Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[Luckynana]

8 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

One guy was blocking the isle as I tried to get up front. He looked at me and said I should relax. I looked at him and said... Dude it would be in your best interest to get out of my way... which he promptly did.

How obnoxious!  You handled it well, OB!

I think that is one phrase that can really make your blood boil.  Don't tell me to relax!!!

[Luckynana]

10 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Bella 2 location. Steps from Central Park. This is the Cruise Critic Corridor.

Oh, how I long to be there right now!  My next cruise isn't until March for our Panama Cruise

This is also the corridor I will be walking down on our Bella cruise!

6 hours ago, sgmn said:

We had a great time catching up. There was only four of us, all we could find and could attend. One lives in Nova Scotia now. My good friend (sitting on the far left as you look at the pic) made all the arrangements. We're hoping we can track down more.  Everyone was in very good health and was enjoying life. 

The course was a secretarial one, hence why in the 70s it was only girls.  Thank goodness girls today have so many more opportunities than we did. 

I'm glad you had a great time with your friends at your Reunion.  We had a decent turnout for our 50th High School Reunion, although a few of the girls did have some health issues.

Tonight is Jim's High School Reunion, which he just realized a few days ago...he paid for it a year ago.  He won't be going after all, since our daughter will be arriving from Connecticut to help celebrate my Birthday this evening with our daughters and grandchildren.

[Luckynana]

2 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it.... the memories you're making with your grandkids are going to be in their hearts forever and ever.  What lucky kids!

+1 @h20skibum For sure!!

[h20skibum]

24 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

And it was a completely worthless course for anything that followed in my life.

 

My son, who has a PhD in O Chem may disagree on it being worthless, although it is for some fields.

 

Whenever I attempted to read any of his papers, I may as well have been trying to read Greek.  I was over my head.  It has served him well in his field. His wife also has a PhD in O Chem, and it has served her well too.

 

I just tune them out when they discuss work.

 

 

[h20skibum]

6 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

our daughter will be arriving from Connecticut to help celebrate my Birthday this evening with our daughters and grandchildren.

 

Happy birthday this evening.  I hope you have a great celebration.

[brillohead]

33 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

@brillohead  Good morning Debbie!  Thank you for explaining the growth and weight gains in babies and little children.  I never knew that, nor had I ever thought about that!  Our grandson William had many health issues as an infant, beginning at the age of 8 months.  Poor little guy, they did an endoscopy and colonoscopy at CHOPS trying to find what was going on in his little body.  This had all begun when food was first introduced.  William had a feeding tube inserted, which he lived with until around the age of eight.  I'm not going to go into all of his problems, since there were several.  Due to the longevity of his tube, he has scar tissue, which is being addressed by his OT.  His swim classes are also helping him with regard to this.

 

Our 14 year old grandson was diagnosed with Type1 Diabetes last year, which was quite a shock to us all.  When he was admitted to ICU, he only weighed around 80 pounds.  This past year has been really tough on Ryan and his mom, but Ryan has been getting so much better at handling his situation psychologically..he's been in Marching Band since last year, he's joined a gym, and has just joined the High School wrestling team.  He told me last night that he now weighs 120!  He even mowed the backyard for the first time yesterday, since he now meets the weight requirements that you should be over 100  pounds to operate the ride-on mower.  He did a great job, btw!😁

I remember when your grandson's diabetes was first diagnosed...has it really been a year already? 

I'm so happy to hear that both of your grandsons are doing better.  It's so hard when kids have health problems, they don't understand what is going on or why they can't do what their friends are doing.  

[grapau27]

Happy birthday Maryann @Luckynana

[brillohead]

55 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

And it was a completely worthless course for anything that followed in my life.

 

Kinda like Calculus and Trigonometry?  Basic algebra and geometry should be plenty of math for the general public, yet schools are requiring higher math for EVERYONE regardless of whether it's relevant to their future or not.  

[Ocean Boy]

26 minutes ago, h20skibum said:

 

My son, who has a PhD in O Chem may disagree on it being worthless, although it is for some fields.

 

Whenever I attempted to read any of his papers, I may as well have been trying to read Greek.  I was over my head.  It has served him well in his field. His wife also has a PhD in O Chem, and it has served her well too.

 

I just tune them out when they discuss work.

 

 

I didn't say it was a worthless course. I said it was worthless for anything that followed in my life. It contributed nothing to med school studies.

[akcruz]

@Luckynana Happy Birthday 🎉🎂🥂

[Ocean Boy]

7 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

Kinda like Calculus and Trigonometry?  Basic algebra and geometry should be plenty of math for the general public, yet schools are requiring higher math for EVERYONE regardless of whether it's relevant to their future or not.  

You mean it is possible to balance a check book without knowing how to do derivatives and quadratic equations?

[Vibe]

3 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

FYI, I think you mean a PEG tube (Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy).  PET is a type of scan (positron emission tomography)... which you've probably already done and will do later on as well. The medical industry likes its acronyms almost as much as the military does!

Hopefully you won't end up needing to use the tube at all -- that's the best case scenario -- but I'm glad you have it in place already just in case.  I also hope whoever inserted the tube gave you good information about caring for the insertion site and how often you should flush the tube with water (even if you're not using it for feeding/hydration) to keep it from getting plugged up.  

 

I have a swallowing disorder, and back in the day I went two years without eating solid food.  You don't realize how much of our social interactions involve eating or drinking until you can't eat or drink like everyone else.... if you're going to meet up with a friend, you'll probably do it at a coffee shop, restaurant, or bar.  You go to the movies and you get the obligatory big bucket of popcorn.  Someone has a birthday or other event and there's cake and ice cream involved. 

And then there's the pleasure that we get from food... I sometimes resorted to chewing my food and then spitting it out (in the privacy of my own home), just so I could enjoy some of my favorites again.  

I work with tube feeds on a regular basis, so if you have any problems or questions about using it, caring for it, or troubleshooting it, please don't hesitate to ask -- I love being able to help people with my nursing experience.  (Just ask @Ozark_Kid... he's got me on speed-dial! LOL)  I also use gmail, and you can find me there using thebrillohead as the first part of the address, or leave any questions here.    

With all of the crazy things happening in our world, it so refreshing to see that there are still nice people who care about others. 😊

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Happy birthday this evening.  I hope you have a great celebration.

 

42 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Happy birthday Maryann @Luckynana

 

35 minutes ago, akcruz said:

@Luckynana Happy Birthday 🎉🎂🥂

 

+ 4 Maryann 💐, @Luckynana

[Luckynana]

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

 

Happy birthday this evening.  I hope you have a great celebration.

Thank you, Mark!  My "big" Birthday is actually on Tuesday.

53 minutes ago, brillohead said:

I remember when your grandson's diabetes was first diagnosed...has it really been a year already? 

I'm so happy to hear that both of your grandsons are doing better.  It's so hard when kids have health problems, they don't understand what is going on or why they can't do what their friends are doing.  

It will be a year at the end of this month.  Yes, it's been quite a year with it's ups and downs, but he's handling it really well right now!  He starts his Freshman year at a STEM school next month..he's looking forward to going there.  The school nurse and Principal were awesome at the school he just graduated from.  Hopefully he will find it to be so at his new school.😊

[Luckynana]

54 minutes ago, brillohead said:

 

Kinda like Calculus and Trigonometry?  Basic algebra and geometry should be plenty of math for the general public, yet schools are requiring higher math for EVERYONE regardless of whether it's relevant to their future or not.  

Exactly!

[Momof3gurlz]

I’m too far behind to catch up, but I see that it’s @Luckynana’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Maryann!  
We are having a fantastic time on Indy, the food and service have been excellent.  The boys are having an absolute blast. More to come later. 

[Luckynana]

57 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

Happy birthday Maryann @Luckynana

Thank you, Graham!🥰

50 minutes ago, akcruz said:

@Luckynana Happy Birthday 🎉🎂🥂

Thank you, April!😍

13 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

 

 

+ 4 Maryann 💐, @Luckynana

Thank you, Dani!😍

[Luckynana]

2 minutes ago, Momof3gurlz said:

I’m too far behind to catch up, but I see that it’s @Luckynana’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Maryann!  
We are having a fantastic time on Indy, the food and service have been excellent.  The boys are having an absolute blast. More to come later. 

Thank you so much, Deb!

Great picture of your adorable grandsons.  They are handsome dudes, indeed!  Glad to hear everyone is having such a wonderful time on your cruise!!

[jagsfan]

On 8/11/2023 at 7:28 AM, aussielozzie18 said:

Last month, family members successfully walked the Larapinta Trail.  One of the great walks of Australia. 223km. Starts in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory and goes across the West MacDonell Ranges and finishes at Mount Sonder.  A challenging  walk with stunning scenery, flora & fauna that took them 20 days.  They did it themselves with pre-arranged food drops along the way.  I love the beauty of Central Australia and plan to do this as part of a paid walking group when I retire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous pictures! So different from NSW. 

[jagsfan]

22 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I got a call today from a guy who I last saw in 1955.He was on vacation in South Carolina and met another long lost friend The guy he met told him that he was in touch with me and he asked for my phone number .

I saw the name on the caller ID and was pleasantly surprised.He lives in Delaware .We spoke for nearly an hour discussing our lives for the past 68 years.

It’s so nice to reunite with old friends. 
Brung able to pick right back up like there hadn’t been a gap in the conversation is pure joy!

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

When we landed they did make an announcement for everyone to please stay clear of the isle so people with tight connections could get off the plane. I was the second person out the door and the first out of the jetway.

They made that same announcement on our flight from YYZ to LAX as there were 60 of us with a tight connection to HNL.  Not one person remained seated.  Not sure if those at the back of the plane made their connection or not.  Common courtesy was non existent that day.

[jagsfan]

18 hours ago, Arzeena said:

I was just going to post that we took your suggestion to eat at Playmakers for lunch today. Great food. Was not able to finish everything ordered. That onion ring tower...OMG.

We’re not happy with the new MDR menus, so Playmakers was a wonderful surprise. 
I’m looking forward the having their wings, onion rings,  and nachos on Mariner. 

[Ocean Boy]

9 minutes ago, Luckynana said:

Thank you so much, Deb!

Great picture of your adorable grandsons.  They are handsome dudes, indeed!  Glad to hear everyone is having such a wonderful time on your cruise!!

Happy Birthday from me, too!

[jagsfan]

16 hours ago, Arzeena said:

Grrrrrrrrr.

They should have the sound of tolling bells when you walk in and see that stuff on the bed!

[BonTexasNY]

4 hours ago, brillohead said:

 

Keep in mind that at that age, the insane growth rate slows down more, so they simply don't need as much food because their bodies aren't burning it all in growing new tissue/bones at the same rate as the first years.  People often fret that their child isn't eating enough, when in fact it's completely normal for toddlers to not need as much fuel. 

Using averages, a typical newborn would be around 3.5kg and would gain about 6.9kg by its first birthday (total weight 10.4 at 1yo).  That's basically tripling its weight the first year. 

 

But then the growth the second year is only about 2.3kg (total weight 12.7 at 2yo), which is only a fifth of the weight on the first birthday.   

 

The growth the third year is only about 1.6kg (total weight 14.3 at 3yo), which is only a tenth of the weight on the second birthday.  

So the growth rate the first year is a whopping 200%, the second year it's about 18%, and the third year it's only 11%. Kids don't eat as much because they simply don't need as much.

As long as the child's doctor isn't concerned about their growth rate, I wouldn't worry about "enticing" ANY child to eat... they should listen to their body's cues and eat when they're hungry and stop when they're not hungry anymore. 

 

I know in the USA obesity is rampant among those of us raised in the "Clean Plate Club" who were told to finish everything on our plate because "there are starving children in <random faraway place with food deficit problems>" so we grew up not paying attention to our body's signals, but rather using society's "rules" about how much to eat.  I never understood how me eating my food in Michigan was going to have an impact on some hungry kid on another continent anyway!

Debbi, we were very concerned when our daughter as a small child didn't eat enough to, we feel, stay alive!  Her pediatrician assured me that she's healthy and that a child never starved in a loving house filled with food.  I will never forget that.  She grew into the beautiful young woman she is today.

 

 

@Luckynana Way to go William and Ryan! AND Happy Birthday on Tuesday, Maryann!  May all your birthday wishes come true.