Wonderful World

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Cruisin' on a Sunday Afternoon

So, remember that one time that Craig and I went on a cruise....like 3 months ago? Yeah, I have been so upset about being back from the cruise that I wasn't emotionally prepared to discuss the details of such a wonderful vacation. After some counseling, I am doing much better now and I finally feel like I am in a place where I can share our lovely adventure with our few followers. (Here is where I should mention that I still haven't even finished blogging about our Disneyland trip in April. Counseling for that experience is ongoing, so you can look forward to those new-old posts sometime in the future.) Hope you enjoy as we all revisit our most vacationy vacation ever.

Our fabulous waiters and fun table mates, Easton and Grace.

This was one of the only clocks on the cruise we could find,

on the very top deck. What is Carnival running, anyway, a casino?

Tiny, tiny hallways.


So this is what the ship looked like close up.

I couldn't believe how huge it was.

Here is our tiny room...one bed, a tv in the corner, and that's it.

For our "convenience," Carnival wanted to charge us $1.95 for a
can of soda in our room. Soda lovers though we are, we refrained.

These are the robes we wore once for a picture, and didn't buy for $50. Such self-control.

Cutie honey and polluting cruise ship, taking off from the harbor.

Beautiful, beautiful Catalina Island. I could live there,

but their Vons is seriously overpriced.

Oh yeah, and I'm not a millionaire.

Golf carts are the main transportation on the Island.

I think the waiting list to have a car there is about 15 or 16 years.

Here we are on a quaint island tour bus. In the background are Grace and Easton, who we didn't actually meet until that night at dinner. When we figured out that we were on the same tour bus together, Grace said, "wow, you two clean up nice!" Hee hee.

More Island views.

On the chilly beach at Catalina. Too bad Craig doesn't know a yummy candy when he sees one.

Here's an underwater view from our semi-submersible submarine tour. Way more fun than the Finding Nemo ride at Disneyland, with a much shorter line.

Okay, so I'm not a fan of chess, but that doesn't mean that I can't

love a huge chess set when I see one.

Windy miniature golf on the top deck of the ship.

One of a few things to do for the non-drinkers aboard.

Chilly willy up on deck.

Here was our creepily fascinating maitre' d. He called himself 007.

Oh, the things we can do when the kids aren't around!

One of the last glorious moments before heading off the ship. Sigh.

This is how long we stalled to get off

the boat. Ours was almost the

last luggage to be picked up in the terminal.

At least we got to come home to these snuggle buckets.

Bon Voyage, Carnival Cruise Lines, til we meet again!

My life, the Soap Opera

**Warning: This post receives a rating of 10 on the gross scale**

So, I'm sitting at the computer, minding my own business (ie ignoring my children) and I hear the words that no mom is ever prepared to hear.

"Hurry! She took off her diaper and her poop came on the floor!"

...followed by the words,

"And there's poop on her butt!"

Like dirty diapers through the proverbial hourglass, so are the days of my life.

Anatomy Of a Daddy's Girl

Me: You get to go to Emily's to play tomorrow!

J: And what are you gonna do?

Me: I'm gonna go have lunch with Daddy.

J: (Audible gasp.) Noooooo!!! (Translation: "You are so not going to have lunch with Daddy without me.")

Me: Okay, I'm not going to see Daddy for lunch. I just have some things to do.

J: Okay!

Just call me "Slacker"

Okay, so I was all caught up (or at least mostly caught up) on all my blogging and on my homework, then I left for one week on a glorious vacation and I came back to "normal" life, and I cannot seem to get back into the swing of things! (My mind is telling me that "normal" life should actually be the one on the big boat with the 24 hour pizzeria, and that all of this should just be some sort of short-lived training. Sigh.) So, dear fans, (all 3 of you) please bear with me as I attempt to tackle life after the cruise (sigh) and retrain myself to become this "normal" person again who has to make dinner, do homework, clean the house, wipe bottoms, and make her own bed. (I am not sure if I even know this person any more. This will take some time.) It'll be a long haul , but I'll get there, and eventually I will find time to actually take the pictures off of the camera and put them onto the computer. Until then, I plead for forgiveness and understanding.


P.S. Sigh.