h20skibum

Last weekend, we had our early birthday party for our CA grandson. His actual birthday is this Thursday, but we would not be around for it. Once again, we rented a large bounce house and slide for the kids. And I have to tell the story about the balloons that are attached to this canopy. All the helium balloons came inflated in a large plastic bag. I had tied them to a chair under the canopy, while I was tying the #10 ballon to the post. That is when Susan looked, and yelled “The balloons are floating away. The whole bunch of balloons in the plastic bag caught on a branch, about 65 foot up in one of the trees. So with nothing to reach that high, I came up with my plan. I got out my bow and arrow, and tied a heavy duty fishing line to the arrow. With one shot, I sent the arrow through the plastic bag, and was able to pull the whole bunch down from the tree. Not only that, but not a single balloon broke. My grandson said that was awesome, and Susan was wishing she had filmed it. Our food porn was just some steak and chicken on the grill. Our grandson really enjoyed the party, although we had pared down the guest list because of what was going on. If there are any volunteers for an apple on the head, I can use some practice. 🤣

One of the things I did, to occupy the grandsons, was to take them to the golf course. They really enjoyed their time out there. Our PA grandson is an excellent golfer for his age. He only played 9, but had a respectable 43 and one birdie. I say not bad for a 9 year old.

I didn’t mention specifically. If it was me, I would mention, but I will still be non specific with her. Just know that they say it is rare and aggressive. That is why we wish things would move along quicker than they are.

We did 84 days of our CA grandson, 24/7. You should try that sometime. 😀

It looks like I missed a few anniversaries and new additions. Happy anniversary Sue and Rick, Graham and Pauline. Happy Anniversary and congratulations on your new addition John and Sharon. I will toast you all tonight with my purchase from yesterday. I hope I didn’t miss anyone else’s anniversary, birthday, or good news the last couple weeks, but if I did, I wish you the best too.

The news was not good, hence my absence for the last couple weeks. I do not think I will have a chance to catch up on the last 70 pages or so. It has been a stressful couple of weeks, and that will continue for quite a while. Trying to avoid googling, and rely on what the medical professionals have to say. After her positive diagnosis, daughter has been to Cleveland Clinic a couple of times, as well as Pittsburgh a couple times in the last two weeks. She has more appointments this week in Pittsburgh on Monday and Wednesday. In the meantime, we have been trying to keep things as normal as possible for the grandkids. It was even tougher, because we still had our California grandson here until he went home last Tuesday. His school started last Thursday. In the meantime, we canceled the five cruises we had booked, because we know what lies ahead with treatments, surgery, and recovery. For us, family is first, and cruising will have to wait. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, because we are all headed down a long road. I will try to post a little of what we did with the kids to close out our Summer of Fun 2.0, as I get some time.

Depends where you are sailing from, or sailing to. If Royal lets you sail, if your exemption is religious, and you are sailing to Any Canadian ports, you will not be allowed off the ship. That is why you need to keep up with those ever changing protocols.

CB does not have those on the menu, but evidently Jack Daniel’s makes them

That is why I hate to fly from Cleveland. It was the same way when we flew to SFO in May. Although Pittsburgh looked just as bad when we flew home from Myrtle beach last month. Their line stretched out of the terminal and halfway down the enclosed walkway to the Hyatt. Safe travels today.

That is the one we found those at. We were at the one in Erie on the weekend, and they didn’t have it there. Of course, PA has too many regulations on who can sell alcohol. More so than Ohio.

Wonder how closely Royal monitors those cans of “Cola” they let people bring onboard?

Now for something random. In our travels the other day, we ended up eating in that fine dining restaurant known as Cracker Barrel. 😏 It seems that this has become one of my CA grandson’s favorites, and we will take him anywhere he will eat good. We don’t want to return him weighing less than we got him. 😂 I was being a good role model and ordered Double Fudge Coca Cola Cake for my meal, and I wanted something to drink that would go well with it. I was surprised to find this on the menu! I don’t remember ever seeing alcohol on any Cracker Barrel menu, but this one in Ohio had several choices. It actually was not too bad, and was as good as any Jack and Coke I have had.

Are you sure it is an EDL, and not a Real ID license? Only five states have EDL’s. NC is not one of them, if that is where your friend is from.

Well, yesterday was a day to learn about corn again. They said the corn is sweet, but not as big and fully developed because we haven’t had a lot of rain. These guys were identifying the ripe corn and picking it the right way. Afternoon was spent boating and tubing Today may be time for more boating in the afternoon. We are hoping the forecast, for rain tonight, is wrong. We have plans for Balloon Quest. Tonight is supposed to be the balloon glow.

Hope your tests go well this morning

That would be us along with a couple of our friends. I believe @ReneeFLL is also aboard, and I am not sure if @Ocean Boy is looking at it.

When I posted the couple pictures of the SS Norway yesterday, I noticed I had photos of a couple other old ships we saw on that cruise. Sorry for the grainy nature of the photos, but these were converted from slides. Royal Caribbean Song of Norway The original Carnival Mardi Gras I cant believe how small some of those were. The teak decks on the Norway. The bridge of the Norway Tempting to see what Maximum is Those continue to bring back some good memories. Today, we are taking the grandkids to learn about corn. It is supposed to hit 90 today, so boating may figure in our afternoon plan.

I am usually on my second cup of coffee by then, and I don’t work. 😳

Unfortunately, the news today was not good. We will know more next week. Thank you! Thank you. We are hoping for the best. It still had that new ship smell in 1980. I remember all the teak that they were constantly cleaning.

Thank you very much. We have fond memories of that ship. I remember saying it reminded me of the titanic, minus the sinking part. Thank you. It was not the celebration we had planned, but we will get time later. Probably on the next cruise. Thank you! With the hurricane during our sailing, we had 40 foot waves, so there was a lot of movement. We still have a lot of the newspaper clippings about it in our marriage book. Thank you. We are enjoying our time with them. A lot more movement than an Oasis class, that’s for sure. The captain did an excellent job of avoiding the worst of the storm. Thank you! It was a great ship. We had Bobby Goldsboro as our entertainer onboard. I can’t believe how many suits I took on that cruise. Looking back at the photos, everyone was dressed to the nines back then. No shorts in the dining rooms. Part two of our honeymoon was a post cruise trip to Walt Disney World. Thank you for the anniversary wishes.

Have a great time on Allure, and celebrate that anniversary. I can’t believe I posted here before OB. 🤣🤣

I will order one of those glasses for my Kraken. Speaking of which, my Kraken supply is dangerously low.

Thank you for the anniversary wishes @sgmnSue, and @Sea DogGreg. That sailing was memorable in more than one way. We sailed into the first hurricane of the season, and it was the longest sustained, Cat 5 of the century.

Thank you for the anniversary wishes @grapau27 Graham, @dani negreanu Dani, @Sunshine3601 Debbie, @Lionesss Sue, and @A&L_Ont Andrew. It will not be the anniversary celebration we had planned. We have all 3 grandkids today, because our daughter is in for a medical procedure. Our celebration will have to wait. Out for breakfast with the grands, then will see what this day holds for us and the kids.

Forty-two years ago today I was doing something I have never done since. I was headed to Pittsburgh for an overnight stay, then flying out in the morning for a same day flight for my first ever cruise. It is a good thing airlines were more reliable then. Susan and I were sailing on the eighth sailing of the SS Norway, which was the largest cruise ship at the time. We sailed to St. Thomas and Little San Salvador. Now those were lifeboats We couldn’t fly down the day before, because August 2nd we were too busy getting married. I guess I have never done that since, either. 😏