Cruising the Caribbean

We don't tend to travel spur of the moment. And considering the travel-full year we'd already had, the last thing I expected was to feel those stirrings of wanderlust again so soon. But my email in-box was regularly filling up with cruise offers...great deals if you travelled over Thanksgiving.
I toyed with the idea, and then dismissed it.
Brought it up again with Bryan, but then decided prices were too high for airfare even if cruising was a screaming deal.
Heard of a cheap red-eye Jetblue flight if we flew into a different city and drove to the port, but then backed down again when thinking through the many obstacles regarding the kids' schedules.
We decided to bag the whole thing.

But then....Rebekah called and said that she had officially decided to serve an LDS mission. She wanted to start working on her papers after finals in December and send them in a couple of months later, hoping to leave in late May/early June.

So though our family had just returned from a vacation in Kauai in August, we decided that we might regret not taking the opportunity for another trip, considering that we'd likely not get another chance before Rebekah left for 18 months.

We booked the cruise and airfare 10 days before we were to embark. We literally pulled Julianne off stage after her final bows for closing night of "West Side Story" and headed straight to the airport.

Red-eye flights are never fun. We were freezing cold, our back-row seats couldn't recline and the flight was one of the most turbulent I've ever flown on. We were all pretty tired when we arrived in Orlando. But we rented a car and began our 3-hour drive down to Ft. Lauderdale...Rebekah taking over for a little while when her parents were too tired to drive safely.

We settled in, explored the ship a bit, and then proceeded to nearly fall asleep at the dinner table. We went to bed our first night at 7:30. (Two rooms on two separate decks of the ship, because apparently when you book your trip last minute, the prices are good but the availability of rooms together is non-existent.) But hey, we were on board and our Thanksgiving family trip had begun.

The itinerary consisted of stops at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Key West with two days at sea. The weather was iffy, however and we found ourselves with FOUR days at sea, Half Moon Cay and Grand Cayman being cancelled due to gale force winds and rain. It was disappointing, certainly. But really, how can you complain when you are being pampered aboard a classy Holland America cruise ship in the middle of the Caribbean?

Bryan and I had already made plans to gift our three teenagers with kindles for Christmas, so we bought them early...because what better place to use a kindle than on a vacation? We all read an insane amount, especially with the extra two days we had at sea.

We also took advantage of the ships many lounges, library and disco (because it had big tables) to play lots and lots of card games.

Rebekah and Julianne learned to samba in the ship's Dancing With the Stars at Sea class.

One afternoon the ship's captain made an announcement that a life raft had been spotted and that we would be turning around to make sure that there was no one inside who needed rescuing. Well, that was a cause for great excitement...especially for a ship full of passengers who had been stuck at sea for a few days. All decks with balcony views were jammed with people curious about the proceedings. "I bet it's someone trying to escape from Cuba!!" I overheard one little old lady saying. It made me giggle a bit. I was pretty certain that the raft would prove to be empty. But we watched all the same, our own little speedboat making its way through the choppy waves to check out the raft and bring it back to the ship. And yep, no rescuee. Likely a raft that hadn't been tied down properly on another cruise ship passing by the area earlier.

Another night we were enjoying the BB King Blues Band when three loud alarm blasts went off. We all knew that it was the emergency signal because at the beginning of the cruise they make sure everyone is well acquainted with all the signals and various practice drills. But this signal was directly in the middle of the cruise's evening activities. Not your normal time for a practice drill. So everything just stopped. The musicians looked around at each other with a kind of "Huh???" expression on their faces. We were all squirming a bit, wondering what this could mean when the captain made an announcement. There was a fire he said, in one of the crews quarters down on deck B. A FIRE ON BOARD SHIP?!?! We squirmed a lot more as he continued with his announcement. Everyone was to stay where they were and remain calm until further instruction. Ummm, okay? The musicians started making stupid jokes and invited the audience to do the same. The ship's comedian happened to be in amongst us in the audience and came up to try his hardest to tell clean jokes. We laughed at his lame attempts. It wasn't too long before we heard the captain's voice again. The fire was out. It had never been a big deal, really....it was due to some faulty wiring in a light fixture and the source had been discovered and fixed. We all breathed a big sigh of relief and the show continued. But I had to laugh. Two ports missed because of bad weather, a search for a life raft that may or may not have someone needing rescue, and a fire (small though it may be)...this cruise was definitely keeping us on our toes.

On Thanksgiving Day we were supposed to be in Grand Cayman. Instead, we spent five hours at the pool. The weather was bad and the waves were large...outside the ship, but also inside the pool as the ship rocked back and forth a little more forcefully than it normally does. But I think that made for even more fun for the people inside the pool.

("Mom," Lilian said as she came over after watching me for awhile from the hot tub. "You're showing a lot of cartilage!" In a swimsuit, yes indeed I'm sure I was showing more "cartilage" than normal. I couldn't stop laughing.) 

Another evening after dinner went swimming while everyone else on board was taking advantage of the ship's nighttime activities....shows, concerts, drinking in the lounges, gambling in the casinos....and we had the entire pool to ourselves. Brandon somewhat arrogantly wondered out loud if I could tread water longer than he could. He's a strong kid, yes. And in most things he can kick my trash. But he was rather surprised and humbled when he had to stop after just a few minutes and I continued on for twenty.

Though Thanksgiving is an American holiday and the ship was staffed with 85% Phillippino and Indonesian crew, the majority of the passengers were American. So they made a big to-do out of Thanksgiving. I was grateful, because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I was happy that even if I was celebrating very non-traditionally on a ship in the middle of the Caribbean, I was still able to eat turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie.

(Thanksgiving we-are-so-stuffed family selfie.)

Formal night...

One of the ship's evening shows put on by the Eurodam singers and dancers was fairy tales, fractured. It was pretty impressive. But what impressed me even more was how approachable the performers were after the show when Lilian wanted to meet them. And how kind it was of two of them to spend a good while talking with Julianne about the ins and outs of performing, auditions, living in NYC, etc, after they found out that she was potentially considering a career in theatre.

 Did I mention yet that I actually bid on and won a painting at the art auction? Oh my, that was not part of the plan. Art auctions are one of my favorite things to do on cruises. I find them fascinating...seeing the art, learning the history of the artists, and then the actual auction itself. But as much as I love art, I've never actually bid on anything even though at times I have been sorely tempted. But this art auction was on Black Friday. (Yes, Black Friday happens even in the middle of the Caribbean.) So they were pulling out some screaming deals. And I'm afraid I just got caught up in the excitement of things. Rebekah, Julianne and I had seen a painting earlier during the preview that we had liked well enough to "tag." Which basically means, they'd make sure to bring it "across the block." No pressure to bid if the price wasn't to our liking. But when the painting came up (a watercolor called "Vivaldi" by Shan-Merry) the price was not bad. And before I could even think too much about it, I started waving my card in the air! Of course, the exhilaration that I felt purchasing that painting quickly settled into a tiny bit of dread when I realized I'd have to explain to Bryan what I had done....

All in all, life on the Eurodam treated us well.
Next up....Jamaica and Key West.

Christmas Dance

Christmas Dance came around hot on the heels of West Side Story performances. So it makes sense that not only did Julianne ask Colin to go with her to the dance, but that the group she went with made up a who's who of the West Side cast.

Dinner was at our house and Bryan, sweet man that he is, took over the majority of menu planning and cooking.

We've got a pretty good mix of Sharks and Jets here...even Tony and Maria. Good to know that the rival gangs can dress up and make nice when the occasion calls for it, yes? ha!

You can't tell these two are theatre people, can you? What's somewhat humorous is that Julianne's hair is normally lighter but had been dyed dark to be Rosalie, a member of the Shark gang from Puerto Rico. And Colin's hair is normally brunette but he dyed it blonde to play Riff, a member of the Jets gang from America. They basically traded hair color.

Julianne was pretty thrilled with her dress. We planned on making the rounds of all our favorite dress shops but found this one at our first stop and rented it on the spot.

In lieu of flowers they donated money to a Christmas charity and got little pins to wear instead.

Making traumatic Christmas memories...

I sent Lilian in to use the bathroom while I stayed in the kitchen, packing her backpack and putting together her home lunch. The bus was due in about 10 minutes and we were running late. I assumed she'd see Chester, our elf on the shelf, as soon as she walked in the door. I mean, he was pretty obvious sitting there on the sink. Not to mention the message in lipstick written across the mirror. It was designed to catch her attention, after all. But catch her attention it did not. Due to the fact that she was still half asleep, it was not until she was sitting on the toilet that she noticed the elf. And then she was horrified that Chester had more or less caught her with her pants down.

I think I may have traumatized my 7-year old. So much for happy, magical, Christmas memories....

Living the gymnastics life

Brandon's life revolves around gymnastics. Workout is every single day but Sunday, for 4 hours each day, with an extra two hours on Saturday for a private lesson...which equals to a grand total of 26 hours weekly. He has one and a half hours home in between school and gym, and then doesn't arrive back home again till 9:45 that evening. Obviously the kid is committed.

So this brings up a few different thoughts.
*Any time we want to do anything as a family, short of Saturday nights (his workout is in the morning) or Sundays after church, he has to miss gym. And we can't make it up because he is already working out the full amount of days and hours they allow. Brandon doesn't like to miss gym. Which means we have precious little family time. But with three teenagers, maybe that's just a given.

*People ask if maybe all this workout time is doing Brandon a disservice. How does he get his homework done? When does he get to hang out with his friends and just be a kid? These are things I sometimes worry about myself. He informs me that though he has plenty of friends in his classes and kids to eat lunch with, his best friends are his teammates. When he's at the gym, he's hanging with his buddies. And because he's not interested in climbing the social ladder at school or cares even remotely about what others think of him, he tends to not use his time in class chatting with his seat neighbors overly much which leaves him plenty of time to focus hard on getting his work done in class before it becomes homework. At least that's the conclusion I've come to. And seeing as the kid has a 3.7 GPA, clearly he's staying on top of things.

*I do A LOT of driving. I drive Brandon to Bountiful every day, Monday through Friday around 4:30 PM. On Saturday mornings if I can get him to Fruit Heights by 7:30 AM, his coach will drive him the rest of the way to the gym. Two days a week I have a carpool that brings Brandon home in the evenings...but the other four days, I'm back in the car at 9:00 PM (or 3:00 on Saturdays). I'm not going to lie...driving back and forth that much gets really old. I hear of other parents who complain about having to drive their kid to some sort of sport or extracurricular activity on the other side of town 2-3x a week with no carpool and what a burden it is, looking for sympathy. I just want to laugh at them. But then, Brandon has teammates who come to gym just as frequently as he does but who live even further away. Regardless, its a sacrifice. For our whole family, really. And sometimes I have to remind Brandon of that fact when he starts getting testy with me when I'm running late. There are times I have to take Brandon to gym extra early so I can get back (fighting rush hour traffic at that time of day, unfortunately) to get Lilian to piano lessons or run Julianne somewhere. Sometimes I have to yank Lilian out of playtime with friends or watching a TV show here at home to make the drive with us solely because no one else will be home to babysit while I make the 40 minute roundtrip drive. And that sometimes feels really unfair to her.

But despite all of this, gymnastics is Brandon's world. He eats, sleeps and breathes gymnastics. And Bryan and I (and to a slightly less extent, his sisters) facilitate this because we agree that gymnastics has taught Brandon so many important things and has been so wonderful for his development. Beyond the skills learned on floor, pommel, rings, high bar, vault and parallel bars...Brandon is learning about endurance, health, unity, respect, determination, healthy competition, and hard work. His coaches and teammates come from all sorts of different backgrounds, many of whom do not share the same beliefs. He is learning that those who believe and act differently than he does are still good people. He's learning exactly what he stands for and to push those roots down deep into the ground so as to be able to hold his own and not be swayed even when he is faced with ideas and actions that are perhaps contrary to how he lives his life, what he believes. And these other teammates love and respect Brandon for what he stands for, even though it sometimes differs with their own view on life.

Brandon will be competing as a level 9 this year. Tough stuff. He works very hard. This is more than just a fun extracurricular activity to him. Gymnastics is intense and time consuming...and there is no off season. But he continues on because its an integral part of who he is. He loves it. And unless he has a major shift of attitude about the sport, or gets injured (knock on wood) gymnastics will likely be what takes him to college. Unfortunately for me as his mother, there are no mens gymnastics teams in any Utah colleges which means a gymnastics scholarship will take him to an out of state school. (Whimper.)

Though gymnastics workouts continue year round, meet season is during the winter. January and February see most weekends either spending the whole Saturday at a "local" meet (usually down in Utah County so still a bit of a long drive for us) or traveling to an out of state meet. The state meet is in March, Regionals in April and Nationals in May. This past meet season Brandon competed as a level 8. He skipped level 7 entirely so it was quite a jump physically and mentally as he wrapped his brain around the intensity of his first year as an "optional." (Making up his own routines from a list of accepted skills rather than competing with a set routine.)  We traveled to meets in Las Vegas, Houston and Long Beach. Regionals was here in Utah, thankfully. It was a tough meet season, but an extremely instructive one...and overall, a really great one.

 Las Vegas meets are fun because not only do you get play on the Strip....





















....but also meet some of your gymnastic heroes/Olympians. These guys are amazing to watch, but are also great about sharing encouragement with their young gymnast fans. Jake Dalton thought it was especially cool that Brandon was wearing a shirt with his face on the front....
(Jake Dalton, Danell Leyva, John Orozco, and Chris Brooks.)

And then to cap off the weekend, Hade and I dragged the boys away from watching even more gymnastics for a quick visit to the Hoover Dam before starting the long drive home. It was fascinating!

In less than two months Brandon's level 9 meet season will begin. Among the in-state meets we'll also be traveling to Las Vegas, Long Beach and Dallas. Regionals and Nationals may play into the travel schedule as well if qualifying scores are reached. I'm looking forward to watching my boy do what he loves!

Halloween 2014

I didn't used to love Halloween. When I was a kid, of course I did. Because what kid doesn't love playing dress up and getting free candy? (I especially have fond memories of the Halloween costume parade at school. Neither of the two elementary schools that my kids have attended have allowed costumes on Halloween. It makes me sad for them.)
But when I hit the ripe old age of you're-too-old-to-trick-or-treat, Halloween became a lot less appealing. When you are a teenager Halloween is all about haunted houses and scary movies with your friends. And though hanging out with friends was desirable, the spooky activities were less so.

So it was only when I had kids of my own did the appeal return. Turns out that dressing up my littles in Halloween costumes was equal to the fun of dressing up myself when I was a kid. That Halloween magic...it was back!

Strangely enough, the magic has only grown as the kids have...despite three of them being full-fledged you're-too-old-to-trick-or-treat teenagers. And that has everything to do with the neighborhood that we live in. The whole place turns into a street carnival...haunted houses, themed houses (Lord of the Rings this year), houses with bonfires and handing out hot chocolate, over the top spooky decorations, etc.  It doesn't matter if you are 4-years old or 18, you are welcome to trick-or-treat here. Even the adults are out in force, and not just to shepherd around younglings. They want to be a part of the revelry too....often in costumes of their own.

So without further ado...

The title on the costume package said "Arctic Princess." The marketers ain't fooling nobody...she's an Eskimo. And happy to be so.

Brandon came home from his gymnastics workout with two teammate buddies in tow...

Julianne's big Halloween debut was a week ago at the high school Halloween Dance where she and her date Jackson, dressed up as a little old couple. (More pics coming soon...) On the actual night, she rummaged through the costume box and came up with the makings for Little Bo Peep so she could go to a "costumes required!" Halloween party at a friend's house.

Rebekah stayed in Logan for Halloween weekend and sent home this pictures among stories of a basketball game/Halloween party, an Institute Halloween dance, a themed dinner with the guys that live across the hall and then games till all hours of the night.

One of my very favorite Halloween traditions states that Heather and her clan join us for all the spooky neighborhood Halloween fun...this being our fourth year. And within that tradition, a BFF picture on the front porch.

Heather claims she was not going to dress up but at the last minute her daughter Morgan made her up into an "evil enchantress." Which I thought went well with my "Maleficent." Can I just say I'm glad I don't have horns in real life? Cause those things just get in the way. Wings too.

Heather convinced me to go through Shadows of Fear, the haunted house in the neighborhood that raises money for charity. In its third year, it only gets more popular each Halloween. So far, though I've enjoyed the atmosphere of it all, I haven't ever had the guts to go through. But I was informed that if we had a "princess guide" with a super, special glowing wand, we could go through the haunted house in a less scary, kid version tour where the creepy monsters don't jump out at you...in fact, many of them will give you high fives and comment on the awesomeness of your Maleficent horns. That being said, the place still scared the crap out of me. Lilian too. That is one seriously impressive haunted house! My favorite part? When the creepy monsters took a break from scaring people and came out front to do the "Thriller" dance in the street. It's not Halloween without Michael Jackson's "Thriller"...just saying.

Geriatric Halloween

Just like Rebekah during her junior year, Julianne and her friends decided to make the girls choice Halloween Dance a wardie adventure. So Julianne, along with her "core four" buddies Taylor, Lauren and Jessie asked four fellow wardies Jackson, Jordan, Jacob and Austin.

Their costumes of choice? Escapees from the retirement home, aka the geriatric crew, aka old people. They all looked fabulous and I've heard from numerous sources that they kept up their geriatric routine all through the dance.

At their day activity they carved pumpkins because well, Halloween. But they also went to Johnny Rockets, an old timey themed diner. And the night of the dance they had fondue for dinner and then played Bingo after the dance, all in honor of their elderly personas. Sounds like they had a great time.

 Jessie and Austin, Julianne and Jackson, Jacob and Lauren, Taylor and Jordan