cruise – Page 2 – our life reality

Today would have been my dad’s birthday. Since we have lunch every Sunday with my mother, we decided that today we would have lunch for breakfast. Breakfast food was my dad’s favorite thing to eat with the exception of a very good steak and lobster. After he retired, he would make himself breakfast every morning. And not just a bowl of cereal or some toast. He made a full breakfast… eggs, potatoes, bacon, biscuits!!! The aroma of his cooking still lives in my brain. Definitely something I remember so fondly. The first picture if my dad with my son and daughter. They were so young then.

Before I went to my daughter’s house for lunch I was trying to regain my composure of a tragic scrapbook incident that happened the night before. I was desperately trying to work on my journaling for the Carnival Magic cruise and I was making some very slow progress. And then it happened. I was drinking a glass of Cran-Grape juice. I had the paper I was journaling on in front of my in a nice, neat stack. When all of a sudden, the glass decided to fall over!!! The contents of the fresh glass of juice went all over the paper I was using for my journaling. All. Of. It. Was. Ruined. I decided to quit for the night and went to bed.

This morning, I woke up full of hope that I could at least work on the additional pages I want to use in my scrapbook and also put finishing touches on the scrapbook album. I definitely had success in that area!!!!

Now, I will have to FORCE myself to go to Hobby Lobby in the morning to get some more of the paper I want to use for journaling. I noticed in their ad today that some of their paper is on sale and the one I need is included in the sale. I think I will make sure to stock up on this particular paper.

Here are some of the pages I did this morning along with the finished scrapbook album decorated and a picture of how I am doing the journaling.

My plan is to work on more additional pages for the scrapbook album which I will share with you when they are done.

Thanks for reading!

Now it is in complete shambles!!!! After arranging and organizing everything, I decided it was time to start preparing for our cruise!!! It doesn’t matter that our cruise is months away. This cruise is going to be different and special. It is a family cruise!!! But what will make this cruise so special is that my mother will be going and it will likely be her last trip. You see, my mother has dementia. Our goal, as a family, is to go on one last family trip so, hopefully, she will make some special memories that will last in her memory.

Going on this trip will be my mother, myself, my husband, my daughter, her husband, and their 3 kids and one family friend. My grandchildren and our family friend have never been on a cruise before. I cannot wait to see their faces when they first set foot on the ship!!! I have never planned a cruise for 9 people before so this may or may not be a challenge for me. But, I’m up for the challenge.

The planning process actually began last year on July 23rd. The itinerary was selected first (by my daughter). Leaving Galveston going to Mahogany Bay, Belize, and Cozumel. Next was the ship. Freedom or Vista? Vista it is!!! Now we wait!!!!

Part of the fun of waiting is starting to think about what we want to do at the port of call. Thinking about what clothes we will need to pack, what we need to buy, do we need new swimsuits or will butts be hanging out??? Then we need to make lists… lots of lists!!! I have made lists for each person to know what the should pack, what is allowed to bring on-board and what is prohibited. I even have a Dollar Tree shopping list for some things we need to get.

During this waiting period, we have decorated our lanyards, working on decorating our luggage tags (for carry-on stuff). We are trying to decide on shirts… Maybe the one we have seen that says “Oh Ship, It’s A Family Trip” or something along those lines.

And since I have decided to be productive during this wait period, I have finished my scrapbook for our 2010 Carnival Conquest cruise and I have started on our 2011 Carnival Magic cruise. And after I finish that one, I will start on our 2014 Carnival Triumph cruise. Then I will be caught up on those and will start on the scrapbooks for our many vacations to Cozumel. Plus various family events like my daughter’s wedding, and my oldest son’s wedding, other family weddings, family birthdays, and so many other things. But I have an end goal, that might take a very long time to complete, but I have a goal!!!

At this time, I plan to blog about the scrapbook I will be making for my 2011 Magic cruise. It will be a large scrapbook as there was a TON of stuff going on. But for now, I must work.

Thanks for reading and please come back to read about my upcoming cruise adventures and to see the scrapbook’s I will be working on.