Cruise: Day 5/Day at Disney

Okay, got a bit of coffee into me that’s probably going to make my stomach do bad, bad things but I’m ready to go for about 7 minutes.

Our last morning of the cruise started with a rude wake-up call…sorta.  We’d been used to waking up when the sun got too bright to tolerate, but I actually had to set the alarm clock for that final morning because we had to be at breakfast at 7:15.  Yes, 7:15.  YES, 7:15.  When the clock went off, I actually didn’t know what the hell that sound was and tried to go back to sleep.  I got up and slapped it off a minute later and then laid back down, which turned out to be an “oops.”  Ended up oversleeping a bit and made it to our last breakfast (at Triton’s) a bit late.  Thankfully, we weren’t so late they turned us away (they assign breakfast groups in tight clusters that last morning).

We had to take our carry-on with us, so right after breakfast we got in a very short line and were herded off the ship into customs.  Okay, Disney gets a lot of props here.  The luggage retrieval system is *so* organized.  You’re assigned a character and color, ours was red Mickey, and that’s the section your bags will be found in.  Further, they try to organize it by stateroom so all your crap is in the same general area.  Very handy when you’re traveling with a family with four items of checked luggage.  We got through customs super-quick, even though the line was kind of long.  Unlike the customs experience I had after my Carnival cruise, this time I didn’t get singled out and interrogated about my home life and the purpose of my trip (do I LOOK like a drug smuggler?).  We got waved right on through with our rum cake declaration with a “Have a nice day.”

We dragged all our crap out the the curb so Scott could walk across Egypt to bring the car up.  Rosco was really helpful here: he wanted to pull his own bag, and we let him.  Saved us from having to tip a valet.  Standing at the terminal drive-up waiting for Scott was actually a pretty depressing experience.  The ship was docked right there and it was kind of like a tease.  I’m really jealous that Florida residents get special cruising discounts.  If we lived in Florida, hell, even in Georgia, we’d probably cruise really often.

It was still pretty early at this point - maybe 8:30.  We were going to drive to Disney and see if we could drop off our bags at the resort.  Our check-in time wasn’t until 4, but we really didn’t want to leave all that luggage in the parking lot all day.  I guess part of the Disney experience is being surprised, and so we were when the folks at the Polynesian let us go ahead and check in (this was a “Thank God” moment for me, I confess).

A porter piled our bags onto a golf cart and drive us to our building.  Sorry, I can’t remember what it was.  Suffice it to say the name was Polynesian-sounding.  I think it started with “Twi-.”  We unloaded for a bit, refreshed ourselves in the bathroom (pretty spacious, I have to say), and bundled up to head immediately to Magic Kingdom.  One of the reasons we picked the Poly was because it’s right on the monorail line and if one of us *ahem* needed to go back to the room, the rest could go on frolicking.

I ain’t going to lie.  It was kind of cold that morning.  The day did warm up as it progressed, but this cold-natured girl was glad to have been wearing layers.  If it had been just five degrees warmer the weather would have been perfect for a day outdoors.

We took a little bit to acquaint ourselves with the map, took the ever-required picture in front of Walt and the Mouse:

and then took Rosco on his first ride.  This is approximately where Rosco’s attitude problem started up for the day.  He was fine while he waited in line.  Fine on the ride. 

His problem started immediately afterward when he wanted to ride AGAIN and was told that it wasn’t going to happen.  The line was at least 35 minutes long and there was way too much other stuff to see.

So, he proceeded to throw a tantrum and I had to put him in a corner.  (I actually have video of the fit he threw while in his makeshift time-out.  One day I’ll show it to him and explain how embarrassing it was.)  Fortunately, most people knew not to stare as they walk past this spectacle.  He threw several more tantrums over the course of the day, and I have to admit that’s pretty wearying.  I know a lot of that is normal 3-year-old behavior, but damn, it’ll make you miserable.  It seemed that as long as he was on a ride of some sort he was content, otherwise the whines started.  Needless to say we spent a lot of time in little moving cars.  The good thing about Fantasyland is that most of the stuff there is okay for pregnant women to ride in.

I hung in there until 5 o’clock or so.  That was about the time that everything on my body started to hurt and I could keep my complaints to myself anymore.  I abandoned the boys and made the long walk back to the monorail by myself.  Once back at the Poly, I put myself to bed.  I know: lame.  But, if I had to choose to travel pregnant or not travel at all my choice will always be to travel pregnant.  Scott and the boy kept on keepin’ on without me to drag them down.  From my understanding, there were fireworks and a parade involved.  Oh, and money-spending.

I guess R and S made it back to the Poly at around 8-something.  From there they went to dinner.  I had a dinner of Twizzlers earlier that night, so I went back to bed.

The next day we had a Disney breakfast (Mickey waffles were involved), we puttered around the resort to take some pictures, and then we checked out.  Our last stop was at Main Street where I wanted to find a Christmas ornament, and then we headed north (Orlando traffic is a bitch, by the way).

Leaving was actually really sad.  That’s a sure indication that your vacation was an enjoyable one, and plus we had the feeling that we didn’t get to see everything.  We didn’t even get to see the show at the Polynesian (I was asleep and the boys were at the park), and we just barely scratched the surface on stuff to do at the park.  I see now why some folks go every year or two.

Overall, I think 3 is a good age to start taking your kid to Disney.  Will he or she be an angel?  Well, I don’t know your kid.  Rosco is a kid who’s pretty adept at manipulating situations to get his way.  He usually doesn’t “win” but he always tries the most likely tactic.  He can make a scene at any venue, and if we stayed home just because he *might* act up we’d never go anywhere.  I have to give him credit and say he was great during those long car rides, and that was really surprising.  I actually ended up having to pee more than he did (and to think I worried about him having accidents).

Having a great travel agent who really knows Disney made planning this trip a lot less stressful than it could have been.  She was really on top of things, and I knew that if I slipped up on something she’d catch it before it fell through the cracks.  I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her to anyone, and hey - she’s local!  I’ve known her for a few years through my mom’s group, and she’s one of those people with a naturally trustworthy vibe.  (She’s also not the kind of person who’lll harass the hell out of you and up-sell you on things.)  Thanks, Crystal!

Will we go next year?  Dunno.  That’ll be highly dependent on whether the new little one has a “sunshine and butterflies” disposition.  If so?  Probably.  That might be our last chance to party before R starts kindergarten.  If she and Rosco seem to be in some competition for dominance that involves non-stop screaming, then no.  Nuh uh.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/31 at 10:17 AM
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[Another] Room of his own.

Remember last month when I was kvetching about Pottery Barn’s shipping surcharges for full-sized beds?

No? 

I can’t remember if I bitched about that here or somewhere else.

Anyway, to summarize, we had went to the store to purchase a full-sized Camp bed since it had gone on sale.  When we got there we found out that the shipping surcharges and tax put it into the realm of “astronomical.”  Like, we’d be spending close to $2,000 for the bed and dresser.  No thanks.  We decided to look around a little more and perhaps find something locally.

After sitting on our thumbs for a while we decided to make a trip to High Point (you know - “furniture capital of the world” and all) to scour their showrooms.  It’s an hour away, so even if we didn’t find anything it’s not like it would be a wasted trip.

Well, we were going to go yesterday and lo and behold it turns out that everything in High Point shuts down on Sundays.  We couldn’t go in the next couple of weeks because we’ve got other stuff going on.  So, we sat around pouting for a little while and then as I was piddling around on my local mommy forum I read something someone had posted about a furniture gallery in Zebulon (an hour from here in the other direction).  They happened to be open yesterday, so we went on down.

All of their kid-appropriate stuff was in clearance, and while we probably could have snatched a bed for $400, they didn’t have a dresser to match.  Boys need dressers - girls need closets.  (Now, if we were shopping for girly furniture we probably would have been able to get a whole set yesterday).  It wasn’t a wasted trip though: we did learn that there’s no way a full-size bed with headboard and footboard is going to work in R’s room.  If we put a full in his room, when we try to sell this house we’re going to get 37 million comments about how the bedrooms are too small (1966 standards they’re averaged-size.  2010 standards say they’re small.).  He’s probably going to be a big dude some day, but right now he’ll have to make due with a twin.

So, we went full-circle and ended up back at Pottery Barn.  Well, figuratively.  We ordered the twin in the Camp bed online, rather than the full, and got free shipping on that.  The dresser only had a $100 shipping surcharge, so we did alright.  Still need to buy a mattress and sheets, but we’ve got a week or so to worry about that.

Got to finish kicking Scott out of the home office first.  The plan is to move Rosco into Scott’s former office and have Rosco’s former room be the nursery.  The reason we’re kicking Rosco out prematurely is because we need to have some renovations done in the master bedroom, and since we don’t want to sleep with the cats for a couple of weeks we have to move our bed into R’s room.

By the time we’re done with all this shuffling I should be very close to the “Leave me alone with a butter knife for too long and I’ll c-section this kid out myself” stage of pregnancy.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/29 at 11:00 AM
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Who’s the stick they patterned these clothes after?

I’m annoyed with the fit of my maternity clothes.  I’ve been in them since before 13 weeks, but I’m getting to the point now where it’s becoming obvious they’re not going to work in the third trimester (which starts next week).

You’re supposed to buy maternity clothes in the same size as your regular, non-pregnant size and they’re supposed to work all the way to the end (exception being certain waistband styles).  My pants are getting tight in the hips and thighs because *gasp* I’ve actually gained weight.  Where did the pattern designer think that 25-35 pounds was going to go?  To my hair? 

I can’t buy the next size up because it’d be huge all around (I dealt with that when I was pregnant with Rosco - spent most of my pregnancy yanking my sliding pants back up).

I fear this is going to be a situation where I’ll spend the next three months wearing sundresses (okay…muumuus), baggy skirts with elastic waists, and Scott’s shirts.  I’m going to do some shopping and see if I can find some stuff that isn’t cut for pregnant 13-year-olds with turbo metabolisms.  I’ll check back in.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/26 at 03:13 PM
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26 Weeks

Today I’m 25 weeks + 5 days pregnant.

I had my 26 week prenatal visit today, and if you’re familiar with such things you know that’s about the time they force that glucose tolerance drink on you.  Ew.

My appointment was at 8:45 and you have to have your blood drawn before that, so I had to be up in time to ingest that crap at around 7:30.  Ugghhh.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this vicious substance, let me explain that it’s like highly flavored dyed soda syrup. It’s like a melted Popsicle.  It’s something that small children whose salt preference hasn’t kicked in would enjoy.  The only way to make it desirable to consume would be to cut it with vodka.

My plan was to wake up at 7, brush my teeth, shower, and chug-a-lug at 7:30.  Didn’t work out that way.  Last night at around 2:30 Rosco decided that he didn’t want to sleep in his room and ended up in ours.  Because our bed is small and since I need to roll frequently (not easy with a bump in front), I let him have my side and slept on the sofa.  (Gone are the days where the three of us can cram in.  I shudder at the thought of trying to cram 4.)  Let me tell you, that kid looked so comfortable I wanted to splash him with cold water out of spite.  I spent the wee hours of the morning listening to one of the cats scratch at the kitty door to the extent that I wanted to go out to the laundry room and “allow” her outside to explore the neighborhood.  I think I got about 5.5 hours of (broken) sleep by the time I rolled myself off the couch at 7:20.  I was cranky as hell when I got up—I’ll admit that.

Some stuff I learned at my O.B. appointment:
1. I’m not on track to becoming a lard-ass this pregnancy like I did with Rosco.  That’s good news.  My frame isn’t designed to carry extra fuel, if you catch my drift, and I spent the last three months of my pregnancy with R huffing and puffing when I walked.  So far I’ve gained just shy of 20 pounds (yes, even with all that cake I eat) and haven’t split a hole in the waistband of my maternity-paneled blue jeans yet.

2. My belly is measuring at exactly 25 1/2 cm (at this stage of pregnancy you measure approximately as many centimeters as you are weeks pregnant).  Thank you, fetus and uterus, for growing exactly as you should so as not to disturb my delicate mental state.

3. Kiddo’s heartrate was between 140 and 145 bpm.  So, she’s chillin’...even with all that sugar.

4. I probably won’t be able to get a walking epidural.  I’ve been thinking ahead about pain management because of the issues I had with R and back labor, but don’t want to be confined to my bed with all those wires and a catheter again.  The doc explained that it’s hard to be really precise with the dosing, so even a small dose administered just to take the edge off could have me on my ass.  I think he’s right.  When I had my epi with R I couldn’t feel a damned thing from chest down until hours, and I mean hours after delivery (dental anesthetics work the same way on me).  I don’t want to get an epidural if this kid is facing the right way and I’m actually dilating.  I want to be able to move around….but, I want to keep my options open.  Do you know how hard it is to know if you’re peeing (or not) when you’ve got epidural numbness?  Makes that first postpartum piss a bit annoying.

5. I’ve got to get another ultrasound at around 32 weeks to check for growth restriction.  Probably won’t be a problem seeing as how R was perfectly average-sized, but can’t hurt to see what that uterine septate is doing to a fetus that age.  (It’ll also be nice to verify this child doesn’t have a penis.)

I think after I get my work done this morning the kidlet (the one here on the outside) and I will take a little field trip to Buy Buy Baby for “research.”

Posted by Tiffany on 03/24 at 10:23 AM
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On politics: a PSA

Readers who’ve been with me since the early days know I’m not particularly interested in politics.  It’s hard for me to form opinions about things, and that’s sort of a requirement for political interest.

So.  I see lots of people (on both sides) getting riled up about healthcare reform.

I haven’t read the bill.  It’s almost 2,000 pages long.  I’ve downloaded it and I’ve started perusing it trying to see where all the ire is coming from.  I don’t watch cable news shows, so I’m pretty much in the dark on this.

What I “hear” is that to finance the reform taxes are going to go up.

Okay.  Well.  Taxes pay for a lot of things.  Wars.  Social Security.  Food Stamps.  I pay into those things, too.  As a freelancer I have the joy of seeing just how much of my earnings go back into the national kitty because I have to do the math myself.  Sometimes I think it’s a bit excessive, but I sort of just suck it up.  I’d like to draw on Social Security one day, you know?  I bet people were throwing damn fits when THAT one got ratified.  I suspect that the tax increase won’t be as painful as people are fearing.  Besides, the budget changes every year - stuff gets taken out, other stuff gets added in.  Maybe it’s time to trim the fat all around and re-prioritize.

Basically?  I don’t want to hear anyone wah-wah-wahing over issues unless they’ve read the damned bills.  They’re available online in full-text.  If you’re getting your knowledge second-hand from t.v. news or third-hand from your husband who got it from t.v. news, you really don’t know anything.

Just saying.  I don’t have an opinion one way or the other about HCR because, again, I don’t know what the bill says.

I just want people to know what they’re arguing about.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/23 at 12:58 PM
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Oh, okay then!

Scott (to Rosco): “All right, it’s time to go to bed.”

Rosco: “NO!  Don’t say that LAST word!”

Not speaking it doesn’t make it not happen, kiddo.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/22 at 08:22 PM
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On gifting.

You know, I really don’t like people buying me stuff.  Scott excluded - my stuff is his stuff and vice versa.  Except my pens. Those are mine.  (Stop stealing my pens.)

I’m pretty sure this is due to me growing up with a grandma who always had to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.  If a person were to ask her what she wanted for her birthday, she’d say “Just get me a nice card” or “queen-sized pantyhose.”  And she was serious.  (She did get huffy if she didn’t get that card, though.) 

And it’s not just stuff for me - it’s stuff for Rosco, too.  Now, I don’t care if his grandma buys him a pair of shoes or catches a winter coat on sale.  Stuff like that falls into the “it takes a village to raise a child” aspect of parenting.  My issue is just when it comes to stuff for the sake of buying stuff.  Even as cash-strapped as we always were, I had about 700 Barbie dolls (probably not an exaggeration) and a zillion pairs of shoes (fashion shoes - not everyday shoes) growing up.  Not my grandmother’s fault - certain family members would buy them for me and my sister.  That’s how they showed love (or something).  I don’t like that.  I’m sure I liked it just fine as a kid, but as years wear on the whole concept makes me exceedingly uncomfortable.  Just like the fact that Rosco has almost the entire set diecast cars from the Disney Cars movie.  (Do you know how many freakin’ cars that is?!)

That may be why I don’t do birthday parties for Rosco or why I didn’t want to have a baby shower.  I know there are lots of people who are very gracious and want to buy you gifts, but sometimes it all seems excessive especially when other parents think you’re bullshitting if you say “No gifts, please.”

When I go to parties and showers (and I love being invited to these, by the way), you can usually expect my gifts to be pretty utilitarian or educational at the very least.  Sorry about that.  I may buy a kid a gift card to Barnes and Noble (I’m always forcing my love of books on kids) for them to pick out a couple of titles they’ll love or I might get them a toy that teaches them mechanics or chemistry.  [I loved taking things apart when I was a kid.  My grandfather always thought I’d be an engineer.]  I might buy clothes or shoes as gifts, but I tend to gravitate more to the stuff that can be worn long-term or passed down rather than the stuff that’s just trendy.  [For my niece’s birthday, I sent a pair of shoes.  They’re Crocs, in the Malindi style just like the ones I’ve had for two years.  She’ll be able to wear the hell out of those shoes until she outgrows them next winter.  She can wear them with her school uniform and during the summer with casual clothes.  And - she’ll think she’s cool ‘cause I have them, too.  Maybe.]

This will probably never change for me.  The idea of sitting at a shower, opening gifts, and trying to wear the appropriate facial expressions so that no one feels like they’ve let me down makes me want to hyperventilate.

Gifts that won’t make me hyperventilate?  Tell me you’ve registered my kid for soccer or that you’ve found him or her a piano teacher 0.3 miles down the road who you’ve paid ahead for a few weeks.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/22 at 01:26 PM
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On baby gear…and paying for it.

While I take a break from sharpening my claws (it’s flip-flop weather!), I thought I’d do a brain dump here (and it doesn’t involve Disney - sorry if you’ve been waiting on that wrap-up).

I’ve started putting baby registries together in the past week.  It’s not that I anticipate having a shower - I really, truly don’t - I’m just trying to find a way to stay organized.  Plus, I noticed that the prices of the same item range widely from store to store.  I can put the same general items in each registry and then print out the lists to do a quick comparison of what’s on sale where. 

It also helps for my budgeting.  I work very part-time from home.  I could work full-time, I suppose, but when I’m pregnant my brain doesn’t work in a way that’s conducive to writing for more than 15 minutes at a time.  Besides that, the only way I could work full-time is to Velcro Rosco to the ceiling all day so he stays out of trouble.  Well, that or if I only worked after he went to bed, but when would I sleep?

On months where I’m being really lazy I earn enough to pay my student loan bill and then I spend the rest of the month making excuses.  I try to work when I feel good, which should be often at this stage, but sometimes I go days at a time feeling like my head is full of cotton.  I actually become dumb.

It helps to set small goals for earnings and deadlines which I do with blank calendars I’ve scribbled on and sticky notes.  For instance, next month my sticky note has some mentions of birthdays, the ever-looming student loan, and of a bedside sleeper I want to buy.  As of today I have 15 weeks left in this pregnancy (and I’m sure I’ll go all 15) and it’s time to start stockpiling shit.  It’s not useless shit, either.  It’s the stuff that I really wish we’d bought when we had Rosco.  At the time we were thinking, “Oh, well, we’ll only use that for X months, so it’s not worth the cost.”

Let me tell you something: shit is absolutely worth the cost when you’re about to lose your mind.  We didn’t get a bouncer, swing, co-sleeper, or anything like that thinking we just wouldn’t need them.  LIES.  Rosco was a baby that needed GEAR, damn it!  He didn’t want to sleep in his crib early on, and he wasn’t happy unless he was being carried or bounced/rocked.  The minimalist approach didn’t work with him.  We made due by using his carrier seat for a lot of things, but of course those aren’t designed for that.

Anyway.  I don’t have a lot to buy, but most of what I do want to buy isn’t in the typical $20-$50 range for stuff you usually find in registries.

Here’s a sampling.

BABYBJÖRN Babysitter
(I’ll probably get labeled a snob for that one.)

Arm’s Reach Mini Co-Sleeper

I also need to replace all the accessories that came with my breast pump, including bottles, because of that BPA crap.  Since I’m considering cloth diapering, I would have to lay out a pretty considerable amount of cash for those, too, so that’s also on my list.

So…hi ho, hi ho, ...

Posted by Tiffany on 03/19 at 10:27 AM
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Tacky.

I’ll tie up the post series about our Disney vacation eventually, but just needed a quick rant.

I just fished out an email from my Earthlink “Suspect Mail” folder.  It was part of an email blast a former “boss” sent out and I guess I’d either removed him from my address book or Earthlink thought it was fishy because it was a mass mailing.

Okay, look.  I left that position on sort of bad terms.  I didn’t give notice.  I chose to leave after a meeting didn’t resolve the problem.  It was the worst job I’ve ever had (even worse than food stamps casework, where at least I had coworkers that were fun to watch), and normally I would *never* leave a job that way. 

I was working for a small local non-profit that has state and national offices to oversee it.  I actually had to call the state supervisor about the situation who made us conference about it, and he lied and said that he didn’t do X, Y, and Z.  (One particular lie was that he didn’t have me running around delivering heavy shit like a UPS man.  Another lie was about my gas reimbursement: he said there’d be none, but when my state supervisor was there he said it was just a matter of filling out the correct forms.) 

Now, the state supervisor couldn’t do anything about him because he was hired by a board: she could only transfer me to another site (I sure as hell wasn’t staying there with Mr. Oblivious).  I refused because it meant I’d have to commute pretty far each day.  I packed up my shit and left.  Had fun explaining why I left that job at my next interview.  If you say “I had a shitty boss” what it sounds like is “I don’t know how to follow instructions” even if it isn’t true.

Why the hell am I still in his address book?  And why does he think that sending unfiltered email blasts is smart marketing?  I hope that when he got that “This Earthlink user uses a spam blocker to screen messages - please type such-and-such for your message to be delivered” message he dropped a load in his pants.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/17 at 10:37 AM
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Cruise: Day 4

Our fourth day onboard was a sea day.  That’s exactly what it sounds like - we didn’t “go” anywhere and just headed towards Port Canaveral at a very slow clip. (Continued…)

The crew tries to jam in lots of activities for that day to keep people entertained, and this was especially important since it was coooooold out there.

We had breakfast at Parrot Cay, which is one of the sit-down restaurants at night that converts to buffet at day.  After the previous night’s throw-up on the midship stairwell Rosco still wasn’t eating well.

In fact, Rosco was in an all-around shitty mood.  I don’t know if he was just “being three” or if he genuinely didn’t feel good.  There was a lot of stuff on the roster for the day that I wanted to attend, but doing so would mean adhering to somewhat of a tight schedule.  We needed to check Rosco in at the kids’ clubs for a bit of a trial run because later on we had a reservation at the adult-only restaurant and wanted to see how he’d handle it.  It took a while to get him checked in, and by the time that was done we missed the animation demonstration.  Scott and I ended up going to a food demonstration instead where the chef was preparing a salmon dish.

It was a little salty (and coming from me that’s saying something).  It was fun to watch, though, and Scott got an inch of free booze before lunch.

After that we walked around aimlessly for a little while and then went to retrieve Rosco from the club.  He was fine.  Playing a game at one of the computer stations and completely oblivious to the fact that we weren’t there.  I guess we bore him.

The clubs were actually really crowded.  From my research about the cruise line, this is apparently kind of unusual.  I suppose because of the Kids Sail Free promotion and the fact that we were tiptoeing close to spring break, there was a disproportionate number of kids on that sailing.  Rosco didn’t seem to mind, but I know a lot of folks on one of the cruise boards I lurk on were complaining that the child-to-cast member ratios were ridiculous.  Well, all I can say is it’s not daycare.  It’s a camp or club setting and it’s included in the price of your cruise.  You get what you paid for.  Most children seemed to be very happy.

After that we headed back to the stateroom for a while.  I wanted to get pictures with Captain Hook (I think?), but we were off schedule, and Rosco was in that mood again.  He and Scott ended up taking a nap, and I ended up taking pictures of them napping.

We actually did stand in line a lot that day waiting for pictures with various characters.  Disney made this very easy and they had these marathon character greeting sessions going on.

It was a really laidback day.  We didn’t want to go to the pool because it was cold out, we didn’t think to go to the movies, and I was content watching crap on the stateroom television.

Later, we fed Rosco something from room service for dinner and took him back to the club so that we could go to dinner.  The adult-only restaurant, Palo, is designed to be a notch classier than the regular dining rooms and has a special menu.  I had to make sure Scott studied the menu in advance to make sure he would be able to find something to eat since he generally doesn’t mess with fussy food.  He ended up getting chicken something.  I had the lobster ravioli and was actually a little bit pissed off that the serving size was kind of small.  I’m not a big eater by any means, but I could have eaten more of that.

I was a little annoyed at that one guy who snubbed the dress code and went in looking like he’d just left the undergraduate library.  When he entered the tone of the place sort of skyrocketed.  Technically, the folks at the door can turn away people for not dressing appropriately but if they don’t have a full reservation list that probably isn’t likely to happen.  I can only guess that he and his wife made the reservation on-board and he didn’t pack any appropriate clothing.  He didn’t need to bring a freaking BOOKBAG in with him, though.

We went to retrieve Rosco one more time from the club where he was sitting with the group listening to a story.  From there we went to the last show: “Disney Dreams.”

“Disney Dreams” is supposed to be the best/most popular show, but it was kind of “meh” for me.  I think it was because it was mostly pre-recorded script that the cast members lipsynched to.  There was one live sequence towards the end that was very good, but otherwise I was distracted by the fact that the folks on stage were just moving their lips.  Maybe I was also frustrated by the fact that I COULDN’T SEE CENTER STAGE because some dude decided to switch seats with his son right before the show started and effectively blocked me out.  That made for a shitty viewing experience given the fact that we were sitting kind of close to the front and couldn’t look down on the stage.  Anyway, Rosco liked it and that’s all that matters.

The next day we’d disembark and head to Disney.  Yeah, yeah - more on that tomorrow.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/15 at 10:13 AM
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Cruise: Day 3

Oops, I’m a day behind.  You know, stuff happens.  Anyway…

Our last full day on the Wonder included a stop to the island Disney leases from the Bahamas: Castaway Cay.  This seemed to be the highlight of the trip for a lot of people onboard.  After the day at Nassau, where the weather was beautiful but lots of people were less than entertained, folks were ready to have some un-harassed beach time.

Slight problem, though.  At breakfast (we had breakfast at Parrot Cay that morning - yummy buffet and the waitstaff brought us all the drinks we could want), and over the loudspeaker we could hear Captain Gus saying that due to some weather conditions moving through, they may have to move the all-aboard time up by a few hours.  Just by looking out the windows it was quite overcast outside and I worried it would be a craptastic beach day.  It was early, though, and the sun did come out for a bit.

Because Castaway Cay is a Disney Island, you should expect that they’re going to develop it to within an nth of its life.  Right now the whole island isn’t developed, but what they have is pretty charming.  There’s a teen area, an adults-only area, a kids play area, and a family beach.  Additionally, the meals you get at Castaway are included in the cost of your cruise so you can eat all you want while the food stands are open and not feel like you’re starving yourself because you have to charge it.  They have a couple of shops where you can buy Castaway t-shirts, sand buckets, and things of that nature and of course bars.  Everything is heavily themed (of course).

The beach was meticulously clean (of course) and there were an ample amount of lounge chairs as long as you were willing to walk a bit.

It was kind of windy, so even though the sun was out a lot I was kind of cold.  I ended up wrapping myself up in a towel and just watching from my semi-sunny spot.  I couldn’t believe so many people were in that cold water snorkeling.  After a while I got really bored and my back started hurting, so I abandoned Scott and Rosco and went back to the ship to do a load of laundry.  Yeah, I’m lame, but I had underestimated how much stuff Rosco would stain. 

There wasn’t much going on on-board since more than 2000 of the folks cruising were on the beach!  (Yeah, they made an announcement about that.)  Of course the laundry room was empty.

Later, people started wearily trickling back to the boat.  Scott and Rosco found me in the room (I think I was folding clothes), and I gave Rosco a long shower to get all the sand out of his crevices.  Poor kid was pooped.

We went up to deck 9 to hang out and got our pictures taken with Chip & Dale.  The wind had really started picking up, and I wanted something hot to drink so I thought I’d splurge on my caffeine allotment and have a cappuccino.  Since Rosco was watching us drink with this look of “boohoo” on his face, Scott went to get him a smoothie.

That night’s “show” was a movie, and we finally got to see “Princess and the Frog.”  I thought the movie was really good (could have done without the dramatic death scene, though), but the only thing that sort of tarnished the evening was the high winds that were rocking the boat hard.  I was sitting in my auditorium seat gulping and thinking “Shit!”  The ship does have stabilizers, but with waves that rough, you’re going to feel some motion.  The pirate party was supposed to be that night, but after the movie we stepped outside to check the weather and decided it was not at all comfortable…so, we skipped it.  Instead, we went up to Shutters and bought some photos.  Right after that Rosco barfed strawberry smoothie on the floor.

The next day was a sea day.  More on that….eventually.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/12 at 10:21 AM
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Cruise: Day 2

On our first full cruise day we made it to Nassau around 8 a.m.  While officials did what they do to clear the ship for unboarding, we had breakfast at Triton’s which is the Ariel/“Little Mermaid”-themed restaurant.  I liked having breakfasts and lunches at Triton’s and Parrot Cay rather than going up to the Beach Blanket Buffet because the cast members bring you your drinks and you don’t have to fight for a table.  At Triton’s you have to order off a menu, so there’s less selection, but sometimes a girl just wants to be waited on.

Now, honestly, I would have been fine if we just stayed on the ship at Nassau and had some restful fun.  I heard about that tour group that got jacked last quarter (it was an inside job) and I didn’t want to be there standing out as a tourist.  (Didn’t tell Scott that.)  Besides that, there really isn’t much to do in the touristy area of Nassau unless you’re prepared to walk along way (pregnant woman here - no thanks), are prepared to take a tour (too pricey given our child who gets bored at random times), or want to pay a local to carry you around (not confident about my negotiating skills for that, so no thanks).  I also don’t like being accosted by people selling me things.  I know folks need to make a living, but in areas like that that depend on tourism for income vendors can be really aggressive.  Shaking your head “no” and walking away doesn’t always get your point across.  They’ll walk beside you and keep selling.

So, I went with Scott and Rosco just so they could say they’ve been there.  We walked around for a while looking for Blackbeard’s Tower (couldn’t find it and a local insisted it wasn’t where our map told us), and at that point I started getting pissy.  If I walk too long my cervix starts threatening to explode (I’m sure all you later-stage pregnant women know what I mean - it feels like you’re going to give birth soon if you don’t sit down for a while.)  We walked back towards the docks and decided to go to the pirate museum (I had to pee [again] anyway).  I think it was $12 admission per adult.

I thought it was alright.  $12 alright?  Maybe not.  Maybe $8 alright.  Scott later revealed that he thought it was kind of lame, which surprised me since he didn’t say anything about it while we were cruising.

After that I threw a miniature fit because my uterus hurt and I wanted to go back to the ship.  This is one instance where I wasn’t going to walk myself back alone, so we went back as a group.  I told Scott he was more than welcome to go back later since we’d be there until evening, but he didn’t end up taking me up on that offer.

Back on the ship, Rosco finally got to have some playtime in the water and I took an hour to distribute the fish extender gifts I brought along.  Fish extenders are pouches that people put outside their doors hung from the cruise ship’s fish-shaped hooks.  I was part of a group on an online Disney travel board, and we’d all exchanged stateroom info.  Because there are eight decks that staterooms are on, even if you start at the bottom (or top) and go the other way, that’s a hellofalot of walking.  I couldn’t find two rooms and ended up giving up that adventure for the day, actually.  (My fish extender gifts were foot-shaped cookie cutters with an explanation of how North Carolina became The Tarheel State.  I also included a cheese snack recipe and a little something-something for each kiddo in the room.)  I did find the other two rooms later - they were way up by the hoity toity rooms.

Sometimes characters show up in unexpected places (only because you haven’t looked at the schedule for the day) and we took one of those moments to grab a picture with Pluto and Mickey.

That night was dress-up night, which was clearly listed on the ship navigator.  It sort of annoyed me that so many people didn’t abide by that suggestion and showed up to dinner in their usual gear (Scott claims he saw people in hockey jerseys).  I told Scott that regardless of what everyone else was doing we’d follow the “rules.”  Besides, it was formal picture night and we would have looked really stupid standing next to Donald Duck in a tuxedo if we were wearing our slubbing-around clothes.  (I have a better picture of this, but again, my desktop computer is in the shop and I can’t scan right now.)

The show that night was “Toy Story: The Musical.”  I didn’t have to sit next to the passenger from hell for that show, so it was much more enjoyable.  The show actually has songs that are original to the stage show, so that was really neat to hear.  I giggled every time Sid sung “I’m the DaVinci of DESTRUCTION!!!!”

After that we headed back to the room for nightie-nights.  The next day we’d be on Disney’s private island: Castaway Cay.  More on that tomorrow.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/10 at 11:43 AM
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Cruise: Day 1 (A Marathon Post!)

As I mentioned yesterday, on cruise embarkation day we woke up at around 8 and made it to the terminal pretty early.  I forgot to research the tolls between Orlando and Cape Canaveral before leaving North Carolina and because I didn’t have my computer with me, had to try to find out about them on my iPhone.  I didn’t even know that they were cash-only and exact change in some places.  Fortunately, before we got off the interstate and onto the toll road I made Scott pull off to get some cash, and that saved us some frustration.  I actually wrote down how much we paid in tolls, but I accidentally threw that piece of paper away.  Oops.  I think it was around $4 from airport to port.

Anyway, once we got to the port, we got cleared by security at the gate (they check photo i.d. of every adult in the car) and drove up to the DCL (Disney Cruise Line) terminal.  Scott dropped me and Rosco off at the terminal curb, handed our bags off to a porter, and went to park the car.  Rosco and I went through security screening in the building - it’s sort of like airport screening lite: just i.d., metal detectors, and baggage screening - no shoe removal.  After screening we headed up an escalator and waited for Scott to park the car before checking in.

Then we waited and waited and waited some more.  After about 20 minutes of standing around I started to wonder if we’d been abandoned.  It turned out that Scott had parked in the employee lot and ended up having to move the car somewhere else.  I started getting really concerned when a woman who’d come in after me who was waiting for her husband to park the car found her husband before I did.  :-\

The check-in process requires you to take the paperwork DCL has sent you in the mail or that you’ve printed out online to the counter and to present your proof of residency (passports).  You’re given your Key to the World cards (the room keys that also act as your ship-board credit cards) and are told what time your room will be ready.  Then you’re sent to have your picture taken.  A cast member swipes your Key to the World card and codes your image onto it.  This is really for security - when you board or leave the ship, you have to present your card.  If the image on the security screens doesn’t match the card, then you ain’t the owner.

By that point it was around 11 and we hadn’t had a real breakfast.  There was a snack bar of some sort, but I really wanted food-food and decided to wait for lunch.  Scott got in line with Rosco to have his picture taken with Minnie Mouse while we waited (Sorry - I don’t have that picture handy.  I need to scan it, and because my Windoze computer is in the shop right now, I can’t hook up that peripheral.)  At exactly 11:45 the first boarding group was called.  We were in group 13 and had to wait a little while (yes, even though we got there about an hour after the terminal opened we were still in group 13).

When 13 got called, we gathered up all our carry-on and schlepped it through a tunnel where we had our embarkation photo taken (again, sorry, no scanner to upload that picture with), and onto the ship into the main lobby.  They announced our family name and the staff clapped.  (That actually felt a little weird.)

We headed straight up to deck nine for lunch where pizza, hot dogs, and the full lunch buffet were available (thank God).  Because we were in group 13, all of the indoor seating was taken and we were forced out onto the windy deck to eat lunch.  That was actually a little bit miserable.  It was sort of a cold day, and the wind was making me shake.  I made Scott stalk a table on the inside so we finally moved in when we were pretty much almost finished eating.  I don’t know what all was on the buffet that day because Scott went through the line for me, but what I had was pretty good.  I remember there being some roast chicken and…ok, I don’t remember what else.  While we were sitting around eating dessert, they made the announcement that our staterooms were ready.

I was actually really impressed with the stateroom.  The last cruise I went on, I was in an inside room with three other adults for the sake of economy.  I imagine that being in a jail cell would be equally crowded.  Seriously - it was that small (saving grace that the bathroom had a door and wasn’t just a commode in the middle of the room).  Our DCL stateroom was a category 9 which is by no means the largest available, but is definitely comfortable for a family with two SMALL kids.  It was the size of a small motel room.  Our room had a queen-sized bed (or was it king?) and a pull-out sofa.  The sofabed area can be closed off from the big bed with a curtain in case the kids go to bed earlier than you.  Rosco ended up sleeping with us every night, so at one point I told the stateroom host to not bother making up the sofabed.  I looooooooved having a porthole.  I’d never give that feature up again.  I kept reading that portholes and verandahs really don’t make a difference because you don’t spend that much time in your stateroom, but actually - we relaxed in our stateroom quite a bit.  It was nice to be able to see the waves and have a reference point of how far from land we were.  Of course, having natural light is critical for human circadian schedules…

The stateroom had a split bathroom, which is basically two different halves of a bathroom in two adjacent parts.  One side is the toilet with a sink.  The other side is the shower with another sink.  So, you can have multiple people handling their business at the same time.  Problem is, the bathrooms are cramped and you can’t help but to skim the walls.  I think Scott found the showering to be a bit miserable, but he survived (obviously).

After settling in, we headed up to the sailaway party.  Rosco wasn’t really feeling it.  I don’t know if he was in a shitty mood or what, but he just wanted to be held and had this look of “whatever, man” on his face.  He was given a little red streamer to flail around and he decided to throw it on the ground.
Okay, I thought parts were a little lame, too, but most people seemed to enjoy it.  My problem is that I just don’t get into group participation stuff.  If someone says, “Come on, everyone, wave your hands in the air!!!!!” I guffaw and roll my eyes.  (I also don’t like sing-a-longs.)  There was some cha-cha sliding and other coordinated group dancing and then some of the characters came out to dance around.  That was cute.

We went up to deck 10 and the ship started to pull away from Port Canaveral.  That was fun to see.  It started so slowly that you could barely tell you were moving, and then it started to pick up speed making it obvious we were clearing port.

We had main seating for dinner, so that meant we were to eat at 5:45.  We headed back to the room to change clothes.  Our first night would be at Animator’s Palette which is a themed restaurant where the restaurant starts in black and white and gradually becomes colorful.  They show a short docu-movie during dinner about Disney animation history (or something?).  We met our servers, Ildiko from Hungary (our main server), and Willie from South Africa (assistant server), who were very gracious and attentive.  They really had a remarkable attention to detail, and they do all they can to prevent little kids from going apeshit during what may be a long dinner.

We were seated at a table for 8, so we did have table mates.  (Unless you request a table to yourselves you’re likely going to be seated with another group if yours is small.)  I didn’t learn much about them, given my aversion to smalltalk.  I’m really glad they didn’t force conversation.  I’m sure they were very nice people, but you know how it is…  I’m perfectly fine with there being a comfortable silence.

After dinner we went to a live musical show called The Golden Mickeys.  No pictures of that since they don’t allow flash photography in the theaters, but I’ll just say it was enjoyable.  Well, mostly enjoyable.  You know how Disney does that “Slide all the way into the row and leave no gaps” announcement?  Well, I ended up sitting next to a buffoon who spent the entire show with half his body leaned into my seat, the damned drunk lush.  He kept crossing his leg over into my space and his shoe left marks on my skirt.  He was all over the arm rest.  I had to lean to the far left towards Rosco to get out of the guy’s space (or to get him out of mine).  Shit like that really taints experiences for me.  It was like he was punishing me for sitting next to him.  Oh, and he was loud and was making commentary to the cast on stage throughout the show.  *sigh*

I think we called it a night after that.  Okay, after watching an hour of Disney cartoons in our stateroom after that.  The next morning we’d be in Nassau…more on that tomorrow.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/09 at 11:06 AM
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We’re back!

Well, hello there.  You’ve probably guessed, correctly, that I was off vacationing in warmer climes last week.  There was actually a cold front moving through Florida and the Caribbean so it wasn’t quite as warm there as the norm for this time of year, but still warm enough to be able to get a little sunburn.

The drive down was a breeze.  We left home at around six a.m. that Saturday so it was still dark and the roads were empty.  We stopped four times: two gas breaks and two rest stops.  I think we had McDonalds for breakfast somewhere near the SC border and for lunch we ate sandwiches I packed.  We made it to the Orlando airport, where our hotel for the night was, at around 4:30 making the trip a little over 10.5 hours long.  Not bad given had often certain people needed to pee.

I loved staying at the Orlando airport Hyatt.  Other than having to pay for parking in the deck, it’s a very convenient place to be.  If we had flown in, as was our original plan, we would have taken a shuttle to Port Canaveral right from the airport.  When we decided to drive instead, we figured we’d it was still a good deal to stay there since we had access to our own vehicle and we wouldn’t have to leave the property for dining.

We could enter the airport food court area without having to go through security, so that’s what we did for dinner that night.  Scott and I had Chinese food and Rosco got a hot dog.  We walked around a bit and then headed back to our room to settle in for the night.  We did notice on the way back to the room that there were actually people outside in the heated pool!  I get that it was heated, but the pool was OUTSIDE and it was NOT warm that day.  Must be a Florida thing?  I think you would be hard-pressed to find a North Carolina beach hotel with an OUTDOOR heated pool.  They just won’t get used in the cooler weather months and it’d be an utter waste of resources.  I think lots of people drain outdoor pools in the winter.  [Come to think of it, I actually had an argument about this subject with some editorial folks for a company I freelance for.  I was asked to state whether hotels I was writing about had heated pools.  I said, “No, this is NORTH CAROLINA - WE DON’T DO THAT as a standard amenity.”  They didn’t believe me, so I called the hotels for the references and basically had the desk clerks laugh at me for even asking the question.]  Rosco was looking at the pool longingly, but of course such shenanigans don’t happen on my watch. 

Scott and Rosco shared a bed, and I got the other to myself.  *wriggles eyebrows*

The next morning we got up at around 8, had a breakfast of cereal bars in the room, and headed straight for port.  More on that tomorrow.

Posted by Tiffany on 03/08 at 10:19 AM
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