Howdy and Welcome to TX, Mickey! Oct 20-27, 2012 About This Page:

[shazza]

Hope you start to feel better (on the trip, that is). You two look very nice for your formal pics.

[lauriep]

I missed a couple of updates since I posted!

Love the formal shots of you both. So sorry the movement of the ship spoiled what sounded like a perfect day at sea. Hope the off-feeling doesn't last. Looks like beautiful weather. That towel animal is.... interesting. The top looks like the monkey they make. Maybe it's a ghost for Halloween?

[mommapants]

I was thinking the twel animal was an unfinshed monkey - too funny.

Oh boy - I remeber that feeling all too well. Hope it doesn't last long.

[Shelley the Pooh]

Originally Posted by chezp

So sorry to hear about all the movement. Been there, done that and it's not fun. I hope it doesn't spoil your cruise too much....

Thank you Cheryl, luckily it doesn't spoil the entire trip!

Originally Posted by shazza

Hope you start to feel better (on the trip, that is). You two look very nice for your formal pics.

Thanks so much Sharon. I didn't post the individual shots they took but I plan on framing the one of David and sending it to his DMom for Christmas as she doesn't have any recent, nice pictures of David.

Originally Posted by lauriep

I missed a couple of updates since I posted!

Love the formal shots of you both. So sorry the movement of the ship spoiled what sounded like a perfect day at sea. Hope the off-feeling doesn't last. Looks like beautiful weather. That towel animal is.... interesting. The top looks like the monkey they make. Maybe it's a ghost for Halloween?

No worries Laurie! One of these days I will get with the times and join a photo-sharing site. Then I won't be limited to just 5 pics per post.

Yeah the movement of the ship became a buzz killer but i will tell ya it doesn't last the enitre trip.

And that's what David and I had deduced the towel animal too. A monkey that was supposed to be a ghost. We did celebrate Halloween one night on the ship.....it just wasn't that night.

Originally Posted by mommapants

I was thinking the twel animal was an unfinshed monkey - too funny.

Oh boy - I remeber that feeling all too well. Hope it doesn't last long.

We decided that too Holly - well that maybe it was a ghost monkey. Our cabin host, Shaka, was a jokester at times. He had mentioned that Halloween was one of his favorite holidays.

You know, even as I was typing the posts last night, I could feel that darn swaying. When we first got home it took about a day and a half to quit feeling like we weren't moving anymore. It was a feeling.


After my trip, I feel like I learned alot and will be better prepared for future trips.

[OhToodles!]

Bummer to here about the swaying. Did you take anything for it? Either before the trip started, during or after? I'm thinking I'm going to need Bonine or something.

[iloverags2]

Ugh! Sorry you had a rough night with the ship movement; hopefully it didn't last long. Your pictures on formal night are lovely! And if you had not said anything, I would not have noticed the sunburn.

[disneydreamer33]

Sounded like a great day except for the sea sickness. I think you guys look mighty nice in your formal attire.

[DrDolphin]

Sorry to hear you were rockin and rollin so much that it made you feel ill. I think your Shaka may be our Shaka - he was the room steward for Lesley and I on the Panama Canal relo in 2008.

[shnewell]

Great updates, Shelley! How fun that you got to watch the Texans game while at sea!

We are like two peas in a pod! When I go to Nutcracker, I always manage to come home with all kinds of food. I'm also married to a meat and potatoes guy (also named David), and I love to try new stuff.

Sorry the choppy seas had you guys feeling a little off, but I'm glad to hear it won't last for the whole trip.

Great tip on bringing your own insulated mug!

[jenseib]

I finally got time to catch up. I am so sad that you got a little seasick. Did you take anything? I have leanred thant even though I don't get that feeling every day, it's better for me to take a daily dose of bonine.
We had the same dinner rotation as you did.

[Shelley the Pooh]

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

Bummer to here about the swaying. Did you take anything for it? Either before the trip started, during or after? I'm thinking I'm going to need Bonine or something.

Yeah, the swayin was something Kelly. The answer to your questions are going to be revealed in the update. But, I do suggest taking something for it. When is better decided by the individual.

Originally Posted by iloverags2

Ugh! Sorry you had a rough night with the ship movement; hopefully it didn't last long. Your pictures on formal night are lovely! And if you had not said anything, I would not have noticed the sunburn.

Aww, thanks so much for the nice comments about our Formal photos, okay really about how you wouldn't have noticed my sunburn. I felt like a glow stick in complete darkness.

Originally Posted by disneydreamer33

Sounded like a great day except for the sea sickness. I think you guys look mighty nice in your formal attire.

Overall, Liz, the day was good, especially watching my team win by the pool. I wasn't feeling all that great towards the end but laying down after dinner helped a little.

Originally Posted by DrDolphin

Sorry to hear you were rockin and rollin so much that it made you feel ill. I think your Shaka may be our Shaka - he was the room steward for Lesley and I on the Panama Canal relo in 2008.

OMBob! That's him!! We thought he was pretty . And he does something pretty funny in my next update.

Originally Posted by shnewell

Great updates, Shelley! How fun that you got to watch the Texans game while at sea!

We are like two peas in a pod! When I go to Nutcracker, I always manage to come home with all kinds of food. I'm also married to a meat and potatoes guy (also named David), and I love to try new stuff.

Sorry the choppy seas had you guys feeling a little off, but I'm glad to hear it won't last for the whole trip.

Great tip on bringing your own insulated mug!

It was an awesome game at sea and there were quite a few fans aboard which made it all the better. GO TEXANS!! 11-1 The Pats are gonna be tough with our D being so beat up.

Shayne, we need to do lunch and find out what else we have in common!

Originally Posted by jenseib

I finally got time to catch up. I am so sad that you got a little seasick. Did you take anything? I have leanred thant even though I don't get that feeling every day, it's better for me to take a daily dose of bonine.
We had the same dinner rotation as you did.

No worries on the catching up thing. I'm slow at posting updates so that helps plus I still have yet to get caught up on all the ones I want (need) to read.

Not a bad food rotation, but I would like to have Parrot Cay twice and not have Formal Night on our 1st night in AP. JMHO.

Hope you had a great trip. I know I will get caught up on TRs one day to find out!

[Shelley the Pooh]

Every year at Thanksgiving, our weekend goes a little something like this:

Thursday, Thanksgiving

Until 2 years ago, Thanksgiving was always held at my Grandma Mimi’s house. This was only the second Thanksgiving without her. Last year, we went to my Uncle’s house who lived near my Mimi as we were all still very sad over losing her and wanted to be near her as best we could. This year, Mimi’s kids (she has three) decided to all go over to my mom’s as this is where my Mimi’s furniture ended up and her kids wanted to use it for the purpose it had for the last however many years. It turned out to be a nice Thanksgiving.


Our Gang - Thanksgiving 2012



Friday, Renaissance Festival

Every year, David takes the day after Thanksgiving off work and we trek the hour and a half one way drive out to Plantersville for the annual Renaissance Festival. It is the last weekend it is open and the only Friday it is open. Sometimes the weather is cold and sometimes it is warm. One year, the high was 40 degrees and I was dressed in my overall dickeys and boots and was still cold! This year that was not the case. Last year, there almost wasn’t a Ren Fair due to the drought and fires TX had. A lot of the acreage around the Ren Fair property burned. Some of the homes we would pass for years were gone.


Oscar (Steph's BF), Steph, Me and David



Saturday, Christmas Tree Day

When David and I met, Steph was already 10 years old. I always have preferred a real tree to a fake tree. I love the way they smell and love how they look. David was good with the real tree as this is what he had every year growing up too. But in David’s family they would go as a family to a tree farm, pick out a tree and cut it down themselves. I had never done that before and who knew that in Texas there would be tree farms?? DUH!! There are quite a few of them around us so we began a new tradition together. We can’t go get the tree without Steph, even now that she's 21.


Our Mickey and Minnie Ear Hat Ornaments



We got this when Steph and I moved in with David.



This isn't the only football themed ornament on our tree.

David is from CA and is a Raider fan. Well, his parents and my mom were on this ornament kick and between the two teams, we have enough ornaments to cover a whole tree and then some.




Sunday, Decorate day – no pics yet, but I might upload some later, maybe.



And now on to the cruise update.

[Shelley the Pooh]

I awoke about 2 am really feeling the boat rockin. I kept telling myself its like if I am on the Amtrak train. Not much different except on a train the tracks have a pattern or rhythm to them that the body can get used to but the boat and sea are purely guess work. Either that or am I just getting old . I tossed and turned for the rest of the morning dozing here and there. Around 6, I couldn’t stand lying down anymore so I got up, closed the divider curtain and turned on the TV without the volume on. David! I perused the day’s Personal Navigator and saw that the Art of Entertaining – Entrée demonstration was at 1 pm.











I decided that since I hadn’t finished cutting out my cabin host cards at home, I would take this time to do so. I was sitting there on the couch which really, really, really needs rehabbed or replaced, the bar for the pull out was front and center the whole time so you felt it right under your thighs when sitting on the cushions. Anyways…. I was sitting there on the couch and I guess being vertical instead of horizontal was worse as I started to not feel well again. I literally felt like I was on a see-saw but yet a swing. YUCK!! I finished up the cards and went to get cleaned up for breakfast which I was totally not in the mood for. We were scheduled to be at Mickey’s Island Jam Breakfast at 9:45 in Parrot Cay.

After getting cleaned up, we headed down to Parrot Cay which is on deck 3 aft. When you enter the hallway that leads into the restaurant there are these huge port-hole windows that line the entire wall. It continues on into the restaurant. I guess I hadn’t noticed it before but since the waves were up and we were moving faster than when we left Galveston you could see the waves come up into the sight of the windows. They weren’t getting the windows wet or anything you could just see them rise and fall as they became visible and then disappeared. This did not help my equilibrium at all! I told David that if we had a window table I wouldn’t be able to even sit down let alone eat or see food. Luckily, we were about half way in the center of the restaurant and toward the back so no windows nearby. That didn’t seem to make a difference though on how I was feeling. I still felt like I was on that darned see-saw swing and it wasn’t fun. I made it through ordering breakfast and soon the characters started to come out. I, however, couldn’t even concentrate on them enough to subside how miserable I was feeling. I was able to meet Minnie Mouse and Dale but that was it, I was done. I told David to stay and enjoy the rest of breakfast, especially since we still had a crew of characters to come! I left the camera with David, Laura and Andy (our table mates) and left to go back to the room and lie down. David had a great time!




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[Shelley the Pooh]

If my face hadn't been so red, I would have been the same color as David's shirt.









David's smile is priceless!! He said Mickey was digging his shirt.


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[Shelley the Pooh]

David arrived about an hour and a half later and brought my breakfast that I had ordered too. How sweet honey, but I still want nothing to do with food. David suggested that I go ahead and try to take the Dramamine that we had brought for motion sickness, I did and after about a two hour nap, I felt like a new person. I still felt the motion of the boat but it wasn’t affecting me like before.


Looking back, I should have thought about taking it the night before but I have never in my 41 years had to take anything for motion sickness so I wanted to see how badly it would affect me without doing so first. David and I were discussing that the boat had been previously going only about 15-16 knots. But as the second night approached we were going about 19-20 knots. The boat was way more stabilized the slower it was moving. Or so it seemed to us.

The down side to me “experimenting” with the motion sickness is that I missed the Art of Entertainment Series. Today they were showcasing an entrée from Palo, Oregano and Parmesan Crusted Rack of Lamb. I did, however, get the recipe at the next demonstration.






After my nap, David and I wandered around on the ship. He had taken a self tour of the ship while I was sleeping and wanted to show me all the things he had seen. It was cute seeing him all excited about the boat. He doesn’t get excited too often so Disney’s Magic works on everyone, you just gotta find that spark in them somehow and the cruise was David’s. He took me to this one area on Deck 4 forward where people can walk or jog through. It’s where they store some of the tie down ropes, anchor chains and do some repairs. Really cool place to get to see some of the workings of the ship.






Sorry this pic is so blurry but I got a Mickey head!



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