Back to My Scrapbooks

It seems like I haven't been in my scrapbook room for ages - thanks to a vacation and Christmas. So, the last two nights I've locked myself in that room and accomplished something. Kind of feels good to get the creative juices flowing again! Granted, I'm only caught up as far as last summer, so I've got a lot ahead of me - PLUS my vacation album. Good thing I've got the dead of winter in front of me!!

Christmas 2006

Here's all of us on Christmas Eve. Our family grows each year. We are so very blessed!!! All of us were together on Christmas Eve - including Angela (Bobby's girlfriend and Brock (Chrissie's boyfriend). As our children grow and marry and start their own families, I realize that I've got to share them - so I feel very lucky to have them with us - under one roof on Christmas Eve.

Nolan and Grace kept things hopping. Grace was the designated elf - handing out the gifts, tripping over packages while wearing her new Snow White dress. Jack and Ben just sat there in awe of everything!!

Christmas Day was a relaxing one. We spent it with Carrie and Joe and their kids, having a nice lunch and curling up with a good movie.

This weekend, I'll try and get the majority of my decorations put away and get my house back to normal. I have 6 weeks until my Florida company arrives and I have a weekend project planned each of those 6 weeks. High on the list: clean my closets, shampoo carpet, and organize my basement and my craft room.

Babes in Toyland

I came home from the cruise in time to enjoy Kelli and her classmates in Clay High School's production of Babes in Toyland last weekend. This has consumed Kelli's life for the past 8-10 weeks - but all the hard work definately paid off! I have never been more impressed!!! Today, I opened the South Bend Tribune and noticed a wonderful review written by Jim Meenan. Guess he pretty much sums it up...

Hats Off to Clay -

In the two years I have been writing up high school play previews for The Tribune, I’ve always wanted to go see one. Saturday night, I finally did. The presentation of "Babes in Toyland," offered an ideal family night out, especially when you consider that a 5-year-old who loves to sing, is part of the family. After watching first Clay High School’s Choirs perform a wonderful 45-minute Christmas show featuring song, dance and an opening and close worthy of its own CD, then watching a play that captured my lad’s attention for another 2 1/2 hours, I have to say: I came away quite impressed.

As my wife said as we drove away, "it gives you a whole different vision of Clay High School."

Indeed, it was a night for Clay to hold its head high. From the opening number of "Carol of the Bells," in which the Clay mixed choir, women’s choir, concert choir and swing choir joined forces to all but encircle the auditorium and present a most beautiful sound, to "Silent Night," when they finished in a similar fashion, it was worthy of its own concert. Then came the play with plenty of music, dancing, toy solders and nursery rhyme characters, that definitely had my boy laughing out loud, and my wife, I and the audience quite impressed. Hats off to the likes of leads John Raab (Alan) and Katie Kuehner (Contrary Mary) who both appear to have very bright futures. We were also quite impressed with Josh Lukas as Barnaby, who did so well as the villain, he was able to get boos and catcalls at the final curtain, George Lund as Tom Tom, Christopher Griffith as Toymaker and Michael Ponder as Inspector Marmaduke. All were plenty entertaining.And my boy got the biggest kicks out of Philip Salvador as Roderigo, the assistant to Gonzorgo (Donny Bradley).

It was a great show, all the way around. I only have one suggestion though for the future, especially with a kid’s show. Have only one show and break out the choir to its own night. Their show by itself would be worth a price of admission.

Anyway, hats off to Clay on a job well done. We will be back. And thank you.

Glory Cruise - It's All Over

This was the only morning all week that a wake-up call woke us up. That should tell you something right there. Here's my brother trying to figure why in the world his sail and sign bill is soooooo huge. Could it be all those Miller Lites???













We got up, dressed and went to breakfast with our friends in the dining room. About 9:30, our deck was called and we made our way off of the Glory.


Remember all the smiling faces from last Saturday? This is how we all looked a week later....

Glory Cruise - Day 7 - Nassau

We were on deck early this morning - coffee in hand to watch the approach into Nassau. It was a busy day on this little island - 5 cruise ships in port = LOTS of tourists. Us women were on a mission - get to the Straw Market and purchase the designer knock-off purses for Christmas gifts.

For those of you who have never had the privilege of visiting the Straw Market in Nassau - you are not missing a thing. Find a local flea market on a hot summer day and cram thousands of people into very narrow aisles. Add to that some very PUSHY sales people and you get the picture.

We found the purse booths - made our deals and I walked out with two Kate Spade, two Prada and one Coach bag for $130. That was enough for me. I had what I came for and couldn't get out of there fast enough!!

After browsing through a few shops, most of our group headed back to the ship to check out the CHOCOLATE BUFFET which was serving between noon and 2:00.

Frank and I decided to take a 1/2 hour horse and buggy tour around the city. It was actually very interesting and I learned alot thanks to Elvis, our guide.

Then, it was back to the ship to do the worse task of the week - begin to pack our suitcases. We laid out our clothes for tonight and tomorrow, stuffed everything else into our suitcases and then sat on the deck to watch as we set sail from Nassau. It was a good day, but I must admit that Nassau was my least favorite of all the places we visited. I felt that the people were very pushy and aggressive. At least in Mexico, when you told them "no thank you", they left you alone.

So, we had one more martini in the Ivory Club, one more round of Black Jack in the Casino and one more meal in the dining room with Julio and Tomas. The entire wait staff sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane" to us and I have to admit to shedding a couple of tears. By midnight, we had put all of our luggage into the hallway and were rocked to sleep as we cruised the final 200 miles back to Florida.

Glory Cruise - Day 6

Today was our second day "at sea" - just sailing - on our way to our final port of call - Nassau. We were up and about early - grabbing our prime spots on the Lido Deck. Today's contest was Survivor and leave it to my little brother to enter himself in that one. He quickly became the "crowd favorite". He won the rounds that had him swimming the most laps underwater without coming up for air and he and his teammate won the scavenger help - thanks to a lot of help from some lady fans on the Lido Deck. The best part was seeing him have to dress in that bikini top he collected, along with the purse, ladies sandals and sunglasses and then parade himself around the pool. Sadly, he finished second because he couldn't peel and eat his orange fast enough. Pretty bad for a kid raised in Florida!

I was kind of the party pooper most of the week when it came to staying out late. But they kept me up tonight - dancing to 70's - 80's music at WHITE HEAT and partaking in the Grand Gala Buffet at midnight.

The buffet opened at 11:00 p.m. for photographs only and then at midnight to devour these creations.

Glory Cruise - Day 5 - Costa Maya

This was by far our favorite day of the entire cruise. The weather was beautiful, the eight of us were all together for this excursion and the scenery was breathtaking.

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise which promised us a great day ahead. We grabbed a quick breakfast and were off the ship by 8:30 a.m. We browsed through some of the shops until it was time to catch our 10:00 bus for our trip to Uvero Beach.

Uvero Beach was like something you would see in a travel magazine - little thatched roof umbrellas lining the beach. We grabbed an area where we could all spread out and enjoy our day.

As we walked through the water, there were soft grassy areas where the starfish laid. At one point, my sister in law was holding six at a time. After some quick photos, we returned the little guys back to their safe hiding places.
















We enjoyed a very relaxing day of doing nothing but drinking margaritas, sharing stories and laughter with friends and treating ourselves to the best massage I've every had - right on the beach - $25 for 40 minutes. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!!!!

Glory Cruise - Day 4 - Belize, Central America

This was the only cloudy/drizzly day of the cruise - but it didn't matter to us because we had a snorkeling excursion planned in Belize. Frank, Katie and I made our way to Deck 0 to catch our tender into Belize. Because of the natural barrier reefs, the water depths are too shallow to allow the cruise ships to dock - so, they anchor several miles off shore and dozens of smaller privately owned boats come out to the ship and tender the guests to the mainland.

We met our excursion at the Wet Lizard Bar and of course, Katie and Uncle Frank had to experience a Belizian beer.

We grabbed our snorkeling gear, boarded the boat and headed 21 miles out to the reef area around the little island of Caye Caulker. Our guides were the best! One of them, who knew it was Katie's first time to snorkel, stuck close to her. He would dive down and bring up large conch shells for us to photograph. The water was crystal clear and the snorkeling was the best I've experienced. After 45 minutes of snorkeling along the reef, we boarded the boat and stuffed ourselves on bowls of chips and fresh salsa. Then it was a quick ride to Shark/Ray Alley - looking for the nurse sharks and the rays. Our guides entered the water, armed with sardines and the rays were everywhere! I was a little leary, but I entered the water and basically wrapped myself around the boat ladder. No way was I letting my feet dangle!! I looked down and there were at least a dozen very LARGE rays below me. As our guides would feed them, they would lift them from the water so that we could pet them. They assured us that these rays hear the boat motors and come because they know they'll get fed. They have been hand feeding them for years and feel very safe.

Once our snorkeling adventure had ended, we returned to Caye Caulker for lunch and a chance to explore the island. This little island was very quaint - and picture perfect. There are only 1800 residents, no cars - only bicycles and golf carts, all of the buildings are built on stilts, one primary school, one medical clinic, no paved roads, but they do have running water and electricity and we noticed a few satellite dishes.

Before long it was time to return to Belize where we caught the last tender back to our ship. By 5:00, we had set sail again - north now toward the coast of Mexico and Costa Maya. Tomorrow....a Beach Break with open bar!!!!

Glory Cruise - Day 3 - Cozumel, Mexico

We woke this morning to the sight of LAND and a beautiful sunrise over Cozumel, Mexico. Not only was the sunrise beautiful, so were the colors of the ocean below our balcony. Every few hours, we would notice that the ocean colors became bluer and today - turquoise!!

Today, our agenda was shopping, hair braids and a few margarita. We accomplished it all! Here's all of us - ready to set off for the day in Cozumel.

This was the view from Cozumel back at our ship (the larger one) and the Sensation side by side. Katie is welcomed to Cozumel.























Katie and Arlette with their hair braids and Frank with his Corona.

Must be Mexico!






















Katie and I at Senor Frogs - overlooking the ships. The eight of us spent quite a while drinking and laughing and dancing and doing God knows what else at Senor Frogs. The logo here is "where parents embarrass their children" and I'll suffice it to say that we did a pretty good job of it.

Glory Cruise - Day 2

This was our first "AT SEA" day - nothing but ocean. By tomorrow morning, when we dock in Cozumel, we will have gone nearly 40 hours without seeing land. I love this picture of Katie, still in her pajamas on our balcony.

We were all up early and out on the deck to stake out our best "sun" spots on deck. Books, magazines, plenty of sunscreen and the IPOD and we were set for the day. Oh, I forgot the drinks. Little guys in white suits walking around with foo-foo drinks all day long. I found my favorite - KISS ON THE LIPS - peach and mango and some kind of alcohol. I sucked these things down all week!!!

Tonight was our first of two "formal nights". It was fun to get dressed up and go to dinner. We had the late dinner seating - 8:00 p.m. This was nice, especially when we were in port for the day because we didn't feel so rushed to get back aboard, get cleaned up and ready for dinner. Our nightly routine found us in the Ivory Club each evening around 7:00 for a cigar and a chocolate martini before our dinner seating.

The eight of us had dinner together each evening - same table and same waiters. Our waiters were Julio from Panama and Tomas from Lithuania. We had so much fun with the two of them - listening to their stories of home, dancing around the tables, posing for photos. When we asked Julio how long he had been on the Glory, he told us he was born on the Glory.

After dinner, it was usually back to the room to change into comfortable clothes and then attend one of the shows or dance clubs aboard ship. I was usually the party pooper - in bed before midnight. Good thing Katie had her much younger and energetic aunt and uncle to party with her!!

Glory Cruise - Day 1

I'll try and break this down so that you can see a few photos from each day. Let me just say that this was the best vacation I've taken in my entire life. Don't know if was the actual cruise (which was awesome), the ports of call, or the friends and family I was with - but I can't imagine anything ever topping this. (Actually I can - and that would be Bob going with me next time - we're already planning again for the fall of 2008).

We got out of South Bend just in time - ahead of a huge storm front. The weather was beautiful in Florida - mid 70's and sunny. My brother Frank and sister-in-law Arlette met us at the airport - ready to cruise!!

We spent the night at their home in Melbourne, then it was up bright and early on Saturday morning for our ride to Port Canaveral and the Cruise Terminal. Thanks to Frank and Arlette's friend Jesse for dragging all of us and our tons of luggage to the port.

Here was our first glimpse of The Glory - our home for the next week...

After going through the various lines, getting our Sail and Sign cards and photos taken, we finally set foot on the deck of The Glory. No wonder our smiles are sooooo big!!!

By noon, we were aboard - having our first drink and finding the buffet. We called home - while the calls were still free, explored the ship and found our room.

At 4:00, we were instructed to retrieve our life preservers from our rooms and proceed to the muster station. They take this very seriously and everyone is required to attend. You know us scrapbookers - this was definately a perfect photo opportunity.

Then it was back to our rooms to stow away the life preservers, grab a quick drink and head to the top decks to enjoy the sail away. At this point, we had still not seen our fellow cruisers - Mary Lou, Mitch, Art and Sue. There were 3000 guests on this ship and 2000 employees. How would we ever find them??


All of a sudden - there they were!!!! Drinks and cameras in hand and ready to sail!

We grabbed our phones and made those last minute calls home to tell our loved ones goodbye - before we hit international waters. And then it was so long to Cocoa Beach, Florida and hello to the Atlantic Ocean.