Blanket Please

     Jeremiah isn’t talking yet but he knows what he wants.  He gets very upset when things don’t go his way or he gets hurt.  The 1st thing he grabs for is a soft blanket and his thumb is always handy.  His favorite thing to do right now, is pushing all the buttons that are off limit.

Antigua-journal

2-17-10(Antigua)

I woke up at 7:00 and as every morning, Wil has already been up and on the deck before I get up. No sleeping in for him. Today I am journaling as we are docking. From my window, this Island looks lush from the get go. Today we plan to do zip lines and swinging bridges and I’m excited for what the day holds. I am also feeling much better this morning.

Breakfast done and then we tried to shop. The taxi people are almost as bad here as at St. Kitts, except this time we knew enough to ignore them. Shopping was painful and really stressed me out. You can’t just look until you find something. Everyone wants to help you, so you buy from them and they all pretty much have the same thing. They don’t take no, for an answer. Wil had a hard time not buying something if they helped us. I got so stressed, that we just came back to the ship.

We did it!!! The Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour was fun and a great workout. By the time we were done, my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. It included 9 zip lines, the longest 300 feet and the highest 350 ft. After that we had a challenge course … we had to do a lot of very scary rope and cable walking. It reminded me of things people do to help them get over their fears. Had I known all that we had to do, I would not have done it, but I’m so glad that we did it. Great fun and a great accomplishment. We were with Mark and Sarah, who we met in the Chicago Airport. We have seen them almost every day, and today unknowingly, we booked the same tour. It was great to be with them and cheer each other along.

Tonight the boat is rocking even more than last night. We seem to be moving at a pretty good clip. We were told that in St. Lucia, no one is advised to get their own Taxi tours. They don’t think it’s safe. We have a tour through the Cruise but they cancelled some of them. Tonight we ate with our regular group, learning a bit more about each other. The couple from Sweden has 2 thirteen yr. olds and one 16 yr. old girl, Joe & Ellen from Philly, have only been married 2 yrs., she has 2 boys and he has 2 boys and 6 grandkids. Jesse and Yarani, have a 2 and 6 year old, the couple from Norway & Italy were missing tonight.

After dinner, we went to the lounge where they had 4 couples from the audience play the newlywed game. Lots of laughter!!!

Me, wearing a shirt and jacket borrowed from my sister, Anna and jewelry from Ten Thousand Villages, which was a gift from Melissa. 

I discovered that we have very few pictures from this day.  On our supposedly tour to the zip lines, we were packed in like sardines in a hot van.  At the zip lines, we weren’t allowed to have our camera’s with us. 

St. Kitts

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2-16-10(St. Kitts)

Slept in until almost 8:00 then went to breakfast. We were undecided what to do today and even less so after we entered St. Kitts and were more or less attacked by people wanting to take us on a tour. It was the craziest thing ever. You soon need to decide to either get out of there fast or decide which one of the people you want to be with for the next 2-4 hours! We chose Christian Rameshwar- Tangerine Tours….he had an open vehicle that was tangerine and green in color. His beard was pink and orange and wore a colorful knitted hat and a baggy orange outfit. He was born in Trinidad but has live in St. Kitts for 20 years. He gave us a great 3 some hour tour for $20.00 each and we met some more nice people.

After we got back, we went to an internet café, walked around on deck. We saw our Anderson friends on the upper deck and exchanged our day adventures. We got a snack, went to part of the “Night of the Stars” shows, but even though it was good, we were too tired to stay. We then went to our 8:30 dinner. The sea was rougher today and I felt the sway much more than usual.

I felt some better after going back outside on the upper deck. The Tropical Island Night Deck Party, started at 10:30, right after our dinner. We came back to the room around midnight and I was not feeling so good. I took some Dramamine, and went to sleep.

When we are with the Anderson’s, it feels a bit like they are, our kids. Also today, we found out our waiter, Ida…pronounced eeda, is from Indonesia and has one child, with one on the way. He has been doing the Cruises for 10 years and goes home every 6 months and is at home 2-3 months at a time. He also calls home every 2 days. I can’t imagine that kind of life.

Feb. 15-St.Croix

After breakfast, we got off the ship and did a little shopping and then rented bikes for an hour. We wished we had more time, because the 10 mile ride was gorgeous. We were a bit rushed, since we only had an hour before we were due for our exusion.

Excuse my backside but it gives you an idea of our scenery while we were biking

This picture was where we turned around and headed back

Stopping a moment to take in the beauty

St. Thomas Journal

2-14-10(St. Thomas)

This morning we had the buffet breakfast then went shopping for several hours, trying to decide, what to do next. We ended up paying 50.00 to tour the Island and go to Magens Beach. We stopped at an overlook where there was a shop and drinks. We had a Banana Daiquiri and the guy let us put in as much rum as we wanted.

We walked around the ship, ate a few snacks and had a drink and scheduled the rest of our excursions for the Cruise. We had another great meal. I had chicken-pasta with spinach, Wil had Sea Bass, we both had great fish bisque soup and both had Apple tart with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. After dinner we went with our table friends, Jesse and Yarani Anderson to the Celebrity Formal dance. We also saw the tail end of the Theater Show. Another late night.

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Fun on the Cruise

This is just a quick blog to let everyone know that we are having a great time on our Cruise and doing well. We just got back from touring St Kitts with an interesting guy and our group was great. Yesterday we went sailing and did some biking on St. Croix. Sunday, we did a tour and went to Magen's Bay. We were told the snorkling on St. John's was a bit murky. Tomorrow we are doing 9 zip lines, swinging bridge and a challenge! Yikes...ask me later how that went. Before our Cruise, different ones of you talked about, the fun of meeting other people. I didn't really think that would be something that I would enjoy. However, we have met several interesting people that when we see each other, we always check what the other did on that paticular day. Our waiter and room attendant are really great people.

Fun in the Snow

I came home from work on Tuesday evening to find all of my grandchildren playing out in the snow.  Monica had spent about 30 minutes getting everybody bundled up.  I think they had cabin fever.  Jeremiah sat like a statue…no expression…he probably couldn’t move since Monica did such a good job bundling him up.

 

Sawyer LOVED being outside, and it didn’t matter to him that his boots were too big and all bundled up.

Isaiah and Brennan went out again on Wednesday, since they didn’t have school.

Isaiah never seemed to be ready to come home from playing in the snow. 

Faces

Monica-captured by Isaiah

Matt-captured by Isaiah

Brennan

    Sawyer

Jeremiah

Melissa

Isaiah

Melody

Katrina

There is just nothing quite like family to brighten your day. 

He Knows My Name

It's been an exhausting, but meaningful weekend. Lynette and Rusty shared their hearts at the Memorial service for Olive Hope, and the tears flowed freely for us. It's so hard to see your neice and nephew have so much pain and also to lose a member of the family, that we have all grown to love so much in her 4 short months, here on this earth.

Poor Monica, was unable to attend Olive's Memorial and Burial service, since both Jeremiah and Sawyer had double ear infections, and Monica herself had Strep throat. After the burial service, while we were eating, Matt said he was still cold. At the time, I wondered if maybe he was getting sick. We got our answer soon enough. Soon after Matt got home from work, his fever spiked up to 103.? We got the cry for help, since neither parent was feeling up to parenting. As soon as we got home, we brought all the boys except Jeremiah to our house.

I first tucked in Brennan, then Sawyer and then Isaiah. What a routine! I forgot how easy I normally have it! When I was tucking Brennan in, and was singing to him, he said, "Grandma, can you sing me the song that Rusty and Lynette sang to Olive?" He wanted me to sing, He knows my name. Sadly, I only knew a few of the words, but I promised him that I would learn it.

I have a Maker

He formed my heart

Before even time began

My life was in his hands

I have a Father

He calls me his own

He'll never leave me

No matter where I go

He knows my name

He knows my every thought

He sees each tear that falls

And He hears me when I call

In the arms of Jesus

Tonight little Olive took her last breath, while resting, on Rusty's chest. She has been transferred from her parents arms to the arms of Jesus. As Rusty was holding Olive, he kept promising her that Jesus would take good care of her. It was very special to be there with them.
http://rustylynette.blogspot.com/