Kindergarten Drama

Oh, my. There was drama in the house this morning.

It all started when I told Reed he was going to buy his lunch today as we had discussed several times before. He said no, he wanted me to pack it. I said no, and he cried. I asked him if he was scared to buy his lunch and he said yes. I asked him why and he said he didn't know. I talked to him about how I knew it was scary the first time you did something but it would be okay. I told him other kids bought their lunch. He said no, they didn't and that he wanted me to pack his lunch.

Lane came downstairs and I asked him to talk to Reed. He told Reed that buying your lunch wasn't scary and told him what to do and then he said, "Okay?" Reed said no. I asked him if he was scared to talk to the lunch ladies and he said yes.

Then we did role play. They stood in line on one side of the bar and I was the "lunch lady" on the other side. We pretended -- Lane got pizza and Reed got spaghetti. He was cracking up the whole time and thought it was really funny. I said okay, you can buy your lunch today. He said no, I want you to pack my lunch.

I wavered a few times, but decided he had to face his fear. Told him I wasn't going to do it and he said he wasn't going to go to school. (He's quite stubborn.) I was afraid he just wouldn't eat, so I told him I'd walk him into school and talk to Ms. Flowers.

Even so, in the car on the way to school, he cried all the way and said he wanted me to pack his lunch. In so many words, I told him that boat had sailed.

I walked him into school and laid it all out for Ms. Flowers. She said LOTS of kids buy their lunch and that she would walk through the line with Reed and show him what to do. She told Reed that and they high-fived each other. And then...

he told me he wanted me to pack his lunch.

And was crying as I left.

Just call me Mother of the Year.

First Day!

Everybody had a great day at school! After taking the requisite first-day pictures of everyone (even Maren's best friend!), I walked Reed down the street to school. We unpacked his new Diego backpack, had a hug and a kiss and I was off. I then saw Maren off with her friend and Lane had already walked to the bus stop while I was with Reed.

This afternoon, I picked Reed up and he reported that it was a good day. He did say that "kindergarten took forever." They talked about teddy bears (the theme of the week), ate lunch, had snack, had a rest time and went to P.E. in the gym. He says he knows where his room is and can go there tomorrow all by himself. Allright, Reed!

Maren says she likes all of her teachers. She has a teacher that Lane had in 6th grade even though it's a different middle school AND a different subject. Maren's in Athletics this year and found out today that she has to be at school at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for volleyball tryouts. She and her friend went to the park to work on their volleyball skills this evening. Good luck, Maren!

Lane only had four of his classes today and will have the other four tomorrow. He, too, likes all his teachers. He had study lab today, as well as English II, Ceramics and Biology.

Tim also reports that he had a good first day! No problems anywhere, so I guess he'll go back tomorrow, too.

I took the day off to ferry people to and from school and listen to all the reporting. Oh, and scale the mountain of laundry. Alas, it's back to work tomorrow.

Kindergarten Camp!

Tonight was Kindergarten Camp at Reed's new elementary school. He dropped off his supplies and got to meet his teacher, Miss Flowers. Could there be a more appropriate name for a kindergarten teacher? She's very young, but energetic. She's going to need that energy to keep up with Reed!

We filled out all the beginning-of-year paperwork and his teacher read the class "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten," which we own and just read the other day. Reed got to go through the lunch line in the cafeteria to get a snack and had a opportunity to ride a school bus, but we didn't do that. The principal spoke for a few minutes, we joined the PTA, purchased a t-shirt for Reed with his elementary mascot on the front and walked back home.

Here's Reed standing in the cafeteria. It has a beach-themed mural going all the way around the room which is pretty cool.

Reed is so ready for kindergarten to start on Monday. I hope they're ready for him.

Her Name Was Lola...

She's not a showgirl, but she is the newest member of our family! She is a six-week old miniature dachshund and as you can see, she's just precious.

We decided that Maisie really needed a companion. She's far too hyper for her own good. We've been dogsitting my mom's two dogs for a couple of weeks now and during the entire time, Maisie's been as calm as can be. She doesn't interact or play very much with the dogs, but she seems to just like the fact that they're there. So...

Enter Lola. She's tiny, but energetic and the whole family loves her.

Except Maisie. Not so impressed. In fact, quite jealous. But that's to be expected and we're heaping love on her and working on socializing them so I don't fear for the puppy's life.

Meet Lola!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NifsjpbPt7g

Bounty

These are, quite literally, the fruits of our labor. Actually, Tim does most of the labor, but let's not quibble over semantics.

Aren't they beautiful? There's just nothing like a homegrown tomato.

Day 6 - At Sea / Day 7 - Return Home

We awoke to the last day of the cruise and we were determined to make the most of it.

So we ate breakfast.

And swam.

And ate lunch.

Lorna played some more Bingo and tried to win a free cruise! No such luck.

Tim went to spinning class for the 3rd time to work off breakfast and sushi. He's so disciplined.

We ate sushi.

And walked around the ship one last time.

We ate dinner, watched the waitstaff dance and said goodbye to Allen, our assistant waiter from the Phillipines.

And to Nataliya, our head waitress from Lithuania.

We went back to our room and found some way to repack everything. We chose to do self-assist, which means that we were able to carry all of our luggage off the ship ourselves. You'd be surprised how many people can't. In fact, I would say that at least 75% of the 2,800 passengers were unable to or chose not to.

Our ship docked in Galveston at 7:00 a.m. You'd think having someone take your luggage off for you would be great, right? But no. You are assigned a "zone" if you are having help with your luggage (which was put outside cabine doors the night before) and just called by floor/cabin numbers if you're not. Self-assist passengers get called first. We were about the 4th wave of people called, (I ate one last breakfast while we waited) so we carried our luggage off the ship, waited in line for customs and breezed out to find the shuttle to our car. We were back at our car before 9:00 a.m. I've heard that some people don't get off the ship until 1:30 pm, so I highly recommend doing self-assist if possible.

We headed back home to greet our children with hugs, kisses and souvenirs and will keep the memories. At least until we can go again!

Happy Birthday Lorna!

It is a black day in our house, Lorna turns 40 on August 18th! She spent her Friday at work with peach pie, ice cream and lots of loving co-workers who decked her out. She now joins the over 40 set tomorrow! She hasn't changed alot from her early years. Tomorrow will be cake, special meals and presents. I love you sweety, the whole wide world and then some! Send Lorna some birthday greetings.

Thought of the Day

On the way home from the YMCA pool tonight, Reed had this to say:

Reed: Mom, how many days until your birthday?

Me: Three.

Reed: How old are you going to be?

Me: 40.

Reed: Whoa! You need to stop those birthdays!

Day 5 - Cozumel, Mexico

Day 5 dawned and boy, was it hot in Mexico! Again, we leisurely ate breakfast and made our way off the ship to shop as our Carnival excursion wasn't until 11:00 a.m. Cozumel has a very nice outdoor mall right across the street from the port terminal. I'm sure this wasn't by accident. We picked up some souvenirs for the kids, went back to the ship to drop them off (it's so nice to dock and not have to tender back and forth)and then proceeded to the end of the dock to meet our tour leader.


This tour was labeled Clear Kayak and Snorkel Adventure. We met the rest of our group and then waited (for I don't know what!)for about 30 minutes in the blazing heat. I think maybe our guide was rounding up the 6-8 taxis that were going to transport us to the place we would begin.

Aaaaahhhhhhh! Crazy Mexican taxi drivers! At least they drive on the right side of the road (in Jamaica and Grand Cayman, they drive on the left), but still. I feared for my life the way they zoom around bicyclists and slam on their brakes at the last minute for someone driving slower than them. Wait. My husband does that, too. Obviously, though, we managed to arrive in one piece.

We arrived at a beach area that had a snack bar, drink bar and access to watersports equipment. Apparently, lots of tours go through there because we weren't the only one. Our guide sat us down in a classroom-style formation on the beach -- chairs in rows and everything -- and gave us our instructions for kayaking. We put on our lifejackets and set off from shore in our own clear kayak. This is kind of like a glass-bottom boat. The premise is that you can see through the bottom of your kayak to all the wonders of the sea without actually having to be in the water. But the reality? The bottom of the boat was kind of foggy and you couldn't see much of anything. The visual clarity was helped by putting some water in the bottom of the kayak, but for obvious reasons, we didn't want too much water. We kayaked for about 30 minutes, getting bumped into about every 5 minutes by the same two people that did not know what they were doing. Then we headed back to shore.


Part 2 of the tour was snorkeling which Tim & I always love to do. Again, a lot of hurry up and wait as we were issued our snorkeling equipment and then had to wait for instructions, etc. I just wanted to ditch everyone else and go! We were finally given the go-ahead and told to watch for our guide who would have a flag in the water and to stay close to him at all times. Um, it's kind of hard to see the flag when your face is in the water! The snorkeling here was good, but not great. The last cruise we went on docked in Cozumel as well and our snorkeling tour that time was awesome. The difference, I think, was that the previous tour took us far out in the water via boat, whereas this time we just waded out from shore. We didn't have nearly the depth of water which I think affects the number and types of fish you see. We did see one giant parrotfish, which was cool and quite a bit of coral. We were supposed to snorkel for 30 minutes, but I think we were out there for about 45 minutes to an hour, so I felt like I got my money's worth out of the trip, but by the time they called us in to shore, Tim was done. His mouthpiece leaked and he kept getting salt water in his mouth and he'd just had enough.

They also gave us coupons for one free drink at the bar, so we got that, packed up our stuff, got in a taxi and left. We could've stayed longer and enjoyed the beach, but we were ready to head back. We decided to go to Carlos & Charlie's across from the terminal for drinks and fish tacos. It was all good until we went to pay the bill and found out they no longer take American Express, even though their signs said they did. Tim hadn't brought his wallet with us, only the card, so he trooped back to the ship while Carlos & Charlie's held me hostage. Not really. While Tim was gone a conga line of drunken guests weaved through the restaurant while waitstaff poured shots of tequila in their mouths. Our waiter encouraged me to join in, but gee, I passed. Tequila shots are not my thing, especially from a bottle that has touched how many other people's mouths? Ewww. I know my brother-in-law, for whom cleanliness is an OCD issue, will agree with me here.

Finally, my knight-in-a-swimsuit arrived to rescue me. We headed back to the ship where, as we were boarding, we saw the difference in security measures between passengers and crew. Three female Carnival staff were pulled aside into a small room and were frisked from head to toe. They already have airport-like security (though not quite as strict) where you have to put all your belongings through a conveyor belt/x-ray machine and you yourself go through the metal detector. And you'd think they'd have more to worry about from the passengers that rotate every week than from the crew that lives there for months at a time, but apparently not. Tim also thought the things the crew members chose to buy on their days in port was interesting. One of the aforementioned female crew was getting on board with bags and bags of Cheetos and candy bars. Hadn't thought about it, but you can't get Cheetos on board. Lobster, yes. Cheetos, no.

So we left our last port of the trip and waved goodbye to Mexico. Tomorrow would be one last day at sea before home.

Towel animal of the day:

Can someone please tell me what this is? A ninja? A polar bear? A ninja polar bear?

Day 4 - Georgetown, Grand Cayman

We anchored in Grand Cayman at 7:00 a.m. I say anchored, because this is a port in which you have to tender in to the island. The water near shore is much too shallow for a ship, but then about 300 yards out, the sea bottom just drops off "like a mountainside," according to one local. We weren't in a big hurry to catch a tender as our excursion was booked for 11:15 a.m., so we ate breakfast and made our way off the ship about 9:30 a.m.

Grand Cayman is everything we hoped a tropical island would be. Beautiful weather, gorgeous water and great, clean shopping areas. And we felt safe. And not scared. We looked around here for the things we'd buy later and then headed on to our excursion. I had booked a tour before we left home with a private company. We had been looking forward to it with great anticipation. Why, you ask?

Stingrays, baby!

We boarded a shuttle which took us (and the other passengers) to a dock on a canal. We got on a boat and they took us through this canal where, apparently, all the multi-millionaires have their vacation homes.

Then we went 4 1/2 miles out from shore and went snorkeling at the Coral Gardens. These pictures were taken with an underwater camera and they just completely do not do justice to the colors and clarity of the water, so I apologize.

We snorkeled for about 30 minutes and then headed over to Stingray City. This was the highlight of my trip, hands down. It just boggles the mind that you're 4 miles out in the ocean, but can stand up in only 3 feet of water on a sandbar. There are stingrays EVERYWHERE and they're tame because they are so used to tourists coming and feeding them. They began showing up because shrimpers would dump all their debris in that spot and over time, I guess, the stingrays saw that there actually is such a thing as a free lunch and decided to stay.

But I digress. There were probably 40-50 stingrays swimming around and they'd brush right by your legs. We had squid to feed them which they'd suck right out of your hand. Our boat driver gave us lots of personal attention, showing us how to hold a stingray (named Emily by him -- he's there a lot and they have great affection for one another) and kiss a stingray. Their wings and body are soft and slimy, but their tails are like sandpaper. They were very gentle creatures.

Now Tim was a little freaked out by all of this. Ever since the Steve Irwin tragedy, he's been skittish about the whole idea of being anywhere near a stingray. He never would feed one, but we finally got him to play along and kiss one. The videographer on board reasoned that his wife was going to kiss one and he was going to kiss his wife, so really, what was the difference?

Lane loves all things oceanic and the whole time I was there, all I could think about was how much he would love it. We'll try to go back and take the kids some time.

Then we got back on the boat and headed back to shore. Tim and I did some quick shopping and then stood in a very long line to tender back to the ship. There were FOUR cruise ships there that day, all lined up in a row. We'd love to go back to Grand Cayman. It was the best!

Towel animal of the day:

The dinosaur's cute and all, but we were kind of disappointed. We felt sure it would be a stingray!

Paella

I have wanted a paella pan for a long time, but haven't been able to find a true paella pan anywhere except on the internet and I wasn't ready to do that yet. However, on my doorstep this week, arrived this!

It was an early birthday present from my brother- and sister-in-law all the way from Maine, which was one stop on their cruise.

Well, I just had to use it, so paella was on the menu last night! For the uninitiated, this is a Spanish dish of rice, chicken, sausage and seafood that you cook and serve in the same pan. Tim wondered if the kids were going to eat it, but I was sure they would. There's something in it for everyone even if you're not a seafood lover.

Maren pronounced it "awesome," had three helpings and asked if I could make it again tonight. Uh, no.

Reed finally agreed to try a shrimp even though it wasn't like Long John Silver's (ie., fried). He said it was yummy.

Lane loves shrimp and agreed to try a clam which he also liked.

Thank you, Woodruff family!

Fashionista

You may not have seen this in the pages of Vogue or GQ, but trust me, this IS the look of the season.

And there is so little required to attain this desirable look. What? You say you haven't seen this on the streets of your town? Well, someone has to be the trendsetter. All you need is a straw hat and a ratty old t-shirt. But... a pair of pruning shears just rounds out the whole outfit.

And, ladies -- don't fret about makeup to complete the look. Just smudge a little dirt on your face and you're good to go.

This will be all the rage next season, just wait and see!

Day 3 - Montego Bay, Jamaica

Ahhhh, Jamaica!

We awoke this morning, ate breakfast and ventured off the ship into Jamaica.

Now Jamaica's a tropical island, right? You think beautiful beaches, touristy shops, etc.

Not.

When we disembarked the ship, you head right into the terminal which was not pretty. It was one giant room with concrete floors and a few small gift shops around. There are tall fences around everything and the few shops that are right by the port terminal are in grass huts and they *do*have armed guards standing right in front of them.

I had done some advance research and decided to take a taxi to Sunset Beach, a private resort with beach that sells day passes which includes unlimited food, drinks and the use of their beach and water sports equipment. Tim & I had both heard stories about Jamaica, that they openly try to sell you drugs, that there are armed guards everywhere, to only take certain taxis, etc. But hey, we were brave souls, so off we went. We had a taxi driver take us the 3-4 minute drive to Sunset Beach. On the way, he explained that he was "assigned" to us for the day. We would let him know when we wanted to be picked up and he would be there. We had to be back onboard the ship at 5:00 p.m. so we said to pick us up at 3:00 p.m. We thought that would give us plenty of time to do some shopping before we left.

He also said that we would turn over our Sail & Sign cards to the front desk clerk and they would be there for us to pick up at the entry gate at the end of the day. We turned over our cards, paid our fee and spent the day at Sunset Beach. We picked a spot underneath a shady tree, read our books, swam in the pool, and walked on the beach. We used their paddleboats and kayaks and had a good time. It rained twice while we were there for about 10 minutes each time.














At 3:00 p.m., we headed up to the entry gate to pick up our cards. There had been many other people from our ship there that day, too, and several were leaving at the same time we were. We got to the gate and saw our taxi driver on the other side waving at us. The guy at the gate flipped through a bunch of envelopes as he looked for our Sail and Sign cards. And looked. And looked.

Meanwhile, those other ship passengers are walking by us saying, "They can't find your cards?" with VERY sympathetic looks because they understood. That card is your lifeline. You've gotta have it to get back on the ship and they CAN'T FIND OURS. Dear God, we were going to be stuck on an island full of drugs and armed guards as we watch the ship sail away.

Our very patient taxi driver was *still* waiting for us. He can't believe they can't find our cards. Neither can we. They gatekeeper guy walked us back up to the lobby area and made the clerk there look everywhere. She swore she didn't have them, he swore he didn't have them. He also told me that in the nine years he's worked there, they've never lost anyone's cards. That's wonderful, I was just sorry it was ours that had to be the first time.

After 45 minutes of looking, they finally found our cards. On the floor. Tim and I were so relieved and very happy that our driver had waited for us. He drove us back to the terminal and got a large tip for his trouble. Needless to say, there was no time left to shop and we just wanted to get the heck out of Jamaica at that point.

Jamaica is mountainous as they grow coffee there and it really is a beautiful island. From a distance. Here are pictures as we sailed away. We were headed for bigger and better things in Grand Cayman!
Towel animal of the day:

Sims

We interrupt this blog for an announcement - my wife LOVES The Sims. For those that may not know what the Sims are..... it is a computer game that simulates life. You create characters who lead lives in all stages, buying houses, going to jobs, getting married, having kids and everything that goes along with it. I am NOT a video game person. This is one of the differences between my beloved and myself. While I watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, my loving mate is playing the Sims. She currently is conducting the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Urban. So this is why you haven't heard more about our cruise....... I HAVE been caught blogging about her Sims habit. She is trying to pry the laptop from my hands..... I have been threatening to expose her dirty secret to the world, but have been waiting for just the right time to tell all of you how she leads another life on her computer. What can I say, she took a VERY unattractive gardening picture of me today that I am SURE will be publish at some point in the future, soooooo here I am exposing her little habit. Gotta go ------ she is threatening to take the post down. Read fast!

Day 2 - At Sea

This was our second day at sea - it takes a long time to sail to Jamaica!

See our previous post as this day, too, involved a lot of lying in lounge chairs and strenuous lifting of forks. However, out on the deck today were a couple of interesting things: an ice carving demonstration which is made even more interesting when you see it being done in 90 degree weather. This guy started out with a block of ice and in less than 5 minutes, with water just pouring off as it was melting, he created a dragon! Hard to tell what exactly it was from the pictures, but it was cool.

Also, while I was sitting in my poolside lounge chair, looking out to sea, I noticed something in the water a good distance out from the ship. I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was leaving a noticeable wake behind it and it was swimming faster than the ship was moving, which was pretty fast. I got up to take a closer look.

People were starting to crowd around by now and I stopped a bartender in the area (they're ALWAYS in the area) and asked him what he thought it was. He said it was a whale and didn't seem too surprised by it. Maybe that happens more often than you'd think in the Caribbean. The whale swam alongside the ship and eventually overtook it, cut across to the other side of the ship and continued on it's way. Eventually it was out of sight.

That evening, we ate a very yummy dinner - I don't remember what, exactly, but they were all yummy - and saw the Carnival production "Les Formidable." This was one of their best shows all week and the singers and dancers really did an awesome job. I don't have photographs of any of the shows as they don't permit flash photography or videotaping of them.

We returned to our room that evening to our turned down bed and the towel animal of the day.

We turned in for the night then. We were exhausted, as all that food and sun really zaps your energy and we had to have a good night's sleep and get ready for Jamaica the next day!