1 Mom, 2 Daughters and 3 Days of Wonder! **Completed 6/29!** About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats on the upgrade Mo!! More great updates!!

[rlb38]

Have a wonderful trip ! Hope all goes smoothly. I absolutely love the book you made. Can you tell me what Jetty Park is ? Looking forward to reading your TR. Have fun.

[MontiMouse]

Great plans and I love Katie's book. That was a great idea.

[Grammy Grumpy]

What a great book for Katie. Hope your Monday is productive and you get everything in place so your "girls only" trip will be the best ever!

[belle0517]

Great update! Congrats on the upgrade!

[DrDolphin]

Great job in preparing Katie for the cruise!! Can't wait to hear how the trip goes.

[eff051102]

Great TR so far. So your moving back to Arkansas? I must have missed this
before.

[pamcarey]

Great PTR! Sounds like this is going to be a fabulous mother/daughter cruise! I can't wait to hear all about it.

[Grammy Grumpy]

You should be on board right now, Bon Voyage and Happy Sailing!

[lauren-roxy]

Congrats on the upgrade!!! I love Katie's book!!

[belleandmaddysmom]

Glad to be able to meet you and your family!
I love the idea of the book for Katie! She looks like she is quite interested in it herself!
I can't wait to hear about your trip! Have a great girls only cruise!

[chezp]

Wonderful updates! I love the book.

Have a truly magical time!

[OhToodles!]

What a great PTR! You're girls are too cute! Thanks for sharing so much with us. I hope you all have a 'Wonder'-ful time!

[statelady01]

Jetty Park is a beach access point in Port Canaveral. I'm detailing it in this installment...

Wednesday, May 6..

Gotta love comp time. I had 45 minutes worth of it so that Emily and I would be home from school as early as possible. By the time DH walked in the door with the other kids, including Katie, I had most of the packing done and suitcases loaded by the door. Katie went and repacked her school backpack with her DVD player and DVD's- that's been the comfort thing of recent, changed her clothes and announced she was ready to go.

I was pleased already with the time factor- we were on the road by 3:50. Around the corner from the house, it was a stop for gas!


Ma- Let's go already!!

I take the 417 to the 528 - and just seeing signs for Port Canaveral had us giddy with excitement.



We rolled into Port Canaveral right before 5:00 and as we made our way over the Banana River, I noticed a Carnival ship- which I assumed to be the Sensation but later found out on the news it was the newly repositioned Carnival Glory. Katie seemed confused that the Wonder wasn't there but I assured her a few times that it would be there in the morning.

We checked in at the Radisson and I was thrilled to hear we had a first floor room but had a bit of a time finding it. The girls were keen to see the beach, so we dropped all the bags and headed on out. Our room was clean and orderly- very comfortable. For the price of the cruise parking package and shuttle included- I think this is the best option in PC for a precruise stay.

Jetty Park is a very easy find within the port- just following the signs I made it from the hotel there in less than 5 minutes. The fee for access is $7. It was virtually abandoned with exeption of a few other people and we just walked up and down the beach for about 30 minutes or so.



The girls had a great time just enjoying the surf- the evening was gorgeous and a great way to get this little adventure started.





They did however ignore my warnings to avoid going too far in and got their shorts soaked. Then came the complaints they were too wet and they wanted to go back to the Radisson. Patience, mother, patience.

We hopped back in the car and decided on McDonald's to eat in the room, then go to Wal Mart to get a few things, including a new pair of shorts for each of them- as I didn't pack many for the cruise. On the way to the room, Katie had somehow managed to dump her Happy Meal bag and her food went everywhere. She got extremely upset and despite my offers to share my 10 peice Chicken meal with her- got more and more agitated. Ugh. Finally, I gave her an ultimatum, calm down, eat and get to go to Wal Mart or no dinner and no Wal Mart. It took about 45 minutes but we eventually got to the point where she ate, and we were able to go.

I found the cutest beach hobo type bag which I picked up, along with a few other essentials and we made it back to the room by 8:00 pm. Kevan called to report that our AC at the house had gone out and he was in the process of moving to a hotel for the evening- this did not make for a happy husband. When it rains, it pours.

I got the girls settled and watching tv while I repacked everything to my liking- I realized we had too much stuff and tried to get it to a more reasonable amount- I also insisted they scale down their backpacks. I ran that stuff out to the car.

By the time I was in bed and ready for sleep, it was close to 11:00- I called Kevan one more time to make sure he was doing ok- which he was and set a wake up call for 8:15 am. We were on the first shuttle to the Port the next morning at 10:00 am and there was no way we were gonna be late!!

Coming Up Next: I need a window and a bargain.......

[statelady01]

Oops, sorry- yes, we are moving back to Arkansas. Florida hasn't been the best place to work or raise kids as a matter of fact- we decided at the end of the first year here to give it one more- and the crime gets worse by the day. So, we are going back in June. It's bittersweet but my kids come first so ultimately, it's the right decision.