Seattle

November 9 - 11
This weekend, Grant and I went to Seattle with Dad and Delaine. We flew out Friday night and arrived in Seattle at about 9:00. From there, we eaded straight to our hotel, the waterfront Marriott, and checked in.

On Saturday, we explored the city. We walked along the water front and up to Pike Street Market. Next, we visited the library. The library is amazing, by the way... something worth checking out! After the library, we walked to the monorail station and took the monorail to the Space needle, where we had reservations for brunch! This was nice because we got to bypass any lines and go straight up to the revolving restaurant. After we ate and went out the observation level, we headed back into the city and did the Underground Tour that Grant and I enjoyed so much last time we were here. Seriously, these tour guides are so much fun and know how to tell a great story!

We really lucked out on weather this weekend. It was cool, but not rainy.

After the tour, we walked back to our hotel along the water front and rested for a while. Then we went out to the grocery store to get snacks for our train trip the following day. We had dinner at what turned out to be the original Red Robin, and then went back to our hotel for the night.

The next morning, we boarded the Coastal Starlight Amtrak. This 36 hour train ride would take us from Seattle back home to LA's Union Station. Grant and I had the Family bedroom on the first floor of the sleeping car which was nice and roomy.... probably the same kind of unit we'll get next time if we do this again and if it is reasonable. Dad and Delaine started with a roomette, but upgraded to the bedroom... it had its own bathroom and shower, and was larger then there original roomette. Our sleeper car was the closest to the lounge and dining car, which was very convenient.

The scenery was beautiful - with all of the trees showing off their fall colors. It was the perfect time of year. We spent time reading, talking, playing games and ... what fun.... correcting papers. The train itself had a few things to be desired. The food wasn't great. Also, under the lounge car on the first level, they had like a movie room with a TV and chairs, but they never used it. This was dissappointing as once the sun went down there was nothing to see.

Overall, though, it was a beautiful trip!

Friday and Saturday

Friday - Nassau

On Friday, we stayed on the boat until lunch time, which was good because the Chocolate Buffet went from noon to 3. Yummy! The boat was EMPTY, and we debated just staying on the ship and enjoying the solitude. We decided to get off for a bit and walk around, and then get back on early.

We walked around the downtown for about an hour and did a little bit of shopping. Then we got back on the boat and had the water slide basically to ourself. We went down the water slide several times and swam in the pool, and generally enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

Also, the Disney Wonder ship was in port next to us - so we got to see that - they were watching High School Musical 2 on the big screen by there pool!

At 4, we went up to the Sky Deck to watch the sail away before heading down to our cabins for nap time, to start packing, and to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was yummy - Grant and I got the Escargot which both Andrew and Angie tasted. I also had a crab cake and the eggplant parmagian, with souflee for dessert.

After dinner we went back to our cabins to finish packing and call it a night.

On Saturday, Grant got off of the ship before the rest of us and went to pick up the rental car. By the time Angie and I got of the ship with Andrew and Cori, Grant was ready and waiting. The DIsney Magic ship (this ship we are taking next summer) was also in port - they had just gotten back to Florida after there summer of Europe cruises.

We went to Gatorland for the afternoon and watched the Gator Wrestling and the Gator Jumparoo, looked at all of the alligators and crocodiles, rode the train, and explored the place. Grant, Angie, Cori, and Andrew even got to sit on a live alligator and take pictures with it! It was a pretty fun afternoon.

We got to the airport at 4 and both of our flights arrived on time, so we made our connections with no problems.

I am home now, with a suitcase full of laundry waiting to be done.

Oh - we just had an Earthquake! Welcome home!

Wednesday night and Thursday

Wednesday night -

After Cori’s nap, we all met up for dinner in the Golden Dining Room. It was Beef Wellington night - yummy! After dinner, we all went to the shows (the kids did not go to Camp Carnival tonight, as they had been in all day.) The first show we saw was in the Ivory Lounge, and it was like a revue of songs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Cori danced along to the music. Angie used this time to finally take a peak into some of the ship shops! The second show was a magician and a comedian. The magician did a lot of slight of hand, which I enjoy, and the comedian was really funny - he had gotten on the ship in Cozumel the same time that we had!

After the second show, everyone went to bed except for me - imagine - even Grant went to sleep! I went to check out the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show! It started out well, with people really getting into the show and calling things out - but after a while, people sort of stopped and just enjoyed the movie. I only watched about half before calling it a night.

Thursday - At Sea!

We all needed a Sea Day. We all slept in, and then the kids went to Camp Carnival for an hour while Angie worked out. We met for lunch in the Red Sail. After lunch, we went swimming on the back pool again (seemed the least crowded - the pools are small!!!) Andrew and Angie got out about 45 minutes before we did because Andrew was getting his hair cut on the ship! Cori and Grant and I swam for a while longer, and then went back to our cabin so Cori could take a nap.

Angie called at about 3:30. While Andrew was getting his hair cut, they found lice. FUN. SO Angie had gone down to the infirmary and bought some lice treatment and put it on his hair. Then Andrew came up to our room because Angie had made an appointment to get her hair done for Formal night. Andrew took a shower in our room and watched cartoons. We checked Cori’s hair while she was sleeping and didn’t see anything - We also checked Grant’s hair and mine, but didn’t find anything. Before leaving for dinner, we talked to the Cabin Steward and asked them to change all of the sheets and pillowcases.

It was a formal dinner, as I mentioned - and my first opportunity to wear my new black dress, plus some blue topaz jewelry that Angie had bought. I had Lobster Bisque and Shrimp for dinner - Angie had some sort of fish, and Grant had beef tenderloin. Andrew had shrimp like me - and Cori had, hmmm, what was it? Oh yeah, fruit and a hot dog. Oh - and Baked Alaska for dessert.

After dinner, we took some pictures and then went to watch the last production show - Rock Down Broadway. I knew it was a good sign when we walked into the theater and they were playing “Rent.” as part of the entrance music. The theater - by the way - sucks. The seats on the first level are not elevated for each successive row, so it is hard to see. The seats on the second level curve around in a horseshoe shape, so they don’t always face the stage. Plus, if you are in any row but the first, the guard rail had a gold bar that cuts directly through your line of vision. Annoying.

Anyway - we got seats on the second level in the first row all the way to the side. As a result, we couldn’t see all of the sets, but the dancing was right in front of us. This was an awesome production show! I knew a lot of the music, of course, and yes, they even did a Rent song (can you guess which one?)

After the show, we went back to our cabin (Angie and the kids stopped and changed out of their formal clothes first) and we put the lice treatment on Cori’s hair just to be safe. Then I checked Angie’s hair and she checked mine, and again we didn’t see anything.

Finally, we went to check out the Grand Gala Buffet and take pictures. Angie and the kids went to bed and Grant and I swung back to the buffet for a midnight snack before going to bed ourselves.

Friday - Nassau

One of the first things I heard this morning was the Disney Ship horn playing “When you Wish Upon a Star!”

Wednesday - Progresso

Wednesday - Progresso

This morning we got up early, and took the kids to Kids Club for the day, while Grant Angie and I did a tour of Uxmal - a Mayan ruin site. We did the ship sponsored tour since we left the kids on board. The trip took about an hour and a half to get there, plus we stopped for a half an hour in town called Uman - it was very cool - very not touristy, so we got to see what the town was really like - a marketplace, and a church. I thought it was really interesting to see.

The ruins were awesome. We got to spend 2 ½ hours there, and we had a guided tour for most of it. It is amazing to see these ruins… and so many unanswered questions about how they lived during these times! The tour guide was telling us that they had found like 1000 sites similar to this one via satelite, and they were trying to carefully restore as many of those as they could.

We just got back to the ship about an hour ago. We decided to switch things up for a bit, and Grant and I took Cori with us to take a nap so that Angie could spend some time with Andrew.

P.S. - Progresso is a neat port - and they were definitely trying to impress us - lots of live music and friendly people - not very pushy at all!

I’ll post this now - and more later.!!!!

Cozumel - Tuesday

On Tuesday, we went to Cozumel. After breakfast in the Red Sail, we got off the ship and took a taxi to Paradise Beach. This was a great spot for us - the beach is free, but they ask that you spend $10 on food or beverages, if you are going to use their chairs and umbrellas. (Which is easy to do, because the food and drinks - although delicious, are priced a bit high, but really not too bad.) The sand was nice and soft, and the umbrellas and palm trees and lounge chairs were comfortable. We got there at 11:00ish and had plenty to choose from, although it did get crowded later in the day, it never was too bad. You could also buy a bracelet for 9$ which allowed you unlimited use of their mats, water trampolines, climbing inflatable iceberg (which I climbed 3 times…), kayaks, and life jackets - which were awesome for Andrew and Cori. (Also, they didn’t charge us for a bracelet for Cori.) The swimming was nice - a comfortable temperature - and the kids did well. Andrew tootled around with his snorkel and mask, although there wasn’t much to see. We lounged on mats. At lunch, Cori had a nice long nap on a lounge chair under the shade of am umbrella. (I had the steak quesedilla - Grant had fish tacos, we shared nachos - it was YUMMY!) They also had nice facilities, lockers, changing rooms, restrooms, etc.

We got back on the ship around 4. We used yesterday’s strategy, and Andrew came back to our room to watch cartoons and rest and shower while Cori and Angie went to Angie’s cabin. We got ready for dinner (creamy broccoli cheese soup for all three of us, mozarella basil and tomato for Grant and I, and for dinner, filet mignon and chocolate melting cake for Angie and Grant and veal parmagian for me, and key lime pie for dessert. Andrew had chicken noodle soup and pasta and Cori had - what else? A fruit plate and a hot dog.

The show tonight was a magician - Justin Illusion - the show had dancing and singing along with the magician - which was ok - but I would have preferred more magic, less dancing.

We hit bed early again, because we had to get up early for our next port of call - Progresso.

At Sea - Monday

At Sea -

Cori is taking a nap, so I am catching up on my blogging. (It is Wednesday as I write this!)

SO Monday was an At Sea day. Grant and I slept in, while Angie took the kids to Camp Carnival and went to the - gag - gym. We met for lunch on the Lido deck, and then went swimming. Cori and Angie took a nap together, and Andrew and I finally got to do the water slide! Then Andrew came back to our room to rest with us and take a shower before dinner.

This was our first formal night, which meant I had lobster for dinner! Grant had duck and Angie had pasta. After dinner, Andrew came and watched the production show with us - Living in America - or something… honestly, it wasn’t my favorite show ever.

We went to bed early, because we wanted to get an early start the next day.

Pictures from Cozumel

The vista from our Balcony:

Paradise Beach:
Andrew "snorkeling" at Paradise Beach


Grant drinking from a Coconut:

Carnival GLory Embarkation Day/ Key West

Ok - so - During the Muster Drill, I went to Station E by myself, and Grant went with Angie to help her with the kids at their muster station. I had the pleasure of standing in front of one of those kids who is such a brat, you’d think that they were planted - like seriously - no one really acts like this, do they? So Brat Girl is talking in the snottiest tone I’ve ever head to her mother, bitching about the bracelet she has to wear (each muster station is designated by a color, and every child on board under the age of 12 o 14 wears a bracelet that will show anyone what there muster station is - so that in an emergency, parents do not have to go and find their kids - staff will bring the kids to the musters station…) Anyway this girl was going on an on about how stupid the bracelet was and how she didn’t want to wear it and “like anything is going to happen…” and “this drill is so stupid I don’t want to do this. I am gong to take it off…” blah blah blah. BRAT! We’re all crowded and uncomfortable and she’s making the situation miserable - I mean - funny, but annoying.

Then, Grant rested while Angie and I went to the Camp Carnival Orientation to sign the kids up for Camp Carnival and figure it all out. I think the kids are going to have a lot of fun there!

AT dinner, we found out that we had a table just for us five - thank goodness - and it was right close to the door, which was good in case the kids needed to leave for anything.

The kids menus are pretty cool - lots of activity pages, and then they bring out the kids fruit (if they order it) with the adults appetizers.

Hmmm… what did us adults have to eat? I had Beef Barley soup, a wedge salad, and sweet and sour shrimp, with fried rice. Grant had smoked salmon, , cream of asparagus soup, wedge salad, and rack of lamb. Angie had the Cream of Asparagus soul and a wedge salad and I can’t remember her entrée…

The kids did fairly well for the long meal but they were definitely getting squirrelly by the end!!! For dessert, we shared two crème brutes and a warm chocolate melting cake - which was heavenly and is an alternative selection that will be offered every night!

After dinner, we looked around the ship a bit before heading to the ice cream sundae party for the kids. (By the way - our suit bag didn’t arrive until after dinner - so I had to wear my Capri’s and Grant had to wear shorts and a t-shirt t dinner. Oh well… many other people did as well…)

After the ice cream party, we went upstairs to check out Camp Carnival - it was open for a tour. The kids are going to have a lot of fun!

Finally, we went to the Welcome Aboard Show. Cori slept through the whole thing - but Andrew stayed up and loved it. Our cruise director is Wee Jimmy - who is famous on the Cruise Critic message boards. He is awesome… he has this thick Scottish accent and came out in a kilt - Very funny, very entertaining.

After that it was, of course, bed time.

Key West.

ON Sunday, we went to Key West. However, the ship wasn’t scheduled to arrive until noon, which was nice - it gave us plenty of time to sleep in. The kids went to Camp Carnival for a bit, while Grant and I ate lunch and Angie finished unpacking.

In Key West, we visited the Pirate Soul museum - which was really quite impressive - there was a lot to see, and many authentic artifacts. Andrew loved it and I thought it was pretty interesting myself! After that, we stopped next door and had some snacks. It was HOT, so we went back to the ship around 4 and had a quick dip in the pool before dinner.

After the first day, Camp Carnival reopens for the kids at 7:00 PM. I had read online the following strategy, and we decided to try it out… the kids came with us to dinner at 6:15, and we ordered there food right away. Then at 7:00, Angie ran up and put them in the kids club, so we could enjoy the rest of our meal. It worked out will last night, and I think we’ll continue to do that for the rest of the trip.

I bet you’re wondering what we had for dinner? Well, I had a chicken quesadilla, French onion soup, and pasta with shrimp, scallops, and calamari. Grant had the sushi sampler, proscuitto, and chicken. Angie had French Onion Soup and spare ribs. We all had the chocolate melting cake for dessert.

When the waiter took orders for the kids, Andrew read his menu and wanted to order himself. He says to the waiter, “I’ll have…fruit cocktail….cheese pizza….French fries….and a cheese burger…” The waiter is just nodding and writing - no big deal, and Angie was talking to Grant and didn’t notice, so I was like, “Wait a minute - Andrew - you never eat all your food - that is way too much - just pick one, the pizza of the burger, and if you are still hungry, you can order more…” So Andrew says, “ Ok, well, I’ll have the pizza… and a Peanut Butter and Jelly…” At this point, we all laughed… eventually he just got the French fries, fruit and pizza.

After dinner, Angie Grant and I watched the 6:30 show - a juggler and a comedian. Then we finally got to explore all of the ship. It is laid out just like any other Carnival Ship I’ve been on, for the most part, just a lot bigger. We peeked in the windows of the kids club and watched the kids playing. Then we watched some Karaoke for a while. Finally we headed out to the midnight show - the r-rated comedy show (the comedian from the Welcome Aboard Show.) Apparently, he and the comedian from tonight were friends, so tonight’s comedian introduced him. Except he decided to play a joke on his friend. The introduction took ten minutes, and as he proceeded to tell us how great the comedian we would be seeing was…”and his opening bit, it is just great, you see he coaches little league…” and he proceeds to do his friends whole opening bit, badly…Well, it really threw off our main comedian and he was both pissed off and thought it was funny - but you could tell his act was weak - he just didn’t know where to go with this whole thing. It was pretty funny.

Then we picked up the sleeping kids from the Kids Club Slumber Party/ group babysitting and carried them downstairs to Angie’s cabin, and went to bed.

Carnival Glory

On Saturday, Grant and I woke up bright and early and dropped Steve and Kevin off at the airport. Then we switched rental cars - we rented a separate reservation for a one way trip to Port Canaveral, because it was cheaper then through the company we had rented for the week.

Back at the hotel, we packed up and checked out, and drove to Port Canaveral. Grant dropped Angie, the kids and I off at the terminal and then returned the rental car. Angie and the kids went ahead and checked in, and Grant and I met them later at the Red Sail buffet for lunch.

We stopped first at our room, which is on the 7th deck, (7216)almost all the way at the front of our ship. The balcony is just under and over from the bridge, which overhangs the ship one deck above us. The room is nice sized, with a large couch that can become a bed - so basically it is a twin bed. Our beds are comfy, too. The only yucky thing is the “knobs” on the closets and cupboards are actually lops of leather - don’t like…

The buffet is nice - it has two main stations, and then a small window for Asian food and a window for Deli food on the other side. Upstairs there is a separate fish and chips counter with some seats there as well.

Angie’s room is on the second deck - 2389. Her room is laid out similar to ours - except that she her couch is made into a third bed, which Cori claimed for herself. Her room has a window instead of a balcony (which is good - the first thing Cori did when visiting our room was run out to the balcony…well actually the second thing she did…the first thing she did when she walked into our room was say , “Where’s my bed? What happened to my bed?” She had gotten confused because are rooms are exactly the same - she couldn’t figure out how her bed had disappeared! So cute!!!

More later… I have to go to dinner- and I can’t miss dinner!

Friday

Friday -

Today was our last day in the parks. ::boo hoo::: It is the same every time. I get so excited when I go to Disney World - I want to ride everything! But when the end of the trip comes, I always say “I wish I had more time to spend just experiencing everything…” you know, not just rushing from ride to ride but exploring the World Showcase and the interactive exhibits etc. But then my next trip comes and I’m rushing around again… this trip, of course, I really wanted Kevin and Angie and the kids to be able to see as much as possible.

So on Friday, we went to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This park always throws a kink in my plans - I don’t know it well enough to plan well. Plus it always seems to rain when I go there.

We arrived at the parks at around 10:00 and went straight back to Expedition Everest. Last time we were here, that ride was closed because of lightening, so I wanted to get on it asap in case the predicted storms arrived. We got a child switch, and while Angie, Andrew, Steve, Grant, and Kevin rode Expedition Everest, Cori and I trekked over to Kilamanjaro Safari to get fast passes. Cori and I spent time waiting for the others at a kid station coloring animal masks. Then I rode the ride with Kevin and Drew while the other’s waited.

Finding Nemo, the musical, is one of the newest attractions so we wanted to make sure we saw it… The show is awesome. The performers are top notch - the songs are cute, and the sets and props are immersive. This was a great show.

The rain started as we finished eating lunch at Pizzafari, so we headed quickly over to Dinosaur, and took turns riding it while Cori napped. After some bouts or pouring rain, it slowed to a sprinkle so we figured the worst had passed. However, there was still thunder and lightening, and as we found out, the Safari also closes in the lightning, so we went to watch the Festival of the Lion King (I love this show!)

When the show ended, we decided to check the Safari and they were letting people on… we saw some animals that usually hide in the heat - hippos and rhinos up out of the water - impalas, lots of stuff ! As we left the Safari and headed out of the park, the skies opened up and it began to dump buckets of water. The lightening was right over our head… one was so loud I jumped a mile… and I got so wet, I couldn’t have been wetter if I’d jumped in a pool - no kidding, no exaggeration!

However, we decided to go to EPCOT, because it was our last day, and Kevin and Andrew needed to do some shopping. The last two hours were interesting to say the least… it never really stopped raining, and we just couldn’t get much done… the kiddos were tired and miserable… but we all survived and got home tired but satisfied. WE ordered a pizza on our way home, and it was delivered to us shortly after we arrived home. We spent our last evening munching on pizza and watching High School Musical.

The next morning, bright and early, Grant and I drove Steve and Kevin to the airport to fly home and to swap cars at the terminal. The first part of our trip was awesome - we crammed a lot in and did really well - Steve and Kevin had awesome attitudes and were great with the kids. The kids, considering how much we did, did a pretty good job!

Now it is time to head to Port Canaveral and the Carnival Glory!

P.S. - I am posting this from Key West!

Middle of the trip

We are leaving on our cruise today. I don't know what our internet access will be like on the cruise, but I will blog while we're gone - I just might have to wait to post them!

I'll also post about yesterday's wet day at the Animal Kingdom and EPCOT when I get a chance!

Thursday - EPCOT/Magic Kingdom

One day left in the parks - we are all beat - but doing really well considering all that we‘ve done!!!

Before I blog about yesterday, I wanted to update you on the cruise situation. As you probably heard, Costa Maya and Belize were both hit by Hurricane Dean - especially Costa Maya. Yesterday, out itinerary change was made official:
Saturday - Port Canaveral - Boarding
Sunday - Key West
Monday - At Sea
Tuesday - Cozumel
Wednesday - Progresso
Thursday - At sea
Friday - Nassau
Saturday - Port Caneveral

Losing Belize was a bummer because that is where we were going to go cave tubing.

Yesterday, we got a late start (made even later by the fact that we forgot a ticket and had to go back to the hotel!) But we got to EPCOT with enough time to visit The Living Seas with Nemo and friends. I have not been on the new sub ride yet at Disney, but the new ride at the Living Seas uses much of the same technology - and we all REALLY enjoyed the ride. It was very neat! The ride exits into the Living Seas, where we checked out the dolphins, the rays, the sharks, and the sea turtles. We also got to watch the divers come in and feed some of the sea creatures! Way. Cool.

After a stop at Club Cool to sample soda from around the world, we went over to the fast rides. Cori and Angie rode Test Track while the rest of us rode Mission Space. Then we left EPCOT, grabbed the monorail, and went back to the Magic Kingdom trying to get to the Crystal Palace for our lunch reservations.

Lunch was a yummy buffet, and we got to meet Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet. Andrew and Cori also got to march in two parades!

After lunch, we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic (Cori was so cute trying to catch all of the 3-d things!!!) and then went to Tomorowland to use our Space Mountain Fast Passes, while Cori took a little nap.

We took a brief ride on the TTA, and then saw the new Monster’s Inc. Laugh Factory - which uses the same technology as “Turtle Talk with Crush” to interact with the audience. The premise is that they have learned that human laughter powers Monstropolis even better then screams, so they opened up a night club to do stand up and collect the energy from our laughter. They put people up on screens and made jokes, but nothing too humiliating. It was funny! You could also text message a joke before the show and they would use some in the show.

It was time to use our Winnie the Pooh fast pass, and then head over to Splash Mountain. By now, it was getting particularly humid - the worst night yet, so getting wet felt awesome! After the ride, we found a place to watch Spectromagic, Grant’s favorite parade of all. Sitting on a bench behind us was a family from Canada - the little girl, Stella, was 4, and had a fantastic time playing with Cori while we waited for the parade… guess who got the TinkerBell pin??? (o:

We left the park after Spectromagic, trying to beat the crowds who were staying for the fireworks. Kevin and I ran through Swiss Family Robinson on the way out, and then we got to the ferry in time to watch the finale of the fireworks show on the ferry as we crossed Bay Lake to the TTA. We hopped the monorail back to the EPCOT parking lot, stopping at Walgreens for cold medicine for Angie and McDonalds for our dinner.

One more day at the parks… Animal Kingdom!

Wednesday - EPCOT, Magic Kingdom

This morning, we got to EPCOT at around 11, and went straight over to Test Track to get some fast passes. WE headed over to Mission Space. Cori and I hung out in Mission Control, while Grant, Steve, Angie, Andrew, and Kevin rode Mission Space. Angie didn’t do very well on it.

We decided to take it easy, and we went on Ellen’s Energy Adventure. When we were boarding the vehicles, one of the cast members, and older gentleman named Bill, came up to me and said, “I noticed you walking in and you had such a positive attitude - it is what I like to see,” and he shook my hand. Then ha said, “ I don’t know if you know this, but this is the Year of a Million Dreams, and I have a mission for you. I want you to be a Disney Ambassador. I don’t have to ask if you love Disney because I can already tell you do… what I want you to do is find someone in the park and tell them how glad you are to be here and ask them if they are having a good time. Then, you can take this pin and give it to the guest to help them have a magical experience!” He gave me two Tinkerbell pins… one to keep and one to share!

That totally made my day! I was feeling so happy, so on the way out of the attraction I went up to him and said, “That you so much - you really made my day!” And he says, “Ah, you made my year! You’re a real treat! Then he gave me a rice crispie treat! (o: What a great guy!

Next, we went on Test Track and then had lunch at The Garden Grill. We didn’t have the greatest table, but our waitress was outstanding. She even brought Kevin one of the kids desserts - a “decorate your own cupcake…” So cool.

Then we ode “Living with the Land,” which is different now - instead of a live narrator, it has a recorded spiel. Lunch took longer then anticipated, so we went on Journey to Imagination and then left EPCOT.

We park hopped to Magic Kingdom, via the monorail and the ferry. Once at MK, we went to Splash Mountain and got fast passes. Then we went to the Hall of Presidents for a dose of history and air conditioning.

Next, Andrew, Kevin, Grant, Steve and Angie went on Stitch’s Great Escape while Cori and I rode the TTA. I love the TTA. Then we all saw the Carousel of Progress!!! (o:

Finally, it was time to use our Fast Pass. I ran ahead to try to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain, and was able to get some of the last ones. Then we rode Splash Mountain - and got soaked - and the Big thunder Mountain.

Finally we watched the Wishes fireworks show, and then headed back to EPCOT, via monorail, and drove home.

(We picked up Wedny’s on the way - OH MY GOD. It literally took us 40 minutes to get our food. Never acceptable - much less when you are as tired as we were!!!

Tuesday - Part 2 - EPCOT

Then we park hopped to EPCOT…

EPCOT had extra magic hours or resort guests, which worked for us, because it meant some things that normally closed at 7 stayed open until 9, and some things that stayed open until 9 stayed open way later. We went to the coke place to sample coke products from around the world, first. Then we went over to Mission Space, and Kevin, Steve, Andrew, Grant and I rode the Orange team (more intense training).

After we got off (and I realized I had left my backpack on the ride and Kevin had left his water bottle) we went back and got our stuff. Cori was occupied by one of those jumping fountains kids play in.

Finally, we headed over to World Showcase and got dinner from a kiosk in Japan - Tempura Chicken, tempura shrimp, and beef rice bowls, and spicy tuna rolls. We sat next to the fence around the showcase lagoon and ate dinner, and then watched “Illuminations.”

After dinner, we popped into the store at Japan - which I new Kevin would love ……” ah Pokemon!!!!” before heading for home.

We did a lot - the day was much more successful then I had anticipated!!! The kids were awesome!

Tuesday - Part 1

Today was awesome! We went to Disney Studios today and it was not very crowded at all. Also, our timing was perfect so we were able to see quite a bit.

We started out by going on Tower of Terror - which, as you know, I love. This was Cori’s first time on the ride as she’s just become tall enough for it and hasn’t experienced it at home yet. She loved it and kept saying,” I want to go up and down again!”

We got off the ride just in time to get seats for Beauty and the Beast, Live on stage.

Then, we went on Rockin Roller Coaster - Andrew’s first BIG rollercoaster - 3 loops! He loved it! We went on the coaster a few times, switching off so people could wait with Cori.

Next, we went over and did Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We just slipped into the last few seats, which ensured that we got out on time and over to Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!!! This was Andrew’s favorite attraction, because of the ninjas and the whip tricks.

We ate lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner, sitting at a cool red car at the very front of the drive in. It was awesome.

We left lunch just in time again to slip into Lights! Motors! Action! Stunt show. During the first scene, the hero drives a red car, and he is chased by three black cars. In the second scene, the hero is on a motorcycle, being chased by the black cars… Cori stays screaming, “red car??? What happened to the red car???” So cute!!!

Next we did the Great Movie ride, followed by 2 more rides on the Tower of Terror and one ride on Rockin Roller Coaster.

Then we park hopped to EPCOT…

Orlando - Day 1

Grant and I are going on vacation with friends! Angie, Cori (3) and Andrew (8), and Steve and Kevin (14) are going to Disney World for a week. Then Kevin and Steve are flying home, and the rest of us are going on a cruise!

We left last night on a red-eye out of Ontario. Honestly, I am amazed at how well we are all doing! We left Ontario at 11:30 PM Pacific time and got to Orlando (after a layover in Atlanta) at 10:00 AM Eastern time. Cori did a lot of sleeping on the plane, Andrew slept in the terminal during the layover, and the rest of us grabbed bits and pieces here and there.

Arriving in Orlando - we amazingly fit all 7 of us and our luggage (including cruise luggage!!!) in a Toyota Sienna minivan. We drove to our hotel - Marriott Grande Vista Vacation Club, and luckily, they had a room ready for us. We are staying in a 3 bedroom villa, which is nice, because Grant and I get a room and a bathroom, Angie and the kids get a room and their own bathroom, and Steve and Kevin get their own room and their own bathroom! There is plenty of room for all of us!

We unpacked and then went to Walmart for groceries and then came back to the hotel for a quick swim before dinner. The pools are really nice and very kid friendly - the pool we liked best had a splash zone for kids that started out at zero depth and gradually worked its way to 4 feet, with lots of spraying water features. There were also water cannons outside the pool that people could aim at swimmers.

We went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and had dinner at Boma. Yum. Again. I love this buffet! No one besides Grant an I had eaten there and they all loved it! Well, except for Cori, who slept through the entire dinner in her stroller! After dinner, we went behind the lobby to the Savannah to view the animals. Cori woke up for this and enjoyed looking at the birds, giraffe, gazelle, and the other animals.

After dinner, we decided to do a quick stop at Downtown Disney, just so Kevin and Angie could see what it is like (and how big it is!) since I’m not sure if we’ll be able to see it on the rest of our trip. We mostly just toured the marketplace. Andrew particularly enjoyed trying to get spit on by Stitch at the World of Disney.

We’re back at the hotel now ant it is 9:10. Hopefully we will all get good sleep tonight and be ready to hit the parks tomorrow!

Ka

So this morning, Grant and I took a walk down the strip. We went to the planet hollywood hotel (which is the old Aladdin hotel) and had lunch at the Spice Market Buffet - which we enjoyed immensely.

After lunch, we went back to our hotel and spent the afternoon floating around the lazy river at the MGM grand. I love lazy rivers.

That night, we saw Ka, another Cirque de Soleil. Ka is at the MGM, so we could walk there from our room. Ka was a completely different experience then any other Cirque we've been to. It was much more theatrical then circus, from the "stage" - which was more theater-like as opposed to the round circus style - to the show itself, whose story telling was much more straight-forward. The sets were incredible and amazing and stars in them selves. Of course, the cast was jaw dropping.


After the show, we walked to New York New York and had dinner, and then we walked down the strip, stopping to watch 3 Bellagio fountain shows - I love that show - and then through Bally's, Paris, and Planet Hollywood before heading back to our hotel.

The next morning, we woke up to a thunderstorm, which slightly affected our trip home - we boarded our plane on time, but sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes waiting in line to take off. We had a blast!

Monday in Vegas

We woke up this morning around 11, took a shower and had a quick snack for breakfast.

Then we walked through the MGM Grand to the Tickets 4 Tonite booth next to the Coke Bottle to see if they had half price tickets to the Phantom of the Opera for tonight (they didn't). Next, we walked to the Hawaiian Marketplace to the Tix 2 Nite booth to see if they had tickets. They did, but were only 30% off and you didn't know what seats you had until you went to the box office at the Venetian. We just figured that next time we come we will see Phantom.

After that we walked back to MGM Grand and had lunch at McDonalds.

After lunch, we went to the MGM Grand Pool Complex. The pool complex consists of 5 pool, numerous waterfalls and a lazy river. We were specifically interested in the lazy river.

We spent over an hour in the lazy river and must have gone around 5 or 6 times.

After our jaunt in the lazy river, we relaxed on our lounger chairs. Bobbi read and I rested.

Around 4 PM we came back up to our suite and showered to get ready for the evening's events.

We drove to the Mirage and got our tickets to the Cirque Du Soleil show, Love, which consists entirely of Beatles music.

After we got our tickets, we ate dinner at Cravings, the buffet at the Mirage. It was good and was recently redone to be more fancy with different "stations". The highlights included king crab legs, sushi, and gelato.

After dinner we watched the volcano erupt in front of the Mirage.

Next, we gambled for an hour or so. Unfortunately we both lost.

After that we made our way to the theatre to see Love.

Love was lots of fun and it was neat because I knew almost all of the music. The show had spectacular special effects, and each individual seat had speakers built in at ear level so the sound appeared to come from all around.

The show got out around 11:30 and we made our way back to our hotel! That's all for our day.

Las Vegas - Bobbi Jo

Grant and I are in Vegas celebrating our 2 year anniversary - a week late, true, but who cares? We're together!

We flew in on Jet Blue out of Long Beach - and its a small world - a teacher from my school was also on the plane!

Our rental car is a Toyota Highlander - the SUV was less expensive then the car! It is pretty nice.

We are staying at the MGM Signature, which is the residence/condo towers behind the MGM complex (where the theme park used to be!) We had some trouble when we first got here - the people who were in our room before us had not checked out yet! SO the had to get a hold of the owner, check out the room (which still had bags in it), try to find the people who were in there and clean it...

So we went to the Las Vegas Hilton and had dinner at Quark's (Grant had Ahi and I had a French Dip). Then we went to Walmart Super Center to get some groceries before coming back and finally getting to our room.

Our room is nice - it is a studio - essentially like a larger hotel room, but with a kitchenette (mini fridge, microwave, and two burner stove, sink...) a sitting area with a couch/bed, and s whirlpool bath tub in the bathroom. Our room has a great view of the MGM Grand Pool complex.

Here at the Residence, we get to use the MGM facilities, including their pool complex, which for those of you who may not remember, includes a lazy river! SO, we weill be spending a lot of time in that river tomorrow!

Saturday - London - and the flight home...

As we mentioned, London was quite busy, being Easter weekend. On Saturday, we started our day by heading to the British Museum. We looked around a bit, saw the mummy exhibit, and had lunch.

Next, we went to the London Eye. We had preordered tickets, so we could just pick them up and get in line (which was like a 45 minute queue. (If you had just shown up, you had to buy tickets for a boarding time that was 3 hours later, so you couldn't get in line until then.)

The London Eye was very cool. They didn't cram the pods, so you had room to move about and see. The entire revolution takes 30 minutes. It was pretty cool, Right on the Thames, and again, we had nice weather, so you could see quite a distance.

After the London Eye, we went to Leicester Square and purchased half price tickets at the TKTS booth for Cabaret.

Next, we took the public bus throughout London to see the sights - we went past St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben, The London Eye, The Tower of London, and across the Tower Bridge. We were pretty tired, so we picked up dinner and took it back to our hotel.

Cabaret was awesome - Just a top notch performance in every sense of the word - the sets, the dancing, the acting - just an amazing show. But - gah - I was just crying after the show becasue I always feel so guilty for being so fortunate. I know, I am weird.

On Sunday, it was time to fly home. Luckily, the subway station right by our hotel is the Piccadilly line, which goes to the airport, so we didn't have to transfer of anything.

The long flight home had lots of good movies, which helped past the time. I watched The Pursuit of Happyness, Charlotte's Web, and Ms. Potter. I cried during each one - not too bad, though, because it kept my eyes moist on the dry flight. Grant watched The Pursuit of Happyness, and then on his PSP, he watched the South Park movie and 6 hours of Battlestar Galactica.

Overall, it was a great trip. I thought a week would not feel worth it - having to fly all the way to London and back - but I didn't. It was a great time, an awesome experience.

Friday - DLP to London - Bobbi Jo

This morning, we got up, packed our bags (always my least favorite part of travel) and grabbed the TGV to Lille, France, where we met the Eurostar. Our train was 10 minutes late getting to Lille. When we went to check in for the Eurostar, we were told we needed to go to the ticket office first to get tickets (our print out was not enough.) The self check in did not read our American Credit Card, so we had to wait in a line of about 12 people to get our tickets. The only problem was, at this point, our train was due to leave in 20 minutes, we had to go through passport control, and they kept making announcements that check in for the Eurostar would close soon.

We got our tickets with about 5 minutes to spare, and ran over to check in where they literally closed the gate behind us. We had to present our passports to both the French and the British authorities. Luckily, the lady took our tickets and checked us in while we were waiting for the British officials to finish with our passports. Then we ran through the metal detectors and put our bags through the x-ray and made it to down to the platform about a moment before the train pulled into the station.

Did I mention that the Eurostar is like an airline, and the ticket was "nonflexible," meaning if we had missed it, we would have had to buy another ticket, at full fare, and lost the money we spent on the first set.

Anyway, after that stress, it was nice to relax on the train for the last hour and a half of our trip.

Once we got to London, we followed the online directions to our hotel - but the directions were really bad - we walked about a half a mile and there was a subway station MUCH closer to our hotel. (The good news is that the stop closer to our hotel has a line that goes directly to the airport, which will help on Sunday.)

We are staying at the Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court - Super posh digs. After settling in, we wend to Leicester Square to the TKTS booth to get tickets for a show. First of all, it is unbelievably crowded. The streets were just pouring with people. Second of all, as you get off the subway, there are a ton of signs directing you to the "real" 1/2 price ticket booth - and there are 4 or so so-called "real 1/2 price ticket booths," with lines 30 people long. (For the impatient, there is even a ticket window down in the tube station!)

However, at the TKTS booth (the for real real ticket booth) there was no line, and we got tickets to see Evita in the 4th row of the "stalls" - ie. the Orchestra section, and then end of the row. 55 pound tickets for 27.50, (and the 2.50 service fee.) I love the TKTS booth.

Next we walked to our theater to see where it was. After that, we stopped at a grocer store and then went back to the hotel to unpack, and book a ride on the London Eye for tomorrow.

Our show started at 7:30. It was amazing. The sets were brilliant, and the cast was impeccable. The lady who played Evita is an actress from Buenos Aires, so her accent (which was at first distracting) was authentic. She was an amazing dancer. The other thing that was distracting about her was how tiny she was. Che was awesome - attitude, voice, he had it all. The whole cast was amazing. We were so close it was easy to see facial expressions, spit, you name it. And because we were on the aisle, Grant had plenty of leg room (the row in front of us had one less seat.)

We just got back on the tube and I have been serenading Grant with Evita tunes...

Thursday - Disneyland Paris - Grant

Thursday - Disneyland Paris

I’m writing this on the TGV from Disneyland Paris to Lille, where we will catch the Eurostar to London. Yesterday we went to the Disney Studios Paris, which is similar to MGM Studios at Disney World. Both Bobbi and I had heard bad things about the park so we were expecting the worst. We were pleasantly surprised.

We started the day off by watching Moteurs…Action, which is a stunt show with cars. They do really cool stuff with cars…lots of burn outs and crazy driving. It is a lot of fun to watch. The show originated at Disney Studios Paris, but was brought to MGM Studios at Disney World 2 summers ago because of its popularity. The show was just as fun to watch as the MGM Studios version, but a little harder to follow, as the show is hosted “live” by some “reporters”. The show is spoken in both English and French, alternating. One of the reporters spoke French, the other spoke English. They would tag team and I thought they did a good job with the “hand offs.” For example, when the French person was done speaking, the English person would say “That’s right….” and go on an repeat what the French person just said in English.

The language makeup at Disneyland Paris is VERY interesting. I would say that around 30% of the visitors speak French, another 30% speak, 10% Italian, 10% Spanish, 10% German and 10% other. EVERYTHING is in English and French. Many of the signs and attraction names are in English first and then French, which surprised me. The same goes for the menus. In attractions with TV monitors, they have 3 different video monitors, with the middle monitor containing the video and spoken audio (sometimes French, sometimes English) and then they would have captioning in 6 different languages on the TV monitors to the side.

Our favorite thing at the Disney Studios was Animagique, which was a really cool . It was a live action, musical show with Disney characters. The show starred Donald and Mickey. Donald spoke English and Mickey spoke French. It was really cute. Half the songs were in English and the other half in French. The show used a lot of blacklighting and reminded me of “Voyage of the Little Mermaid” at Disneyworld…only better.

They are building a Tower of Terror at Disney Studios as well. From the outside, it looks like a carbon copy of the one at California Adventure! They also have Aerosmith’s Rockin Roller Coaster which is nearly identical to the one at MGM Studios.

(Bobbi's Comments: One thing - half of the park - literally - was walled up because there was so much construction. Two new attractions will open this June, and of course, Tower of Terror, that Grant mentioned.)

We were able to do everything in the park in 6 hours, then we headed over to Disneyland and did some of our favorites for a 2nd time (Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Thunder Mountain). One really cool thing about Disneyland here is that they have lots of sit-down restaurants. At 6PM I was able to make a reservation at Walt's, an American Restaurant, for 8:00pm. (which is when the park closed). The food was very good (definitely American style) but the service was just as French as ever. For example, it took 20 minutes after we sat down before we ever saw the waiter, and a 3 course dinner took 2 hours! It didn’t bother us. We were seated at a window overlooking one of the streets on Main Street.

After that, we headed back to the hotel and packed!

(Bobbi's Note: To me, the one thing that reminded me the most that we were not in America was the armed guards patrolling the bus stops with machine guns.)

That’s all for now.

Disneyland Paris - Bobbi Jo

Today, Grant and I went to Disneyland Paris. It was only opened until 8:00, and it felt pretty crowded - but when you do the parks like Grant and I do, its possible to see quite a bit! We did really good!

Once we got our tickets, we started out by picking up fast passes to Big Thunder Mountain. (At Disneyland Paris, Frontierland and Adventureland are reversed, so going counter clockwise, after Main Street, Frontierland comes first.

The fastpasses here work the same way as home, except the window they give you is only 30 minutes. Also, I had read somewhere that they don't take them after time is up. I don't know if that is true, but we didn't want to risk it if it was.

Luckily, the Big Thunder Fast Pass was only about an hour and a half away. So while we waited, we rode Phantom Manor. I had forgotten how neat the queue was - it is like Tower of Terror at MGM, where you really feel like you are in the front yard of a wealthy mansion. The ride itself was not narrated (after the elevator scene, which was in French,) and although essentially the same as our at home, has a bit more of a plot. Also, the grave yard scene is COMPLETELY different.

After Phantom Manor, we went over to Adventureland. This version of Adventureland is my favorite version out of all of the parks I've been to - Partly becasue it is so big, I think. It had a middle east entrance, Aladdin themed, a portion of it is jungle themed, with Jungle Book music and the Indiana Jones roller coaster, Adventure Island, full of caves, bridges, sunken ships, The Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and of course, Skull Rock, which is adjacent to a pirate ship and across the harbor of the looming fort that serves as the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Pirates was our second ride of the day, and it is every bit as wonderful as I remembered. Like Adventureland itself, this version of Pirates is my absolute favorite. The story line makes more sense, the drops serve as part of the story, and te queue completely sets the mood.

After Pirates, we still had a little time before our Big Thunder Fast Pass, and we had not eaten yet, so we ate lunch at "Cowboy Cookout BBQ." After lunch, we grabbed fast passes for Indiana Jones (remember - you can get a new fast pass as soon as the one you hold is useable, so grab a new one before you ride, if possible!) and then went to Big Thunder.

Big Thunder is a great ride. The layout is not the same as ours, but it is a similar ride. What makes it truly awesome, thought, is that the whole ride takes place on an island in the middle of the Frontierland River. (By the way, similar to the Magic Kingdom in Florida, DLP (DIsneyland Paris) has lots of water - small ponds, creaks, etc. There is a "river" in Fronteirland that surrounds Big Thunder, and is home to the river boats - one called the "Mark Twain." Anyways - Big Thunder Mountain loads on the "land" side, and the train goes under the lake via a tunnel to the island where the majority of the ride occurs - at the end, you roar back through the tunnel again. So cool.

Next, we hiked over to Tomorrowland - Oops - sorry - Discoveryland - to get a fast pass for Space Mountain. Then we went back to Adventureland and rode Indiana Jones, which is a small roller coaster. The ride itself is short, and a bit bumpy. After the ride, as I was getting out, well, I'm not sure how it happened, but I lost my footing, and knew I was going to fall - I started running/tumbling forward, hoping to regain my balance before I slammed my face in the ground, and saw a bench by a wall in front of me - I knew if I could crash into that, it would hurt a lot less. I made it and slammed into the wall with my hands and arms absorbing the shock and fell on to the bench. Literally, all of this took place in like three heavy run steps. I looked like a huge klutz - seriously, Funniest Home Videos. Everybody was staring. Oh well. I avoided serious injury, although my back and shoulders are pretty sore from the jolt.

On to better things. We went back to Discoveryland via Fantasyland. FIrst, we visited the dragon that sleeps under the castle. (I think we woke him up, because he got kind of cranky.) Then we rode "it's a small world," which is like ours in fast forward - a lot to take in, very neat.

ALso - we noticed - usually when you ride Pirates and its a small world, its a relief becasue you know its going to be nice and cool and AC'd. It was add (and welcoming) to have the rides be so WARM, because it was so cool out side - high of 55 with 10 MPH winds throughout the day - Grant says perfect theme park weather. I'm glad I had my scarf.

After "Small World," we got a FP for Star Tours, and then rode Space Mountain. This is NOTHING like ours - a full on rollercoaster with loops and everything. I liked it, but the ride WAS kind of jerky. Grant bopped his head on his restraint a few times.

Next, we walked through the Nautilus, Captain Nemo's submarine, and then went on Star Tours - we ended up NOT using our fast pass because we wanted to see the queue, and the line wasn't too long. The ride was mostly in French, however, parts of the soundtrack were in English - "Star Tours, you are going the wrong way..." and "Star Tours, what are you doing here? This is a combat zone, it's restricted. Ease off on your main thruster."

After that, we went over to get a fast pass for Peter Pan, but they were all out. So instead, we went over to Videopolis and watched a live stage show (the 5:00 show was in English) of "The Legend of the Lion King." (Before it started, one of the High School Musical songs played - it was a French Music Video of a French singer singing the song with clips of the movie in the background.)

After the show, we went over to Fantasyland and caught the train to take it all the way around the park. They have the Grand Canyon diorama, too, but here it is between Main Street and Frontierland.

After the train, we went through Alice's Curious Labyrinth, which is a hedge maze that take you through different scenes of Alice in Wonderland. I truly love this attraction. My favorite part is when it takes you into a spiral with the bird in the middle and the music playing from the scene where the animals are running in circles trying to dry off while the waves continue to get them wet - you feel like your running in a circle with them! The maze ends at the Queen of Hearts Castle, with a lovely view of Fantasy Land - after climbing more SPIRAL STEPS, of course!

We wanted to ride the story book canal, but they had closed at 6, so instead, we rode Snow White, Pinocchio, and then jumped in line for Peter Pan before the line closed at 8:00. These three rides, except for tiny differences, were carbon copies of Disneyland (Anaheim)'s version of these rides. ALl of the cars, though, had DisneyWorld stadium seating and one extra row from Disneyland's

As we got off Peter Pan, the park closed. We went to Main Street (walking down the arcade behind the stores) and did come shopping. Then we went to Disney Village and had a fast food dinner, with a crepe with nutella for dessert. (The guy making the crepes was from Finland - nice guy.) After cramming on a bus with 3,000 other people we finally made it back to the hotel. I don't even want to know how long it took me to type this - so I am going to go to bed now.

Tomorrow, Disney Studios Paris, and back to Disneyland to finish up! Au revoirs!

Tuesday - Paris - Disneyland (Grant)

Today was a travel day for us. We checked out of the Hotel Monge around 11AM, leaving our luggage their so we could see Notre Dame and the Catacombes.

We had seen the inside of Notre Dame yesterday, but we didn't climb up to the top of the bell tower. Today we did just that. The line was about an hour long. And for $7.50 each, we had the privilege of climbing the 380 steps up to the top of the bell tower. They weren't normal stairs either, but very narrow spiral staircases! The trek up was definitely dizzying, but the vistas at the top were worth it. It was cool to see the gargoyles up close. The weather was sunny with a bit of haze and not a cloud in the sky.

After walking back down the 380 steps, we went to a bakery and had lunch. We split a ham and cheese sandwich and a nutella crepe.

After that we took the metro over to the catacombes. There was a line of about 30 people, but it only took 5 minutes. The catacombes are huge! They are 25 meters below the street (down yet another spiral staircase). The catacombs in Paris alone make up approximately 186 miles of tunnels! Only about 1 miles worth is open to the public. It was really cool, with rows and rows of bones, separated by a row of skulls every 2 feet or so. It was interesting how they used big bones (like femur bones) and skulls stacked neatly in front to form a wall, and then filled in behind it with all the smaller bones. We spent a good 45 minutes down in the catacombes. When we finally came to the surface, we were nowhere near when we entered. Our map didn't cover this part of Paris (it was not downtown) so it took us a while to find the nearest metro stop (it ended up being 2 stops away from where first entered the catacombes!) We went a long ways underground.

Next, we headed back to our hotel to grab our bags and then took the RER to Marne Le Vallee and Disneyland Paris. We got to our hotel around 5:00PM, the train ride only took 30 minutes. Out hotel is the Dream Castle hotel http://www.dreamcastle-hotel.com/content/en/1.php which is less than a mile from the Disney complex. The hotel is brand new and very nice. Definitely the most "American" hotel we have stayed at. We are on the 3rd floor overlooking the gardens.

Tonight, we took the free shuttle to Downtown Disney (they call it Disney Village) and had dinner at Chef Mickeys. They had a prixe fixe menu for $34. You got an appetizer, main dish and dessert. Our waittress was very pleasant and spoke excellent English. I had Mushroom Soup, ribs with french fries, and chocolate fondue for dessert. Bobbi Jo had a mozzarella/goat cheese/tomoato tart, Penne Pasta and chocolate fondue. After that we walked around some of the Disney hotels, looked in a few of the shops and then took the shuttle back to our hotel.

Sorry for no pictures, I'll try to post some in the next couple of days.

Paris - Monday (Bobbi)

Monday - Paris (Bobbi)

Its 12:40 and we just got back to our hotel!

So this morning, Grant and I got up and went to Notre Dame. The line looked really long, but moved quite quickly, so we probably stood in line for all of 10 minutes before we got inside. There was a mass going on. It was very odd to have mass going on in the middle, and hundreds of tourists wandering around. Of course, it was quite odd to see this fantastic architecture and beautiful stain glass accompanied by a penny smashing machine. The stain glass was quite pretty, and the little (naves") set up for the saints were interesting, but all in all I found the church to be very dark and not appealing. Not my favorite European church. I like the bright ones with the bright paintings. Although, I did think the outside of Notre Dame was awesome.

We thought about going up to the top, but the line for that was an hour and a half long, so we passed on that.

Next, we went to St. Sulpice, where we met up with Gary. St. Sulpice was a famous site in the DaVinci Code. It is the church where Silas (the monk) believes the Priory of Sion hid their final clue, but turns out the location was a decoy. In it, there is a meridian line that runs at an odd angle across the middle of a church, and straight up and obelisk. There is also a pair of stain glass windows with the letters PS inside, which the book claims reference the Priory of Sion.

The church denies (via posters posted near the obelisk) much of what Dan Brown describes in the book regarding the church history. It claims that the line is just a meridian line, not THE "rose line" that runs through the center of Paris. It also states that the church was not built upon an old pagan temple. Finally, it states that the "PS" stands for Saints Peter and Sulpice, the patrons of the church. In addition, the church posted a Q and A article claiming the the Danger of "The Da Vinci Code" is that it raises doubt about the Catholic Faith. All of this information was posted in English, French, and a few other languages.

The church itself I liked better then Notre Dame on the inside. Although it's Stain Glass was not as brilliant, the church was much brighter, the naves just as interesting, and there was a beautiful chapel in the back honoring Mary. Most importantly, there were only a hand full of people inside - no more than probably 40 or 50 at its most "crowded."

We left St. Sulpice and headed towards the Lourve. We had lunch at the food court upstairs (I love the French and what they can do with their cheese!) Next we headed inside. Grant and I rented audio guides (the regular one, not the Da Vinci Code guide.) Of course, we went straingt to the Mona Lisa first - passing through the Grand Gallery on the Way, past the "Madonna of the Rocks" painting. The Mona Lisa was everything I expected - much smaller than expected, crowded, and although neat to see, really, the lingering question remains of "why is this picture so popular?" I mean, we saw some amazing pieces of work, simple and complex - you have to wonder why the Mona Lisa has drawn so much fascination - even before The DaVinci Code.

Probably the painting that stood out to me most, actually a pair of paintings, was by Paninni - Gary had described them from a previous visit, and I thought that they were awesome. It was a painting of an open air art gallery, and each painting depicted a scene from Rome. In one, all of the paintings were of ancient landmarks of Rome. In the other, the paintings of were "modern" (1700's) landmarks. It was really neat.

After that, we wondered about the Ancient Egyptian section - oh yeah, and we saw the Venus De Milo. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough time. Of course, we didn't have enough time to see even half of the place, but after two hours, we were just exhausted! We went back to the hotel for a rest, after a stop at a grocery store for some bread and cheese.

After a rest at the hotel, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. We waited about an hour to buy our tickets. (Right before we got to Security, a bird pooped on the arm of Grant's jacket. Nasty! We cleaned it up as best we could, but still...)

Then, on the second platform, we waited about an hour and 15 minutes to go to the top, which was quite terrifying, as I was pressed against the door by hoards of people and there was no shaft - just, nothing, outside of that glass.

The view from the top was spectacular! It was a clear night - you could see any landmark you wanted, and it was just beautiful. The tower "sparkle" thing happened once when we were on the ground, once when we were on the second platform, and once when we were on the very top. (The tower "sparkels" every hour on the hour for about 8 minutes.)

On the way down, on our very last elevator, we got to the bottom and the doors wouldn't open. We got stuck and had to ride back up and then down again. It made a long evening feel SO much longer, even though it really wasn't. Maybe just 10 extra minutes. But with all those crowds and waiting all that time, we were ready to get off.

Since our adventures at the tower took longer than anticipated, we went back to the hotel (arriving at about 12:30.) We said our good bye's to Gary, as he was off to Bruges, and we would be heading out to Marne-La Vallee - Disney;and Paris!

Paris - Sunday, April 1

This is Grant typing.

Bobbi was tired after her long trip here (nearly 6000 miles), so she slept in until 10. The weather was beautiful today...not a cloud in the sky and about 60 degrees. We decided to go to the Luxembourg gardens. On the way we stopped by a Patisserie. Dad got an apple fritter, Bobbi Jo got a quiche lorraine and I had a croque monsieur (monte christo sandwich). We took our breakfast to the Luxembourg gardens and found a nice spot to enjoy our breakfast.

After breakfast we walked around the gardens a bit. Since today was Sunday, there were quite a few native Parisians out jogging and enjoying the park as well. The flowers were in full boom...lots of pretty pink and red tulips.




After the gardens we walked to the Pantheon and scoped out the vistas from outside. It cost 4 Euros to go inside and the inside didn't seem all that interesting, so we decided to skip the inside.

Next, I was able to convince Bobbi and Dad to go to "Les Egouts", which is a museum and tour of the Paris sewer system. It definitely sounded interesting to me. I love underground stuff, and especially anything related to sewers. I was worried that it would be toned down or wouldn't be the "real thing". The guidebooks said that they purified the air, but the smell was still a bit "funky." I was pleasantly surprised, as there was nothing toned down about it. As far as the smell goes, it was a tad bit more than funky as I saw no air purification going on in the sewer whatsoever. We paid the entrance fee of 4 Euros per person, and then descended about 20 stairs down into the dark damp sewer. It was definitely musty at first, but as we proceeded we turned a corner and heard the sound of rushing water. I figured it was a storm drain or a stream. I was wrong, it was one of the main sewer lines in Paris, carrying thousands of gallons of raw sewage per hour, and there was nothing between it and us except a 4 foot high chain link fence to keep you from falling in. You could see unimaginable things floating by literally feet away from us. I saw Q-tips, toilet paper, turds and among other things, feminine hygiene products. It was awesome.








After I got over my initial amazement with the smell and the sight of hundreds of gallons of sewage flowing by me every minute, I started paying attention to the exhibits. Interestingly enough, the exhibits were in an adjacent open sewer main. You walked 3 feet above the flowing sewage on metal grates, where they had displays (in French and English) about the innovations of the Paris sewer system...which came out of necessity. We spent a good 2 hours down in the sewer museum and tour. I don't think Bobbi breathed through her nose the entire time. Another thing about the environment in the sewer....it was extremely humid and fairly warm (about 75 degrees). I can't imagine what it would be like in the summer when it is over 90 degrees outside.






After the sewer tour, we took the metro to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery. We walked around for a good 2 hours scoping out all the graves and hunting down Jim Morrison's grave. The cemetery was interesting, as all the tombs are above ground and there is no order to the way the tombs are placed. It is a huge cemetery and there are endless mazes of walkways.




We were pretty pooped after that, so we headed back to our hotel on Rue Monge. We rested for an hour or so and then headed out to dinner!

We went to dinner at Le Philosophe, a cute little bistro across the Seine from where we are staying. It was in a section of town where the streets are really narrow and all made of cobblestones. It was also an area popular with the gay crowd in Paris, as we passed numerous bars with only men, and there were lots of guys holding hands...dad loved it!

As usual in Paris, dinner took over 2 hours, so we just headed back to the hotel!

It was definitely a long day for us and we must have walked 10 miles today!

Paris!!!!

Hi everyone! Well, I made it to Paris by myself! WOW!

Just to catch you up, Grant and Gary have been here in Europe for about two weeks, roaming about Italy, including Rome, Naples (with a visit to Pompei), Florence, and Torino. They got to Paris yesterday.

Meanwhile, last night (Friday) I boarded a plane to London, with a connection in France. I managed to sleep for 5 roughly 5 hours on the plane, which was awesome. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic going into London, as our plan was caught in a holding pattern over the airport for about ten minutes. Donna would have loved it, considering that the winds were 20 - 25 mph, so we got 15 minutes of turning in turbulence. Some poor kid puked when we landed.

I of course, am stressing, because my 90 minute layover (with a terminal change) is now becoming a 60 minute layover. We finally pull up to the gate, and have to wait 5 more minutes because the other plane hasn't pulled out yet.

However, after some major speed walking, I did make it, with even a moment to run to the restroom! Yipee!

Paris De Gualle airport was NO problem at all - and I found Grant easily - Plus my checked bag was like the 3rd one out so I got to get out of there pretty quick.

We went to the hotel, and I took a bath. Then we met up with Gary and went to dinner. We went to a restaurant called Le Relais de L'Entrecôte, which means "Let There Be Beef." It was salad, steak, french fries, (a fixed meal for all,) and dessert - I had creme brulee and Grant and Gary got profiteroles, and Grant and I shared. I also got an expresso - Hey, it is Paris - which oddly enough didn't make me feel like crap as coffee normally does.

After dinner, we went for a walk. Although I've been to Paris before, I didn't really even see a percentage of it. But wow! Just in an hour and a half, I saw more then I did the whole day I was here last time (of course, it WAS the World Cup Finals, and half of Europe was in Paris.) But it is SO true, Paris is an eaisly walkable town.

From our restaurant, we walked to the Seine, and along it to a bridge (Pont de Arts). Then we crossed the Seine and entered the Square of the Lourve (I'm sure it has a name - not the pyramid square, but the other part. The Courtyard of the Palace of the Lourve, I think) ) It was beautiful all lit up!

Then we went to the left into the Pyramid Square and walked around the pyramids. Then we went back across the square and out the back. Across the street there was a beautiful church called St. Germaine Auxerrois.

Then we crossed the Seine again via the Pont Neuf (bridge) which took us to the Island that Notre Dame is one. We went to look at Notre Dame (from the outside). Seriously, 10:00 at night and SO many people still out!

Finally we headed back to our hotel, where I really need to go to sleep.

This week is going to be interesting - tomorrow is Palm Sunday - and begins Holy Week - of course, most of those services, besides Palm Sunday, start Wednesday, and we'll be at Disneyland then.

Ok gotta go - but one last thing - we're watching BBC, and they are talking about a famous artist in New York who decided to speak against the image many churches display of Jesus (of his crucifixation.) He said it leaft a bad taste in his mouth. So he decided to create a lifesize depiction of our Sweet Jesus - made out of chocolate. Not so controversial? He also created this sculpture of Our Sweet Lord completely nude!

Ok really got to go to bed.

Night

Friday

Home - Come hell or high water - or in my case, both!

We woke up Friday morning to some "moderate" waves. After breakfast, we went to the pool to enjoy the waves in the pool, which were quite strong. We got tossed around a bit (but our faces were freezing!) so after about 15 minutes we got out and soaked in the jacuzzi for a few minutes. (Good timing - after we got out they kicked everybody out and closed the pool due to the rough waves.

At 1:00, we went on a backstage tour of the theater to see the dressing room and the way the sets came up and down on the stage. However, the waves were so high so they had to modify she tour again.

By this time, I wasn't feeling very well. We sat up on deck where I was in the air. I sipped some sprite while Grant went up front to watch the waves. Did I mention that by now the waves were considered rough - 12 - 15 feet. The front of the boat kept rising over the top of a wave and crashing down, sending huge waves up sometimes 14 stories tall! People were puking all over the ship and even I was feeling ill.

We decided to head back to the cabin to start packing. However, back in the cabin, you could really feel the waves and I started feeling really ill, so I took a nap.

We ate dinner as Sabitini's which is one of the alternative dining venues. OH MY GOD, talk about a ton of food. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I was feeling better, but it was wonderful We had a ton of little appetizers (like, 15?) before our soup, and then a pasta course, and the main course. Grant had tuna and I had lobster, but I was so full I could barely finish it. Then for dessert, I had flan and Grant had tiramisu. I knew at this point that I should have waited a bit before standing, but I didn't. I got just out of the resteraunt and knew that if I didn't sit down soon I was going to throw up that entire gourmet dinner.

Luckily, I was ok. I sat down out on the promenade deck and let the fresh air do its work.

After a while I felt better, so we went in to watch the farewell show (comedy.) It was good but quite frankly I just wanted the ship to stop moving. Back in our cabin (which, did I mention, was in the front of the ship, so everytime, the bow took a dive off of one of those 15 foot waves, the water would rush up and cover our window under water? Yeah...) All I could really do was lay down. I have NEVER been sea sick before. Yuck.

So Grant did almost all of the packing (I did try to help, but I couldn't really. Even as I sit here today (Saturday - at home) and type this, I feel like my head is swooping.

On Saturday, departure was behind schedule and there was a long line for customs, but we got done at 11:00. All in all, it was a wonderful week with Grant. However, next time, I am going to bring that bonine stuff... just in case. (o:

Cabo San Lucas

Today, we went to Cabo San Lucas… We didn’t get much time here - on had to be back onboard the ship at 1:30. We booked a whale watching excursion here. We had a quick breakfast and then took the tender over to the pier where we met our tour guide at 10:15.

We took a zodiac and had a blast. Our guide, Miguel, was super cool. You could tell that he had a real love and respect for the animals. After cruising around lands end and the arc, we went out into the Pacific until we were all on our own. We saw a ton of dolphins, which was really cool. We also did see a pair of whales once. Towards the end of the tour, Miguel joined a pack of boats that was following a whale. He said he doesn’t like to do that, because so many boats bother the whales, but I think he felt badly that we hadn’t seen many. I liked that he only did that as a last resort.

After our tour (and a quick stop at a shop to bargain for sunglasses for Grant,) we got back on the tender and went back to the ship. We went up to our favorite spot on the deck and watched the sail away and looked for dolphins and whales - both of which we saw quite a few of.

Tonight was formal night, so we got dressed and had dinner at the Santa Fe restaurant. After dinner, we had a ton of shows - we watched the production show, “Undercover,” (a spy tribute - hmmmm original….) They had one scene that was exceptionally cool - where they singers because a character from clue and described how they could not have killed Mr. Body because…. And then they mixed he story with the song from “Chicago,” “He had it comin’…” Very cool.

After dinner we went over to the Explorer’s Lounge and watched the Newlywed/ Not-So-Newlywed game show, followed by a comedian, Jim McDonald.

Wednesday

Wednesday already…?

So today, our ship docked in Mazatlan. The down town is a few miles away and the taxi costs $10 each way, so we opted to stay on the ship and take advantage of no one being there…

We went to the spa pool this time and played around with the current thing that pushes water out so that you have a current to swim against. While we were in there, a couple came by and said, “look at those two lovebirds… you must be newly weds…” I laughed and said, “ a year and a half!” and they smiled and said, “that’s still newlywed…congratulations!” (o:

After a soak in the spa we went up to our favorite spot above the pool deck and read for a while and enjoyed those yummy virgin strawberry daiquiris.

We watched the sail away from the front of the ship, waving to all of the people that had gathered to watch our ship leave. The sun set just after we got into open water.

We had dinner in the Pacific Moon dining room with a table right in front of the window… getting there early really seems to make a huge difference because no one is too busy so they can bend over backwards. Our waiter, Arnold, and assistant waiter Joel, were very cool. I had pineapple, chilled apple soup, salad, and Alaskan king crab legs. Arnold brought a plate with a bunch of big crab legs, and both he and Joel approached me several times about whether I wanted seconds!!! I had plenty though and reluctantly declined.

Grant had frog legs (which I tasted - yes they really do taste like chicken…. But they really do look like frogs legs….sigh), lentil soup, salad, and chicken a la Kiev. For dessert, Grant ordered a sundae and I had the princess dream love boat (like a thick mousse or flourless chocolate cake - delicious….) Our waiter also brought us a third dessert, a berry crumble with ice cream “just in case,” for us to share. That was really good, as well.

After dinner, we went for a stroll around the promenade before watching the impressionist performer in the Princess Theatre. Poor guy had throat issues… I don’t think he was feeling well, and he ended up cutting his show like 20 minutes short and had to cancel his second performance.

Tonight, however, there was a second show in the Explorer’s Club that was a comedian juggler what we were planning to see at his 10:30 performance They moved his second performance to the bigger Princess theatre so more people could see it. As it turned out, this guy was hilarious! He was from Vietnam originally, but had been in America for 10 years and had been a citizen for he last 5 months. He had a thick accent but he was hilarious and a really good juggler. It was cool because his show was really only a 40 minute thing, but he was able to use all of his material and stretch it out to an hour… and honestly, he was one of the better performers of seen!

We are going to bed “early” tonight, because we have to get up at (hold your shock) 9:00 for our whale watching excursion in Cabo.

Puerto Vallerta

Puerto Vallarta

Wow - what a beautiful place. Our boat got to dock right on the pier - and it was so pretty today! Hot and humid, too, but luckily the skies were pretty cloudy so it didn’t feel too sunny.

After a quick trip to the buffet, we walked to the Krystal resort and I got my very first massage. $40 bucks for 70 minutes of heaven. OH. MY. GOD. Yeah. Very cool. What was really neat was that the massage was in a little cabana on the beach, just past the sand, where I could hear the waves crashing. So neat. Perla, the girl who did my massage, was amazing,

Grant hung out at the resort on the beach, meanwhile, and met me after my massage. We spent some time at the beach. The water was 79 degrees - pleasantly cool.

After the beach, we walked back to the terminal and then across a scary street to go to… Wal-Mart! Yup, Grant needed some flip flops, and I, well, wanted to see a Mexican Wal-Mart. It was funny to shop in pesos. We spent 110 pesos on a pair of flip flops, two sodas, and one of those kinder candies from Europe with the little prize inside.

Did I mention that I got a massage…???

By this point, we were hot, sticky, and tired, so we risked our lives crossing that scary street again and went back to the ship. We showered and took some pics from the promenade deck.

We had dinner in the Savoy, with the same waiter as our first night. It was Italian night. I had baked eggplant, pasta, salad with sun dried tomato vinaigrette, and pot roast. For dessert, I had a peach stuffed with almond soufflé… so delicious. Grant had prosciutto, a salad, sword fish, and tiramisu for dessert.

After dinner, we saw the illusionist show, which was pretty good. My favorite trick was when he tossed an invisible deck of cards out to someone in the audience. The kid pretended to shuffle the invisible deck and then pick an invisible card, look at the invisible card, and remember what it was. Then he put the card back in the deck and tossed it to the magician. The magician “caught” the invisible deck in an empty paper bag, within which a card deck appeared. He fanned out the cards and one card was facing backwards in the deck. He asked the kid what card he had “picked” from the invisible deck, and the kid said the 6 of hearts, so the magician turns around the backwards card and it’s the 6 of hearts. Wha???? So COOL.

After the show, we headed up to the pool deck to observe the drunks at the tropical party and partake in the tropical buffet. Don’t ask how many chocolate covered strawberries I ate.

Did I mention that I had my very first massage????

Monday, Jan 1

Monday, Jan 1... We started off our day (after sleeping in, of course,) with a trip to the buffet for a light lunch before our spa treatment. They were having a Mexican buffet out on the deck, so that was tasty, and we had a great table by the water.

Next, we went to the Lotus Spa and did our spa treatment - the rasul. The lady that checked us in and got us started was really nice. After she went through everything, she told us we had an hour so “go ahead, relax and enjoy your selves until a quarter till…” (which gave us like an hour and 15 minutes.) She also said that when we were done, we just needed to stop by the reception on the way out to let her know we were done. No big deal, I know, but usually they tell us that they’ll knock after about an hour, and I always get nervous towards the end waiting for the knock. Stupid, I know but still….

What we didn’t like was the actual rasul room on this ship. Actually, the only real complaint is that the shower was too small - not big enough for the two of us, which sort of defeats the purpose of pampering each other, at least for the initial part…

What we did like was that the steps were clearly listed on a paper for us, and the main room didn’t get super hot, even when you let the steam out of the steam room. At the end, we felt relaxed, pampered, and wonderful.

Feeling like that, we just wanted to go and let the relaxing vibe last, so we headed back up to our deck high above the pool and read for a while. We ordered virgin strawberry daiquiris, which I forgot to mention yesterday totally rock on this ship. First of all, they are huge, like at least twice as big as the small ones you get at the shows on Carnival or RC, and significantly bigger then any I’ve gotten on other ships, even out on the pool. Second of all, the rim the glass in sugar. Yum! Plus they’re only $3.50 - which is an excellent price for the size as compared to other ships I’ve been on.

We had dinner at the Santa Fe Dining room, probably my favorite of the three we’ve been to. Our waiter, Kristoff, was from South Africa and really good. We lucked out and got a window seat again (its nice to eat at 5:30 when the restaurant first opens…) and we set next to a really nice couple that was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this cruise. They were very nice people and we enjoyed talking to them.

After dinner, we went to the photo gallery - but I was pissed to find out that they charge $25 - for a 5 x 7 if it is a formal night picture. Ok. $20 for an 8 x 10 is ridiculous - No way I’m paying more - and I’ll let them know on the comment card! None of the pictures were very good anyway.

We strolled around the ship before going to the 8:30 comedy show with Kevin Jordan. He was very funny - Grant had seen him before - but don’t sit up front… he brings a flashlight and loves to pick on people. Also, don’t get up to go to the bathroom during the show. TRUST ME!

We capped off the night with a swim in the pool and a soak in the Jacuzzi before heading to the buffet for our 3rd meal of the day… (Taco Bell is right - there should be a name for the “4th meal,” especially for those of us who skip breakfast!)

Tomorrow we will be in Puerto Vallarta!

Sun Dec. 31, 2006

So this morning, I woke up before Grant and went out to the library which is on our floor. Our cabin is in a really good location - right next to the art gallery which leads to the lowest level of the atrium, where the library is located. One level up off of our stair case is the casino. Sweet.

So I spent an hour reading and then met up with Grant and had lunch at the grill by the pool. After we ate, we went up to a sun deck that is four levels above the Neptune Pool, but you can easily see the pool there. We read for a while, and then watched Part 1 of the Survival challenge - a cool game that had trivia and then challenges like Survivor.

After that game was over (well, part 1 - part 2 is tomorrow…) we went to the promenade deck, which is way cool - old liner style, where you can hang out on deck chairs and look out - we could see the land from our ship. It was very quiet, with just the sound of rushing water and the occasional passer by.

Tonight was formal night. We had dinner in the Pacific Moon dining room tonight at 5:30. The host liked our last name, and gave us a great table for two by a window. They gave us all New Year’s hats or tiaras. Our waiters, Domingo and Patel, where very nice.

One of the entrees offered was a flaky pus pastry with swiss cheese fondue. Grant and I split that entrée as an appetizer because it sounded so good. (And it was!!!) I also had lentil soup while Grant had fois gras, we both had salads (Grant’s was caser and mine was baby greens with asparagus and artichoke.) My entrée was shrimp in lobster sauce and Grant roasted guinea fowl. For dessert I had a raspberry chocolate soufflé and Grant had a mouse cake… delicious.

After dinner, we went to get seats for the show. Tonight’s show was called “Piano Man,” and featured songs by Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, Elton John, Neil Sedaka, and Liberace. Sound familiar? We saw a show on the Radiance of the Seas called Piano Man starring music from the same guys - but the show was different!!! It was a great show. We were thinking it might be the same show, but it wasn’t. and they did a wonderful job!!!

After dinner, we went to take some formal pictures. I hope some turned out good because I borrowed Katherine’s dress and it looked beautiful!!! (I know because I little girl walked by and said to her mom, “that lady looks really pretty…” and her mom looked at me and smiled. Way cool….)

Speaking of little girls, I forgot to mention - this ship has two main types of people - families with children or old folks. There aren’t a lot of people are age at all - few honeymooners - it is very interesting… most cruises we’re on, there’s a pretty good mix, but here, well, its nuts - yes, technically, a lot of parents are our age, but these are older parents, with older kids - not a whole lot of 20 somethings.

After our photos, we went to the Explorer’s Lounge and watched a hypnotist who was pretty funny, and then made a mad dash to the second level of the atrium where we were lucky enough to snag a small section of balcony where Grant and I could watch all of the action for New Years. The band played live music leading right up to midnight (by the way, we are one hour ahead of LA - on Mountain Time) while balloons bounced, horns squeaked, streamers flew and people screamed. At midnight, we counted down with a thousand other people as hundreds of balloons fell from the net at the top of the atrium, and the live band played “should old acquaintance be forgot…”…and I kissed my husband… way cool.

After the balloon drop, we took a quick cruise around the ship to check out the other hot spots - we definitely picked the best spot to be - and then got our midnight snack (actually our third meal of the day since we had only eaten lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 5:30 - )

Now I am back, typing, and I am going to go post this now!!!