Copy and Paste Post

This is a post that I wrote on another blog for friends. It was written between the cruise I made with my family and the one I was going to take with friends on the same ship. I'm copying and pasting it here to share with my grandkids since much of it is about them and our wonderful time together.  

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November 12, 2019 

Hello Cruise Buddies!!

ICYMI -- I went on the same exact cruise on the Mariner of the Seas with my family in October that we are going on in December! Here are the TOP TEN things I loved about Mariner of the Seas!!


NUMBER ONE: I'll start off with one of my absolute favorite things - THE STOWAWAY PIANO MAN! I seriously hope there's one in December because I was THAT girl who rode in the elevator WAY longer than necessary and checked elevators to find the guy so I could sing along to songs that I know by heart!











NUMBER TWO: TOWEL ANIMALS. I'm a sucker for these. It was a short cruise but we still met a few cute critters in our cabin!

NUMBER THREE: FLOWRIDER! I've avoided this on a few cruises and now I'm wondering why! It was really so much fun! I did it twice and I'm game for doing it again! Don't let the warning card that says ominous things scare you!! If I can do it, anyone can!






NUMBER FOUR: Reading by the pool and on the beach. I always have the goal of reading a book on a cruise and I managed to get that done even though this was a four-day cruise AND I was with my grandchildren. I even finished a book on my honeymoon cruise so don't take offense or take it personally if I'm reading instead of talking! It was easy to find chairs on the ship and on Coco Cay so that is why this makes the Top Ten List!






NUMBER FIVE: DESSERT -- The food never disappointed and dessert was divine! The chocolate chip cookies in the Windjammer were as good as the Toll House cookies that Luke and I baked in my kitchen last night! And, Crème brûlée is on the menu every night!!






NUMBER SIX: Along the same lines as dessert but worthy of its own mention -- The SOFT SERVE frozen yogurt machine by the pool. It's open most of the day. There's nothing more I can say about it that this photo doesn't already cover! Oh, that reminds me of the pizza at the Cafe Promenade. It's open all the time and is the go-to spot for coffee, breakfast pastries, sandwiches, and YUMMY PIZZA! There's a freestyle Coca-Cola machine there too if you have a drink package that includes soda. It works with the cup they give you with the package.





                           



NUMBER SEVEN: PERFECT DAY AT COCO CAY - It really was a ton of fun! Chairs were easy to come by, the food was good (and there was a frozen yogurt machine) and there were no lines, the frozen drinks were fruity and cold, the pool is amazing and it was just an overall fun time!!

Pro-tip - you need to bring towels from the ship. You can exchange them for dry towels on the island but it's not super convenient so it's easier to bring a couple extra with you from the ship.





NUMBER EIGHT: TROPICAL SOUNDS, KARAOKE, and DANCING - For me, reggae and tropical sounds go together with cruising to tropical destinations. Royal Caribbean does a great job of making sure there's great music throughout the cruise. The SAIL AWAY PARTY was a ton of fun and be sure to prepare your best song and be ready for KARAOKE in the pub!

 NUMBER NINE: DINNER IN THE DINING ROOM - The place to go where they know your name and what you like to drink! The food was great in the main dining room and the attention was grand. I don't think there's a better way to explain what a great job the wait staff did than to tell you that my ten-year-old grandson Patrick wrote thank you notes on the gratuity envelopes for our waiter and assistant waiter. I sure hope they have the beef short ribs on the menu when we go because they were the very best thing I ate during the entire cruise!

NUMBER TEN: HAPPINESS - I love the relaxed, laid-back, happiness that comes from eating too much, day drinking, baking in the warm sun with my toes dug down in the sand, napping on the beach or by the pool, dancing and singing at the top of my lungs, staying up too late and laughing until I cry kind of feelings that cruising always delivers!! 

Can't wait to cruise with you!! 

~Betty

Making Memories

Here's one more blog post that I wrote AGES ago but never shared for some reason. I wrote this long before my Godson wore the costume that I had written about. Sometimes life is so fascinating.





It's hard to believe that Halloween and our annual S'more Roast was a week ago! I can't believe how fast time passes. The older I get, the faster it goes! It's hard to believe that I had such good intentions to write this post last Tuesday. Oh well!

The season of Halloween has turned into a wonderful time full of traditions for me and my family considering I grew up thinking it really is little more than a silly little 'holiday' for dressing up and a great excuse to eat a lot of candy! As a kid, I dressed up every year and went to my share of Halloween parties over the years but I wasn't one of those people who couldn't wait for Halloween and I certainly never planned ahead. Our costumes usually consisted of what my Mom could find around the house - we were gypsies and hobos and cowboys and witches. 

I do remember the year that I started to look at Halloween through different eyes. My son was eight months old and I made a pumpkin costume for him. I am not a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination but even though I just stitched along the seams of a fabric-printed jack-o-lantern, I thought I had made something wonderful! Each year after that I started to look forward to Halloween in a way that I never had before. Now my kids are grown and I am experiencing Halloween through a new set of eyes because I am blessed to be included in the Halloween traditions a new generation is carrying on and making their own. 

I tried to find a photo of Rob (Bobby back then) in the pumpkin costume that I made for him but I will admit I wasn't the best at keeping photos organized. I had every good intention but life happened. So, I'll share this photo of my nephew Ryan and great-nephew Connor wearing the amped-up quilted version of the original pumpkin costume that my son wore so many years ago. 

Maybe my sister Sandi can find a photo of Rob in the original costume. She's the best photo organizer on the planet, with all of her photos in albums and duplicates filed away.



Old Friends

Below is a post that I wrote many years ago (maybe in 2011) but never published for some reason. Since it was written, Katie and Marbles have both crossed the rainbow bridge but we will never forget the impact they had on our lives and the memories they left behind. Katie loved babies and baby feet. She was here to greet each of our grandchildren after they were born and she was surrounded by family in her last days. What a good girl she was. 

💙💙💙💙💙💙

Just about 16 years ago we returned home one evening, opened the garage door, and saw a little bitty ball of black and white fur who had somehow managed to scoot in and find shelter during a storm. He was a sick little kitty in pretty bad shape.  We took him to the vet and found out his ears were infested with ear mites and he had an upper respiratory infection to boot.  It didn't take long before his soft wheezy purrs won our children's hearts and Marbles became a permanent member of our family. He got his name because my husband thought he looked like 'Italian Marble'. 

For many years Marbles was ruler of the roost until about seven years ago when we got a puppy. A puppy! Oh, the indignity of it all. At first, Marbles wasn't so sure about this new addition to our family but after Katie outgrew before long we would find him curled up for a nap next to Katie. In the years since, Marbles has become an old man and it has been amazing to watch Katie keep a watchful eye over him. Who would have guessed, all those years ago that a cat and a dog would become such good old friends. 

 

Hello My Old Friend

I've come to talk to you again.

When last year was winding down my older grandsons told me they had somehow come across this blog. They encouraged me to start writing again because they really liked reading the posts and they wanted more. It was a passing conversation and I really didn't give it much thought at the time. 

Today, I came to the blog for the first time in a very long time to grab my My Memory Suites coupon code for a friend. That's the software program that I use to make digital scrapbooks and other photo projects. Looking back at some of my posts got me thinking that I should honor their request. I mean...if they are interested in reading what I have to say, who am I to deny them! 

So, we shall see how often I come back to jot down my thoughts but this is my first attempt at giving two boys who mean the world to me, something that they asked for. That's what this Mimi loves to do! 

Getting Excited

 It's amazing how just getting ready for a visit to the most magical place on earth brings out the kid in all of us. The excitement is building day by day and before long we will be piling in the van and heading south! We've all been doing our share of planning but now the trip is becoming a common thread in so many of our family conversations. A sure sign that it's almost time to go!

So many things will be different from the trip we made two years ago. We will be driving instead of flying (hope that's a good idea) and I am more than excited that my son is coming with us! It's been so long since he's vacationed with us and I can't really express how happy I am that he will be along for the fun!

My six year old grandson is older and wiser now that he's a seasoned Disney kind of kid. He has a plan for what he wants to accomplish this time around. He's excited to return to Tower of Terror  (yes, he loved Tower of Terror when he was four!) and a few other attractions but Space Mountain is at the top of his list. It's the one ride he wanted to try last time but was too short.

My youngest grandson LOVES Mickey more than ever and is packing his Mouse Ear Hat Collection. I understand his plan is to have a different set of ears for each day! He is no longer a toddler and the measuring marks we have been making on the playroom wall for the past two years tell us he is tall enough to ride all the rides his brother loved so much during our last visit. I just can't wait to see what he loves most!

My daughter made an adorable count down Mickey chain for her boys and they are keeping me posted on how many chains they need to remove before we leave and just the other day a little mouse told me there's a box on the way to the two most adorable boys I know. It's just a little something to help them get ready for their trip. I can't wait until they call me and tell me their Mickey presents have arrived!

"Adults are just kids grown up, anyway." ~ Walt Disney

Long Time No See!

It's been a long time since I've posted on this blog. The good news is that I've been filling all of my time doing things that I love. I find that all the time that I spend on the computer at work and working on digital scrapbook projects doesn't leave much time for blogging. I'm back tonight to post a book that I threw together pretty quickly from the cruse my husband and I just returned from last week. I had a great offer for a free book on Shutterfly and it had to be ordered by yesterday. That didn't leave much time for a major creative project so I just made this in Shutterfly. It's the first book that I've made in Shutterfly and not used My Memories Suite or Smilebox in a very long time. It's not as customized as I have become accustomed to but all in all, it turned out pretty well.

Our cruise was so wonderful. We loved the ship and the itinerary. It was the first cruise my husband and I had been on by ourselves since our honeymoon - 20 years ago! We loved it and I hope you enjoy seeing a bit of our adventure through the lens of my camera.

Enjoy!

Suite Success! (Spoiler Alert - Don't read if you want to wait for the book version)

Patrick's birthday book is ordered and just in the nick of time! It's scheduled to arrive the day before his party!

I love working on the photo books that I make each year for my grandsons more than I could ever express. I love picking out the colors and designing the layouts but the best part about working on them is going back through the photos that have been taken over the year. It is so wonderful to think back on all of the special moments that make up a year and eventually a lifetime. Back when I started this project for Dylan's first birthday I limited the book to the twenty pages that were included with the book and they were nice. Over the years the books have expanded from being simply a photo book to a something that captures not just holidays and special days, but the ordinary days as well. Once I started using My Memory Suite digital software and discovered I could create pages to be whatever I wanted them to be I have found that I just can't help myself. I want to make pages for everything! So, my twenty page books are more like fifty pages!

Here's the cover of the book. If you came here to see the entire book I am sorry to say that I removed the link. After I posted it I realized that not only could people view the book, they could add it to their Shutterfly account and have access to all of my photos and order a book of their own. That's just a little more access than I am comfortable with.