Showing Off

Grandma and Grandpa Saunders came for a much anticipated visit this week, and we were determined to give them a good time. You could say that we did our best to show off. The car received it's bi-annual wash, the dog had her fur done, the house was deep cleaned, and the fridge got restocked. Hotel Saunders fairly gleamed for Grandma and Grandpa's first visit.

We ordered some pleasantly cool weather for the hot and weary travelers. As we walked around the Farmer's Market that first night, some of us got a little chilled. What a contrast for those desert dwellers! We dined at out favorite Mediterranean place (Zingo's) and stayed up visiting.

Great hosts we are, Rick and I slept in late the next morning. Our guests and hungry children were left to fend for themselves. We  couldn't even haul ourselves out of bed to walk Emma to the bus stop on her last day of school! Nice. We tried to redeem ourselves later by taking a scenic drive around Perrysburg. We stopped to walk around Knight Nature Preserve and test out Grandma's new knee. She hiked around like a champ!

The kids did a bit of showing off in the late afternoon at their end-of-year group piano lesson and  recital. Their teacher Michael put together lots of fun activities and awards. Jake earned special recognition for being diligent with his piano practice. Emma earned an award for keeping positive during her illness. Both kids were treated to gift certificates to Mr. Freeze Ice Cream, though our favorite treat was listening to Michael perform a Liszt piece. Wow!

For dinner we took the folks to our local Japanese hibachi restaurant, Nagoya. Coincidentally, the local ABC affiliate was there to film a commercial, so much of our meal was filmed. It was awkward to eat with a camera pointed in our direction. What if we dropped something or got broccoli in our teeth? How embarrassing! We did survive our shoot though, and walked around the outdoor mall. We paused to listen to a guy performing on his guitar and then headed home to Saunders Cinema. It was a pleasant evening to be sure (and we highly recommend Secretariat).

Saturday was a classic, humid day in the Midwest. I think the heat took everyone by surprise. We plowed ahead with our plans though. First stop: The Butterfly House.

Emma was mostly afraid of the butterflies, but she would let Daddy put this one on her finger.

Grandma almost had a stowaway.

Later, we stopped by Imagination Station to see the Bodies Revealed exhibit. It was truly fascinating, but we didn't stay long because the air conditioning had gone out in the building. The heat was suffocating, so we hit a few other spots and made our way to dinner.

How does he balance on a rope so high up in the air?

Emma made like Peter Pan on the Human Yo-Yo.

Jake almost got to the top.

Biggest kid of them all.

We made a cantilever arch.

Sunday was a slow, restful day. Rick treated us to some amazing French toast (on Fast Sunday - oops!) which made us full and sleepy for church. We enjoyed a leisurely afternoon of napping and snuggling on the couch. Emma discovered that she shared Grandma's love for cryptograms. Shelby discovered that she loved Grandpa's ear scratching skills.

One of my goals during the visit was to take an updated picture of the kids with Grandma and Grandpa. As we walked around a community garden our last evening together, Rick managed to get this shot. What you can't see in this photo are all the nagging bugs flying around the poor subjects.

The buggies were biting!

The bugs didn't bite if we kept swinging in the hammock.

We're so grateful Grandma and Grandpa made the trip out to see us here in Ohio. They were good to let us show off our beloved town, favorite restaurants, new home, and rapidly growing children. We can't wait until we get to see the folks on a regular basis again. One more year...

Emma made a wiggling new friend. 5 minutes later she fed it to the fish in the coi pond.

Mother's Day 2011

 

Lists

Top Ten Things We Love About Cruising

10. Magic elves clean your room when you leave (and they leave strange towel animals).

An elephant on our freshly made bed.

9. Food is available 24/7, and you don’t have to prepare it or clean it up.

Fruit Monkey?

8. You can sleep whenever and wherever you want.

Snoozin' on the boat in Nassau.

7. Every night is date night.

All gussied up!

6. Someone else takes care of YOU for a change.

Our wonderful enabler, er, waiter Lenson and his assistant Sandro.

5. There’s always something entertaining to see.

Ahoy! Thar be pirates!

4. It’s fun to say “duty-free” shopping.

Things that make you go hmmmmm...

3. People can’t reach you on your cell phone because you usually don’t have a signal.

Betcha can't find me in here!

2. You can wear fancy-pants clothes.

Magnum.

1. Excursions!!!

Hey! There are actual fish swimming down there!

Of course, there were a few downsides to the trip. Here's another list of sorts:

Top Ten Things We Don’t Like About Cruising

10. The periodic cigarette smoke that wafts up from the casinos.

9. Slow people.

8. Other people’s skin escaping the boundaries of their clothing.





Lady - we're talking about YOU!



7. Postage stamp-sized staterooms.

6. DJ Naaz playing dance tunes a floor above well past midnight.

5. sTooPid people who drink too much and talk REALLY loud.

4. Crying babies. (Really? You brought a baby on a cruise?)

3. Sunburns, despite the SPF 50 sunblock.

2. Deadbeat dinner companions.

1. 5-10 pound souvenir of weight gain from all the food! 

Rick is the smokin' hot guy in the foreground.

Cruise Catch-Up: Days 8 & 9

Oops! I discovered that I never posted some blog entries that I wrote during the final days of our Bahaman cruise. Enjoy the random pictures too!

Back to northern territory…

The last two days of our cruise were spent at sea. The journey back to Baltimore from Cococay was about 1000 miles, so we tried to stay busy. We exercised at the Shipshape Center, watched the movie Salt, shopped at the duty-free stores, and gussied ourselves up for the last formal dinner. Rick finally got to eat his lobster tails and the dining crew sang Happy Anniversary to us to commemorate our 15 years of marriage. To cap off the evening, we watched the ship’s version of the Newlywed game show.

We had sunshine the first day of the trip back, but as we got closer to home, the grayer and rainier it got. Talk about depressing! We had a hard time sleeping Sunday morning so thought we’d get up to watch the sunrise over the ocean. The clouds kept us from seeing anything, unfortunately. Since the Windjammer crew was just laying out breakfast we decided to make the best of the quiet morning. I indulged in chocolate chip pancakes while Rick ate Belgian waffles with strawberries and cream. It was a decadent way to start the day, but it was our last chance to live it up!

The chill of the morning chased us back to our beds. We watched TV just to remind ourselves of what we weren’t missing at home and then drifted off to sleep again. After waking up at noon, we got ourselves ready for the day. We found that the sea was still quite choppy and we probably looked tipsy as we walked around the ship.

The afternoon dragged by. It turned out that we were ready to go home after all. Our thoughts kept returning to our kids, our cozy home, and our snuggly pup. Rick took charge of packing up our things. He also arranged for us to carry our own luggage off the ship in the morning so we wouldn’t have to wait around. I took the time to write this journal entry!

Our last formal night.

Yup. Feels like prom.

You've just gotta give up on your hair if you like going out on deck.

Our Little Princess

For those of that have been following our saga, Emma has been feeling much better since begining her steroids. She is now super strong and cute. OK, so maybe not those kind of steroids, but she is doing better.

We still do not have a diagnosis, but the treatment is helping. Last Friday, she was seen by the pediatric rheumatologist at the University of Michigan. After a thorough history and exam, the Dr. did not think that Emma has a rheumatologic disorder. She thinks that her illness is from a self limiting (temporary) bout with an infection. She has responed well to the steroids and will continue to taper them off. She has gained most of the weight back that she lost. She still has some aches and pains, but her energy has improved and her apetite is back with a vengence!

We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will in fact go away. We are cautiously optimistic. Once off the steroids, if she has problems again, we'll go back to the rheumatologist.

Thanks to all of you for the thoughts and prayers. We'll keep you updated.

Cruise Day 7

If Cococay had been the only stop on our Bahaman cruise, I still would have been happy. The water and sandy beaches of this private island exceeded my expectations. I have never seen the ocean so blue and clear! Plus, the water was a comfortable 78 degrees. It was just perfect for wading, snorkeling, kayaking and jet skiing.

Rick and I took full advantage of all this destination had to offer. We tendered onto the island about 11:45 and hit the sand running. We had a 12:00 appointment to ride a Seadoo, and we didn’t want to miss it! We were a little disappointed not to be set free on our water Harley, but we were proud to be chosen to lead the pack (right behind our funny Mexican guide). He taught us that the word Bahamas means shallow waters and that during low tide one can walk from island to island. He also pointed out Blackbeard’s private island, as well as an island featured in the Johnny Depp film Blow.

The ride worked up our hunger, so we hustled over to the food huts. Royal Caribbean provided the lunch, but because we were busy with the Seadoo, we just missed it. We literally pulled food off carts as the servers packed things away. Rick was able to assemble a cold burger. I had a bun with some lettuce and tomato. Mmmmmm, right?

After letting our tummies settle we strapped on our snorkeling gear. The clear, shallow water made it possible right down to the sea floor. Immediately we were rewarded with tropical fish sightings in colors of blue and yellow. Rick snapped pictures in all directions with our waterproof camera. At times the fish were close enough to touch! Then we saw a ray. We followed it as long as it would let us, but it soon left us behind.

For our final adventure we rented sea kayaks. This time we didn’t have to follow a tour guide. We were free to explore the nearby islands as long as we didn’t head out into open waters beyond our ship. Rick and I made a great paddling team on the way out (though we would lose our rhythm coming back to shore). We could view the sandy bottom of the ocean the entire time. It was so different from our previous kayaking experience in the Mexican Riviera.

We returned to our ship wishing we could stay another day. Parasailing will have to wait for another day! After getting all cleaned up, we went to the early show featuring Voices Three from Las Vegas. It was a “popera” act of three tenors, all of which had very different styles. Together, they sounded great. One guy in particular, Teddy B?, had a beautiful voice. We got to meet him after the show and we plan on looking up his music when we return home. He was that good!

Dinner was wonderful, of course! Italian was the theme for the evening. The service staff sang us a love song in all their many accents. The funny thing? There wasn’t one Italian in the lot! We sampled several things from the menu, though our favorite course was dessert. The warm, chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream was a perfect complement to a lovely meal.

A 70s-style disco capped off our evening. Rick and I shook our hips along the sidelines as we watched some inebriated guests boogie down. The Royal Caribbean Dancers appeared decked out in jumpsuits and afros. The DJ played all the classic dance tunes like The Hustle, YMCA, Brick House, and Love Train. It was a great mix of songs, and we would’ve stayed, had we not been so exhausted! I guess we’ll have to get our groove on next time…

Heading to the island.

Hey, Big Shooter.

White sand and blue water.

On the Seadoo.

The actual color.

Harley Mama!

An Island native.

Swimin' with the fishes.

The fishes.

And rays.

This fish had blue stripes that looked illuminated.

A shark.

Nice view. (Rick typed this)

This crab was faster than you'd expect.