is a Google pic, so you can see what it looked like.

It it really gorgeous. Just amazing.

So as we pulled in, here is what I saw.

Above us is the Monorail, and beside us were these beautiful ponds, waterfalls, and beautiful greenery.

Hawaiian music playing over the speakers, and a cast member came right over to put a lei around each of our necks. Another guy got our luggage out of the Uber for us. It was a really amazing entrance!

Disney has hotels and resorts all over their property, but only 3 resorts are on the Monorail that goes to Magic Kingdom park. I was so happy we were going to be able to take the monorail to the park, rather than to have to take a shuttle bus. Disney has a very nice and efficient shuttle bus system that will get you anywhere you want to go for free, but the monorail is so much faster.

I couldn't find a very good map showing the monorail path, but this one will do.

The monorail goes around this lake and stops at each place there is a star. The Polynesian, where Lisa and I stayed is at the bottom of the map and Magic Kingdom Park is at the top. With a quick stop at the Grand Floridian Resort, we could be at Magic Kingdom park from our resort in about 10 minutes. Another option to get to Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian Resort is to take a boat across the lake. Taking the shuttle bus would take more like 20-30 minutes.

Google Image

Back to the Polynesian, we entered the lobby and it smelled AMAZING! Like fresh flowers and a summer breeze. Just lovely!

And looking up:

I love this chandelier. It makes me happy :)

I had been to the Polynesian twice before on different trips to Disney World. As a Travel Agent, I like to try to visit the different resorts if I have time. It's nice to be able to describe them and get a feel for each resort. They all have a different theme, and they are all really great. The different resorts do have different price points.

Lisa and I had both checked in to the hotel online. Our Disney App told us we could go directly to our room.

Here is a map of our resort.

The red circle is over the Great Ceremonial House, which is another name for the lobby. It was the building we entered into, and it has the front desk, Guest Services, the gift shops and the restaurants and bars.

The resort is made up of several buildings, called Longhouses, and those are where the guest rooms are located.

Mine and Lisa's room was in the Fiji building. I put a black circle around our building, and I put a star over where our room was located. We were on the first floor. I was more than happy with our room location. It was very convenient.

We found our building,

And then we easily found our room.

We were pleasantly surprised to find our room was just about 10 steps inside the door to our building.

I honestly could not have asked for a better room location. The ice machine was also across from our room. It was perfect.

We were able to get into our room using our Disney Apps on our phones.

Disney has streamlined the check in process, and it works very well.

Our room was Moana themed, and it was more than I expected.

I'll let my pics speak for themselves:

Do you see Maui and Moana on the wallpaper?

It really was nicer than I expected.

We checked out the room. I picked the bed by the window.

We dropped our bags, freshened up, and headed out to find the shuttle bus.

We were going to Disney Springs, otherwise known as Downtown Disney. It is an area with shops, restaurants and bars. We had already made a reservation at a restaurant called The Edison for dinner. Because we had spent 3 hours in the airport waiting for my luggage, we were running a little late.

We walked back to the Great Ceremonial House, and back out the front doors. To the left, we found the the shuttle bus stop. The shuttle busses come by every 5- 10 minutes and they each go to a different park. They also have shuttle busses that go to Disney Springs.

Our ride to Disney Springs took about 15 minutes. It really wasn't bad.

We walked around a little bit and found our restaurant, The Edison.

It was a strange and interesting place.

We were seated on the 2nd floor. There was a band playing lounge music below us.

The food was good.

Lisa and I both got a bacon cheeseburger and fries.

After we ate, we went out to walk around and do some shopping.

I wanted to go into the World Of Disney store.

Its a HUGE store with everything Disney!

This picture only shows the Halloween section.

I bought myself a new MagicBand Plus. This is a bracelet that opens your hotel room door, lets you enter the parks, has your restaurant reservations.............everything about your Disney stay is linked to your Magic Band. I wanted a special one for Disney World's 50th Anniversary.

I picked this one. It comes with a charger cord, and it also lights up and has some games on it that I never had time to figure out.

This particular Magic Band was a little pricey. It was $44.

They have much cheaper Magic Bands. You don't have to buy the expensive ones.

You actually don't need one at all if you don't want one.

The only other thing I bought at World Of Disney was this awesome 50th Anniversary spirit jersey

I am IN LOVE with it.

I'm still not mad about the $85.00 price tag, LOL!

That picture above really doesn't show how truly amazing this Spirit Jersey is.

Here is a better pic of the back of the shirt that shows the actual color:

OH!!! I am IN LOVE!!!

I should have bought myself two of them :)

OK, so after I drooled all over my new Spirit Jersey (LOL, just kidding!), Lisa and I walked around Disney Springs until it got dark and we got tired.

We saw this cool piano guy rolling up and down the sidewalks playing Elton John tunes.

It was definitely something I had never seen before

We saw the hot air balloon ride all lit up in the night sky.

We saw the carousel, and a cute little train

Around 9:30 we went back to the shuttle bus to go back to our resort.

We were back at our room by 10 PM

I left Lisa in the room and I went out to have a smoke and walk around the resort.

The first thing I looked for was the castle at Magic Kingdom Park. You can see it across the lake.

It was purple and it was so magical shining on the lake.

I walked around the resort a little bit and found the pools

There are two beach areas at the Polynesian. I found them both. I walked down by the smaller beach and I hung out by this giant tiki guy and had a smoke. There were a couple of other people out having a smoke there too. I thought it was an odd place to smoke, but there was construction going on, and they had blocked off the smoking areas on this side of the resort. I guess this was the new smoking area??

I would find out soon, this area would be blocked off too.

I had a smoke and chatted with a few other people.

I was exhausted. It had been a long day, and we had to get up early to get to Magic Kingdom Park.

It was going to rain in the 2nd half of the day and evening, so we wanted to get an early start in the morning.

I went back to our room and slept like a baby. The bed and the pillows were amazing.

I was sooooo happy to be back in this Magical place!!

Day 2 is HERE!

Kam's Birthday - Easter Sunday 4/4/21 (AKA The no good terrible awful day)

2021-04-21T06:44:00.000-05:00

Easter Sunday 4/4/21

Grandma's Story:

***PLEASE NOTE : This post contains some graphic pics.

All pics are posted with Cody's permission.

Kamden Lee Bruns

Kam's actual due date is April 25th (in 4 days)

Kam's C-Section was scheduled for April 20th (yesterday)

He was actually born 17 days ago on 4/4 21 at Shawnee Mission Medical Center (now called Advent Health)

Here is what happened..............

At 4 AM on Easter Sunday, Cody's water broke.

I am a night owl, so I was still awake. Yes, I was still awake at 4 AM

I had just finished doing some dishes and wiping the counters. I was just going to go to bed when I heard Cody yell for me.

She had been having a lot of different pains and contractions that had been getting stronger all week. We had been to the hospital for the last 2 nights in a row. They tried to give Cody different meds and do things to try to help slow or stop her contractions.

I wasn't surprised when I heard her call my name at 4 AM, and I was glad I was still awake. I had a feeling we were about to go to the hospital again.

Apparently Kam was ready to come early. When her water broke, we knew it was really time to have this baby! How exciting!!!

Cody called her doctor and finished packing her bag.

Her contractions started STRONG within about 10 minutes of her water breaking.

I jumped in the shower real quick.

We woke Timmy up and let him know we were going to the hospital. He couldn't go with us because they would only allow one person with her in the operating room during her C-section. We had previously decided Timmy would stay home with Kaden.

We left the house at 5:30 and got to the hospital around 5:45 AM

I parked in the circle drive so I could walk her in. By then her contractions were strong and coming about 5-6 minutes apart.

This was so exciting for me!! My 4th grandbaby!!!

I was practically skipping to the door :)

Well, I would have skipped, but Cody didn't seem to be in the mood to skip with me.

HA! HA!!

Here we are in the circle drive, trying to get to the front door of the Birth Center.

Those darn contractions!

Poor girl.

Ok, so rather than skip, I decided this would be a good time for a photo shoot.

We finally got in the front door, got Cody checked in, got our wristbands, etc......

Now we needed to head up to Labor & Delivery!!!

It was time to have this baby!!!!

Oh, but wait..............

At this point I was laughing at my poor baby girl.

She was having some strong contractions, and I was having great fun!!

WE ARE HAVING A BABY TODAY!!!!

I was on cloud 9, seriously giddy!

* Please note, I am not heartless, I promise.

I have had FOUR babies naturally and I know, although painful, contractions are do-able.

My girl didn't have to go through this when Kaden was born almost 4 years ago. She went right in and had her C-section with him. I was kind of glad Cody was getting to experience having some labor pains. It's perfectly natural. Plus I knew she would be having a C-section shortly, so she wouldn't feel these pains very long.

We finally got her up to her room, and got her settled.

I went down and moved the truck out of the circle drive.

When I got back her contractions were getting stronger and closer together.

Looking at the clock on the wall, it was now 6:05AM

The nurse said they would take Cody back for her C-section around 8 AM.

Oh Man! 2 hours to go........

Poor Cody :(

We also knew that since Cody wasn't quite at 37 weeks pregnant, that her baby would be going to the NICU. We had been told this the 2 previous nights when we were there, so we weren't surprised when Cody's nurse told us this. Hopefully he would check out just fine and not have to stay in the NICU for long.

I knew this was already a big baby, so I was hoping his lungs would be developed enough for him to breathe.

As we got closer and closer to 8 AM, her contractions were VERY strong and about 2 minutes apart.

The nurse came in at about 7:50 and told us "no one had called the Doctor in, but now he was on the way".

Really?? No one called the Doctor yet??

My inner Mom self wasn't happy to hear this, and my Girl was not amused.

OK though, shit happens.

No big deal. We let it go.

More strong contractions.........

Yes, at this point I felt pretty bad for the pain Cody was in, but she was doing fine and hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer.

Here is Cody breathing through a strong contraction.

Cody's doctor must live very close to the hospital, or he drives VERY fast.

He arrived at the hospital in about 20 minutes.

It's GO time!!!!!

The anesthesiologist came and got Cody,

He walked with her into the Operating Room.

She was going to get an epidural and they would come get me as soon as that was done and she was settled.

I barely got this pic of them walking through the doors toward the operating room.

SO EXCITING!!!!!!

The nurse brought me my gown, head covering, shoe covers, and a hospital mask.

I knew I had a few minutes to wait so I entertained myself by taking selfies in Cody's bathroom mirror.

IT'S BABY TIME!!!!!

It seemed like it took FOREVER for them to come get me.

I was bored with my hospital gown selfies so I sat back down in my chair and watched the hallway anxiously.

After a few minutes, I saw Cody's Doctor in the hallway putting his gown and mask on.

(see him there in the hallway?)

FINALLY they came to get me!!! ITS TIME!!!!!

I was SO excited I skipped back to the Operating room!

(ok, not really, but I FELT like skipping!)

This is what my Cody Leigh looked like when I got into the room.

Also, I noticed it was the same Operating room Kaden was born in!

Cody was already groggy...........

They gave her some good meds

Not my best look, but can you see how excited I was!!!

Our Lil Babe was going to be born in MINUTES!!!

They wouldn't let me stand up and look over the sheet while the baby was actually being born.

I sat there in a chair by Cody's head, SO EXCITED, and I asked her questions like, "Can you feel him cutting you open?"

Oh I'm a funny one!! I'm sure Cody was amused with my sense of humor :)

(she's used to me by now though, I've been her Mom for 30 years)

OK..........That was all fun and games, but at this point things got serious REAL QUICK.

Here is our Little Babe!!!

5 seconds old

WELCOME KAMDEN LEE

My first view of Kam was of his rear end, and he happened to be pooping

He is laying on Cody's legs, with his head near her knees.

The Doctor is sucking the fluid out of his mouth with that green bulb thing,

By the clock on the wall, it was 8:38 AM

Kam is about 7 seconds old here.........

Still laying on Cody's lap while they cut his umbilical cord.

I did hear the Doctor say a few times that there was SO MUCH amniotic fluid

10 seconds old, he cried a few times when the nurse lifted him up to move him to the warming table.

He's covered with goop, but he's beautiful!!! He looks like his brother :)

The nurse was cleaning him off. Everything seemed fine so far!!!

This was so fun!!! Our baby is here!!!!

Then suddenly it wasn't OK anymore. The nurses surrounded him and started giving him oxygen.

I heard 2 different nurses ask if Mom had a "hard labor"

There was also some discussion about Kam sucking down a huge gulp of amniotic fluid either during labor or as he was being pulled out of Cody's belly.

This sometimes happens with C-sections. The baby is startled and takes in some fluid.

It also can happen if the mother is in hard labor for too long. The baby becomes distressed and sucks in some fluid.

Most of the time, this isn't a huge problem but Kam had already poo'd into his amniotic fluid before being born. This first baby poo is called meconium. It's thick sticky poo and it's highly toxic.

Kam sucked meconium fluid into his lungs. After he took his first few breaths, the meconium stuck to the small hairs in his lungs and filled and blocked his airways.

Little Kam couldn't breathe :(

The nurses were furiously working on him, and I was trying to stay out of their way.

I asked what his Apgar score was, and they wouldn't tell me.

That's when I knew it was really bad.

His main nurse pulled me aside and told me he was sick and needed to go to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) pretty quickly.

She told me his oxygen was up to 100% and she had no more oxygen to give him.

She said she was going to let Cody and I hold him for a few minutes and take a few pictures, and then she wanted to get him upstairs.

They cleaned him up a little bit and wrapped him up, and that's when he really tanked :(

He was not doing well, I could tell by the urgency of the Nurses working with him.

By this time, Kam was about 10 minutes old.

They put some goop in his eyes (Ilotycin - an antibiotic) to prevent Pink Eye or any other common bacteria.

Oh my goodness, look at this sweet sweet boy.

He's beautiful!!!

By the time Kam was about 12 minutes old, his nurses decided a photo shoot with Mommy and Grandma was a bad idea. Kam's nurse held him up for Cody to see him for about 20 seconds. Cody got to rub his back and tell him she loved him before they rushed him off to the NICU.

One of the Nurses said, "Come on, Grandma. You can come with us"

and off we went.

We ran.

The entire way to the NICU, we all ran with poor baby Kam :(

I was starting to gather that Kam was in serious trouble.

Up in the NICU, they wheeled him into a bright sunny room.

Kam's Nurse (in the hairnet) explaining to Kam's NICU nurse what his stats were.

I was trying to stay back out of the way.

The Nurses said I could come in the room, so I went in and sat on the couch while they got him set up.

At this point, he was spitting out amniotic fluid, which is a good thing.

Unfortunately, he had A LOT of amniotic fluid in his lungs. As the minutes went by, the meconium was making it harder and harder for Kam to get a breath. He was really struggling.

Kam's doctor came in immediately. She was a wonderful older woman.

I really liked her. She told me she wanted to put Kam on a respirator to help him breathe.

She told me he was REALLY sick and to be prepared for him to be taken to Children's Mercy.

I stayed there while they intubated him.

Poor baby :(

It was heartbreaking to see him like this.

His heart was beating out of his chest. I could see his tiny heart working SO HARD. It was going so fast, and a MAJOR concern was that he was going to have a heart attack.

He was drawing so hard for every breath, I could see his baby belly was pulling in so hard to draw every single breath.

Our poor poor sweet baby boy was SO SICK :(

The only thing I could do now was stand there with him and hold his tiny hand.

He was sooooo little!!

He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz

He was 19 inches long

7 lbs is pretty big for a 36 week baby, but 7 lbs is so so very small when they are suffering and in so much distress. He was so tiny and pitiful.

I told him his Grandma was here with him. I told him his Mommy loves him. I told him to be strong, and that he has a whole family that needs him and loves him so much.

Kam's Doctor wanted to go see Cody and tell her what was going on with Kam. I walked down with her and we talked on the way.

She told me again how sick Kam was, and she told me Children's Mercy was a definite possibility for Kam. She said there was no more they could do for him here, and that Children's Mercy had some special equipment that could help him if he got to that point.

When we first saw Cody in the recovery room, I think my first words to her were "You look like shit!"

(or maybe I just thought that??)

Look at her! She's normally darker complected but when I saw her she was as pale as a ghost. Her lips were white.

While Kam's Doctor talked to Cody, Cody's Doctor came to talk to me.

He told me he can not get Cody to stop bleeding.

I won't give details, because Cody might like to keep her uterus details to herself, but her Doctor said this is serious. If he can't get the bleeding to stop, Cody will need to go for an emergency hysterectomy.

He said they just called the Blood Bank and they were rushing blood in so they could give her a transfusion.

OK, WTF is going on??!!!!

Two hours ago I was on Cloud 9

And now EVERYONE IS DYING!!!!!

Are you kidding me with all this??

I think this was about the time I went into shock.

My stress and anxiety were at an all time high, and I was all alone watching my family DIE.

My poor baby girl, and her poor sweet baby boy :(

This is seriously the stuff nightmares are made of. It didn't occur to me that everything could go so wrong.

In just the time the Doctor talked to me, Cody was fading fast. She couldn't keep her eyes open. She kept saying she was "so tired".

One of the nurses showed up with a red cooler from the Blood Bank, and they got Cody's transfusion started.

I tried to stay out of the way.

There were 6-8 nurses surrounding Cody, plus her Doctor. They were furiously working on her trying to stop her bleeding.

I purposely blocked the bottom half of this pic with my finger. It wasn't a good idea to photograph "everything".

I have to stop here and thank the amazingly awesome volunteer donor who took their time to donate this blood that saved my daughter's life.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

(I also want to say that you can explain it to me 58 more times and I will NEVER understand how I have type A+ blood and I made a kid that does not have type A blood, but whatever)

Thank you again (and again) to everyone who donates blood.

It really does save lives.

You saved my baby.

With the blood transfusion, Cody started feeling better.

Meanwhile the Doctor tried something to stop the blood loss, AND IT WORKED!!!!

Well, so far so good. We would have to wait and see if it REALLY was going to work.

At this point I was happy she didn't have to have a hysterectomy. That's pretty huge.

Of course, if it is her life or a hysterectomy...............of course I'd pick the hysterectomy any day.

But still........

She's eating ice chips and checking her phone.

She must be feeling better??

Now that my Girl is stable...........

back to focusing on the baby.

I went back up to the NICU to check on the little guy.

He was not doing any better.

He was on some heavy meds to keep him calm.

By now is was around 1 PM and I was exhausted mentally and physically.

I had been up for over 24 hours by then, and I really really needed a hug from my Sweetheart.

I felt like I had been through a war.

Not that any of this is about me.........but the last 5 hours were quite traumatic for me.

I didn't know whether I was supposed to be upstairs with the baby or downstairs with my daughter.

What a horrible position to be in :(

I was completely alone going through this.

Even if Timmy were to find someone to leave Kaden with, he wouldn't have been allowed to come into Recovery to see Cody or into the NICU to see the baby.

I was kind of stuck doing this by myself.

Since Cody was stable and the baby was in good hands, I decided to go home to eat and nap real quick.

I also needed some energy from my Timmy.........he is pretty amazing at helping me feel better in any situation. I really needed him.

What a terrible horrible awful day this turned out to be.

I was back at the hospital by 4 or 5 PM.

Again, I didn't know whether to go upstairs or down. Who do I visit first?

Since I was texting with Cody, and I knew she was "mostly" OK, I went to see the baby.

Poor Sweet Baby Boy.

He was doing no better, and no worse.

Next I went to find Cody.

They had moved her into a temporary room while they were waiting to see if her bleeding would stop.

She was on complete bedrest, so she could not go up to see her baby.

Not even in a wheelchair.

She was devastated.

She carried that baby for 8 months, and now he was............somewhere else.

And he was not doing well at all :(

I didn't really want to tell her how sick he was. Kam's doctor visited Cody several times that day and had been telling her what was going on. I wasn't really sure if Cody knew how sick he really was though.

Goodness this was all so awful. I felt so bad for her.

One really cool thing the NICU has are Baby Cameras!!

The only problem is, they only have 2 of them, so the Mommy's have to share them.

When I got to Cody's room, they had her set up with one of the cameras so she could see her baby.

Thank goodness for that camera! It really helped her feel better.

She couldn't take her eyes off the screen, and she was actually smiling.

I'm ready to start a "Go Fund Me" and try to raise some money to get the NICU some more of those Baby Cameras. They really need more than two. They probably cost thousands, or millions.........

that's probably why they only have two of them.

The disappointing part for me was that when I came in to see Cody, they were giving her another transfusion. She had lost so much blood, she needed more.

I visited with Cody for awhile, and got her all set up with everything she might need for the night on her hospital tray. She wasn't allowed to eat solid food, but I refilled her water cup and got her a cup of crushed ice to chomp on.

After I got Cody settled in for the night, I went up to spend some time with the baby.

It was about 10 PM when I went up to the NICU.

I just sat quietly on the couch in his room and hung out with him for a few hours.

Poor thing was still in bad shape and he seemed to be getting worse.

Kam's Nurse came in and sat with me and explained more of what was going on with him.

She told me she was a special Nurse from Children's Mercy. She told me her title, but I can't remember what she said. I was REALLY happy Kam was under her care. She was amazing.

Because that meconium poo is so toxic, an infection had begun to set in.

Poor guy couldn't breathe, and now he had a bad infection.

He was really struggling.

His oxygen was still turned up to 100%

(21% oxygen is what is in our normal breathing air)

Again, she said Children's Mercy was still an option for Kam. They were trying to decide if they should move him or not. The move would be risky for him, and they were on the fence about moving him or leaving him where he is.

She said Kam was very very sick and that he would likely be in the NICU for weeks or months.

I stayed with Kam until about 1:30 AM

I left him a few goodies

Mickey Mouse is our thing. Cody and I thought Mickey might lend Kam a helping hand

in fighting this horrible mess.

Some kind stranger took the time to knit this little hat..........and with a bunny on it too!

Kam is our Little Easter Bunny baby!

One of Kam's Nurses brought it to him.

So sweet..............

So, when I got home that night it really hit me that this baby might not make it.

He was fighting for his life and it seemed really bad :(

I was so upset that night. This was really hard.

Around 3 AM I called the NICU and spoke to his Nurse.

She said he was still hanging in there.

The next day, we found out that Cody's bleeding did finally stop. YAY!

Finally some good news.

She was allowed to get out of bed, and I was allowed to push her upstairs in a wheelchair to see her baby!!!

It was so exciting! But also bittersweet.

Kam wasn't doing well at all.

Any kind of stimulation would send his heart rate soaring.

They moved him out of the sunny room and into a room with no windows.

They turned off the lights, turned off the sound to all of the beeping machines, we had to whisper very quietly, and we weren't allowed to touch him. No stimulation at all.

Cody sat there and stared at him for over an hour. She sat there as long as she could. She was still really weak.

Kam had a nurse in his room with him 24/7

He was still struggling to breathe through the tarry stuff in his lungs.

He also had a raging infection from ingesting the toxic meconium.

He was fighting for every breath.

The next day (3 days old) he was doing a little better and they said we could put our hands on him and hold him gently. He seemed to like it.

He was still really sick. He wasn't out of the woods quite yet but the antibiotics seemed to be working.

The next day (4 days old) we could tell he was starting to feel better.

This was the first day we got to see his eyes!

He wasn't awake for very long but we were so happy to see him open his eyes every so often.

He seemed to know we were there and try to look directly at us. I'm sure he could see our shadows above his bed. He was still really sleepy. He was on Morphine to keep him calm.

Look how tiny he is!!! He really is itty bitty

I'm not sure what day this is, but finally he was coming off all of the meds, tubes and machines.

We were able to hold him!!

So exciting!! We could tell he was feeling better and better each day.

Cody was feeling better each day too. She was discharged from the hospital when Kam was 4 days old and she was up there to see him as much as she could.

As she felt better she was up there with Kam more and more each day until finally we never saw her at home.

We assured her that Kaden was fine at home, and she knew Kam really needed her. It was so good for her to finally be able to bond with him. I think having his Mommy hold him all day really helped Kam get better faster. The Doctors and Nurses all commented on how quickly he was feeling better.

Finally Kam's oxygen is down to 21% and he can breathe normal air!!!

Now to see if he will take a bottle. A few of the Nurses told us that some NICU babies have trouble bottle feeding.

Kam did great at bottle feeding!!

He is below his birthweight, and they are concerned that he needs to gain some weight.

He managed to put on the slightest bit of weight and that's better than nothing!

Next he had to pass his car seat test. He had to sit in his car seat unassisted for 90 minutes without his heart rate going up.

He actually did this test and his Nurse didn't record his results. He had to do the whole thing over the next day. He did great both times! GO KAM!!!

His Nurses and Doctors were commenting daily on how quickly he was getting well, and how good he did at all of his tests. He really surprised everyone!

When Kam was 13 days old we got to bring him HOME!!!

Such an exciting day!!!

Cody went up to the hospital early in the morning.

I had Timmy drop me off up there around noon.

Finally around 1:30 PM we got to leave the hospital with Baby kam.

His Nurse helped make sure he was buckled into his carseat correctly.

Cody was so proud to carry him out to the truck.

This is the same wall she was having a bad contraction at when we came into the hospital.

Kam gets to go outside for the first time in his life!

Grandpa was so happy to finally meet the little guy!!

Kaden took a quick peek at Kam. It took a day or two, but Kaden has warmed up to having a baby brother. He says, "Awww, he's cute!"

Proud Mommy bringing her baby home!!!

Up the front steps!

(now it's all so exciting again!!)

He's HOME!!!!!

We are all so proud and happy to have this little guy home!!!

It took 2.3 seconds before Grandpa Timmy claimed him!

Proud Grandpa finally gets to meet Kam after 13 LONG days

I had to throw this one in here. This one is Grandpa and Kaden.

Same outfit! And these boys sure do look like brothers!!

We are enjoying all of the things!

Big Yawns!!

Baby frog legs!!!!!!!

All of the below pics were taken today. Kam is 17 days old and has been home for 4 days. He is doing GREAT!!!

Cody took him to his Baby Doctor yesterday, and he has put on an ounce of weight since coming home.

Good job Kam!!!

In the NICU, they called him "feisty".

Since he has been home, he seems to be sweet, quiet and calm.

He really likes to be held, which is fine with us! Cody has hardly put him down since he's been home. Tim and I are waiting to hold him as soon as she is ready to give him up :)

He makes THE BEST sucking noises when he drinks his bottle! It's adorable!

He also does the "Baby Bird" thing when he is hungry and trying to find his bottle.

We are all SO HAPPY to have Kam home with us.

I know some families are not as lucky as we are. That is horrifying to think about.

We are thanking our lucky stars that our story has a happy ending!

IT'S MY 50th BIRTHDAY & WE ARE GOING ON A DISNEY CRUISE!!!

2016-05-07T01:04:00.002-05:00

So...........apparently I am going to be 50 years old on May 15th

50???? How in the heck did that get here so fast??

I was just 25 a little while ago...........

Rather than dwell on it, and dread it, we booked a cruise!!

Now I have something to look forward to, and I have actually been excited for my birthday to get here

I have taken 6 cruises, and all of them have been with Carnival Cruise Line.

This time, we are switching it up and we booked on:

And, we didn't book just any Disney ship (they have 4),

we are booked on the:

It's one of their newer and bigger ships! OOOhhhh! I'm so excited!

3 years ago, my sister Lisa and I watched the Disney Dream pull into Nassau Bahamas and turn completely around right in front of us.

We decided right then that we definitely wanted to cruise on that ship, it looks magnificent!

And now that time has come!

I have to admit, this vacation has been a mess to plan. It was supposed to be a much bigger vacation to Disney World, but Moving to Maryland and our finances have turned this into a much different vacation than I had originally planned. We are just juggling way too much these days and something had to give.

I don't get to go to Disney World, this time, but I will work on getting a Disney World vacation as soon as things calm down for us (and as soon as I get a job so I can pay for it!)

For now, I'm happy with a 4 day cruise and a short trip to my happy place in Ft Lauderdale after the cruise.

Cruising with me this time will be:

My husband -----who is actually looking forward to this cruise, even though he will admit that cruising isn't really "his thing"

My Mom---- She's 83 and she loves Disney! She is so excited about this cruise

My sister Lisa----- She also admits that cruising isn't "her thing", but she is a Disney lover. She is very much looking forward to cruising on this ship.

My son Chris and his fiance Mariah---- This will be Chris's 2nd cruise and Mariah's 1st. These two will have the time of their lives on this vacation! I am so excited to see Chris and Mariah and spend some time with them, I haven't seen them since mid-January. I think this is the longest I have ever gone without seeing Christopher in his entire life. I am missing him!

So, there are 6 of us going and we are all adults.

NO KIDS!!!!!!!!!!!

A Disney cruise with no kids???????

Why would we do that??

Well for one thing, this is my 50th birthday and I don't want to spend it chasing kids. I want to relax.

For another thing, Disney is REALLY REALLY expensive.

Really expensive.

I agree it would be fun to bring Mariah's little son along, I just love that boy! But he's only 3 and Disney charges full fare for kids.

I don't see any reason to take a 3 year old on an expensive vacation that he will most likely not remember. There will be plenty of other cruises in our futures, and we will bring Nik when he is a little older and can appreciate it and remember it.

For this cruise, it's just us adults.

Look at the lobby on the Disney Dream, it's amazing and it's not just for kids!

There are plenty of adult only areas on the ship.

There are adult bars, and here is a pic of the adult only pool area.

Does that count as a swim-up bar? I have always wanted to go to a swim-up bar, and it's on my bucket list. That water looks ankle deep though so I'm not sure if it counts.

We decided to book a suite for this cruise, and that means we have access to the concierge lounge.

The concierge lounge is right across the hall from our cabins on the ship. It will be staffed with a concierge team, they have a bar in there, and a spread of food that changes throughout the day. I think we will all enjoy this perk, but I especially think this will be good for Mom.

She turned 83 last October and she just doesn't get around as well as she used to. She is still mobile, but she is slow and she gets tired easily. She may not want to run around exploring the ship with us.

The concierge lounge will be a great place for mom to go to sit and relax (instead having to sit in her cabin). She can get coffee, food, or anything from the bar. The concierge team will make sure she has everything she needs on this cruise.

Here is a pic of the concierge lounge:

And a pic of the sundeck for concierge guests:

Tim and I, Chris and Mariah, will share a 1 bedroom suite.

Lisa and Mom will have a smaller room that connects to our suite.

Here is Disney's floor plan for the 1 bedroom suite:

Since Disney is so expensive, we picked a shorter 4 day cruise that will stop at 2 islands in the Bahamas.

We will leave from Port Canaveral on Monday May 9th, and we will be back into Orlando on Friday May 13th.

Our first stop will be Nassau, Bahamas. This will be my 3rd time there. We will do some shopping and have lunch while we are there. We plan to stay pretty close to the ship in case mom gets tired.

Our second stop will be at Castaway Cay, Bahamas. This is Disney's private island. This will be a beach day for us, and we plan to go to the adults only beach for part of that day.

This cruise also has 1 sea day so we can explore the ship and enjoy some of the shows, activities, and character meet-n-greets.

Here is a picture of the Princess gathering in the lobby:

Oh my goodness! The Princess gathering!!!!! I can not wait to meet Belle!!! And Ariel!!!

This will be so fun!

Disney has a pirate night on every cruise. All of us (except my sister) will be dressing up in our best pirate costumes and going to dinner, and then to the pirate party on deck.

I hear there are fireworks from the ship that night, and I think we can watch them from our balcony.

On Friday, after the cruise is over, most of us (except Timmy, who has to get back to Maryland to work) are renting a car and driving 3 hours south to Ft Lauderdale.

We are going to spend a few days at my newest favorite Resort called Lago Mar.

I love this place and I really just want to relax and soak up some sun on the beach or at the pool for the weekend. I'm glad my family will be there to enjoy it with me.

My daughter Cody was supposed to be joining us for the weekend at Lago Mar. Now she is doing her own internship on a river cruise so she won't be able to come. We will miss you Cody!

On Monday, May 16th our trip will be over. I'll come back to Maryland refreshed and relaxed, and I'll be 50 years old. YIKES!

I really can't think of a better way to turn 50 though.

I want to end this post with a few pics of some Disney cruise food:

I love Mickey waffles, and I will be eating these every morning!

Here is part of the buffet on the ship:

Dessert display at the buffet:

Here is the Enchanted Garden restaurant on the ship:

This restaurant is called Animator's Palate:

And this one is called Royal Palace. I think this is where we will have our formal night dinner on the ship.

I'm almost all packed and I'm ready to go! We leave very early on Mother's Day morning for Orlando.
Its nice that I'll get to spend Mother's Day with my mom.

Instead of dreading it, I'm counting down the days till my 50th birthday!!!!

8 days to go!!!!!!!

Living in Maryland for 4 1/2 months - Update

2016-04-26T14:10:00.003-05:00

In case you didn't see my posts about why we moved to Maryland,
click HERE and then HERE for to find out why we moved.

Did you see the tour of our Maryland apartment? Click HERE

Now that you are all caught up on our move, I wanted to do an update about whats been going on here for the last 4 and a half months.

We are all mostly adjusted to Maryland life.
We love it here!

It's just beautiful, and we are enjoying our time here.

That said, I miss home (Kansas City) a lot too. I can't wait till we eventually move back there.

We will be here in Maryland for at least a year, maybe two.
Then we will be transferred somewhere else. We aren't sure where we go next. Maybe back to KC, maybe not. It will probably be a while before we find out when and where we will go next.

Here in Maryland, Timmy works ALL THE TIME. He really likes his job, although it is stressful.

He is one of 3 Managers at this warehouse.

Look at the size of that warehouse! This picture shows only one corner of the building, and you can tell the size by looking at the semi parked on the left of the pic.

Our dogs are doing great here, and they are all fine with living in an apartment.

Here is my Sheltie boy, Jack. The absolute sweetest dog ever:

And of course, Mya, our American Eskimo girl who LOVES to hog up all of the attention:

We can't forget about Peanut Butter, our Shih Tzu. She's mostly quiet and keeps to herself, but she's quite a ham when she wants to be:

We made it through a couple of Maryland snowstorms in January and February.

One snowstorm gave us 18 inches of snow in less than 24 hours.

This was a night time snow-walk with Mya. She really loves chilly weather and snow.

Of course she does, she's an American Eskimo!

Most of the winter, the dogs were pretty lazy:

I am so glad my daughter Cody moved out here with us. She keeps me entertained.

Cody and I kept ourselves busy over the winter.

Here is Cody, putting filling in some pastries. A friend of hers sent these to her from the Cake Boss bakery. They came packed in dry ice.

They were YUMMY after she baked them and filled them!

Cody and I have been sewing A LOT.
I made myself a fluffy winter robe. I really love it, and now I want to make a light weight summer robe using the same pattern.

I also made this Disney inspired duffel bag.

It came out really awesome:

Now that spring is here, we are getting out more.
It's so beautiful here!

This is the bridge to Solomon's Island, a really cute little town about 10 miles away from our house.

We try to go over there as much as possible.

We found a grocery store we really like on Solomon's Island.

Here is a pic I took when Cody and I went over the bridge to the grocery store

a week or so ago:

And our view off of the side of the bridge.

Cody and I have found THE BEST barbecue restaurant.

We were very skeptical the first time we went in there. Since we are from Kansas City, which is famous for great barbecue, we really thought we would be disappointed with this place.

Turns out, Maryland DOES know how to do barbecue, and Mission BBQ is amazing.

They have 6 different sauces, and one is called KC CLASSIC.

Their brisket is so tender. It's the best I have ever had. YUM!

The dogs are happy that the weather has been warm enough to leave the sliding door open during the day. They all love to sit in front of the screen and feel the breeze.
They also love to bark at anyone who walks by.

They love their afternoon walks

There are pathways all throughout the apartment complex.

The apartments we live in have stations all over the complex with poo bags and poo trash cans.
I never have to carry poo very far, and I don't have to bring poo back home with me to throw away. I can get rid of it as we walk around. I really appreciate that they have these.

I usually take Mya and Jack for one long walk every day.

We usually walk about a mile to the turtle pond.

We walk down this dead end road beside our apartment complex, and the turtle pond is behind the fence on the right.

The turtle pond

There are 2 of them in this pic, but there are a lot of turtles in this pond.

They like to lay in on the bank in the sun.

The biggest one we have seen is about the size of a dinner plate.

There are also ducks in the turtle pond some days.

There are so many ducks here, we see them all over the complex every day.

One rainy day, Cody took this picture of some ducks huddling in a rain puddle in the parking lot.

No idea why they were in this spot, there are plenty of ponds around here for them to go in.

One day I saw these 2 ducks crossing the parking lot.

Cody goes with me to walk the dogs if she is home.

She wanted to try out the slide on the way home from one of our walks.

Speaking of Cody, here is a pic of her and Mya.

Awwwwwww

And a pic of Cody on her way to work.
In the evenings, she cleans offices at the construction site where Tim works.
During the day, she is a nanny/housekeeper for a family with 7 kids.
She has really been keeping herself busy out here.

One weekend, Tim and I were visiting friends that have an old farmhouse that is down a really long country road. We took Mya with us so she could have a chance to run without her leash on.

Of all of our dogs, we thought Mya would appreciate being able to run free the most.

Jack is clingy, and won't usually leave my side.

Peanut Butter doesn't seem to care about running very much.

So, Mya got to go with us that day.

She just loved it!

We all took a walk, and she would run far ahead of us as fast as she could go. She always came back when I called her though.

When we got back home, she slept for the rest of the day.

She really wore herself out.

Another day, Cody and I ventured out to find a secluded park and beach that someone told us about.

We wanted to look for sea shells and sea glass.

The park and beach was down this beautiful country road, but we were only about 15 minutes from our house.

We found the beach!
We brought home a lot of shells, and about 10 pieces of sea glass each.
This is actually the Patuxent River, which goes out into the Chesapeake Bay, which goes out into the Atlantic ocean.

The water is part river water, and part salt water. Tim calls it "brackish water".

It was kind of a chilly day, so Cody and I had the beach to ourselves.

I am SO GLAD it is getting warmer outside.

Spring has finally arrived and I brought my Fairy Garden to life on our little patio:

I brought all of my Fairies with me when we moved here.
I just needed to buy a big giant pot once we got here.

I also brought Tim's Granny's Marigold seeds and finally was able to plant them last week.
I already see some sprouts

I am looking forward to having a pot of Granny's Marigolds after they bloom

Our patio is tiny, but there is enough room for me to sit out there and soak up the afternoon sun.

Summer is coming, and we are on the East coast!

Soon it will be time to explore.

Here is a map showing exactly where we live:

These are some of the places we want to visit while we are here.

We are at the bottom of the map, in California Maryland

Washington DC is a 1 hour and 22 minute drive from our house.

We plan to spend a weekend there, at least. It may take a few weekend trips to see everything we want to see there.

Baltimore is 1 hour and 40 minutes away.

There happens to be a cruise port there.

A CRUISE PORT IS 1 HOUR AND 40 MINUTES AWAY!!!

Cody and I are trying to figure out how to add another cruise to our list. It would be so easy to cruise from here. We could leave our house at 9:00 AM and be in the ship by noon!

Manhattan is 4 and a half hours away

Tim and I would like to plan a weekend trip to New York to explore. Tim has never been there, so it will be fun to show him around.

The place I most want to see while we are out here is where WOODSTOCK took place.

We are a 6 hour drive from there

I was 3 years old when this happened:

That is pretty amazing! Look at all those people!!!

Now it's a museum, and I want to see it!

The grounds look like this now:

Also, while we are in that area, Levon Helm's Studio is nearby.

Levon Helm was the drummer for THE BAND,
(He also played Loretta Lynn's dad in the movie Coal Miner's Daughter)

Levon died 4 years ago, but his studio "The Barn" is still going strong in Woodstock New York.

As soon as I can arrange it, Tim and I are going to see a concert in Levon's Barn

I am really excited to do that!

In other news, my son Chris and his girlfriend Mariah are ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so happy for them! We just love Mariah, she fits right in with us.

The best part for me, is that Mariah's little boy will be my REAL GRANDSON!

I just love this kid!

I took these pics of Nik last summer when we were all working in the garden at the Kansas house.

I miss him a lot!

Speaking of the Kansas house,

We still own it, and we are having some major construction while we aren't living in it.

Timmy and I both miss our little house so much!

This pic was taken a few years ago:

And this pic was taken a few months ago after the new front door, porch and siding was done.
Since then, all of the windows have been replaced, and we got a new roof put on.

Now, construction is happening inside the house.

This is our bedroom right now! YIKES!!!

We are making our bathroom and master bedroom bigger, and using the 2nd bedroom to make a huge walk-in closet.

Timmy was there a few weeks ago, and I will be back there in June for a whole month. I can't wait to see the progress in person.

So that's about all that has been happening in the last 4 months or so.

I'll be back with some spring and summer updates very soon!

A year of big changes - Part 2

2016-02-17T14:03:00.004-06:00

I wrote a post in November about Tim's job promotion and our move to Maryland.

You can read it HERE

Continuing on with the story..............

My last day at work was November 20th. I had worked for the college for almost 10 years, and my last year and a half there, I was lucky to get to work at one of the colleges newer facilities.

The people I worked with here were amazing, and I made some really good friendships there.

The building itself was pretty neat. I spent most of my time behind this counter greeting people, answering the phone, delivering mail around the building, helping students and staff with anything and everything.............

My co-worker caught me cleaning. On my last day at work.

I was kind of hoping to slip out quietly on my last day, but they surprised me with a goodbye party!

It was so nice. Everyone brought a breakfast item, it was yummy!

They even brought me presents!

I was really touched

As much as I complained about having to work, I am sure going to miss that place.
When I wasn't behind my counter, I was walking miles and miles around this lobby with my fitbit on.

I probably walked a hundred miles around this lobby. Yes, I did that while I was working! I was always close enough to hear the phone, and I was there to help anyone that needed anything.
The college even gave me the fitbit for free!

As far as jobs go, it was a pretty great job.............
I'm still technically an employee of the college. I am now at temporary status and when I am in Kansas City I can fill in for other employees.

So..............the job was over (for the most part) and in 1 week, Tim would be coming into Kansas City for Thanksgiving and to take a load of my stuff back to Maryland with him.

I was ready and had everything packed when he got to town.

The bummer was, it was going to start raining. The weather report said it was going to rain pretty steadily for the last 3 days he was in town.

Now I was worried all of my stuff would be soaked by the time it got to Maryland.
Tim's idea was to buy construction grade trash bags and wrap each box like a package in the plastic.
Then he bought an extra big tarp, and wrapped the entire load in it.

We had to load the truck in the rain, but Tim's idea worked perfectly and all of my stuff stayed dry.

Tim loading the truck in the rain

All of my prized possessions were on that truck

Tim left early on a Friday morning to head back to Maryland.
It was still pouring.
He only had to drive for about an hour in the rain, and then the rest of his drive was dry.

Now that my stuff was on the way to Maryland, it's time to go on a cruise!

WAIT, WHAT??!!

A cruise??? In the middle of a move to Maryland??
HERE is my post with the details on the cruise.........

It had been planned and paid for months before, so we made sure it was worked into the moving plan. That's why I didn't go to Maryland when Tim came for Thanksgiving.

My daughter Cody and I left for our CARNIVAL SPLENDOR cruise 1 week after Thanksgiving.
We had a blast!!!

Now that I am in Maryland and I have my computer up and running, I'm sorting through hundreds of pictures and writing my cruise review.
I'll post it as soon as possible

Cody and I were gone for 11 days. When we came back I had 3 weeks to get the Kansas house in order and be ready to move.
I needed to hit the ground running. There was SO much to do before the move.

But I came back from the cruise, and I was really really sick.

So sick

I think I had the flu. I have no idea, and it really didn't matter what it was called.

I felt like crap

My son Chris and his girlfriend Mariah, thank goodness, were able to stay with me for a few days and take care of me. I wasn't even capable of fixing myself food.

Needless to say, I did not hit the ground running. I pretty much hit the bed and stayed there.

After about 4 days I was able to get up and do a few things.

I was losing time being sick, which was stressing me out.
Tim was coming to get me (and Cody, and our 3 dogs) on January 6th and I needed to be ready.

We were still in construction of the house, so I was working around that too.

The living room looked really empty and sad when everything was packed up.

Billy, our contractor was replacing our windows.

Here is little Nik (Mariah's little boy) showing us the hole in the side of the house:

The new front window went in, and I didn't love it.
I still don't love it,but its growing on me.

Billy built a nice frame on the inside with a little shelf. This will look nice when I paint or stain it.

One of the kitchen windows being replaced:

And the replacement. I love these windows with the big glass panes.

Here is a pic of the old kitchen windows. I like the new ones much better,

All of the windows in the house were replaced, and its nice to have that done.
Billy is still working on the house, and I'll go back to Kansas City this summer and spend a few weeks there painting and working on the inside.

I didn't quite get everything done that I wanted to before it was time to move. I did as much as I could, and again, Chris and Mariah were a HUGE help to me. I don't know what I would have done without those two.

Tim flew in to KC on his birthday and we didn't have a lot of time to celebrate. We went out to dinner and Tim went to his mom's house for a couple of hours but that was pretty much it.
I owe him a birthday celebration!

The two days he was there, we were running around doing errands and last minute things. It was pretty crazy, and guess what???

I got sick again!!!

UGH!

This time I think it was a cold, or an upper respiratory thing. Again, I don't care what it's called. It doesn't matter. I felt like crap and I really didn't have time to be sick.

I pushed through it, and on January 8th, we loaded Cody's car with a few things (not much would fit in her car) and the dogs, and we headed toward Maryland.

Three adults and three dogs in this car for 20 hours.

We went through 7 states to get to Maryland.

I managed to get pictures of 2 of the State signs.

I sat in the back with all 3 dogs. They seemed to be calmer when I was back there with them.
They all did really good on the drive. They all slept most of the way.

We finally made it to Maryland. It took a day and a half, with a hotel stop for some sleep.

Cody and I both LOVE it here! The neighborhood is very nice and we are very close to a lot of stores.
We love the apartment and we feel very comfortable here.
The dogs have settled in and they all seem to like it here too.

Unfortunately, I have to walk them now AND clean up their poo. ICK!
Its a good thing I love my dogs

Try walking 3 dogs with leashes.
I am constantly tangled in the leashes. And if I am not tangled up, the dogs are. They get them wrapped around their feet, and each other.

I spend more time getting us untangled than we do walking, but we are learning!

Usually, I take the little dog out by herself, and the other 2 go together. Its a little easier that way.

Here is one of my mishaps...............

That is a rope burn from one of those retractable leashes.
It still hurts!!!
Yep, its a good thing I love my dogs!!

We have been here almost 2 weeks now and I'm pretty much unpacked.

Cody got a new sewing machine so we have been sewing.
We both want to make a quilt for our beds.
We decided we better start with an easier project before we dig in to quilts.

We decided on fleece pajama pants and warm fluffy robes. Perfect for winter!

Here are my pajama pants

They turned out really cute!! I love them and now I want more pajama pants!

Here is the material I picked for my robe:

It looks like a cross between tie-dye and snowflakes

Mya is helping me hold the material

Here is my finished robe. It's floor length and really fluffy and warm.
It has pockets and a tie.

I'm working on getting into a routine. It's a whole different life here than in KC.
Its different but I like it. I also like Kansas and I miss our house there.

The hardest part about moving here is that I don't get to see this little guy anymore. I sure do miss him!
Technology is awesome though, and we get to facetime almost every day. He shows me his toys, and Chris and Mariah set the camera so I can watch him play.

Here, he is showing me his clothespin.

I'm working on a few more posts, and I'll get them up ASAP
Stay tuned...........and thanks for reading

A tour of our Maryland apartment

2016-02-17T13:31:00.000-06:00

We all just love our cute little apartment in Maryland! (HERE is my post about our move)
Lets take a tour of the new apartment! (well, its new to me, Tim has been living here since last July)

I'll start with the floor plan, so you can see how the rooms are laid out.

Here is our living room, We have 9 ft ceilings and the walls are bare so it looks a little empty in here.
We need some side tables, lamps, and artwork.

The living room opens up into the kitchen. I love the floor plan and the way the kitchen seems to be part of the living room.
With the kitchen sink being in the middle of the apartment, you can see it from every room, so I really have to keep the dishes done or it looks messy.

The little door by the fridge goes to the laundry room.

Here is the laundry room. Its very convenient.

Standing at the sink looking into the living room.

Standing at the sink looking into the dining room.

The dining room is now my office and craft room.

Standing on the other side of the sink looking into the dining room:

I am using the dining room table as a temporary desk

The other side of the room has a table for sewing

And an area for my beading and jewelry making

Speaking of jewelry making, here is a necklace I am working on:

And these are a pair of earrings I bought in Grand Turk on my last cruise. I plan to re-make these into 2 necklaces.

Ok back to the tour.
There is a little hallway next to the livingroom.
The 2 doors on the right are a bathroom, and a linen closet.
The door straight back is Cody's bedroom:

On the other side of the living room is the master bedroom.
I'm using empty crates for a temporary night stand.
In front of the crates is Mya's bed. She doesn't usually like to sleep on the bed with us, she likes to sleep beside my bed at night. If the dog bed wasn't there, she would sleep right there on the floor. I have tried moving her dog bed to a more convenient place (like beside the night stand) but she would still sleep on the floor right beside my bed. So for Mya's comfort, the dog bed stays beside my bed.

The black cube is so Peanut Butter can get up onto the high bed. It's a pretty big jump for the little dog.

There is a little alcove in the bedroom that is perfect for Timmy's desk.

The door on the far left is the door into the living room.
The closed door is the walk in closet
The open door on the right is the bathroom.

It took me about an hour to untangle my necklaces when I unpacked them.

The picture hanging above my necklaces I bought in Puerto Rico on my last cruise. It's one of my favorite things.
The blue picture by the bathroom was hand painted. I bought that one from a lady on the sidewalk in Nassau. Another one of my favorite things. They both need frames.

I can't believe I have a master bathroom! As many times as I have moved in my life, I have only had a master bathroom one other time. That was about 27 years ago!

I am loving having a big bathroom with room to put all my stuff out.

I can't wait to take a bath in this huge tub!! I haven't yet, I have only been here a week and a half.

I do need a new shower curtain. This one was .99 cents and it works for now.

The big glass jar was a thrift store find last weekend. It was only $8.00 and it holds all my pretty soaps.

The garage.

Its really nice to have a garage attached to our apartment.

When I take the dogs out, we usually go through the garage. It's much easier than taking them through the front hallway.

In front of our garage, we have a designated parking space.
This has been so convenient when we have groceries or stuff to unload to take into the apartment.

Standing on the sidewalk in front of our garage.
I have also used the patio door to take the dogs out.

To the right of our garage is a walking path that winds through the buildings.
The dogs love the paths. I knew they would. So many things to smell and explore.
We haven't gone too far, because its cold out there. I can't wait till spring so we can take longer walks.
I have taken the dogs on a midnight walk a few times, and its so peaceful.

Back in the garage, here is my stash of poo bags.
I'm now a poo-picker-upper.
UGH - that part is not fun, but I have to do it!
The apartments are very dog friendly. They have little stations all over with extra poo bags and little trash cans so I don't have to carry the poo around for the entire walk.

Thats the end of my little apartment tour!!!

Stay tuned for our Maryland adventures............

Cruising - December 2015 - Carnival Splendor

2015-11-23T21:32:00.002-06:00

Thanks to my daughter, I get to go on another cruise!!

In less than 2 weeks, my daughter Cody and I will be boarding the Carnival Splendor for a 7 day cruise.
This will be my 6th cruise, and her 2nd.

The reason we are going on this cruise is because my baby girl is turning 25

Time sure flies. It seems like yesterday she was a little bitty girl. She grew up so fast!!!

She was only a few minutes old here:

She was about 18 months old in this one:

2 and a half:

4 years old:

Just after her 5th birthday:

She was 7 or 8 here:

About 15 years old:

I think she was around 21 when this was taken:

And a more recent picture:

See how fast she grew up??? And now we are already celebrating 25

How did that happen??

Cody and I had been talking about doing something for her 25th birthday for a while. We both really wanted to do a birthday cruise for her, but when it came down to it I told her I just couldn't afford it.

At the time I was working on paying off my upcoming 50th birthday Disney vacation and I just couldn't spare any money for a cruise.

Cody really wanted to do a cruise so she offered to pay for my flight, cruise and hotel. It didn't take long for me to agree to that deal!

The apple didn't fall far from the tree. It seems my Cody likes to plan whopper vacations just like I do. She made all the choices for this vacation, and I couldn't have planned a better vacation myself.

Here are some of the details of what we will be doing:

She decided she would like to spend a day or two in Miami before the cruise. We both wanted to stay at our favorite Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Miami, but rooms there were $350.00 a night and that is outrageous. I have stayed there twice before and never paid over $120.00 a night.

We looked around for other hotels in the area and we found there is an art show or something going on in downtown Miami the weekend we will be there, so all of the hotel prices were a bit high.

We found the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay for a reasonable price (for a Marriott) and we booked a room for 2 nights before the cruise.

Pictured below, the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay has red letters across the top:

She picked a 7 day cruise on the Carnival Splendor. Neither of us has been on this ship before, so it will be fun to explore a different ship.

Our ship sails from Miami on Sunday December 6th, 2015

We will visit 4 islands and have 2 sea days.

The islands we will go to are:

Half Moon Cay - Carnival's private island in the Bahamas
Grand Turk - South of the Bahamas
St Thomas - Neither of us has been to this island before
San Juan - We haven't been here either

For reference, I marked the locations of the islands in red on this map

We talked about the different types of cabins on the ship (inside, balcony, spa cabin, suite)
She changed her mind several times, but she finally settled on a cabin at the back of the ship with a huge balcony.

The red arrow is pointing to our balcony in the back corner of the ship:

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the cabin she picked for us. We happened to find these pictures online. (Thank you if you posted these pictures) It was nice to be able to see pictures of the cabin before we booked it:

Because it's in the back corner of the ship, the room is shaped like a triangle.
The beds will be separated into twin beds for Cody and I - we don't have to share a bed

The brown thing on the bed is a luggage mat. They put that out for you on arrival day so your luggage won't get the bed dirty wile you unpack.

Here is a picture someone posted of the balcony
I can picture us standing at that railing at sailaway time with fruity umbrella drinks in our hands

OOooohhhh! I'm getting pretty excited about this cruise!!

With Tim's help, I have a few things planned to celebrate Cody's birthday on the ship.

For her birthday present, Tim and I are splurging for Cody and I to get spa passes for the week. She really wants to go to the spa, and since we didn't book a spa cabin, we will have to pay for it separately. Thank you to Tim for making that happen for us!

We will be able to go to the spa every day. One of the things I can't wait to do in the spa is to lay in these awesome heated tile lounge chairs.

I also plan to take Cody to the ship Steakhouse on the night of her birthday.

On one of the sea days, they have a Dr Seuss breakfast with green eggs and ham!
We both want to go to that

After the cruise, Cody doesn't think she will be ready to go home yet.

She booked 2 nights for us at Lago Mar resort in Ft Lauderdale.
Fine with me!

I stayed here a few years ago with my friend Christina, and we absolutely loved this place.
Cody wants to see what we have been raving about.

Hopefully we will be well rested after this vacation. Three weeks after we get home we will be loading up and moving to Maryland.

I can't forget Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year will all be somewhere in there too!

Cody did a good job planning out this whole thing, and she worked really hard for over a year to pay for it all.
I am one lucky Mom to get to enjoy this birthday vacation with her.

I guarantee this will be a birthday she (and I) will never forget!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY, DARLIN! I can't wait to celebrate with you on the SPLENDOR!

Stay tuned, I will post my usual over-detailed review (with hundreds of pictures) of our birthday adventures at sea.

Sadly, I won't be able to post it until I make the move to Maryland. If you haven't heard about my upcoming move, read THIS.

Most likely I'll post Cody's birthday cruise review sometime toward the end of January.

Meanwhile, if you haven't read about my "disaster cruise" I took last year, you can read about it HERE
That was the cruise I took where I didn't really get along with any of my cruisemates.

You can click HERE to read about my honeymoon cruise with Tim on the Carnival Destiny in May of 2011.

And HERE is my review of my Carnival Victory cruise from 2013.

I promise I'll be back as soon as I can with more tales of the high seas!

A year of BIG changes, and its not over yet!

2015-11-19T09:52:00.002-06:00

2015

So many things going on at once, and our plans keep changing (evolving)..........
My head is spinning, but we are getting through this!

For 7 years now our lives have been pretty predictable. Then last spring Tim got a job promotion and everything is completely different in our lives.

With his promotion, we knew we would have to move away from Kansas City. We didn't know which state he would be going to until just a few weeks before he left.

We heard Kentucky first, then maybe Texas..............either of those would be fine with me. I was kind of rooting for Kentucky though.

Around mid-May, he found out for sure, we were going to MARYLAND!

Looks like we are heading for the East Coast! The area he is moving to is right next to the Chesapeake Bay.

Its very exciting to be able to explore the east coast for a few years. He will be on this job for the next 2-3 years, and then we will move to another state for the next job. That's really all we know at this point. We are figuring it all out as we go.

Kansas City to Maryland. That sounds like 2 completely different worlds.

We do feel lucky to have this opportunity to travel and see the country while Tim works.

Everything happened very fast, and we had a lot of decisions to make very quickly.

We had a lot of things going on in Kansas. When Tim had to leave for Maryland, we were dealing with a few things:

I have my job at the college, I have been there over 9 years and it would be nice to hit the 10 year mark and get some of the 10 yr retirement (KPERS) benefits. These benefits won't kick in until I am in my 60's, but I want to set myself up for it for our future.

I was in the middle of paying off a huge Disney cruise and Disney World vacation for my 50th birthday for May 2016, so I wanted to be able to pay that off before I quit my job.

We were just beginning construction/remodeling on the inside and outside of our house.

We have 3 dogs and we are absolutely keeping all of them. They are our babies. Also, the 3 of them are pretty close and I don't think it would be good to separate them at this point in their lives. We just need a place for them to live in Maryland before we can bring them out there.

We decided that Tim would go ahead and go to Maryland, start his job, and look for an apartment or house for us. I would wrap things up here in Kansas City and join him ASAP.

Our first plan was for me and the dogs to join Tim in Maryland in the summer of 2016.
That meant Tim and I would be apart for a year.

Sad face.
Take some deep breaths.
We have a strong relationship and we can get through this.

So..............In early June 2015, Timmy packed up his truck to move to Maryland.

As sad as I was to see Timmy go to Maryland..............I was also sad to see our new truck go to Maryland. I really loved that truck. I had been driving it since he bought it almost a year before. I had also driven it 14 hours from Galveston to KC. I had a special relationship with that truck, and he practically had to pry me out of the drivers seat. Still, I knew Tim needed his truck in Maryland more than I needed it here in Kansas.

We knew he would be staying in a hotel until he found a place to live, but Tim didn't want me to load him up with a lot of "stuff" that he would have to take with him to a hotel.

We also knew he would be getting an apartment or house soon, and he didn't want to have to buy an entire household of stuff right away.

I ended up sending him with clothes, blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, and some kitchen stuff.

He also took his motorcycle, a toolbox, and his computer.

And then he drove off early one morning in the beginning of June.

It was a 1250 mile drive, and it took him about a day and a half (with a stop to see a friend and spend the night in Kentucky).

When he got to Maryland, his company put him in a hotel while he looked for a new home for us.

When the pictures started coming, I was getting excited!

It looked absolutely beautiful!

This is the view from Tim's hotel room in Maryland taken back in June. WOW!

I didn't expect it to be so beautiful there.

Since he was only an hour or so from Washington DC, I thought it would be more like a city.

Instead, the area he is in is pretty rural.

He is less than 10 miles (as the crow flies) from the Chesapeake Bay.

He is located between the Patuxent and the Potomac rivers.

As nice as all that sounds, Tim's move was pretty hard on both of us. I was terribly lonely without him and I felt his absence every minute of every day.

I'm sure he was pretty stunned by all that was happening too.

Our lives completely changed in a matter of a few weeks, and I think we dealt with it fairly well.

We talked on the phone quite a bit.

Time went by really slowly at first.............

I felt terrible for Timmy, having to navigate a new job and a new town all by himself. I wondered if we had made the right choice for me to stay behind..................but I think having me and the dogs there at first would have made things more difficult for Tim. Especially while he was in the hotel for so many weeks.

He knew a few people that had also transferred from Kansas City, so he did have a few friends out there.

He was able to get out a little and explore on the weekends.

He sent these pics in the first few weeks:

I couldn't wait to go out there and see what he was seeing. He was trying to explain it all to me.

He also spent a lot of his time off looking for a place to call home.

He looked at a few places and decided on a very nice apartment that would work for all of us. It has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a washer/dryer inside the unit, and an attached garage for the motorcycles.

Only some of the bottom units have a garage, so Tim had to wait a few weeks for one to become available before he could move in.

Here is a picture of the apartments. His unit is just like the one on the bottom right:

There are walking trails all over the complex so I can walk the dogs. They have 2 pools, a fitness room, and a duck pond.

It sounds perfect to me!

You can kind of see the pond in the picture below (behind the little picnic area).

The inside of the apartment is very nice too! Here is Timmy's kitchen
(laundry room is to the right of the fridge):

When he moved in, he bought a bed, a couch and a desk and chair.
In the last few months he has also found a TV, a dining room table and 2 dressers.

With Tim's job, he gets to fly home once a month (or I can fly to visit him). His company pays for the flight as part of his package. This is great because we have been able to see each other every 4 weeks.

In early July, Tim came back to Kansas for a long weekend.
I was so glad to see him!!!! (so were our dogs!) He had been gone a little over a month at this point, and still hadn't moved into his apartment yet.

We had a lot to do while he was home..................

We had already started the process of re-doing the outside of our house before Tim got his job transfer.
The timing wasn't good, but we felt we could still make it work.

Tim and Billy (our friend, neighbor, and contractor) went to Home Depot to pick out some of the things we needed.

Choices, choices..............
Timmy and Billy discussing siding options for the outside of the house:

Picking out a new front door:

We had a nice long weekend together, but before we knew it, Timmy had to fly back to Maryland.

I was able to send him daily pictures to keep him in the loop with the house construction.

Home Depot delivered the siding and materials to the house:

Here is a "before" pic of the house.
You can see that we already had the screened porch re-done with new posts and screens. (That's why the porch doesn't match the rest of the house.) The porch is in the new color scheme, and the house is still gray

The old siding was taken down (good riddance!)

Progress!

There is a layer of foam insulation behind that Tyvek paper.
The windows are still under the Tyvek paper too. They hadn't cut the window holes out when I took this picture.

Timmy came back again in August for another long weekend. It was nice to have him back here again, even if it was only 4 days.

Meanwhile, I kept working at my job at the college.
August is a busy month for us with the school year starting, so I was pretty busy here trying to deal with work, home construction, and keeping up with the housework and the dogs. The garden was in full swing, and there was a lot to do around here. My kids have pitched in and helped a lot this summer.

Here is a picture of the garden at the beginning of the summer, before anything was planted.
This year we doubled the size of the garden, added another gate on the side, flower beds along the outside of the garden fence, and a lot more stepping stones.

While I'm showing garden pics, here is a pic of the fairy garden we started before Tim moved to Maryland:

The purple pebbles are supposed to represent a small water pond.
I have a better fairy water pond now............

In September I got to go visit Maryland for the first time.
I had been to Maryland and the east coast many times when I was a kid. I have family there.

I have never been to the area where Tim is living, and I was SO excited to finally get to go for a visit.

He lives about an hour and a half south of the airport (Baltimore/Washington airport), and this is pretty much what I saw on the drive to Timmy's apartment.

Just beautiful!!!!

Timmy showed me all around. We tried some new restaurants and shopped for some things for his apartment. We found a lazy-boy chair to match his couch, and a night stand for his bedroom.

We looked for lamps, living room side tables, and a few other things he needed.............but we didn't find everything on our list.

We did so much while I was there, and we never went more than 30 miles from Tim's apartment.

He took me across a really huge bridge to Solomon's Island.

The area is FULL of history (I love history!). We learned about the part of the War of 1812 that was fought in the Patuxent River. You can see the bridge in the background

We ate lunch at this restaurant on the pier

We went to Calvert Marine Museum

Outside of the museum, there was a really neat light house.

Next we went over to the hotel where Timmy lived when he first went to Maryland.
We walked on the docks behind the hotel.

We saw jellyfish in the water. This is a river, but it goes out into the Chesapeake Bay and then into the Atlantic ocean.

Looking back at the hotel from the docks.

On another day we went to see one of the first 13 Colonies.
I want to see all 13 of them while we are on the East coast.

This one was called St Mary's, and was Maryland's colony. It's about 20 miles south of Tim's apartment.

The pilgrims lived in huts. I don't think I knew that before!

Tim also took me to the shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

After a nice long weekend, I had to go back to Kansas City.

When I pulled up in front of our Kansas City house, I almost didn't recognize it!

Billy had put the new siding on while I was gone.

It still needs to be painted, but the color is pretty close to the color we want.

It looks fabulous!!!

Here is the before again, for reference:
It's quite an improvement. It looked tired before.

It will be a grayish-olive green, with pale yellow trim. The door will be painted black.
The whole house is getting new windows and gutters (I think they are painting it today, and the new windows go in this weekend).

While all this is going on outside, we are also re-doing the inside.
There were several layers of paint on top of several layers of wallpaper.
We have gone through the entire house and removed everything down to the drywall.

My son Chris and his girlfriend, helping to get the old wallpaper off.
The brown flowered wallpaper has been under there since the early 1950's

It's ready for fresh paint.
I am going to sand and stain the floors too.

I went back to Maryland to visit Tim in the end of October.

Tim's son, mom, step-dad, and nephew also went out to see Timmy and see a bit of Maryland.
We all had a nice long weekend together.

Tim's step-dad is into military stuff, so we visited the Naval Air museum.

I loved that we could walk around and see about 20 old planes they had parked outside.
Tim's nephew:

We took them to Solomon's Island:

This was pretty cool to see:

Tim and his son waiting for us to finish our shopping:

I mentioned earlier how Tim had taken my beloved truck (ok its Tim's truck, LOL!) to Maryland in June. Boy I missed that truck.

This time when I came to visit, Tim had traded it in for another truck.

I sure do still miss the other truck, but I don't think I will have a problem with this one.

So..............going forward, here is our newest plan:

Tim and I would much rather be together than apart at this point. We made through about 4 months of living in separate states and we both caved.

We decided to put a rush on my move to Maryland, which has completely screwed up our previous plan, but we are doing it.

My last day at work at the college is TOMORROW (November 20th)!

I am both happy and sad about this. As much as I don't like working, I will really miss this job, and the people I work with.

I didn't quite make it to the 10 year mark, but I'm close. After November 20th, I will transfer to a temporary position at the college. When I come back to Kansas to do work on the house, I will be able to do fill-in work at the college too.

Tim will be here THIS WEEKEND! He hasn't been home since August.
I am so excited to have him home FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK. The dogs have no idea where Timmy went, or why he has been gone for so long but I know it will be a joyous reunion for us all when he pulls into the driveway sometime Saturday.

I have spent the last few weeks packing everything up. We are loading the truck, and Tim will take a good sized load back with him to Maryland after Thanksgiving.

Then in two weeks, my daughter Cody and I are going on a cruise for her 25th birthday.
Is my youngest kid really going to be 25 in 2 weeks?? WOW, that went fast!
We are looking forward to some sunshine and a week in the Caribbean!! I am ready to relax a bit. I have been pretty stressed out over all these changes this year, and being without my Timmy for so long. I also need a "do-over" cruise since the one I took last year was such a disaster.
(You can read about my disaster cruise from last year HERE)

I will explain more about my upcoming cruise with my daughter in another blog post soon. I'll also do a review/write up about the cruise when we get back.

After Cody and I come back from the cruise, Tim will be driving back to Kansas City to pick us up and move us to Maryland.

By "us", I mean myself, my daughter, and our 3 dogs.

YES, Cody will be moving to Maryland with me. She wants to go to college out there and get a fresh start with her life. I am glad I will have company out there, because Tim works some really long hours.

So, that's the plan for now! It's been a crazy year for us. I don't know what life will be like in Maryland, but I'm looking forward to it.
I'll keep you posted on our upcoming adventures!

Carnival Magic Tour

2015-01-07T00:45:00.000-06:00

WELCOME to my tour of the Carnival Magic!!

(Please read my review of my 7 day cruise on the Carnival Magic HERE!)

I'll start my tour at the bottom of the ship and work my way up:

Deck 1 has only cabins, so there wasn't much to photograph.

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Same as deck 1, deck 2 has only guest cabins.

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Deck 3 is the Lobby deck, where you will enter the ship. The lobby was decorated in golds and greens (with a bit of purple and pink thrown in), and it was just beautiful:

There is a bar in the lobby area. Just above the bar is a small stage area with a grand piano.

On deck 3 you will find the entrance to the main theater:

The shore excursion desk is in the Lobby area. This is where you can book fun things to do on the islands and ask questions about different excursions:

Guest services, also in the lobby area, is like the front desk at a hotel. They can help with any questions or concerns you have:

Looking up at the glass ceiling in the lobby:

A different view of the lobby area:

The lower entrance to the Northern Light restaurant (or the Main Dining Room) is just off the lobby:

Inside the Northern Lights Dining Room:

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From deck 4, you can look over the railing onto the lobby area:

At the front of the ship, you will find the entrance to the upper level of the main theater on deck 4:

A view of the balcony seating in the theater:

Deck 4 has the Pixels gallery. During the entire cruise, there are photographers all over the ship asking to take your picture. You can go to the Pixels Gallery to find your pictures and purchase them if you want to:

I wandered down this long hallway to see what was down there. This hallway is called "The Lower Magical Way Promenade:

I found the ship library:

A Conference Center:

I walked past the upper level of the Northern Lights Dining room:

Toward the back of the ship, there is an arcade called The Warehouse:

Inside The Warehouse:

The entrance to Club O2 (one of the kids clubs) was inside the arcade:

At the very back of the ship on Deck 4, is the entrance to the Southern Lights Dining room:

Entering the Southern Lights Dining room:

The entrance to the kids clubs are on Deck 4:

I saw several areas with computers for guests to use:

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Moving up to Deck 5 - there is A LOT going on on deck 5:

This is an outside area called The Lanai:

There were a few hot tubs out on Deck 5:

If you want to take an outdoor shower, you can do it on deck 5!

They had a fabulous looking barbecue out on the Lanai. They were just setting up for lunch when I walked past:

Plenty of places to sit outside and eat lunch:

Looking over the side rail on Deck 5:

At the back of the ship:

Looking off the back of the ship:

Walking back around to the other side of Deck 5:

Back inside, there is a small stage area where they had some activities and games:

The Taste Bar:

A coffee shop:

Deck 5 has the Red Frog Pub:

Entrance to the Red Frog Pub:

Inside the Pub:

The Red Frog Pub has a space outdoors to sit:

Back inside the ship again, but still on deck 5, is the Vibe Nightclub:

Inside the nightclub, they have many places to sit and listen to music:

The bar area inside the Nightclub:

The dance floor:

On deck 5 toward the back of the ship is the Piano Bar:

And the lounge where they had the Comedy Club:

The Prime Steakhouse:

Inside the steak house:

There are more "FunHub" areas with computers:

The casino is also on Deck 5:

The Casino Bar:

Overlooking the lobby area from deck 5:

Every ship needs a candy store!

And the gift shops are on Deck 5:

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There are more passenger cabins on deck 6:

And more passenger cabins on deck 7

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Passenger cabins on deck 8

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Passenger cabins on deck 9

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The Lido Deck is where the pools and the food are! Here is a view of the main pool (mid-ship):

A view from my favorite sitting place overlooking the main pool. We had a great view of the pool and the big screen TV from here:

And a rainy nighttime view of my favorite sitting place:

I loved the way the lights looked at the pool at night:

The 2nd pool is also located on Deck 10, but it's at the back of the ship:

There are 2 hot tubs back here too:

Another view of the back pool:

I love looking at the trail of waves we make as we glide along the ocean:

Now, on to the FOOD!!!
The Lido Marketplace is the big buffet on deck 10:

(web image)

There are plenty of stations on Deck 10 to get free coffee, tea, and lemonade:

There is a Tandoor Indian station:

And a deli, where you can get a ot ham and cheese, or a corned beef sandwich:

This was a bar on the back of deck 10:

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Deck 11 has guest cabins in the front, and an outdoor area from mid-ship to the back of the ship.
My cabin was at the very front of deck 11 on the starboard (right) side:

My cabin:

The cabin was very small, but it worked out just fine. There was plenty of room for the 2 of us:

Around the corner from my cabin was an elevator that would take us up to the spa:

(more of the spa part of this tour coming up!)

The outdoor part of deck 11 overlooks the main pool.

This is the smoking area on deck 11. The smoking area went from mid-ship all the way to the back of the ship on the port (left) side of the ship:

More of the smoking area:

Walking toward the back of the ship on deck 11:

At the very back of deck 11 were these comfortable seating areas.

This side (the port side) allowed smoking back here, but it was always too windy to comfortably sit out there with a lit cigarette:

Mid-ship on deck 11 was the entrance to one of the kids clubs, Camp Ocean. The ship map has this labeled as "Camp Carnival":

Cucina Del Capitano, the Italian restaurant, is also located on deck 11 toward the back of the ship.

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Deck 12 was the "fun" deck.

I found this small set of stairs by the mid-ship elevator on deck 11:

I went up the stairs, and out the door.............and the fun was in full swing out here!

Ping-pong, mini-golf, ropes course................so much to do here:

There is a small hot dog stand that opens for lunch:

And a bar for the adults:

There is a jogging track. I followed it to the back of the ship:

Toward the back of the ship I found the basketball court:

And some outdoor exercise equipment:

I continued to follow the jogging track around the other side and back toward mid-ship:

Coming from the back of the ship, when I got to the mid-ship pool, I could see the Carnival Waterworks area:

They had some interesting and fun furniture back in the Waterworks area:

At the front of deck 12, there was an indoor area for the spa with a reception desk:

The fitness center is at the very front of the ship:

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THERE IS NO DECK 13 ON THE CARNIVAL MAGIC

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Continuing up one floor to deck 14, there was another reception desk for the spa:

Inside the spa area is a Thalassotherapy pool. This pool was filled with sea water and was kept at body temperature> It was very nice and relaxing.

The other end of the Thalassotherapy pool:

This is a pic of the Thelassotherapy pool with the jets turned off. They had a long bench made of metal tubing all down one side of the pool to lay on:

Plenty of towels for guests to use while enjoying the spa:

Just outside of the Thalassotherapy pool is the Relaxation room:

Inside the relaxation room are comfortable places to sit, nice views, and refreshments:

On the other side of the Thelassotherapy pool are the steam rooms. The green room was a warm room, with very little steam. There were hot tile beds to lay on and there was soft music playing. This room was HEAVEN:

You could splash some cool water on your face here:

There was a round shower off of the green room. This shower had cool lighting, different settings for the water, and a rainshower that came from above. I swear I could smell humectris in this shower. it must have been coming from some side vents, or it was in the shower water itself.

It was very nice:

The red room had a bit more steam than the green room. It also had hot tile beds and calming music:

The little water fountain in the red room:

There were at least 2 more steam rooms. Both had so much steam I couldn't get a picture of the insides of the rooms.
They were like giant sauna rooms with tile seating around the rooms:

Down the hall from the steam rooms and the Thalassotherapy pool, I found the womens locker room:

Inside, there were plenty of towels:

The first shower was very large and had a curtain:

The second shower had a locking door:

There were 3 toilet stalls inside the locker room:

The sink and counter area was nice. There were hairdryers to use:

Around the corner were lockers for guest use:

There were more winding hallways that led to the massage rooms and the salon (where you would get your hair done or a mannicure/pedicure):

The entrance to the salon:

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There was one more deck above the spa which is the adults only area or "The Serenity Deck". This should actually be Deck 15, but there was no sign saying DECK 15 (I looked and looked!) The only sign I found was the Serenity Deck sign:

The Serenity deck had a lot of comfortable looking places to sit and relax:

The Serenity Deck bar:

There were 2 hot tubs, one on each side of the Serenity Deck:

Thanks for going along with me on my tour of the Carnival Magic!!!

Don't forget to read my review from my 7 day cruise on the Carnival Magic. Day 1 of my review is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 10 - Sunday, Dec 7th, 2014 - Debarkation Day/Travel Day

2015-01-07T00:43:00.000-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

DEBARKATION DAY/TRAVEL DAY

I was up really early. Too early.

I grabbed my cell phone, slipped out of the cabin and went out on deck. It was still dark out.

I could see we were very close to Galveston and I immediately called my Sweetie. Of course he was awake and we talked for a while. I had A LOT to tell him about my week!

I told him I was going to try to drive straight through and get home that night. I wasn't sure if I could make it, but I was going to try.

As the sun came up, people began to wake up and come out on deck. I spent some time with my new friends and we exchanged email addresses and info.

We hugged and said our goodbyes. We all promised we would cruise again together someday, and I hope we do.

Back in the cabin, my roommate was awake and packing the last of her things.

I ordered a bagel and some fruit from room service, and ate while I got my things together.

My roommate and I had been given instructions on where to meet to get off the ship. We were to be in the Northern Lights Dining room at 7:45

The neighbors had a different meeting place.

At 7:45, my roommate and I went downstairs. We sat in the dining room for about 10 minutes and we were told we could get off the ship.

When we got off the ship, we first went to the area to find our luggage.

Oh boy, what a nightmare! All of the luggage was put out in rows, and we had to walk up and down the rows looking for our bags. It was bedlam.

People everywhere trying to find their bags, and there was nowhere to put your bags you found while you searched for your other bag.

We were in debark group 1 but we finally found our bags in with the group 2 bags. One of our bags may have even been in group 3!

This was one area where I thought the Port of Miami had a better system than Galveston. In Miami, they have conveyor belts (kind of like the airport) where you stand still and the luggage rolls by on the belt. Much easier and less chaotic.

I hope Galveston can update their system for picking up the luggage.

It took us about 20 minutes to find our luggage, and then we went to the lines for customs.

We waited in line for about 10 minutes, and we were through customs with no problems.

Outside, I left my roommate near the curb with the luggage while I went to get the truck.

It didn't take long for me to get the truck (it felt like seeing an old friend!), and circle around to get my roommate and the luggage.

We were on the road by 8:45AM, and the traffic heading out of Galveston wasn't too bad.

We drove for a long way before we stopped that morning.

It was a pretty uneventful drive. My roommate and I listened to music and talked. For the most part, everything went fine but there were a few times throughout the day when I had to bite my tongue. I kept reminding myself that we were getting closer and closer to home. I had already put up with this for 9 and a half days so far and I could make it a few more hours by continuing to keep my mouth shut.

As we got closer to Kansas, it got colder outside (sad that we had left the sunshine and warm weather behind us). We had to turn the heater on by early afternoon. By the time we crossed into Kansas, it was dark out. It was also foggy, and misty, and cold. Ick.

We pulled into my driveway at 10:30 that night. I was soooooooo exhausted, but so proud of myself for making that long drive in one day.

It was so good to hug my Sweetie. He had been asleep but he got up to welcome me home. It was nice to be home.

My son came out and moved my roommates luggage from my truck into her car. He also brought my things in the house. I was worried about my roommate driving an hour to get to her home that late at night when I knew she must be tired too. I invited her to stay the night and drive home in the morning.

She decided to head home.

She and I said goodbye and said we would talk soon.

It was about 2 hours after I was home (and now fully awake and happy to be home) when I reflected on the entire vacation. I really did have a good time after all, and I was glad I went. I also decided that the way my roommate treated me throughout the 10 days was unacceptable. Yes, she apologized for her behavior (kind of), but after the apology the behavior continued. I'm not sure what was going on but I just don't need that kind of negativity. At this point, I am going to choose to let that friendship go and spend my time and energy on some of the more positive friendships I have.
I just felt she had been very unkind to me throughout most of the trip, and there is really no excuse to treat anyone that way.

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To wrap up my vacation, here are a few things........

Carnival Cruise Lines:
I know Carnival has been getting some horrible news headlines in the past few years, but I do think Carnival offers a GREAT cruise vacation at a very reasonable price. I have enjoyed all of my Carnival cruises (I have been on 5 now) and I would definitely book another Carnival cruise in the future.

The Carnival Magic ship:
This was the newest and biggest of the Carnival ships I have cruised on. I thought the Magic was BEAUTIFUL! It was easy to find my way around the ship. I loved the Carnival Magic.

Ship Service: The service and staff on this ship were top notch. Everyone I came into contact with took very good care of me on this cruise.

Ship Food:
I ate at the MDR (Main Dining room) twice, and both times the service and food were very good.
The buffet was also very good. They had many choices at every meal, and also a carving station set up at every dinner.
Room service was very fast (usually about 20 minutes) and also very good! I highly suggest a BLT from the room service menu!
The Steakhouse was AMAZING, and worth every penny of the upcharge.

Ship Cloud 9 Spa:
I really loved the use of the Cloud 9 Spa almost every day while I was on this cruise. I thought it was wonderful! I will definitely book another Cloud 9 Spa cabin on the Magic or the Dream someday (those are the only 2 Carnival ships with a Cloud 9 Spa)

Ship Smoking Areas: I thought the smoking area on the 11th floor was great. Since my cabin was on the 11th floor, it was very convenient for me. There was also outdoor smoking on deck 5 at the Red Frog Pub. Smoking was allowed in the night cub, and at the casino bar. I was happy with the smoking areas on the ship.

Our Cabin:
I thought our inside spa cabin was nice. It was smaller than I expected, but it was fine for the two of us. We had plenty of storage for our clothes and things.

Weather: It rained at least once a day, sometimes twice. The rain only lasted about 20 minutes, so it really wasn't a problem for me. Other than that it was mostly sunny and warm. An online friend of mine (Hi Rita!) had been to the same islands we went to, but she went the week before my cruise. She had posted that the weather was very rough. They had a lot of rain for several days and they had 20-25 ft waves. She said their ship was really being tossed around the sea. They weren't able to visit one of their islands (Belize, I think). So with that knowledge, I was pleasantly surprised that we had mostly sunny days and not a lot of rain.

Port Of Galveston: I thought check-in and boarding went very smoothly. I was happy with the way the process went.
I thought getting off the ship was fine. Walking up and down rows and rows of luggage, and finally finding some of it in the wrong zone was the only area where I felt Carnival fell short.

Galveston Park-N-Cruise: This was very convenient. I was able to pre-pay online before the trip, and the lot was directly across from the Port. The people that work there were very friendly and helpful both before and after the cruise.

All in all I had a good vacation. My travel companions weren't a good match for me but I thought I made the best of a bad situation. Looking back I wish I had seen a show or two, or visited the comedy club at least once.

THANKS FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ MY REVIEW!

BEFORE YOU GO, PLEASE SEE MY TOUR OF THE CARNIVAL MAGIC SHIP.

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 9 - Saturday, Dec 6th, 2014 - Seaday 3

2015-01-07T00:42:00.000-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

Reading through the last 2 days of this trip was a little depressing! Sorry if I made it sound like I was so sad. It really wasn't all that bad.

To help cheer us all up, I want to tell a funny story that happened to me on this cruise. I'm not sure why I left this out of the review, and it's too late to add it in onto the day it happened, but Phyllis is urging me to tell the story, so here goes:

Remember when I mentioned that a woman had spent some time with my roommate and I on the 2nd night of the cruise? She went with us to the Piano Bar and then to the Club.

The woman's name was Betty.

The part I left out was that at some point that night my roommate, Betty and I ended up browsing around in the gift shop. While we were there, I showed Betty a rack of jewelry that had some really good sale stuff on it. Most of the rings were $10 or less.

Betty and I looked on the rack and we each picked out a ring we wanted to buy.

We went to the register and I signed for my ring using my Sail & Sign card.

When it was Betty's turn to pay for her ring, she reached into her pocket to get cash. The cashier told her she couldn't use cash on the ship, she has to use her Sail & Sign card.

Betty said she hadn't gotten paid yet, and hadn't put any money on her S&S card. She said her payday was "tomorrow".

She told the cashier, she didn't want the ring, and she would come back the next day.

The cashier told her the 10% off sale wasn't going to be happening the next day, so her ring would cost more.

Then the cashier had the bright idea to point to ME and suggest that I pay for the ring, and Betty can give me cash.

Sounded like a great idea, and we all agreed. I signed the receipt agreeing to pay $8.85 on my Sail & Sign card for her ring.

It actually would have worked out fine, but Betty never gave me cash that night. As we walked away from the register, she asked if she could catch up with me the next day, after she got paid.

Yep, you guessed it! Betty never caught up with me. Actually, she avoided me for the rest of the cruise.

It was a funny story when I told it to my friends out in the smoking area. We were all on the lookout for Betty for the rest of the cruise, and we had more than a few laughs over the whole thing during the rest of the cruise.

Sure I would have liked to have my $8.85 back, but it wasn't enough money to get me upset.

I was glad the total hadn't been more!!!

I think Betty got her karma back though, that ship is actually pretty small when you are trying to avoid someone. She couldn't even go to the 11th floor smoking area, for the rest of the cruise because I was constantly out there. Poor Betty had to find somewhere else to smoke.

Leave it to me to buy a ring for a woman I don't even know!!!!!

And now, back to the last day of the cruise:

SEADAY 3

I was up at 6:00AM. I had hoped I would sleep in a little later since it was a sea day, but I couldn't get get back to sleep.

I slipped out of the cabin quietly and went out to see what the morning looked like.

I ended up sitting out on deck 11 for quite a while that morning.

My roommate had come in really late and I wanted to let her sleep.

I saw Phyllis and we went to get some breakfast at the buffet together. I liked having someone to eat with. Thank you SO MUCH Phyllis and Myron for being such awesome people! I had a really good time with you guys and I am so glad I met you. Thank you for letting me hang out with you, I hope we can cruise together again someday!

After Phyllis and I ate breakfast, I walked around the ship a little bit and took some pictures.

After about an hour of taking pictures, I realized that the last 250 or so pictures were gone. They were just gone. Each one had an ERROR! message instead of the picture.

I had been checking every 20 pictures or so to make sure my pictures were there on my camera. I don't know exactly when my pictures disappeared, but when I went to show Phyllis some of my pics I had taken of the ship, they were gone.

OH!.........................I was sooooooooooo sad.....................

I could walk around and replace the pics of the ship (although I didn't want to)

but I couldn't ever replace the pics of Cozumel or the Mexican party from the day before.

I was really really sad..........................

I went back to my cabin to start packing my suitcases and sulk about my lost pictures.

My roommate wasn't there.

I ordered a room service sandwich so I could eat while I packed.

While I was packing (and eating), I made my plan for the rest of my seaday. Since it seemed likely that I was going to be spending my day alone, I wanted a plan.

It was around 2:00 when I finished packing and I still hadn't seen my roommate.

I decided that I would spend a few hours walking around the ship to re take all of the pictures I had lost. I wasn't happy about doing that, but I had plenty of time on my hands, so I might as well spend the time re taking them. (Later, I was very glad I spent the time retaking the ship pictures)

After ship pictures, I would get some dinner, most likely at the buffet and take it back to the cabin to eat.

After dinner, I wanted to go to the spa one last time.

And that's pretty much how my day went. I ran into Phyllis and Myron, and Jen and Bobby several times throughout the day. There was an older couple that I had become friendly with in the past week, and I sat outside and talked to them for a while that day.

I went to the kiosk on Deck 3 and got a printout of my Sail & Sign card. I could see my account on the TV anytime I wanted to, but I wanted a hard copy to take home with me in case I wanted to review it later.

I stayed at the spa that night until they closed at 10:00PM. The ladies at the front desk had told me it would be empty on the last night after 8:30 or so, and they were right.

I had the place almost to myself that last night and I stayed in the green and red rooms for an extra long time.

I stayed in the Thalassotherapy pool for an extra long time too. I was actually sad that my cruise would be over in the morning. I really loved this ship, and this spa!!

On the other hand, this wasn't really the cruise I had been expecting and I was ready to get home to the comfort of my family.

I made sure to leave myself enough time to take one last long hot shower in the women's locker room before the spa closed for the night.

I felt so refreshed when I left the spa that night.

Back in the cabin, I made sure I put my luggage out in the hallway so they could pick it up and take it off the ship for me in the morning.

My roommate was in the cabin packing her suitcases.

I went out to the smoking area for one last time that night. Everyone was out there, it was like a big party! I was having so much fun, I ended up staying out there longer than I had planned. I really liked these new friends! They were all a lot of fun to be around.

Here are some pics from that night:

Jen and Bobby

Jen took this blurry one of Bobby and I:

And then Bobby took these blurry ones of Jen and I:

Jen was definitely the life of the party that night:

Phyllis with Myron behind her:

The 3 of us gals:

I really miss those girls!!

Later that night, this was my view as we sat and watched some of the movie on the big screen with Phyllis and Myron:

I stayed out there until about midnight and I just had to go to bed. I knew I had a very long drive ahead of me the next day. This was one night when I really needed my sleep.

I said good night to everyone. I knew I would see them all in the morning.

Back in the cabin, my roommate was getting ready for bed.
We ordered room service and sat up watching TV for awhile.

Jen knocked on the door, and before we knew it, we were having a pajama party in our cabin!
Jen was a lot of fun, she had my roommate and I cracking up that night.
Bobby came to the cabin looking for Jen and the 4 of us sat there in the cabin talking for quite a while.

Jen and I decided to venture out and go to the secret deck. To my surprise, my roommate decided to join us. All of us were in our pajamas, out on the front deck, and boy was it dark and windy out there.

We could see the lights of Galveston way off in the distance in front of us, and we were heading right for it.
There were A LOT of ships and boats out there with us. We could see at least 10 or so just from where we stood. The other ships and boats were beautiful when they were all lit up in the night.

We stayed out on the secret deck for a good 20-30 minutes, and I was FREEZING with the wind blowing so strong on that deck. I hated to be the party pooper, but I had to drive the next day.

I said goodnight, but they both followed me back in.

I have no idea what time I went to bed that night. It was late.

DAY 10 is HERE!!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 8 - Friday, Dec 5, 2014 - Cozumel, Mexico

2015-01-03T12:35:00.001-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

MEXICO DAY

I woke up around 7:00AM and my roommate was still asleep. I snuck out of the cabin and went out on deck to see if I could see Mexico.

Good thing I brought my camera with me, the Lido deck was full of towel animals!

It was really cute to see them all. It made me smile first thing in the morning.

There must have been 100 towel animals out there:

And on the bench in front of the pool was the biggest towel animal I had ever seen!

It was a big elephant with a baseball hat on.

During the night we had traveled from Belize to Cozumel Mexico.
Cozumel is a little island just off the coast of Mexico, below the Yucatan Peninsula.

I have never been to Mexico, and I was so curious and excited about it. I wasn't sure what to expect.

I noticed we were just pulling into the port. Looking off the side of the ship, I could see a couple of ships already docked:

I noticed the water was really blue! It hadn't been very blue in Honduras or Belize, so I was happy to see the beautiful blue Caribbean water here in Mexico:

I decided to go up to the secret deck and see if I could get some good pictures as we pulled into the port.

From the secret deck, I had a great view of the dock we were heading towards, and the port area was coming into view:

As we got closer, I noticed the 2 ships were both Royal Caribbean. I definitely want to sail on RC one day, I was glad I would get to see 2 of their huge ships up close.

As we pulled up to the dock, I thought I had better go to the cabin and get ready for the day. My roommate and the neighbors wanted to leave at 8:30

Back in the cabin, my roommate was just waking up as I came in. It was 7:30AM.

Since I had exactly an hour until we were supposed to be ready to go, I decided I had enough time to go up to the spa. I grabbed my things and went upstairs:

I spent a few minutes laying on the warm tile beds in the green room and the red room:

I soaked in the Thalassotherapy pool:

And I showered in my favorite shower. As usual, I had the locker room to myself that morning:

Back in the cabin, it was now 8:30 and my roommate wasn't even close to being ready to get off the ship.
I got dressed and went out to the smoking area to wait for her.

I sat and waited and waited.
I went down to the breakfast buffet and made myself a plate and took it back up to the smoking area to wait for my roommate and the neighbors.

The neighbors showed up first, and we all waited for my roommate.
By this time, I was considering just getting off the ship on my own after all. I was getting tired of waiting around.

My roommate was finally ready to get off the ship at 11:00AM.

I wasn't very happy, but as I had been doing all week, I pushed it aside and concentrated on the positive things.
I was going to Mexico today!
I wasn't going to have to go into Mexico alone!
It was a beautiful day out!

The 4 of us went down to deck 0, and got off the ship.

The pier was long and the neighbors opted to take a bicycle taxi to the other end.
My roommate and I walked and met them down there.

The neighbors decided they weren't going to spend much time off the ship after all. They said they were going to get a few things and go back to the ship.

This left my roommate and I on our own. Since she was in a good mood that day, I went ahead and walked around with her.

We ended up having a nice and enjoyable day.

The sad part is, I took a ton of pictures but somehow I lost them all!
YIKES!
My camera has done this before, and I thought we had solved the problem. I had been taking care the entire cruise to check to make sure my pictures were fine and that the camera was working properly.

Well, my camera did malfunction but it wasn't until the next day that I realized I didn't have any pictures since the morning in Mexico. UGH.

But at the time, I thought my camera was working fine and I kept clicking away all day.

We walked out of the port area and down the block about a half mile. As we walked we stopped and bargained with different vendors for souvenirs to bring home.

With Google Eatheview, I was able to get a couple of pictures showing where we were that day:
Thanks Google, you saved my review!!

This was an area of the street we walked down. I actually remember seeing the walking bridge over the road ahead:

(Google image)

We stopped for lunch at this place with the thatched hut roof. They had a nice balcony overlooking the beautiful ocean.

We both had a Margarita and I ate the first REAL Mexican food I have ever eaten in my life. I had 3 beef soft tacos. They were actually more like steak fajitas, and they were SO GOOD!!

(Google image)

After lunch, we walked back toward the ship, stopping to haggle and shop along the way.

Back in the port area, we continued to browse and shop. My backpack was stuffed full and by that time I was also carrying a large (very full) shopping bag. I think I bought one of everything they had in Mexico. When I didn't have any more room to carry anything, it was time to go back to the ship.

I had a heavy load to carry back to the ship. I had a hammock, a large Mexican blanket, a Mexican sweatshirt, a large hand painted wooden bowl, a hand carved wooden sun and moon, souvenirs for my kids and some friends back home, and 2 Harley Davidson shirts for my Sweetie.

When I got back on the ship, I went straight to the cabin to drop off my load. I had had a great time in Mexico, and I was exhausted.

It was mid-afternoon, and my roommate was off somewhere.
I went out on deck to watch sailaway.

I saw Phyllis and Myron and we traded stories about our day in Mexico. I had no idea where my roommate was at the time, and since it was Phyllis's birthday, I invited them to join me at the Past Guest Party that afternoon.

I called down to Guest Services and asked if I could bring 2 guests to the party, and they said it would be fine.

So at 4:30 Phyllis, Myron, and I went down to the theater to attend the Past Guest Party. It lasted about 45 minutes and they served drinks and some hors d'oeuvres. <<<------ I had to look up the spelling on Google!

We actually sat down on the lower level, but this is the only picture I have of the theater.

After the party, Phyllis and Myron were off to eat dinner in the MDR. It may have been Elegant night that night.
Since I had no dinner companions, I went to the buffet and took my plate back to my cabin.

I watched TV while I ate and thought it was going to be another long night if I had to spend it by myself again. I was glad to be on the cruise and I was loving the ship life, but I wasn't prepared for the amount of time I was alone. I had been on 4 other cruises and hadn't had this happen. My past cruise mates all wanted to do things together whether we were on the ship or on the islands.

After I ate, I decided to go to the spa. I had already been there once that day, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was pretty tired that night, I think the lack of sleep was catching up with me.

I got ready and went up and relaxed for an hour in the hot tile beds and the Thalassotherapy pool.
After I was good and relaxed, I took a long hot shower in the women's locker room.

Around 10:00 I went out to watch some of the Mexican Fiesta Party. They were having a dance party on the Lido deck and after that was going to be a Mexican buffet.
I watched the party from Deck 11. I had a great view and the Latin music was very good. Phyllis and Myron, and Jen and Bobby were all out there and I had a good time.

I took a lot of pictures of the party, and even some video, but these were in the batch of pictures I lost.

I didn't feel like going down for the buffet, so when the music was over I said goodnight to everyone and went back to the cabin.

My roommate wasn't there.

I watched TV and probably ordered something from room service. I think I ordered room service almost every night on this cruise. Their BLT's were a perfect midnight snack! And its FREE, so why not??!!

I was aware that I was eating a lot (and shopping a lot) and I assumed I was going a little overboard because I was lonely.
I knew this was what I was doing and I gave myself permission to eat whenever and whatever I wanted. What the heck??! I'm on a cruise and I'm sitting here alone, the food is free (AND IT"S GOOD!!) so go ahead and order the BLT at midnight!

And the shopping...........I had brought plenty of spending money and I was definitely spending it.
So far I hadn't gone over my limit I had set for myself before the cruise so I was fine with my depression spending at this point.

I don't remember what towel animal we had that night. I'm sure I took a picture of it, but it was lost.

I was so tired that night, I went to bed shortly after midnight.
My roommate came in after I fell asleep.

DAY 9 is HERE!!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 7 - Thursday, Dec 4, 2014- Belize

2015-01-03T12:28:00.001-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

BELIZE DAY

I woke up and it was 6:00 AM.

I wished I could have slept longer but as long as I was up I might as well go out and see if I could see land.

My roommate was still asleep, so I slipped out of the room quietly.

When I walked out to the open deck, the sun was peeking out of the clouds behind the whale tail:

During the night we had traveled from Roatan, Honduras to Belize. Here is a rough map of where we were:

I could see a lot of small islands all around us, and our ship was weaving through them for quite a while before we stopped and dropped the anchor. The water was very shallow so the ships could not pull up to the port/dock. We would have to take small boats called "Tenders" to get to Belize.

Another ship had also stopped near ours.

I saw Phyllis and Myron and we made a plan to meet around 8:30 to go into Belize.

I went back to my cabin to get ready for the day and my roommate was up and dressed.

I said good morning to her, and told her is was another beautiful day out.
Her mood seemed fine.

When I looked on my bed I saw my roommate had left me a note and $50.00
Her note thanked me for a nice time yesterday at the cabana.
I appreciated the note and the money. I had been feeling like she was taking advantage of my generosity on this cruise so far, and her note went a long way in helping me feel better.

I had no problem being generous, and I had been sharing everything I had with her on this cruise so far. I just couldn't understand how she could keep accepting the things I was offering, but then still treating me the way she was. There were a lot of things I had given to her/paid for her to do on this cruise (the most recent things I had shared with her were the Steakhouse dinner that I used my onboard credit to pay for, and the Cabana in Roatan that I told her was my treat) and there was much more..................

What I had said (ok, maybe I yelled) at her the night before must have gotten her to think about it, and I was happy she was trying to reconcile.

I didn't need the $50 she had put on my bed but I put it in my pocket anyway. What the heck. Maybe I would use it to treat Phyllis and Myron to lunch that day in Belize.

She said she was going to get off the ship and do some shopping. I told her I was going to do the same thing with Phyllis and Myron and she was welcome to join us if she wanted to.
I also reminded her that with my Special Platinum card, if there was a line to get off the ship, we would have priority and be able to go to the front of the line. She said she was fine on her own so I left it at that.

I ordered room service so I could eat while I was getting ready to go. I had a bagel and some fruit.

Before I left the cabin, I loaded up a bag of laundry and filled out the laundry service card. I put about 8 t-shirts and 3 pairs of shorts in the bag. Since it was one of the free perks with my special platinum status, I might as well use it. I found Ricardo out in the hall and let him know I left a bag of laundry and asked if he would take it for me. He said it would be back later that day.

At 8:30, I met with Phyllis and Myron and we headed downstairs. We were directed to go to the Lobby deck to wait for a tender. There were about 20 other people waiting in the lobby with us. We waited about 15 minutes and we followed the staff member down to the lower deck to get on the tender boat.

After a few minutes, we were loaded up and we were off to Belize!

This pic was taken when we were on the tender and had just pulled away from the ship. I had a good view of some other passengers that were boarding another tender boat.

Looking up at our ship:

We were far enough away that I could photograph the whole ship:

And farther:

There were actually 4 ships out there that day. Ours was the 2nd from the right:

It was a 15 minute ride to the small pier in Belize:

As I got off the tender, this is what I saw.
Shops and more shops:

We walked around and shopped. There were regular stores and also there were areas with booths (kind of like a craft fair):

It rained twice that morning, for about 10-20 minutes each time. It was a light rain and we were able to stay dry by walking under awnings and staying inside the stores and booths.

When we were hungry for lunch, we found a place called the Wet Lizzard.

It had been really crowded on the lower floor, but there was plenty of room upstairs.

I ordered beef sliders, and they were SO good! I was actually surprised at how good they were, and I got Phyllis to try one of my little burgers. She agreed with me that they were pretty amazing.

On the way out of the Wet Lizard, I took this pic of Phyllis and Myron:

Heading slowly back toward the ship, sightseeing, people watching, and shopping as we walked.

Standing in line waiting for tender boat back to the ship. The line behind us was getting long.

The skies had some dark clouds, but it didn't rain anymore while we were in Belize.It had been a nice warm day out.

We waited in line about 5-10 minutes and we were on a tender boat and heading back to our ship:

Back on the ship, Phyllis and I both wanted to try the waterslides. We went back to our cabins to change into swimsuits.

Back in the cabin, my laundry was already back! It was folded nicely and left on my bed. I started putting it away and I noticed there were clothes in the pile that didn't belong to me. I was thinking the laundry people had mixed up the laundry, and then I recognized some of my roommates clothes.

She must have added some things to the bag after I had left the cabin that morning. I put her laundry on her bed and put mine away.

I saw that they had totally removed the ink pen stain I had gotten on one of my shirts a few days ago. I was very happy with the laundry service, especially since it was free on this particular cruise. I probably would not have tried it if it hadn't been free. I will definitely use the service again, even though I will have to pay for it until I actually become a Platinum.

I got changed and met Phyllis. We went over to the Water Works area and went up the stairs to the waterslides.
We rode both of the big slides (the orange one and the yellow one). They were both good!

Carnival has put together a fun little water park. We didn't stay up there long, but I was impressed with the area and the slides.

We found Myron and we decided we wanted to go sit in a hot tub for a while.
We went up to the Serenity deck and found a hot tub that had room for the three of us.

There were other people already in the hot tub and we all got to talking and laughing. We were having a pretty good time and we stayed in the hot tub a lot longer than we had intended.

We stayed in the hot tub so long we saw the sunset off the side of the ship. That was a beautiful experience.

We were still in there at sailaway, and that was after the sun had set that night. I'm not sure what time sailaway was supposed to be that day, and I have no idea what time it was while we were in the hot tub.

I think that is one of the things I love about cruising. You don't have to be on any time schedule when you are on the ship. There are a lot of times when I am on the ship and I have absolutely no idea what time it is.

When we got out of the hot tub, we were all starving. We changed out of our swimsuits and met back up to go to the buffet.

We ate our dinner together, and at some point we met up with Jen and Bobby. We told stories about our day, and we talked about plans for tomorrow.

I had no plans for the next day, but I hoped to be able to get off the ship and see what Mexico looks like.

I had already spent the entire day with Myron and Phyllis, and although we all had a wonderful day I didn't want to hang on them too much. I learned it was Phyllis's 50th birthday the next day so I especially wanted to give them their space.

Jen and Bobby invited me to join them on their excursion in Cozumel the next day. It sounded like fun, and I was grateful for the offer. I decided I would really like to join them.

I went down to deck 3 (the Lobby deck) to see if I could book the excursion.
Oh darn, the Shore Excursion deck was already closed for the night. What time is it anyway?? HaHa!

I went to Guest Services to see if they could help me book the excursion. They were happy to help me at Guest Services, but the excursion was already full.
Awww, Darn. I wouldn't be able to join Jen and Bobby in Cozumel the next day (sad face).

I decided I would be brave and get off the ship by myself in the morning and do some shopping in the port area. I shop by myself all the time at home, and I would be fine shopping by myself in Mexico.

It was about 8:30PM and I was back in my cabin with nothing to do. Well, there was plenty to do, but I'm not very adventurous when I'm alone. I wasn't going to go to the Comedy Club, the Night Club, or even any of the big shows in the theater by myself.

I wasn't ready to go to bed, it was still quite early. I hadn't seen my roommate or the neighbors all day. Jen and Bobby were at the Steakhouse that night. I don't remember what Phyllis and Myron were doing that night, but since we had all been together all day, I wanted to give them their space.

I thought about going to the spa, but I had just spent about an hour and a half in the hot tub on serenity deck. I felt hydrated enough for one day!

I had an idea..............I decided to go up to the spa and see if they could redo my nail polish. My stripes and anchors were peeling off and it was beginning to look pretty bad.

I went up to the spa and they gave me an appointment right away. Wow! It was almost 9:00PM and I didn't think they took nail appointments that late.

The gal that did my nails was also named Andrea. We had that in common right off the bat and we had a nice conversation while she did my nails.

Andrea took off my red and blue nail polish and re-painted them a light purple. The appointment took about 30 minutes and I was very happy with the results. They looked much better than they looked when I went in there.

It was still early, so I walked down to the gift shops and browsed around:

I was avoiding the smoking area on deck 11 that night because there was a Dallas Cowboys game on the big screen. The Magic sails out of Texas and most of the people on the ship were from Texas. The football game was a pretty popular event.

While the game was on, there was nowhere to sit, and really nowhere to stand on deck 11 without blocking someone's view of the screen.

I went down to the casino bar, and ordered a coke. I could smoke in this area, so I sat there and sipped my coke.
The two ladies next to me struck up a conversation, so I spent about an hour talking with them.

On the way back to the cabin, I stopped to get an ice cream cone and ate it as I walked.

I saw the neighbors, and we talked for a few minutes. They hadn't gotten off the ship at all that day in Belize. I'm not sure why. They said it was raining that morning and they didn't want to get wet, but it really hadn't rained very long.

We talked about plans for the next day in Mexico and they told me they planned to get off the ship and do some shopping. Since that was my plan too, I asked them if I could join them. None of us had seen my roommate all day, so we didn't know what her plans were.
We decided to meet at 9:30AM to get off the ship. We thought that would be enough time for the first wave of people to be off the ship, and maybe less crowded for us when we got off.

I went back to the cabin and my roommate still wasn't there. I was just beginning to wonder if she had even made it back on the ship that day when I noticed her tender ticket on her bed. She must be on the ship somewhere.

I ordered room service, a BLT and some chocolate cake.

I was pretty lonely after spending most of my evening by myself. Well, I talked to people here and there all night, but I still felt very much alone.
I must admit, I had had a GREAT day with Phyllis and Myron (THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR BELIZE DAY WITH ME PHYLLIS AND MYRON! I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT DAY!)
I had a good time going to get my nails done and then talking with the gals in the casino. Yes, I was having a good time and enjoying the ship, but I just wished I had someone to enjoy it with me.

My room service came, and my sandwich was very good.

My roommate showed up sometime after that.
She was in a good mood, and I was glad for some company. We shared what we did that day and she ordered herself a sandwich from room service too.

I told her I had seen the neighbors and we had made a plan to meet at 9:30AM to get off the ship to shop. My roommate wanted to join us, but she thought we should meet earlier than 9:30.

She got a hold of the neighbors and they changed the time to 8:30AM.
I was fine with the earlier time, but I was surprised my roommate wanted to go that early.
I knew I'd be up early anyway and I really was just glad I wasn't going to have to spend the day in Mexico alone.

That night we had another cute towel animal left for us by Ricardo:

We watched TV and fell asleep around midnight.

DAY 8 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 6 - Wednesday, Dec 3, 2014 - Roatan, Honduras

2015-01-02T11:32:00.000-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

ROATAN HONDURAS DAY

I woke up around 7:00AM and my roommate was still asleep.

I slipped out of the room as quietly as I could and went out on the outside deck to see if we were in Honduras yet.

The sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning!

We were just pulling into the port area when I came outside.

I was really glad the weather was nice, that day was going to be a beach day.

When I booked the cruise for my roommate and I, I looked over the excursions for the islands we were going to visit.
When I saw there was only one cabana left for the Honduras day, I decided to go ahead and get it. At that point, I hadn't been in touch with my roommate in several weeks so really I wasn't sure if she would want to have a cabana/beach day. I figured that I could cancel it and get my money back if she wanted to do something else that day. (I found out later that you CAN NOT get a refund if you cancel an excursion on the Carnival Magic.)

When I did talk to my roommate, she loved the cabana idea and told me she would pay me for half of the price of the cabana. The total price I paid for us to use the cabana for the day was $226.00

Then when the neighbors booked the cruise, and before I knew how intolerable they were, I invited them to join us for the day in the cabana and we would split it 4 ways.

The neighbors also liked the cabana idea, and they decided to join us.

I had told my roommate sometime before the cruise that she didn't have to pay me for her share of the cabana. I told her it would be my treat.

On the morning we arrived in Honduras, I was wondering what I had gotten myself into. I was very excited to get off the ship and have a nice beach day, but I was wondering how it was going to go with my 3 beach day companions.

I had a little talk with myself out there by the railing of the ship. I told myself it was a new day and everything was going to be fine with my roommate and with the neighbors. The weather was beautiful and the island looked beautiful! It was going to be a good, fun day in Honduras.

I met a gal named Jennifer that morning, she was very nice and we sat and talked for a few minutes about cruising in general and our plans for the day.

I also ran into my friends Phyllis and Myron from the night before. They said they were going to walk around the island a bit that day and maybe do some shopping. I told them we would be in the cabana area, and if they could try to stop by, I'd love to see them.

I knew the cabana area was secured, but I wasn't sure how secure it actually was going to be. I hoped they would be able to stop by and say hello, but I let them know they might not be allowed to get to the area we were in.

I went back to the cabin to get ready for the day. My roommate was up and was getting ready.
I had hoped we could put the bad stuff that had happened behind us, so I acted like everything was great. I said good morning and told her we had just pulled into the port and it was a gorgeous day out.

We finished getting ready and packed our beach bags.

We had a quick breakfast in the buffet and then we met up with the neighbors.

The four of us went down to deck 0 to swipe our cards in the machine and get off the ship.

Down on the pier looking up at the ship:

Walking down the pier, there was an old rusty ship just sitting there.

I am in Central America! I'm actually in Honduras!

We made our way to an info desk and they told us to get on the flying chairs and go to the cabana area.
The flying chairs are a ski lift type of thing. I think it costs about $12.00 to ride it, but our ride over to the beach area was free with the cabana rental.

We could see the ship from the flying chairs. The view was great!

Looking back at the port area behind us:

The flying chair ride was nice and took about 10 minutes to get to the beach area

If you didn't want to take the flying chairs, you could walk across the bridge to get to the beach.

We could see that one of the Princess ships had docked in front of our ship:

View from the flying chairs:

We got off the flying chairs and found another info desk/booth. We were given wristbands and had an escort to our cabana.
The beach area was nice. We could still see our ship.
The Princess ship is the one in front, and our ship is the one behind it that you can barely see.

Our cabana was very nice!

There was a caribbean band playing really good music somewhere nearby, we could hear it from the cabana.

It did rain for about 20-30 minutes that morning. It wasn't a problem for us, we just went inside the cabana. We did notice that the public beach next to us cleared out pretty quickly when it started raining.

We had our own "cabana boy" for the day. His name was Johnny and he would come by every so often to see if we needed anything.

He was very sweet, and his service was excellent.

I ordered nachos for lunch. It was a HUGE platter and I shared it with the neighbors. My roommate wasn't hungry.
We all had a slushy drink with our lunch. I think I had a strawberry margarita, but it may have been a daiquiri. Whatever it was, it was very refreshing.

The mood at the cabana was quiet, distant, strained, and a bit somber. It didn't seem like anyone was really in a good mood that day (but me), and its kind of hard to be in a good mood when your companions are just sitting around acting bored.
My roommate was acting extremely distant from all of us the whole morning. She was off by herself for the most part looking for shells and doing her own thing.

Sometime that morning, Phyllis and Myron showed up at the cabana. I was happy to see them! It was good to see some people with smiles on their faces.

I showed Phyllis and Myron around the cabana area, and we walked down to the water for a few minutes. They didn't stay long, although I wished they would have stayed all day.

I collected some shells and sand from the shore, so I could bring some home.

I spent a few minutes talking to Aaron, the security guard, he was very nice:

Not long after Phyllis and Myron left, I was thinking I should have went with them. I was more-or less spending the day by myself at the cabana and beach anyway. Even though I had 3 people sharing the cabana with me, they were all kind of doing their own thing. None of them seemed to be enjoying themselves. They might as well have been at home watching TV.

Oh how I wished I had someone to enjoy this day with.

I grabbed my camera and decided to go for a walk. I wanted to see a little of what was going on outside of the cabana area, and it was a good excuse to get away from the cabana for awhile.

I walked to the right of the cabanas and found this bar area:

THIS was the caribbean band I had been hearing all morning?? It was just the one guy??

I was impressed! He was very good. I had enjoyed his Bob Marley and Caribbean music all morning so I put a few dollars in his tip bucket.

A cute place to sit and have a drink:

Toward the left of the cabanas, I saw all these lounge chairs on the public beach.
Oh wow. I was glad I had gotten the cabana after all. These chairs were so close to each other.
I could imagine what it was like on this beach when it was full of people.
It had rained a bit earlier, so there weren't many people on the beach.

I walked down this path to see if I could find any gift shops. I wanted to find something to take home that said "Honduras" on it.

I was also looking for Phyllis and Myron. I hoped they hadn't gone back to the ship yet.

I didn't find Phyllis and Myron..................

Instead, I found Edna.
Edna was standing by a small table and as I walked by she asked me if I wanted my hair braided.
I didn't want my hair braided, but I asked her if she could do a hair wrap?

She said she could do one for $20.00 and asked me what colors I wanted.
I figured I had plenty of time and nothing else to do, so I sat down to get a hair wrap.

I told her I wanted pink, purple, and white.

Edna, giving me a hair wrap:

She put a few beads at the end. I LOVE IT! It should stay in my hair about 4-6 weeks and then I can unwrap it, or cut it out. I had her put it at the base of my hairline, just behind my ear, so it won't bother me if I have to cut it out.

I did see Phyllis and Myron while I was getting my hair wrapped. We talked for a few minutes and they were heading back to the ship.

I was very happy with my wrap, and with Edna's company. She was a sweet lady. When she was finished, I paid her and gave her a $5.00 tip.

I walked back to the cabana and spent a little more time looking for shells.

My roommate said she wanted to go back to the ship, so she packed her beachbag and left.

The neighbor wanted to get her hair braided so I walked with her and introduced her to Edna.
Back at the cabana, it was about 3:00PM and it looked like it was going to rain again.

We paid our bill for lunch and our drinks. I made sure to give Johnny a good tip for his excellent service that day.
The neighbors and I packed up our things and got back on the flying chairs for our ride back to the port area.

Getting closer to our ship:

As we came past the trees, we could see more of the ship:

When we got off the flying chairs, I wanted to shop for some souvenirs. I told the neighbors I would see them back on the ship.

I walked around and shopped a little. It started raining pretty hard while I walked around. I was completely soaked but still walking from shop to shop looking for souvenirs.

My hair was dripping water, and my flip flops were squeeking with each step I took.

I had my yellow Carnival towel with me, and I hadn't used it on the beach that day so I pulled it out of my beachbag and wore it over my head.

I did find some great souvenirs, and I was glad I stayed and shopped even though I was soaked.

As I headed back to the ship, I saw my roommate ahead of me and I ran to catch up with her. We walked back on the ship together.

Back in the cabin, we took turns getting in the shower and then I went out to the open deck to watch sailaway.

It was still raining

You can barely see the flying chairs off to the right side of this picture:

After sailaway, I was hungry. I hadn't eaten anything since I had the nachos earlier that day.

My roommate was off somewhere, and I had no clue where the neighbors were.
It seemed like I was on my own for dinner that night.

I decided to go to the deli and grab a sandwich.
I walked down one deck to the lido deck and all the way to the back of the ship.
In the buffet area, I saw the neighbors sitting down eating dinner. I walked up and said Hello.
I talked to them for a minute or two, and they didn't offer for me to join them.
I said goodbye and continued on my way to the deli.

Back at the deli, I ordered a grilled corned beef sandwich.

I carried it up to the smoking area on deck 11, and sat there on one of the couches and ate my dinner alone.
It was actually a nice place to sit and still be able to have people and things to watch. There was a lot of activity in this area, and on the Lido deck below.

There were always people there to chat with.

This was my view from my favorite couch as I ate my dinner.

After I ate, Jennifer, the gal I had met earlier that morning came out and joined me.

She and her fiance Bobby (they had just gotten engaged on this cruise!!!) were both very nice.

We talked for quite a while and I was glad to have the company.
At some point I decided I was going to go to the spa.

Jen and Bobby were planning to go to the spa too - they also had spa cabins! We quickly made plans to go back to our cabins and change, and meet up in the spa in 15 minutes.

Jen and Bobby:

Funny thing, we all headed in the same door and down the same hallway. I kept thinking they would split off to go to their cabin, but they kept going in my direction, all the way to the front of the ship.

It turned out, they had a suite right by my cabin. Their door was just down the hall about 15 feet from my door.

In the picture below, I am standing by my cabin door, which is on my left.

Jen and Bobby's cabin was just down at the end of the hall on the right.

We thought it was great that we were neighbors!

They invited me in and showed me their suite and their balcony. WOW! That was a beautiful cabin!

They showed me the souvenirs they had found that day and told me all about their excursion. I wished I had been with them! It sounded like they had a lot of fun that day.

I went back to my cabin to get ready for the spa. My roommate wasn't there.

We had a cute elephant towel animal.

I changed into my swimsuit and robe and took the special spa elevator up to the spa

I spent some time in the blue room and in the red room. It felt so good to lay there on the hot tile beds and just relax.

When I went into the thalassotherapy pool, Jen and Bobby were in there.
We had the place to ourselves so we stayed in there and talked for over an hour.

When we had been in the pool so long our skin had puckered, we decided to get out.
I was so relaxed, I was ready for bed. I don't even think it was 9:00PM by then.

I said goodbye to Jen and Bobby, and went to the locker room to take a nice hot shower.

Before I went back to the cabin to get dressed, I remembered to fill my cup up with some cold lemon water. It was so refreshing after being in the spa

After my spa time, I wandered back out into the smoking area. It was so convenient to get there from my cabin, I found myself out there a lot.

I saw Phyllis and Myron and they were heading to the Lobby to go to the Mardi Gras party.
I thought that sounded like fun, even though I was pretty tired, so I tagged along with them.

It was fun. They played games and threw beads and masks down to us from the area above the bar.
I didn't dance or participate in the games. I stood off to the side and watched. Phyllis played the games and looking back, I should have played too.

I did manage to catch some beads and a mask:

After the Mardi Gras party, Phyllis and Myron and I went back up to deck 11. We were talking about Belize the next day and I asked them what they were planning to do there. They were going to walk around a little and shop.
I didn't have any plans for Belize at all, and I wasn't looking forward to spending an entire day with any of my 3 companions.

Being around my travel companions was just so.................strained...............and.........not fun.

I was on a cruise! I wanted to have a good time!!!

I asked Phyllis and Myron if they would mind if I came along with them to shop in Belize. They said "Sure!", and we made plans to meet up in the morning.
I was so tired that night, I said goodnight to Phyllis and Myron (and whoever else was out there in the smoking area. There always seemed to be a nice friendly crowd out there) and around 10:30PM I went in to go to bed.

Back in the cabin, my roommate was there and apparently she wasn't in too good of a mood this night either. I barely said anything to her, and she snapped at me.
I had finally had enough of ignoring her behavior. I told her what I thought of her attitude toward me. I'm not going to go into the entire thing, but I basically told her I had had enough of her crap.

I put my headphones in my ears so I could listen to my audiobook while I fell asleep, and I did fall asleep pretty quickly in that very comfortable bed.

I was looking forward to spending the day in Belize with Phyllis and Myron the next day

DAY 7 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 5 - Tuesday, Dec 2, 2014 - Seaday 2

2015-01-02T11:25:00.000-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

SEADAY 2

My roommate and I both happened to wake up at 7:00AM. I guess 6 hours of sleep was all my body felt like it needed.

When we got up and around we decided to go down and have buffet breakfast again.

I didn't take any pics in the buffet area for some reason, but here are a couple of google images:

We had a long leisurely breakfast that morning and then we walked around, mostly on deck 5, and explored and took pictures. There is a lot going on on deck 5.

We stopped in at the casino:

We peeked into the nightclub,

and the piano bar:

Still on deck 5, we walked outside and looked at the hot tubs. there were people in there or I would have walked up and got a better pic:

next to the hot tub is an outdoor Lanai area where you can relax or grab a bite to eat at the Oceanside Barbeque during sea day lunch:

The food they were preparing looked very good! I would have had a bit of something but we had just finished breakfast and I was stuffed

While I was outside, I took a quick walk around to the back of the ship:

It was misting outside but not enough to get me (or my camera) wet while we were out there.

I love watching the wake from the back of the ship:

Back inside, but still on deck 5 there is a small stage where they have different games and activities during the day, and entertainment at night:

We walked past The Taste Bar, where they had more food:

We stopped in The Red Frog Pub:

We went into the Steakhouse and checked on our reservation for that night:

Before we left the 5th floor, we went into the Carnival gift shop (again):

And finally, we couldn't resist stopping in the candy store:

Our exploring of the Promenade Deck took about an hour. By the time we were done, I decided I needed some spa time and my roommate decided she needed some time out in the sun.

It had been misty and cloudy outside earlier but the sun did come out that day for a few hours.

We went back up to our cabin and changed and I headed for the spa.

I spent more than an hour at the spa. I relaxed in the thermal beds in the red and green rooms, I sat in the thallasotherapy pool, and then I took a shower in the women's locker room.

Ahhhhh! That was so nice. I was really happy that we had booked a spa cabin for this cruise.

Back in the cabin, I took some time to straighten up the cabin and fold some of my clothes.

I ordered a BLT from room service. The BLT's were so good, they had a ton of bacon on them and just the right amount of lettuce and tomato to not be dry.

My roommate came back from suntanning. We were out in the hallway looking for Ricardo for something and she happened to walk down this hallway that led toward the very front of the ship:

OH!!! She found one of the secret decks! These decks aren't really a "secret", but most people don't know they are there.
I didn't know there would be a secret deck on our floor! This was going to be a convenient place to take pics as we arrived at the islands in the next few days.

The view from secret deck 11:

We spent some time on the secret deck that afternoon, and finally we needed to go back to the cabin to start getting ready for our Steakhouse dinner.

The dinner in the Steakhouse does have an upcharge of $35.00 per person plus tip.

On my past Carnival cruises, I had never been on a ship with a steakhouse. Since I had heard really good reviews about the ship steakhouses, I really wanted to try it.

My roommate also wanted to go to the Steakhouse. I was glad she did, because I wouldn't have wanted to go alone.

I had the $100.00 onboard credit, which was one of my perks from when I booked the cruise. I gave my roommate $50.00 to cover her steakhouse meal and her tip.

We got dressed up and went down to the 5th deck to have our steak dinner.

OH BOY! That dinner was just as good as the reviews said! It was excellent from start to finish.

It was one of the best steak dinners I have ever had and was worth every penny of the upcharge and tip.
We were so stuffed after we ate that we had no room left for dessert.
Our server suggested we take a piece of cheesecake back to our cabin to eat later.

The piece of cheesecake they sent us back with was HUGE! It was almost like we had an entire cake!

I must admit that I never did try the cheesecake so I can't comment on if it was good or not. It sure looked good though and I wished I had at least tried a bite.

After our dinner, we walked around and stopped to listen to some of the music coming from the small stage on the Promenade deck. They were having Motown hour. The show was fun and the Carnival Magic band was really good!

We made our way back to our cabin sometime after 9:00PM.
We found Ricardo had left us this cute little frog towel animal:

This was when the major trouble began between my roommate and I.

We were to arrive in Roatan Honduras the next day and I asked my roommate what time she wanted me to set the alarm for.

Just an innocent question and she just about bit my head off with her reply. I ignored her, although I remember being surprised by her reaction.
After a few minutes, it was clear to me that she was in a terrible mood, I had no idea what had come over her but I thought this would be a good time for me to find something else to do and let her cool off by herself. I left the cabin and went out to the smoking area for awhile.

They were clearing the lounge chairs away from the pool deck area and they were just going to have the Caribbean Beach party! Good, I was in the mood to sit out there on deck and watch the festivities.

Just as the party was starting it started raining. They waited a few minutes for it to stop, but eventually the DJ made an announcement that they were moving the Beach party to the Vibe Nightclub on deck 5.

Darn! I didn't feel like following the party to the nightclub, so I stayed out in the smoking area (tucked under the overhang so I stayed out of the rain) and chatted with some new friends I met out there.

I actually had a nice time sitting out there.
I loved the way the lido deck looked when I was all lit up at night.
This area by the pool looked like a good place to sit and hang out by the pool on a hot day.

This was the night I met my new friends Phyllis and Myron from Ft Worth. They were both really nice and Phyllis and I hit it off right from the beginning. We both had so much in common and we talked and talked for several hours that night.

Here is a pic of my friends Phyllis and Myron:

When I went back to the cabin it was pretty late and my roommate was already asleep. I didn't turn on the lights so I wouldn't wake her (It was really late, maybe 1:00AM). I got ready for bed and slipped into bed quietly.

Two sea days down, and tomorrow we would arrive at our first island, Roatan Honduras. I was excited that I would be in Central America for the first time in my life.

I was also really tired that night, and still stuffed from the steakhouse dinner. I fell asleep quickly.

DAY 6 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 4 - Monday, Dec 1, 2014 - Seaday 1

2014-12-31T12:58:00.001-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

SEADAY 1

It was 8:00AM when I woke up and looked at the clock.

AHHHHH! Our first seaday!

We had a long way to go to get all the way across the gulf of Mexico and then down to Honduras.
No wonder it was going to take us 2 days to get there.

Here is a general map of where we were headed during our first 2 sea days:

The first thing I did after I was up and around that morning was to go out to the smoking area and have a morning smoke.

I want to take a minute to mention the smoking area on Deck 11. (sorry non-smokers, bear with me for just a minute)
For one thing, it was a really nice smoking area set up with comfortable couches, tables and chairs, and lounge chairs. I know smokers have recently been banned from smoking on Carnival Cruise Lines' cabin balconies and the smoking areas have become more important to us. For another thing, the smoking areas on this ship became important to me as this cruise went on because I ended up spending A LOT of my time in these areas, as you will see later.

Here are some pictures of the smoking area on Deck 11:

In this picture, it's the middle deck with the comfortable couches along the green wall with the colorful cube tables in front of them:

And here is another view of the couches:

The smoking area goes all along deck 11 on the port (left) side. You can smoke all along this side of the deck to the back of the ship.

When we were sitting in the smoking area, this was our view of the lido deck main pool, and the big screen TV. It was so nice to be able to sit there and watch everything and not be banned to a back corner of the ship.

I had my morning smoke and went back to the cabin to get ready for the day.

My roommate and I were both hungry so we decided to go down to the buffet and see what they had to offer for breakfast.

We ate a nice breakfast. I really love the ships buffet breakfast and the Carnival Magic buffet was perfect.

After we ate, we decided since it was a sunny morning, we would lay out and get some sun.

We went back to the cabin to change into swimsuits and grab our towels. We found some lounge chairs by the railing at the back of the ship on deck 10 on the other side of the hot tub.
It was a good spot to spend the day:

We stayed there most of the morning and early afternoon. We spent quite a bit of time that day talking to a sweet young couple that sat near us.

When we had enough sun, we went back to our cabin to shower and change. We ordered some fruit from room service to hold us over until dinner.

We stopped the gift shop that afternoon to see if they had any good souvenirs:

That night was elegant night in the Main Dining Room (MDR) so we spent the latter part of the afternoon in our cabin getting dressed up for dinner.

When we were ready for dinner, we met up with the neighbors to go down to the 3rd floor. The entrance to our dining room was in the Lobby area of the ship.

We went down to the restaurant around 6:00PM, and we didn't wait long for a table.

We were seated at a table for 4 and we all ordered.

This meal, on the 2nd night of the cruise, was where things really began to go south with my roommate and I.

I already had a bad vibe from the neighbors, and so did my roommate. We had discussed the neighbors in the previous few days and we agreed that it was really stressful to be around them for any length of time. We both felt that our time with them was awkward and strained and we really weren't connecting with them.

It's possible that being around the neighbors that night at dinner got my roommate in a bad mood. Maybe it wasn't related to the neighbors at all. Maybe she was tired? I know that my roommate and I had a nice day, and now at dinner her mood completely changed.

I will admit, my roommate had been a little snappy with me at times during the past few days, but I had been willing to ignore it.

While we were eating our appetizers, I noticed my roommates mood was going from bad to worse. The neighbors were no help, they seemed to be enjoying it and maybe even egging her on.
Without going into details, I'll just say that by the time I got my entree, I was ready to leave the table.

Of course, I didn't want to miss my prime rib dinner, so when my entree came I ate quickly and then excused myself from the table. I made some excuse about going to have a smoke, and I left the MDR with no intention of going back to that table.

I was pretty irritated at this point with both my roommate and the neighbors. I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

I went back up to the cabin and changed into some more comfortable clothes and made my way out to the smoking area to sit for a while.

I sat there thinking things over, and calming myself down. I thought back over the past few years, the past few months and the past few days and I wondered if anything I had done was causing my roommate to treat me the way she was. Her behavior toward me was really strange. She was mostly fine, but there were times when she made fun of me, called me names (jokingly, of course), or made comments to me that just weren't nice.
I came to the conclusion that since day one I had been very patient with her and I had been very kind. I had treated her just as a friend should treat a friend. I honestly couldn't think of anything I had done that would cause her to treat me the way she had.

I was pretty disappointed that I was on a cruise and I should be out and about on the ship doing fun things like going to the comedy club or watching a show in the theater. Instead I was sitting here pondering my friendship with my roommate and wondering what in the heck was going on.

As far as the neighbors were concerned, I was willing to just let them be. I wasn't really "friends" with them before the cruise, and I was OK with not being friends with them after the cruise. I decided since I was spending the next 6 days with them, we might as well get along as much as possible. I was going to continue being nice to them, and make the best of the cruise. I wasn't sharing a cabin with them, so it wasn't that big of a deal that I didn't click with them.

My roommate was a completely different story. She and I had been friends for 25 years, although we had lost touch for a while. I felt terrible about the way thing were starting to go between us, and I hoped whatever was happening was repairable.

After I calmed myself down I started talking to a woman that happened to be sitting near me. She was an older lady an she was hilarious. I needed a laugh and I enjoyed talking to her for a while.

As we were talking, my roommate happened to walk by.
The three of us got to talking and we all decided to walk down to the piano bar and see what was happening down there.

I was kind of glad the woman was hanging out with us because she was a nice buffer between my roommate and I for a few hours.

The 3 of us stayed at the piano bar for a while

After about 45 minutes to an hour, we moved on to the Vibe Nightclub to listen to 70's and 80's music hour.

These pictures were taken on a day when the club was empty, but I'll add them here so you can see what the club looked like:

The club was packed and none of us wanted to dance so we found a place off to the side of the dance floor. We listened to the music and people watched. They played good music; Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, BeeGee's, etc.....
I had a really good time that night, both at the piano bar and at the night club.

After 70's & 80's hour was over, the 3 of us went down to the Lido deck in search of food. We were all hungry.

We found the cheeseburger place was serving food so filled our plates with burgers and fries and sat down to eat.

After I ate, I couldn't resist going to get an ice cream cone. I love the ice cream on the ships and I got ice cream as much as I could on this cruise.

My roommate and I said goodbye to our friend and went back to our cabin.

By then, the mood between my roommate and I was fine. Neither of us had said anything about dinner.

Back in our cabin, we found this little guy. I have no idea what he is supposed to be, but he's cute:

Again, my bed looked sooooooooo comfortable:

While I'm thinking about it, see the red thermal cup on my nightstand in the picture above? I bought that on Ebay and brought it on the cruise. It was really handy to have. I kept it full of ice water from the spa,and lemonade and iced tea from the lido deck.

We were both tired after a long day and we went to sleep that night around 1:00AM.

I was a little bummed out that I hadn't gone to the spa that day. I told myself I was definitely going to go to the spa at least once a day for the rest of the cruise. I had enjoyed it so much on the first night, and I really wanted to take advantage of it on this cruise.

Tomorrow was another sea day, so I could sleep in and also be sure to make time to visit the spa.

Day 5 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 3 - Sunday, Nov 30, 2014 - Boarding Day

2014-12-31T12:57:00.000-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

BOARDING DAY

I woke up and realized where I was and I immediately thought, "It's today!!! I get to cruise TODAY!"

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise from our balcony.

We went down to see what the hotel was offering for breakfast. They had a nice spread. It was
the usual hotel breakfast; hot foods and cereal choices. I took a toasted bagel with cream cheese and some orange juice back to our room so I could eat while I got ready for the cruise.

While I was repacking my suitcase, I couldn't resist walking out onto the balcony every 5 minutes to take pictures of the water.

I took a shower, packed, and called my Sweetheart to say good morning.

At one point that morning I wondered if I could actually see our cruise ship parked at the port. I went out on the balcony and YES! I could see it!!! THERE IT IS!!! (see the ship right above the Waffle House sign?)

I zoomed in:

I was getting SO EXCITED!!! Its always such a thrill to see the huge ships for the first time.

After we showered and got our luggage packed up it was time to put our luggage tags on our suitcases. Putting the luggage tags on is also a big thrill for me. It means that after all of the planning and anticipation, it's finally time to head to the port to board the ship.

Our Carnival Magic luggage tags will make sure our luggage gets delivered to our cabin on the ship:

My roommate and I met up with the neighbors just after 9:00AM and we all loaded our bags back into our cars.

When we were loaded, we headed off to the port.

I didn't know exactly where I was going but I knew the general direction of the port area. We just headed that way and it was easy enough to find.

We went into the port area first and dropped our bags off with the porter.

Then we drove across the street to the Galveston Park-n- Cruise where we had made arrangements to park our cars in their secured lot for the week.

I took a picture of my truck before we headed off to board the ship. (mine is the white one)

Peeking out through the gates of the parking lot, I could finally see the ship up close. Since I had been driving, I hadn't really had a chance to take an up close look yet.

She was HUGE, and just beautiful!!!!

As we crossed the street, there were a lot of people helping to direct us to the port. It was very easy to find our way. I have never cruised out of Galveston before, only Miami. It was interesting to see the differences between the two ports.

And look how blue the sky was that morning!

After we got inside the port building, we went through security. The lines weren't long this early in the morning and we breezed through.

Because of my special Platinum status for this cruise, my roommate and I were directed to go up an escalator to the Captain's Lounge to get checked in. The neighbors went through general check-in in another area.

Inside the Captains Lounge, there were no lines to get checked in and get our Sail & sign cards.

By the time we were checked in and waiting to board, it was around 10:30AM

They served coffee, lemonade and iced tea while we waited to be called to board the ship.

I called my Sweetie while we were waiting, I knew I wouldn't have many more opportunities to talk to him so I wanted to call while I was sitting down for a few minutes.

We didn't have to wait long, maybe 45 minutes or an hour. It wasn't long before it was time to get on the ship.

We went up the ramps and entered the ship on Deck 3 in the Lobby, and my first thought when we walked on the ship was that it was just gorgeous!!!

We waited in the lobby area for about 30-40 minutes for the neighbors to catch up with us.

The neighbors made it on the ship and joined us in the lobby. We decided to go up to see if our cabin was ready. I had a feeling our cabin would be ready, since I was cruising as a Platinum. The neighbors cabin wasn't going to be ready for them until 1:30 so we all left our carry-on bags in our cabin so we wouldn't have to carry our stuff around.

Our cabins were on the right (Starboard) side of the ship. We were at the very front of the ship, at the end of the hall on the left:

Our cabin!!!

The door to our cabin:

And inside was cute! I liked our cabin.

I knew the cabin would be small, but in person it was REALLY small. It also had a much smaller bathroom than the other ships I have been on. Although I was surprised at how small the cabin actually was, it was totally do-able and I had no problems at all with the size of the cabin.

This pic was taken on another night after turndown service. I forgot to take pics when we first went in the cabin. My bed is the one on the right with the towel animal on it:

Because we had spa cabins, we had "upgraded" Spa robes to wear throughout the cruise. I don't know what upgraded means, but they were nice robes. I wore my robe at least once every day.

We also got Spa slippers (we got to keep the slippers, but not the robes). I wore them to the spa one time and they got soaked. I asked for a new pair and from then on I wore my flip flops to the spa.

Because we were in a spa cabin, we got some little samples of the Elemis products that they sell in the spa. We got lotion, soap, shampoo, body wash, and conditioner (the conditioner is not pictured):

These were tiny little samples and my roommate and I each wanted our own samples to try. I asked our cabin steward for extra samples and he gave us several sets throughout the cruise. I didn't use any of the Elemis products while I was on the ship, I had brought a lot of special stuff with me (soaps, lotions, etc...) that I wanted to use on the cruise so I packed the Elemis samples up and brought them home.

I have used them since I have been home and I really really love them! Its good stuff with a nice mellow smell. I'm sure this stuff is very expensive, but I would consider buying these products the next time I cruise on Carnival.

The spa cabins also gave us pretty yellow beach towels for us to use at the spa, pools, and on the islands for the week. The rest of the ship had dark blue towels to use. Our Cabin Steward would replace these with clean towels whenever we used them:

Speaking of our Cabin Steward, this is Ricardo. He was just AWESOME!!!

I tipped him really well on the first day when he introduced himself to us, and I tipped him every day we were on the ship. He took VERY good care of us for the week:

After dropping off our carry on bags and inspecting the cabin, we went down to the Lido deck and ate lunch at the buffet.

The buffet on the Carnival Magic was very nice. I was impressed with the decor and the food.

The way they had the buffet set up was very convenient, and lines went fairly fast.

(web image)

After lunch I had an ice cream cone from one of the serve yourself ice cream stations. The chocolate/vanilla swirl mix is my favorite.

After lunch the 4 of us walked around the ship a little bit while we waited for the neighbors cabin to be ready at 1:30.

We explored a bit and got back up to the cabins around 2:00PM .

My roommates and my suitcases had already been delivered to our cabin so I took some time to unpack while we waited for Muster drill.

When we heard the announcement for Muster Drill, we realized our meeting place was in the main theater. That was a nice change. Usually Muster Drill takes place on one of the outer decks. It can get really hot out there on the decks if you are stuck in the sun.

For this drill, I was thrilled we got to sit in the theater seats and be comfortable throughout the drill and safety announcements. It lasted about 30 minutes and they talked about what to do in an emergency.

After the drill, we were free to go and the 4 of us headed up to deck 11 to stand by the rail and watch sailaway.

See that ship parked at the port in the middle of the picture below? Our ship had been parked right in front of that ship when we boarded.

Now we were slowly gliding through the channel and heading out into the Gulf of Mexico!!!

WOOHOO!!!!!

I had a drink of the day while we were sailing through the channel.

I really love their "Funship Special" drinks.

They are fruity and sweet, and they have like 7 kinds of alcohol in them.

(web image)

There were a bazillion freighter ships in the channel and also in the gulf. I had no idea there would be so many.

As we sailed through the channel, I called my Sweetheart to say goodbye. It would be a whole week before I was going to be able to talk to him again (that was the part I didn't like), but after we said goodbye I turned off my phone for the rest of the cruise.

Sometime after sailaway, we went back to our cabins to get ready for our first dinner in the Main Dining Room.

We had picked "Your Time Dining" and we were to go to the Northern Lights Dining Room anytime between 5:45 and 9:00PM.
We showed up around 6:30 and had to wait for about 20 minutes to get a table.

Dinner was OK. The food was good and the service was good. My travel companions might have been a little tired. I thought the moods of the neighbors was a bit "off" for this being the first night of a cruise.

I had fruit for an appetizer and brisket for my entree. I was too stuffed for dessert.

There was a nice sunset off the deck of the ship that night, but my pic is blurry

After dinner, I suggested we all go see the Welcome Aboard show in the main theater. No one seemed interested (which was fine with me, as I have already seen 4 Welcome Aboard shows) so the four of us decided to walk around and check out the ship a little more. We went down to deck 5 and ended up in the Red Frog Pub.

The pub has a smoking area on the outside, so we sat out there for awhile.

One of the servers came over and entertained us for a while. He was really funny! He had us all laughing (even the neighbors!).

We walked around Deck 5 some more and we found the piano bar. We stood around in the back for a few minutes and it looked like fun! The piano player was funny and was joking around and playing games with the crowd. My roommate and I both wanted to come back to the piano bar at least once during the week and have a drink.

The spa was open that night until 11:00PM and I was anxious to get up there and see what the spa was all about.

The neighbors went somewhere (I don't remember where), and my roommate and I went up to the spa.

It was very easy to get to the spa from our cabin, and that was one of the reasons why I picked this cabin location.

From our cabin door - on the far left in this picture - we had to walk about 15 steps toward the front of the ship and turn left........

And then about 20 steps to the special spa entrance.............

There was a private elevator to take us up 2 floors and directly into the spa without having to go all the way down the hall and use the regular elevators.

We could also choose to take the winding staircase that wrapped around the elevator.

I came to realize how nice this private spa elevator was as I walked back and forth in my robe from my cabin to the spa throughout the week.

I did use the stairs quite often during the week when I didn't feel like waiting for the elevator.

Our cabin was located on Deck 11, and the main part of the Spa is on Deck 14
The Carnival Magic doesn't have a 13th floor, so it was only two short floors up to the spa.

When we came out of the elevator on the 14th floor, we saw the front desk.

They welcomed us to the spa and gave us a quick tour and an overview of how the spa works.
We got our spa bracelets. We were to wear these when we came to use the spa:

We were also shown a tray with 4 different kinds of body scrub. They told us about each one and let us have a smell of each.
We got to pick one as a gift from the spa.
My roommate and I both picked lavender since its supposed to be calming.

Our lavender body scrub gift from the spa:

Now it was time to use the spa facilities!
We were told to start our spa experience by using one or more of the "herbal steam" rooms.

These rooms were AMAZING!

They were quiet, calm rooms that smelled like eucalyptus (and other smells too) and they played calming music.

I think there were 4 steam rooms (there may have been more, but I saw 4). They all had different degrees of steam filling them. It was kind of like a really big sauna, but with smells and music.

I could only use 2 of the rooms. Too much steam makes me sneeze so I mostly stayed in the two rooms with the lowest steam levels.

This "green" room was comfortable and warm, but not really steamy at all. It had tile lounge beds that were HEATED!

Laying on these tile beds felt so good. It was relaxing, and warm, and very comfortable. I wish I were there right now.
The bamboo pipe things had a nice stream of cool water to rinse your face if you wanted to.
During the day there was a good view out of those windows:

Through the glass door you can see in the pictures above, there was another room that also had tile beds. These beds were in more of a "sitting up" position. This "red" room had a little more steam and was warmer than the green room.

There were shower heads on the back wall so you could spray yourself with cool water:

There were (at least) 2 more rooms, and they were so steamy I couldn't get a picture. I didn't use the other two rooms, but I did walk in both of them so I could see what they looked like. They were more like a real sauna with heat that blasts you as soon as you open the door, and so much steam you can't see across the room.

I was fine with my red and green rooms, and I would spend about 10-15 minutes in each of those rooms every time I went to the spa.

After the herbal steam rooms, it was time to go into the Thalassotherapy pool.

This is like a giant whirlpool that is filled with sea water and kept at body temperature. It wasn't hot and it wasn't cool. It was just perfect. The salt and minerals in the sea water are supposed to be healing.
I don't know if it is really healing, but I can tell you it felt good to be in there.

You are supposed to lay on these metal rack things, but when the bubbles were turned on it was so powerful that I floated a few inches above the rack. I actually had to hold on to the metal bars or I would float away. It was fine to float all over the pool when I was the only one in there, but when other people were there I had to hold on to the metal racks to keep myself from floating around and bumping people.

Down on the rounded end of the pool, there are 2 spigots that you can turn on. The water feels good and they are in a perfect position (and just powerful enough) to give you a nice water massage on your head, shoulders and back.

I managed to get a pic while the pool was empty and the bubbles were off. You can see the metal "racks" we were supposed to lay on. I don't know what they were called, but they were like lounge chairs made out of metal tubing.

Usually I would spend about 20 minutes in the Thalassotherapy pool.

They had plenty of towels to use, and there were hooks to hang your robe, towels, etc....

Just outside of the Thalassotherapy room, was the "relaxing room":

As the name suggests, this is a quiet room with a great view off the front of the ship.
They played calming music and there were comfortable places to sit around the room. When I took this pic, there were people sitting around the room. I tried to take the pic without invading their privacy, so I didn't get a wide shot of the room:

They had coffee and tea, and carafes of flavored cold water.
I always carried my red thermal cup with me and filled it with refreshing cold lemon water every time I was in the spa.

I found the hallway that leads to the women's locker room and went to explore:

Plenty of fresh towels to use:

I found this shower (with a locking door instead of a curtain) to be a perfect place to take a shower. It was much bigger than the shower in our cabin and it had the cool sprayer things that came out from the side walls. After the first day, I started bringing my shampoo, conditioner and soap with me to the spa so I could shower in here before going back to the cabin.
It worked out really well for me, and there was never anyone in the locker room when I was in there.

They had lockers to use, but I never used one

We left the spa on that first night at 11:00 PM, just as they were closing.
We got back to our cabin to find our first towel animal. I think its a bird, but I'm not really sure.

We also found one of the platinum perk gifts in the cabin.

This is the Chocolate Delight treat that they deliver to Platinum guests:

We were delighted with our goodies!

As if that wasn't enough, there was another treat waiting in the cabin.

It was a letter and some more goodies sent to me from the cruise director!

Let me first tell you the story about how I happened to get these goodies:

I belong to a few online cruise groups, and over the past several years I have met new online friends that share an interest in cruising.
We all like to follow the Facebook page and blog posts of the Senior Cruise Director for Carnival, John Heald.

Some people write to John just before their cruise to ask for a treat to be delivered to their cabin. Sometimes it works and John sends something. He gets a lot of requests, so I'm not sure they all get fulfilled.
My online friend Jane seems to have great luck when she asks for treats to be delivered to her friends when they cruise. Since I had never asked for any treats on my other 4 Carnival cruises, and since this was "the perk" cruise for me, I asked Jane to help me to get some goodies sent to my cabin.
I told Jane I REALLY wanted a ship on a stick, but I would be happy with anything at all.

Jane was happy to help, and a few days before my cruise, she sent John a facebook message on my behalf:

After she wrote to John and he replied, I hoped he would send goodies to my cabin AND HE DID!!!

Left on my bed that night was a nice letter from our ship's cruise director, James Dunn.
I especially like the part where it says, "Any friend of John's is a friend of mine"

I got a bottle of champagne

and I also got my SHIP ON A STICK!!!!!!

THANKS YOU SO MUCH JANE AND JAMES DUNN AND JOHN HEALD!!!

You all totally made my day!!!!

As you can see, a Ship on a Stick is a ridiculous plastic ship award. It's about 5 inches tall. They are typically given out to cruisers that win contests or games on the ship.

They are a coveted item by some people that really love Carnival (like me)

I rarely win anything and I don't play many games on the ship so I really have no chance of ever winning one of these. I'm so happy I got one from the Magic! Even though I didn't really "earn" it, its one of my favorite things I brought back from this cruise.

I came back from an hour at the really relaxing spa to a towel animal, a nice note, chocolates, champagne, and a ship on a stick!

My roommate and I shared the chocolates and I put the champagne away for later. I don't really like wine or champagne, and neither did my roommate, so I thought I would bring it home and display it on our wine rack in the kitchen.

At some point that night my roommate and I wandered down to the lido deck looking for food. We found the cheeseburger/hotdog place was open and we both had a burger and fries.

Earlier, Ricardo had turned our beds down and I was ready to get in that comfortable looking bed and get some good sleep! It had been a long and exciting few days.

My notes say it was 2:00 AM when we finally went to sleep that night. No wonder I was exhausted.
We had two sea days in a row before we got to our first island, so I was glad I could sleep in a bit the next morning.

DAY 4 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 2 - Saturday, Nov 29th, 2014 - Travel Day 2

2014-12-31T12:22:00.001-06:00

You can find the beginning of this review here, DAY 1

TRAVEL DAY 2

We had set the alarm for 8:00AM. I would have liked to get an earlier start, but I needed more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep to finish the drive to Galveston.

We got ready as fast as we could and loaded our suitcases back into the truck.

We drove our last 100 miles in Oklahoma, it mostly looked like this:

(Pic taken from Google Earth)

In Texas we stopped for gas and got lunch at McDonalds. My roommate noticed a Walmart and wanted to stop in and get a few last minute things for the cruise. We were back on the road in about an hour and heading south again.

Downtown Dallas was full of traffic and very confusing for this Kansas girl. We missed one of our highway change exits, but we were able to correct it without losing much time. Lots of road construction, lots of traffic, and very small lanes. We finally made it to the other side of Dallas and we were still in good shape.

Houston was bad too. Although not confusing like Dallas, it took forever to get through Houston even though we were going 85 miles an hour to keep up with the traffic. A few times in Houston we came to a dead stop, and then back to 85 MPH again.

I was so glad when we put Dallas and Houston behind us.

Soon we saw water off the side of the highway and we realized we were driving across the big bridge that goes over to Galveston Island!!!
(Pic taken from Google Earth)

We made it to our hotel around 4:30 PM.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites - Beachfront in Galveston.

(web image)

The hotel was very nice and worked perfectly for us.

(Pic taken from Google Earth)

(web image)

We got checked in, parked the truck, carried all of our bags to our room and got settled.

I didn't take any pics of the room, I'm not sure how I forgot to do that.

The hotel website has some pics:

Front Desk/Check in:
(web image)

This wasn't our exact room, but our room was identical to this one:
(web image)

All of the rooms had private balconies. I asked for a high floor with a water view
(web image)

This wasn't our balcony, but our view was exactly the same as this:
(web image)

After we were settled, we went across the street so we could be near the water. It was a little windy out but wasn't cold like it had been in Kansas.

I called Timmy from the waterfront and gave him an update. I had talked to him a few times throughout the roadtrip so far, but now I finally had a chance to talk to him for a few minutes.

We stayed down by the water until the sun went down.

We decided we were hungry so I suggested Bubba Gump Shrimp Company which was on Paradise Pier. Neither of us had ever been to a Bubba Gump so we decided to try it.

There was a reason I wanted to eat at Bubba Gump. I read blogs and one blog I read is about a family that lives in Galveston. The wife (Chelsea) writes about their kids and their travels and it's one of my favorite blogs. From reading about this family, I knew they lived on Galveston Island and the husband (Jarrett) works as a manager at Bubba Gump. I told my roommate this story and I told her I hoped he would be there, because I would love to see him. I would actually rather see Chelsea, his wife, but I didn't think there was much chance of seeing her. I figured seeing the husband would be good though.

Since it was a Saturday night, I honestly didn't think he would be working anyway.

The outside of Bubba Gump Shrimp Company on Paradise Pier in Galveston:

Here is a picture of the restaurant in the daylight.

(Pic taken from Google Earth street view)

The cool thing was, Jarrett was there and I recognized him right away. I went up to him and asked if he was Jarrett (of course he was!). I told him I read his wife's blog and I recognized him. He was very nice and he shook our hands and asked our names and talked to us for a few minutes about our cruise, etc....

I asked him if very many blog readers come up to meet him, and he said there have been a few. (Good to know I'm not the only weirdo that likes to meet the people I read about in blogs!)

In a few minutes we were seated and our server came up and told us the manager was going to treat us to a free appetizer! Well, that was nice!!! Thanks Jarrett!!

Our food and our complimentary appetizer were very good. The service was excellent. We both enjoyed our meal and the atmosphere was great. It was a very nice way to start our cruise vacation.

The kind people at Bubba Gump also stamped my parking ticket, so I didn't end up having to pay $10.00 to park in the Paradise Pier lot while we ate.

In case you are curious and want to take a look at Chelsea's blog, its at www.oursonnylife.com

After dinner, my roommate and I decided to walk down the block to a large gift shop so we could look for Galveston Souvenirs.

As we walked down the street, we looked behind us and we could see the rides on Paradise Pier. It was really pretty with the lights from the pier against the water and the dark sky.

The gift shop was called Murdocks and it was HUGE. We spent about an hour walking around and looking at everything

Here is a picture of Murdocks in the daylight, although it was very dark when we were there:

(Pic taken from Google Earth street view)

We had been in touch with the neighbors throughout the day. They had left Kansas City early in the morning and had driven the entire drive in 1 day.

As we were leaving Murdocks, the neighbors were just coming across the bridge into Galveston. We headed back to the hotel to meet them.

When my roommate and I got back to the hotel, the neighbors were at the front desk checking in. It was abut 8:30PM. They were tired from their long drive, so we decided on a time to meet up in the morning and we went back to our rooms.

My roommate and I spent some time out on our balcony in the hotel that evening. The weather was warmish with a slight breeze. We were so glad it wasn't freezing like it was back home.

We had each brought gifts for each other, so we sat on our balcony and exchanged gifts.

We had a good time that night, we were both happy with our little gift exchange, and we were both excited we were going on a cruise in the morning. We spent about an hour going through our suitcases and repacking and showing each other our new cruise clothes we had brought.

We went to bed around midnight, with the door to the balcony open so we could hear the waves crashing against the shore all night.

DAY 3 is HERE!

Carnival Magic Cruise - DAY 1 - Friday, Nov 28, 2014 - Travel Day 1

2014-12-31T12:22:00.000-06:00

This was a difficult review for me to write. This cruise went very differently than I expected, and it didn't turn out like any of the cruises or vacations I have written about in the past. The reason for my discomfort was that things were not as harmonious with my three travel companions as I would have liked. As a result of this, I spent much of this cruise either alone, or with new friends I met on the ship.

I knew that writing about this trip in my usual over-detailed way was going to be tricky. I considered not writing about this cruise at all. I also considered not mentioning that there were problems between my travel companions and I. In the end I decided that I DO want to write about this trip, and it is probably best if I just tell it the way it went, rather than try to change the story.

So here you go. I'm going to write about spending 10 days on a vacation with people that didn't turn out to be very good travel companions for me.

I think this type of review needs a disclaimer:

Disclaimer: This review is my own opinion and reflects how this vacation went for me. I understand there are two (or more) sides to every story and my travel companions may have a completely different story to tell. They certainly have the freedom to tell their own story.

Because this blog is public, I decided to completely leave out the names and any photos I have of my travel companions. I also have heavily edited the parts where things didn't go well. I kept it as simple as I could, because I do not want this review to be about my travel companions or the fact that we didn't get along. That's not why I am writing this review. I am writing this review for the same reasons I have written my previous vacation reviews. I really just want to write about my cruise, the awesome islands I visited, and the beautiful ship I was lucky to be on for an entire week.

For purposes of this review, I will use the term "my roommate" when I mention the person I cruised with.

I will call the other 2 people that joined us on this cruise "the neighbors".

Now that all that is said, on with the review:

PLANNING OUR CRUISE

"My roommate" and I started planning this cruise about a year ago. She was a friend of mine that I have known for about 25 years and I had reconnected with recently. She had cruised before, and so had I. We thought it would be fun to cruise together, and agreed we would book something if we could find a good deal. We both wanted to make this a "cheap" cruise.

I have been known to take some giant whopper vacations, but since I have a huge Disney trip coming up, I knew I needed to tone this cruise down.

We decided to cruise out of Galveston Texas and drive to the ship. Texas is the closest port to us, and we figured it was cheaper to drive and split the gas, and save the cost of plane tickets.

Carnival is the cheapest of all of the cruise lines, so we started there.

There are 2 Carnival ships that sail out of Galveston, the Carnival Magic and the Carnival Triumph. I really wanted to cruise on the Magic - a bigger newer ship built in 2010.

We were looking at booking an interior cabin down on decks 1 or 2 (keeping it cheap!), so I started looking for sales or deals on Carnival Magic cruises. I also was interested in trying out an interior cabin. On all of my other cruises, I have had a balcony cabin. As a travel agent, I wanted to get the experience of what an inside cabin was like, and this was going to be a good time to do that.

I found that it pays to read the fine print in the mailings that Carnival sends out.

In March I received this in the mail:

Now that's a deal!! It says if I booked my cruise by 3/31/14 I could get Platinum status for the cruise.

WOW!

Platinum status is only for people who have cruised 75 days or more.

When I booked this cruise, I had 20 days at sea with Carnival from my previous 4 cruises. (Now I have 27 days at sea) Getting to cruise as a Platinum was a super sweet perk and a pretty big deal to me.

Some of the Platinum perks I would get to enjoy on this cruise:

Priority embarkment and debarkment

Chocolate delight delivered to cabin

Priority spa reservations

Priority dining reservations

Carnival Platinum gift

Priority tender to the islands

Priority guest services line

3 bags of complimentary wash-n-fold laundry service

I was also going to get $100.00 onboard credit, which is money to spend on the ship.

Since the Carnival advertisement for this deal was addressed specifically to me, I was the only one who would actually have the Platinum status on this cruise. Since my roommate and I were sharing a cabin, she would get to share in some of the perks with me.

We picked a 7 day cruise going to

Roatan, Honduras (Central America)

Belize (Central America)

Cozumel Mexico

the cruise also had 3 sea days.

As I was looking at the different cabins on the ship, I saw that we could get an inside spa cabin on deck 11 for a good price. It really wasn't very much more than a regular inside cabin.

Booking a spa cabin would allow both of us to use the facilities in the spa on the ship whenever we wanted. That sounded nice. The Carnival Magic has a "Cloud 9 Spa" and I was curious about what was involved with that.

Also, if we booked a Spa cabin, we would both get some spa perks to go along with the Platinum perks.

Some of the perks that come with booking a spa cabin:

Cabin on deck 11 or 12 with special access to the spa

Special Elemis brand spa products in cabin

Bathrobe/slippers/ towel upgrade

Use of Thalassotherapy pool and steam rooms

2 free classes (yoga, pilates, etc)

Priority spa bookings

So now I was getting really excited about booking this cruise. All of the perks from the special Platinum booking and the perks from the spa cabin booking were going to be a nice treat for my roommate and I.

We booked the cruise for November 30th, 2014 because it was the one of the cheapest fares I could find.

My roommate and I were happy we would have a chance to reconnect. We had lost touch for the most part for the last 10 years or so. We were both glad to have the time on this cruise together to rekindle our friendship.

We had about 7 or 8 months until the actual cruise, and during that time, we talked only a few times. She pays for all of her phone minutes and she didn't have a computer for awhile. The cruise planning communication between my roommate and I was far and few between.

No big deal really. After the cruise was booked, there wasn't a lot of planning to do anyway.

In April, two friends of my roommate got in touch with me on facebook and wanted to join us on this cruise. It was mother and daughter, and they booked a spa cabin next to my roommate and I on Deck 11.

The mother and daughter (I'll call them "the neighbors" for the rest of this review) had never cruised before and the daughter was especially nervous to cruise. The daughter is in her 30's and going on a cruise had always been a dream for her. Its very understandable to be nervous before your first cruise (I was!) and I did everything I could to ease her mind. Because they were friends of my roommate, and because they were cruising with us, I spent A LOT of time between email and instant messaging, going over details about ship life, answering her questions, and reassuring her that she was going to be fine. We were also building a friendship, or so I thought, since we were going to be cruising together. I messaged back and forth with the daughter almost every day. Some days it was just to answer a quick question that she had, and other days we would message back and forth for several hours.

As the cruise got closer, the conversations with the daughter were getting stressful for me. There was a lot going on with this mother/daughter. It seemed to me that they had one problem after another and there was a lot of whining and complaining and I sometimes wondered if these people were going to be able to have a good time on the cruise. I also wondered if all of their problems and complaining were going put a damper on my cruise. My patience was being tested daily as the cruise got closer. I hoped when they got on the ship they would calm down and everything would be fine.

Although I was getting just a bit nervous about how this cruise was going to go, I wasn't going to let any of it bother me, I was going ON A CRUISE!

As the cruise approached, the 4 of us made plans to meet at a hotel in Galveston the night before the cruise. My roommate and I would drive together in my truck, and the neighbors would drive together in their car. We would meet in Galveston and board the ship together.

A couple of days before the cruise, I did my nails. I had found a picture online and I bought nail decals on Ebay and tried to do the same design.

They turned out OK, but they didn't last long. I had put 2 coats of clear polish on top of the decals, but they started peeling off by the 2nd day. I superglued the edges down, but they peeled up anyway.

I really wanted 2 days to make the 14 hour drive from Kansas City to Galveston.

I'm not used to driving long distances without my husband doing the actual driving, so I thought it was more reasonable that we do 2 seven hour driving days.

We could take our time and maybe stop along the way and do some sightseeing. It would also give us time to spend in Galveston the afternoon before the cruise.

My roommate and I agreed that we would leave early Friday morning, although we never specified exactly what time "early" was.

In my mind, I had hoped we could leave around 7 or 8ish. I had a feeling my roommate wouldn't be ready quite that early so my more reasonable thought was that I hoped we could leave by 9 or 9:30 AM.

TRAVEL DAY 1

Friday came and I was up and ready to hit the road by 9:00AM.
My roommate called around 10:30 AM and said she was running late and she would be over as soon as she could.

She finally arrived at my house ready to start our roadtrip around 6:00PM (YES! SIX PM!)

So we had lost an entire driving day.

I was getting pretty frustrated waiting for her to show up, but I was OK after she finally arrived.

I was willing to forget it. Shit happens. She was here now and we were going on a cruise!!!!!!!

At that point I was determined to get us on the road and get as far as we could that night.

My Sweetheart loaded our suitcases in the back of the truck around 6:30PM. He had already filled the tank with gas for us earlier in the day. I said goodbye to him (It's always sad to say goodbye to my Sweetie) and we were off!

After a quick stop at Wendy's for a burger and fries, we got on I-35 and headed south.

We were both really exited to be on the road, AND WE WERE GOING ON A CRUISE!!! We talked and talked all night while I drove. We caught up on everything and I don't think we even turned the radio on. We were having a good time and the hours went by really fast.

We did talk about the neighbors, and I found out that my roommate wasn't actually "friends" with them, which is what the daughter had told me. They were more like acquaintances. My roommate said she hardly knew them at all and had met them at one of her jobs in the small town they live in.

Remember that communication was far and few between my roommate and I while we were planning this cruise, so we really hadn't talked much about the neighbors until we were on the way to Galveston. I also want to add that it was my roommate that named them "the neighbors" on the 2nd day of this cruise. Neither my roommate or I had a very good vibe from the neighbors by the 2nd day, and when she referred to them as "the neighbors", we both thought it was funny and the name stuck (it also works well for this review).

Since we were driving at night time, the traffic was very light. There were a few times when it seemed like we were the only ones on the road. We had no idea when we crossed from Kansas into Oklahoma, but we went through Oklahoma City sometime after midnight. I thought we were doing quite good. We were making up some lost time. I wanted to get as close to Dallas as I could before we stopped for the night.

It was closer to 2:00AM when we found a Super 8 just off the highway in Ardmore Oklahoma. After we stopped I looked at the map and realized we really had done pretty good. We were about 100 miles north of Dallas. Pretty close to where I wanted to be if we had left earlier that morning.

We couldn't really see what the hotel looked like on the outside, since it was so dark when we pulled in, but we were so tired we didn't care. The price was good, it was $73.00 total for the night, and we each paid half.

We signed the paper, got our room keys, and unloaded our suitcases out of the truck. By the time we got to our room, I was really tired.

It was about 3:00AM when I fell asleep.

Since I didn't get a picture, I went to Google Earth and took a screenshot of the hotel we stayed in.

The Super 8 on I-35 in Ardmore Oklahoma:

(Google Earth screenshot image)

DAY 2 is HERE!

Starting our Vegetable garden

2014-06-27T08:32:00.001-05:00

In the first week of May, the ground finally thawed out enough that we could start digging our beds for our new vegetable garden.

This is my first vegetable garden EVER. I am pretty good at flowers and plants but never attempted vegetables before.

The area just behind the house gets the most sun during the day, so we decided that was the best spot.

We made 3 big beds, each about 4 ft X 20 ft.

The hardest part was getting the layer of grass off the top. Tim and 2 of our sons, Patrick and Chris, helped us get the beds started.

Once we had the grass taken off the top, we used shovels to turn the dirt over and loosen it all up.

We added sand to help with drainage of the soil.

Tim tilled the sand in with the soil to get it mixed in really good.

We also added fertilizer (we used 10-10-10 brand fertilizer)

We happened to have just enough bricks to go around all 3 beds

To protect the garden from squirrels and bunny rabbits, Tim put a fence around the entire garden. He left plenty of room inside the fence line so we could dig more beds in there.

I painted a few bricks to use as garden markers so I could remember what we planted in each bed.
We started almost everything from seed, and we planted our seeds directly into the garden beds around May 15th.

After a few days, everything began to grow.

This pic was taken in early June

Tim's sister gave us some Raspberry starters from her garden. We planted them in a new bed that we dug out along one side of the fence.
The first year, these raspberries won't bear much fruit (if any at all). As they grow and spread their roots, we should have plenty of raspberries from these plants next year.

Randi also gave us some Strawberry starters. Same as the raspberries, these strawberries won't bear much fruit the first year. Next year we should have a lot more berries from these plants.

This pic was taken a few weeks ago, just as everything was beginning to grow.

As of today, some of those tomato plants are about 4 feet tall!
The cucumber plants have grown so much lately they seem to be trying to take over the whole garden. I had to cut some of them back last night to keep them from overtaking the tomatoes.

More pics and garden updates coming soon!!

What's goin' on??

2014-06-10T00:47:00.002-05:00

Hi!!!
It's been a long time since I've written a blog post, and several people have messaged me asking where I went.

I'm here..........I have overloaded my daily schedule and it's taking me longer than I thought it would to straighten things out. If you know me personally, you know I am more of a "planner" and not too good at last minute stuff.
Well, I had some last minute stuff come up with my day job and I don't have my brain wrapped around these changes quite yet........but I'm working on it.

Here, let me explain:

In a nutshell, I have had the same day job for the last 8 years.
It's been a great job and I was shocked at the end of 2013 when I found out that my department was closing due to budget cuts. I knew my job would end in May 2014 and I scrambled to try to figure out what to do. It took me some time to re-group but I finally came up with a plan for myself.

I started Travel Agent training so I could open my own TA business. Here is my post about how I decided to become a travel agent.

I was also planning to open my Ebay store back up and sell my jewelry again. I like to make beaded jewelry, and I did OK selling some of it a few years ago.

I also decided since I would be working from home from now on, I would start my very first vegetable garden in our back yard. I figured those 3 things would keep me busy and also bring a little money in, the vegetable garden would help cut grocery costs.

I spent the first half of 2014 gearing up for my day job to end and my new Travel Agent and Jewelry businesses to start. I worked really hard and spent a lot of time to get my 2 new businesses off the ground by the time my day job was to end.

Then, just ONE day before my day job was over, my boss found me another position with the company.

Of course, I accepted it............with so many people looking for good jobs with steady paychecks, I felt I had to keep the day job since it was offered to me.

I started the new position about 2 weeks ago, and it's quite different than my previous position. I do basically the same job (with some variations) but now it's in a totally different setting.

Here is my cozy cubicle office I have had for the last several years:

And now.........I find myself behind this counter, in a huge atrium lobby.

So...........it's the same job but different...............and it's taking some time for me to get used to it.
It's a much farther commute, and now I work 5 days a week instead of 4.

As for my Travel Agency, my jewelry business, and my garden?? I'm still trying to work it all in, and I'll admit I'm completely overloaded.

I'll get used to the new day job position in time, and I'll work the rest in too somehow. At this point I am not willing to give up the travel agency or the jewelry business (or the day job).

Things like this blog and my DIY projects around the house have been put on hold for now. I do miss keeping up this blog so I'll try to post as often as I can. Hopefully I can get my life under control and resume my projects AND writing here on a semi-regular basis.

For now, here is an update on whats been happening around here in the last few months:

Here is some BIG news:
My birth mother wants to meet me! WOW!

(It's about time, I've only been waiting 48 years for this)

Here is the post I wrote about my adoption and my birth mom (AND MY BROTHERS!!!!) if you are curious about the story. (beware: it's a really long post)

So anyway, I have been in touch with a friend of my birth mom, who was kind enough to search for my brothers and I.
She sent us some cards our birth mom had written for us, and we are trying to arrange a meeting in St Louis in the next month or so to have lunch (or something like that) with our birth mom. I'll definitely post about it here if and when it happens.

Here is the inside of my card from my birth mom. This is the first time she has ever acknowledged me as her daughter (you can read about that in the link above)

It's actually petty huge that she wrote that card to me. It feels very good.

I'm still listening to my audio books (with headphones) when I lay down to go to sleep at night. Lately I am re-listening to one of my old favorites:

We've been grilling A LOT lately. It keeps the house from getting hot from the oven being on, and I have found the clean up is much easier when grilling. No pots and pans!!

I think I was supposed to empty out some grease collecting tray under the grill, but I didn't know it was there.

So I caught the entire grill on fire about 3 weeks ago.

The fire was so bad it burned the knobs off the front of the grill. We did save the dinner I was grilling though.

I'm so glad Timmy was home when that happened. He pulled the propane tank out from under the grill just as the rubber tube connecting the grill to the propane tank was catching on fire.
YIKES!!

Timmy saved the day and all was well, although our grill is unusable.

He bought us a new grill, and it should be delivered soon.

Now I know about the grease pan, so hopefully I won't catch this one on fire.

Timmy went on a weekend motorcycle trip in May. They drove all around Arkansas for three days.

I snapped this picture of him just as he was packed and ready to head out at 5:00 AM that morning.

It was 33 degrees out when he left and he must have been cold (although he wouldn't admit it if he was).

Thats way too cold for me to be on a motorcycle. I'm pretty sure I got back into our warm bed after he left and went back to sleep.

He had a good time and I'm glad he got to go for a long ride and also spend some time with his guy friends.

Now I have a fun little trip coming up. I have a travel agent convention in LAS VEGAS!!

I'm SO excited!

First of all, I've never been to any kind of convention in my life, so this will be interesting (and fun!) to be an actual participant at a convention. Also, it's a travel agent convention, so I'm especially excited to meet people and learn more about the biz. I am really enjoying being a TA, and this should be really helpful to my business.

The other part that I'm excited about is VEGAS!!! I lived there for a short time, but haven't been to Vegas in about 10 years now. I'm sure it's changed a lot in 10 years, I can't wait to see.

My sister decided to join me while I'm in Vegas. We have traveled a lot together over the years. Most recently we did Disney World together a few years ago, we cruised together last September, and I went with her on her business trip to New York City last March. Since we don't live in the same state, traveling together is a good way for us to spend sister time together. (we have a Seattle trip coming up in August too!)

Last week my convention badge card came in the mail. This is the card for the lanyard that I'll wear around my neck - it will be so fun to be part of a REAL convention!

In preparation for Vegas, my friend told me about a facebook game I could play to win show tix, free meals, etc... for my Vegas trip. It's a gambling game and its totally free (you can opt to pay, but I played for free).

It took me about 2 months of playing to win my 3 prizes, and I did pretty good!

In exchange for playing, I got "gold coins". I exchanged the gold coins in for certificates for free buffets at some of the MGM hotels.

Here is my certificate for 2 free buffets at the Mirage!

( I can not get this pic to turn the right way, sorry!)

I also won free buffets for my sis and I at MGM Grand and Aria hotels for this trip.

On the homefront, we really want to rip out our entire bathroom and start over.
We aren't quite ready to do that yet, so meanwhile, I asked Tim if we could remove the giant sink that didn't work anyway, and replace it with a smaller sink.

It would be nice to have more room in this bathroom.

Since he's a sweetheart, he bought a new sink and went to work on removing the old sink.

He ran into some problems when one of the old pipes (in the wall) broke and he had to do some pipe repair he hadn't planned on doing. He had to tear out the lower half of the wall behind the sink to fix the pipes.

He got the pipes fixed, the drywall replaced and the new sink in.
I LOVE IT!! (But so sorry Tim had to go through ALL THAT trouble to replace a sink for me)

We still have to tape and mud the drywall and repaint. Maybe a whole new color scheme? I'm tired of the brown.
The bathroom looks so much better with the smaller sink.

Outside, I have spent the last month planting THOUSANDS of seeds.
We did start the vegetable garden in Mid-may, and I planted hundreds of vegetable seeds (more about that coming in a new post), and

I also planted hundreds of flower seeds in the front yard, in the flower beds and in pots.
The buds are just now coming up, here is my sage:

I have climbing vine flowers coming up all along this temporary fence. Eventually there will be a privacy fence here, but for now maybe the flowers will climb up the wire fence and look pretty.

These were seeds a few weeks ago, they are growing pretty fast now:

Marigolds in my big black pot:

It's been raining so much this past week, my poor baby flower plants and vegetables are out there drowning. I hope they survive.

I managed to get the back porch cleaned up. That was a huge job. It was a mess in there and it took me a whole weekend to make it look nice.
My overgrown plants are happy to be out on the porch. They love it out there.

And the new patio has been getting some use this summer.
Now if it would only stop raining, I'd love to paint that old porch swing.

Timmy welded up some steel scraps he had and made this fire ring for our back yard.
It's really awesome, and I have wanted one of these for a while now.
If we decide this is a good spot for it, permanently, we may get those curved bricks/blocks and build a little round wall around it.

Standing on the back patio looking out into the back yard, it's starting to take shape.

You can see the garden, and I have another post coming (hopefully this week) about our garden progress.

I think I've hit the most important happenings around here in the last few months.
I'll try to come back and post as often as I can..............