Mindless Rantings of a Mad Woman!

2006-11-23 - 9:53 a.m.

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!!

2006-11-16 - 1:39 p.m.

The Trip!!

It Started at 3:30am Saturday....or is that still Friday. It's definitely early, that's all I can say. Oh, no it's not, I was also sick. Yup, got sick right before vacation. Couldn't breathe through my nose, so I did something I hated doing. The first three days of vacation I used that horrid nasal spray...but nothing was going to keep us down. This trip instead of counting Waffle Houses we counted Wal-marts. We also noticed that the bigger the sign to advertise for something, the more stupid it was. The Orange shop, which was advertised 62 miles in advanced...just a little shack. Arrived at Nana's at 6:02pm. Since we were not there at 6:00pm as we said we would she was getting ready to call to make sure we're alright....yeah. Had a lovely dinner with Nana the Great. Woke up the next morning for a short jaunt across the everglades and then...

(the following are notes from my travel journal...travel rantings if you will)

11-5-06 12:00pm arrived at port, overwhelmed by the size of our ship (17 floors!!) The Carribean Princess, truly is a Princess. Dramamine is good! Dramamine is GREAT!!! After a few hours on the boat...it overcame me. (It only lasted the first two days and the medicine helped)First thoughts on the shower: "Well that's cute"..thought I might be getting punk'd. Then I saw the balcony....OH MY YES!!! Balcony is the only way to go folks. Travel Tip of the Day: Don't shave your legs while the boat turns. Mental Note: bring more band-aids next trip. Overwhelmed with everything. The food, ship, Amazing!

11-6-06 At Sea The captain chose a different route due to the storm. The waters are rocky, dramamine still good. Lots of questions answered today...except, where does the poop go? Toilets are violently scary. It's almost like a vacuum. Learned if you're willing to listen to a sales pitch, you can get free stuff (ie jewelry). Travel Tip of the Day: Jaws music only funny on the first day at sea. Lightning on a black ocean sky...INCREDIBLE!! The treadmill to food ratio is not enough. Starting to feel like a hobbit (1st and 2nd breakfast..). Treadmills overlook the ocean and I suspect they power the ship. By day two, one starts the unrealistic fantasies of living on board.....Hey you never know?

11-7-06 At Sea After last night the chicken dance will never be the same. People who drink a lot should not dance in public. Nothing, nothing, and more nothing makes for a great vacation. Laid by the pool watching movies..fantastic. Caught a few shows tonight, one comedian offered up that the poop goes to the pool.....let's hope not. Travel Tip of the Day: Pay attention to the carpet. Port and Starboard have different colors.

11-8-06 St. Maartin I cannot recall a time in my life when I have heard so much Neil Diamond. Sweet Caroline..so good, so good. Begining to think there is something chemically wrong with my legs. Every inch of my body requires sun lotion...spf 50....I'm a white girl. My legs, no lotion, no burn. Things that make you go hmmmmm. St Maartin is beautiful, we beached and shopped. Everyone is so relaxed mon. Mr. Wonderful was continually offered gangi. Then we realized why everyone was so chilled out. Travel Tip of the Day: One can save some serious $$ if they just use their legs to walk (ie water taxi). Had dinner with all (we went with about 7 other families) tonight, was a blast. Highlight of the evening, the second moon on the balcony below...dinner and a show WOOT WOOT!! Nikki on my mind tonight, seeing stuff she'd like everywhere.

11-9-06 St. Thomas Slow down and live. Words from our wise taxi driver who gave us a tour around the island. Remember to buy more in St. Maartin if there is a next time...better deals. Beautiful Island. Megans Bay...gorgeous!! Sad I couldn't find a cane for Nana, but think I found something she'll enjoy. Wish I could have bought more for others. While Mr. Wonderful has Mr. Coffee...I now have Mr. Tablecloth. Fantastic store!! Missing the kids tremendously. Travel Tip for the Day: You can never save enough money for the trip. Insert funny watch story here:

Funny Watch Story: Mr. Wonderful has quite an expensive watch...which he left at home. Oooops! So he wanted to get a cheap-o one to wear around the islands...knowing we would be the dorks left behind. So in St. Maartin he uses he new bargaining skills and gets the watch guy down from $25 to $18. Good for Mr. Wonderful. Well the next day we noticed something wrong. There was no 11! Then we noticed that the roman numeral 6 was upside down!! You know the watch guy had to be praying we didn't notice.....wish granted. So Mr. Wonderful got his cheap watch LOL

11-10-06 At Sea Reflecting on how funny our taxi driver on St. Thomas was. Showing us a graveyard saying..people were dying to get in; no complaints. Or the termites nest that would eat a man.....if he had a wooden leg. All I did was bake today. I baked on the back of the boat. I baked to a movie. Stick a fork in me I am done. Side Note:I know I am coming out of this vacation with skin cancer...right now I don't care. Travel Tip of the Day: It is too easy to get caught up in everything there is to do. Make sure to take time off. Hoping my formal dress still fits.....this was about 40 buffets ago since I tried it on.

11-11-06 Princess Cays Travel Tip of the Day; Don't belch in your snorkel. No really, it's nasty and you'll taste it for hours. Once we got the hang of it, snorkeling was awesome!! Clears out the sinuses and drys out your skin (great for Mr. Wonderful's psorisis) Really hard packing. Looking forward to seeing my babies!

11-12-06 You can almost hear the collective sigh as all step off the ship...or it could be everyone trying to fit back into their clothes. (don't exhale) The port authority dude said and I quote, "Welcome back to reality". SIGH. We decided to take a side trip to Miami, so we can say we have been there. We did get out of the car, went to the beach, took a picture, then started our journey back. On the ride home we received the..

Low Point of the Trip: Our bird escaped from my Dad's house. Dad did replace the bird....but Mordy will be missed. We now have a Quaker Parrot named Michelle (Shelly for short) She is adorable.

Special shout outs go to:Nana the Great and Dad for fundages to take taxi tours and snorkel. WeWells for adding two to their clan in a very stressful week. Beaches and Bowers for animal care :)

High Point of the Trip: Wonderful memories to excape to when things get overwhelming....and pictures to remember it by..

The bigger the Sign: