We've had an incredibly busy month. After the month of May, when I was really struggling, I needed to keep busy. July took care of that!
We started the month with a vacation with Nick, Mere, Andrew and Max. Our second consecutive family vacation. Marco Island. We stayed in a condo owned by one of Melissa's best friends...and we all got along - for an entire week!
First day walk on the beach. Donny and I continued the walks, early in the morning every day. We're retired - they were on vacation! We all did whatever made us happy!
My boys...Max, Andrew, Nick, Donny
Nick, Max, Mere, Andrew
Dinner out. Mexican, my favorite.
And ice cream to follow.
Max wanted to be the Statue of Liberty.
I bought them each something to take home. Max wanted a Pug. This is the best kind to have!
Andrew. Take the "L"
Sunset
Two of my favorite people!
Stacy and Casey took us to their favorite place - a (semi) private beach.
Max andMia
Andrew
Our own little beach!
The girls
Happy Hour
Fourth of July on the beach. Packed that day!
Casey, Nick, Mere, Stacy
Andrew teaching the girls how to dive (he just learned that morning!)
Max playing frisby with Joseph.
Max, Andrew, Mia, Emma
Max and Joseph. Joseph is autistic. He was with his family from Miami. Max and Joseph made a connection. Max was so compassionate. I was so proud of him.
Another sunset.
Cathy, Tony, Emma and Mia, our new friends from Canada.
Family photo
Of course Fort was there...
Last night on the beach.
We had a great time in Marco Island. The week went fast. It was relaxing (I think) for Nick and Mere, and Donny and I got our walks in every day. Lots of beach time. Found a great restaurant - Lee Bee - the menu was simple-whatever they caught that day! The first time we went it was grouper and snapper. Fried, grilled, blackened. Platter, basket or tacos. You watched the cook prepare your dinner. It was awesome. Nick's ALL TIME favorite restaurant. Kids loved it too!
We drove home - stopped in Alabama again to visit Karen and Charley (my high school friends) on their farm! Another great visit!
Karen, Charley, me, Donny
Southern Caribbean Cruise
Got home on Monday, (fortunately we had a washer and dryer in the condo in Marco Island)-because we unpacked for only a couple of days! Left Friday for an eight day cruise to the southern Caribbean.
Met Mange and Mary, our cruise buddies for the last 5 cruises, in Columbus. Flew into Ft. Lauderdale.
We always looks for signs from our girls - we got our first signs in the airport!
We were headed to pick up our luggage. Mary walked past this guy who said hello. She stopped and they both turned around and realized they KNEW each other! He was Courtney's first tennis coach (when she was in elementary school). If you've read the blog before, you know that Mange and Mary's daughter Courtney died of ovarian cancer in 2011. She was 27. And a LOT like Melissa. Athletic, lots of friends, and a fighter. So running into Courtney's coach was a pretty big sign. We stopped, talked, took pictures. (another interesting side note - he was there with his son who is a tennis player as well. He goes to New Albany, outside of Columbus. The Athletic Director at his high school is a friend of Nick's from high school! Small world!) So anyway, after talking for several minutes - we turned around and were just flabbergasted that they ran into this guy. As soon as we turned to go to baggage claim, on the floor in front of us was a butterfly - painted on the floor. Our sign from Melissa! (we covered a lot of area in the Ft. Lauderdale airport, and didn't see a butterfly painted on the floor anywhere else!!!) Both our girls were there. Great way to start our trip!
So we head to Miami, where we will spend the night before we board the ship. Hilton Downtown Miami. Beautiful. Dinner, drinks by the pool.
We wanted to get to the port early, so talked to the concierge about transportation. Of course he recommended Uber, which neither of us knew anything about. He was very helpful...told me to get the app and he would walk me through it. I finally belong in the 21st century. I have UBER!!!! We were impressed. Called, our ride was there within minutes - five minutes to the port. It was awesome. So we get on the ship, head to the top deck for drinks...when Mary STOPS in her tracks and says "Oh My God. I left all my money in the safe in the hotel!!!" (all her cash for the ENTIRE week!!!) Mary is the planner of all the trips we go on. I am so much better under pressure. Figure things out on the spot. Since I had Uber (now), I would go with her back to the hotel.
This ship (the Carnival Vista) had just disembarked 5000 people. 5000 more were checking in. And Mary and I were running in the opposite direction. To get OFF the ship. First thing we had to do was go to our Staterooms (which weren't ready yet) and get our Sign and Sale cards (which you use for everything on the ship - drinks, shopping, casino, and its a key to get in your room!) then we had to go through Security AGAIN. Finally got off the ship - called UBER. Two minutes later we were in the car trying to explain the situation. And our driver didn't speak English. He knew "OK" and "I don't speak English". So we talked LOUDER and slooooowwwwweerrrrr....and he still didn't understand. But he knew where we needed to go, and when we got there, I just didn't get out of the car. Security at the hotel was waiting for Mary - took her up to their room and THANK GOD the money was in the safe! We were back on the ship in less than an hour. And Donny and Mange were waiting at the door for us.
FINALLY! Back on the ship...CHEERS!!!
Out of the 5000 checking in, 1400 were kids. It was a busy ship. Met some wonderful people from all over the country. And if you've never been on a cruise ship, the majority of the people who work on the ship are NOT American. A lot of people from Asia. Hardest working people you'll ever meet. And they ALL know English. Or enough to be friendly and helpful. And if they are waiting on your table or cleaning your room, they introduce themselves and REMEMBER your name. Every time they see you. No matter where it is on the ship. It's amazing.
The food was great. Too much. I told Donny it's a floating Golden Coral. Only with great food. Seems like the portions at dinner are getting bigger. I didn't like that - I guess they are Americanizing the portions. Americans eat too much. But on the ship, they want you happy. And they want you to drink (because you're not driving, so it's OK). We really didn't see anyone who overindulged, but we were never up very late because we were up so early every day. We walked the track every day (Donny averaged 6 miles a day!) I only remember taking the elevator one time. We walked the steps all the time. We were on the 9th floor. Went anywhere from the 3rd floor to the 14th! Lots of walking. Our hall was 3 football fields long - Donny, a former football official, paced it off. I walked the halls instead of the track because it was air conditioned! Work smarter - not harder!
Our cruise buddies!
Our ports of call...
GRAND TURK
Off the ship straight into a shop. First thing I see is this T-Shirt
Wow. We always talk about grief, how it comes in waves (sometimes tsunamis!). This shirt reminded me that HAPPINESS comes in waves too. I really wanted this shirt, but of course they only had smalls, so I took a picture instead. We had a tsunami of fun on this trip!
We've been to Grand Turk before - it's where I had my first massage on a beach! And whadda you know! It's still there!
This is Mary & Mange - they went first...
Waiting for my massage!
Made some new friends at Margaritaville from NJ!
The pool at Margaritaville. We were off the ship at 8:30 a.m. (had to be back on at 1:30)
Margarita's at the pool bar at 9 a.m. Crazy.
Ran into our Cruise Director Adam too! (he was awesome!)
Dominican Republic
Got off the ship just to walk around the shops - then right back on.
These little fish eat the dead skin off your feet. EWWWWW. No this is not me.
Off the ship to get a picture!
and another...
and another...
CURACAO
Off the ship to shop and head to the beach for a couple of hours! Lots of things to do in Curacao..
There was a ship regatta going by when we got into port!
Looking off the ship at Curacao.
Donny found a place to rest his weary head...
All we saw was FORT.
Mange & Mary
Donny...who KNEW he was a shopper!
Can you find Mange in the crowd?
Was leaning over a railing and saw these guys...
The shoppers...
Finally on the beach and Mary is already planning the NEXT day!
A billboard in Curacao. Donny's mom is a RADO!
Donny almost stepped on this guy!
A heart of locks.
The beach we went to!
On the ride to the beach, we learned a lot from our cab driver. All about Curacao and the fact that citizens of Curacao learn FOUR languages. English being one of them. Interesting, in our country we expect everyone to learn OUR language, in other countries they welcome many languages...even learn to speak them! Very welcoming.
ARUBA
Our favorite port on this cruise. Shopping again first, then on to Eagle Beach.
Mary found a spot with WIFI!
FUN on the ship!
White Night! An oldies party. We fit right in!
towel art
The only sunrise we actually got up for. And we got a HEART from Fort to boot!
more towel art
Not "our" pool - this one was too crowded!
Donny rode these slides!
our pool!
I got serenaded!
The SkyRide. Got in line because it was the shortest line of the trip, and found out I couldn't wear flip flops, so I wore Donny's shoes.
The sky ride - goes out over the edge of the ship. You pedal your way around.
Fun fun fun!!!!
Im in this photo by the pool!
Donny and his fru fru drink.
One of the actors in the show hitting' on my husband!
More fun
Went to see a movie in the IMAX!
Great cruise. Got off the ship and headed back to Ft. Lauderdale for the night.
Ft. Lauderdale
We got about 20 minutes on the beach. Donny and I walked for about 10 minutes, then came back and fell asleep on our chairs...only to wake up getting rained on. A DOWNPOUR followed!
Dinner (I mean DRINKS)
Out shopping again.
The Elbo Room
Decorated palm trees
You want to travel with Mary. She can get you upgrades (we were upgraded to Suites because she told them we were celebrating our anniversaries!) Then they brought 2 bottles of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to our room!!!
Last morning by the pool. That night we were back home in OHIO.
Not ready to go home.
In 1981, we stayed in this hotel. I think it's a Marriott now. It was a Stouffers then. Donny had to go to Ft. Lauderdale to work, so he took the three of us along. Melissa was 3 Nick was 1. I spent two weeks by the pool. Met two couples who found a way to get us on an Aircraft Carrier (the Independence) that was in port.
Ft. Lauderdale Beach.
HOME SWEET HOME
For two days. Then on to St. Louis for the Compassionate Friends Conference. I'll post
those pics on FB.
Left St. Louis on Sunday after the Walk to Remember. Got a call that Dad was going to the Hospital. That's where I am now updating the blog. He was doing okay this morning...not so good tonight. I'm staying overnight with him. Nurse just came in to take his BP, (it's been high) and it hurt and he was yelling at her to take it off. I told him to hold my hand til she took it off...so he did...and then he kissed my hand. He can be SO sweet sometimes. Then he tried to get out of bed. He's a little confused about where he is. I told him I'd sing to him. So I started singing "Rock-a-bye-Baby" and he yawned...Now he's asleep. My singing puts the boys right to sleep too. Hope it lasts.
Good night. Sleep tight.
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