Cruising 2019: At Sea

We forgot two things: I left my phone charger in the hotel room, and Carrie forgot to bring perfume. 

So we went shopping at sea.

I found ways to amuse myself and laugh while Carrie shopped.

Shane spent most of the day in Adventure Ocean. They had sessions from 9 AM - 12 PM, 2 -5 PM, and 8 - 10 PM. He went in first thing in the morning and then again midday! There was an xbox and a switch with Minecraft and Mario Kart kids could play during free time (the first 30 minutes). Then it looked like there were lots of games like "Camouflage," and "Gaga Ball." There was a no camera policy or I'd have taken pictures.

We expected to find Shane revved up and thrilled, but one of the instructors said he had trouble listening. He chose to lay on the floor instead of playing the games.

We had a powwow afterward. Nana and Pop had come with us to pick him up and see the fun, so we were all a little surprised.

There was no "time-out" or anything like that. Could it be that the instructor was particularly strict? Maybe. Could it be that Shane didn't do a great job of listening? Also possible.

We were disappointed, because we thought Shane would have been thrilled and the teachers would have been talking about how much fun he had!

We cooled off in the room and watched some movies in between. Carrie and I figured Shane was probably overstimulated and that he would bounce back with an awesome afternoon. He liked being around all the kids!

Carrie and I dropped Shane back off for the afternoon session and then met up with Grandpa and Grandma. We watched a show with a lot of rock references and Queen songs that Grandma, Grandpa, and Carrie howled at.

Musicals aren't my thing. They tend to rely on the music rather than the plot. The music was more my type and there were some great references, though. I'd have preferred a concert, but everyone's else's enjoyment made it worth it for me.

Unfortunately, Shane didn't have a great report when we picked him up again. I had been hoping to hear he'd redeemed himself. The instructor didn't say anything when we picked him up, but when I asked she paused and then shook her head slowly before answering. I read it as "Not bad enough to call him out unbidden, but since you asked..."

I had expected the cruise to be more about leisure, but parenting is 24/7.

After Shane and I talked and returned to the room, it was time to get ready for formal night.

This was not a drill! The kilt rental was Carrie's idea to surprise all the grandparents.

And yes, I was in my kilt, too.

What I haven't mentioned is it was Grandma's birthday! Carrie had a bottle of champagne delivered to the table and presented her mom with a bracelet.

Shane was ready to get in on the picture action this time!

A serious shot was requested, but Shane persisted! I don't know where he gets that from...

We didn't have any pictures of the three of us that passed Carrie's muster except this one.

If there's one thing that Shane has been asking to do over and over this cruise it's swim. Nana, Pop, and I took Shane to the pool while Carrie stayed in the room to work.

There were a lot of rules that limited fun (like no throwing children), but Shane loves to be in the water.

Which is maybe something we should do more of. I always liked going to the pool with family and friends, but my skin cooks if I stay too long. Meanwhile, Carrie has the right skin type, but has a lot of anxiety around Shane in the water due to her past.

But I digress. Shane got ice cream and we went back to shower off and call it a night. We'll hit our first port tomorrow.

Cruising 2019: It's a big boat. Surprise! Now, hop on!

Shane had to be suspicious about what was going on. Then again, he may have been too excited in general to think deeply on it. He knew about the cruise, and he knew about Grandma and Grandpa. He didn't know about my parents. 

At one point, he said, "I wish Nana and Pop could come, too."

I replied, "You normally don't get to visit both sets of grandparents at once. They don't live near each other." 

Yet, he should have noticed we kept talking to Nana on the phone for some reason or other. I flat out mentioned coordinating with them in front of him. Carrie's eyes bugged, but the TV was on. Shane's eyes, ears, and soul were attuned to Spongebob Squarepants.

He really wanted to play in the fountain when we went down to breakfast in the morning. 

He was bouncing around all through breakfast.

He was chatting our ears off with a one-way dialogue and I thought he wasn't looking when I flashed Carrie a hand-sign. Shane happened to turn around and stopped talking. "I know what that means," he said.

I felt far from slick, but curiosity started to nudge in. "What does it mean?" I asked.

"I'm talking too much."

Well, he was right. I'll have to drop it from my repertoire. I thought he was so zoned into his story he wasn't paying attention to anything else.

Shane pulled a me and walked all over the low walls afterward. I would have done the same thing if it wouldn't have pushed Carrie's embarrassment meter over the top!

We packed out and headed to the port. Shane didn't realize the monster in front of us was the boat we'd be on until we clued him in. Effusive excitement ensued.

Shane still didn't seem to figure it out when I pointed out Pop to Carrie. She shushed me and said, "We cannot get out of this line."

We met up with Nana and Pop at the escalator after we got our boarding passes.

Huzzah! The secret was kept safe and everyone had a good laugh!

Shane wanted to look for Pokemon on the ship when we got on!

We took care of some business and then found some tables in the buffet to snack and wait for Grandma, Grandpa, and our rooms to be ready.

There were plenty of things to look at in the harbor. Shane spotted the Empire State building quickly. He told us about a story he'd read in school about it.

It was fun talking with everyone while we waited.

Our rooms were in the very front of the shop on Deck 11.

Our cabin was directly underneath where the Captain should have been. (Side note: It was really easy to hit your head on the slanted window).

We had a 'hidden gem' of a room. It was bigger than the other cabins in the same class, because it was on a rounded corner of the ship (Carrie specializes in finding those types of things).

Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, and Pop were all right around the corner from us! We didn't share walls, but we were within 6 doors of each other or so.

We settled in and then took Shane to sign up for Adventure Ocean.

Carrie talked up the kid programs on Royal Caribbean ships, so I was eager to see how Shane felt about it. The Dogman books signaled a good start.

Shane watched the safety video at least three times through before we saw it again at the muster stations.!

That made it easy for us to settle in. Carrie is the most organized packer I know.

We all shared a table for dinner! Unfortunately, Shane was the only kid, but that allowed him more electronics time than he normally would have been allowed (it was everyone's vacation, after all!).

Shane tried to play camera-shy to start.

He didn't expect to get double-teamed by both branches of the family!

Shane got his inagural trip to play in Adventure Ocean after dinner. He was sad when we showed up before 10 PM to pick him up, too!

I'm going to enjoy dumping him off to play with other kids. I know it. He'll have a blast, so everyone wins!

Spring break has begun!

Road Trip!

...but to where?

Well, the secret was out. Grandma gave it away on the phone Thursday night. We were headed to a cruise! Carrie found a great deal way back when and has guarded the secret ever since. Shane spent last week dropping hints and comments that he'd like to visit South Carolina. I'd shut him down to his chagrin, but he went to bed last night excited!

He doesn't know everything, though. More on that later.

The drive up was mostly uneventful. I picked up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire CDs for the ride, but Shane spent most of the time on the Gameboy DS playing Pokemon XY and Face Raiders. I spent 15 minutes on a screening interview over the phone and the miles rolled underneath us. Carrie and I lamented that we never got around to getting an EZPass like we meant to. We had to stop at a bank in Baltimore for cash.

Carrie wanted to buy Shane a kilt for the ship's formal night on the way up. The kilt shop near Philly was closed or out of stock and she contacted a kilt shop in Kearny, NJ instead.

So this was a new secret in the making and Shane was in on it. Carrie wanted to surprise the grandparents.

It was a good thing we called, because due to traffic we arrived after official business hours.

The woman who ran the rentals was happy to come in and kept calling Shane, "Sweety." She called him tall and thin as she fussed about looking for something to fit him.

Shane was really good for Shane after being in a car all day.

The kid's selection was limited, but that was expected. Carrie wanted to rent and get the full works (Jacket, belt, tie...), because she didn't want to pay a similar price for just the kilt for Shane to grow out of!

Carrie was very pleased with the results!

We stayed and ate at the Scottish restaurant after. Carrie had a meat pie and fried cod surf and turf and I got a Shepard's pie. We grabbed some digestives as a bonus!

Then it was off to the hotel. We made it just after sundown and many curses of "New Jersey!" from Carrie.

Made it!

It's spring break! Phew!

It's been crazy with work, staging, and vacation prep.

I had an interview early this morning before work that went fairly well. One of the answers I thought went well on Tuesday fell flat today and I had to readjust, but that's part of the process. The county's HR contacted me for a screening interview that I'll do on the phone tomorrow on our drive north (a month and two in-person interviews after I applied for screening).

We have an open house planned for Sunday while we're out of town. We only had one appointment for someone to check out the house all week and there's nothing pre-scheduled for the weekend I know of. Carrie's on pins and needles because of it.

Shane still doesn't know about our trip. Carrie loves surprises. He knows he's packing for something now, though. I honestly haven't had much time to think about it. There's been too many things to deal with in the moment each day. It'll be good to check out for a while.

Curiosity Strikes!

I love when a small question leads to some interesting answers. Especially when it's something innocuous like a meme.

First, I laughed. Then, I wondered.

Carrie replied, "Seems obvious to me!"

I've learned a lot by being married.

A quick internet search revealed some interesting links. One was a possible myth that tampons had origins as a wound dressing from World War 2 that shifted purpose post-war.

So what did I find?

There was a wound dressing from World War 1 that became Kotex (Snopes link).

Tampons were not forged on the battles of World War 2, but battlefield medics have used them to plug bullet holes in the past! (Also from Snopes, but there are many other sources). It's not a recommended method anymore, but it was useful for a time.

The original patent for a tampon was filed in 1931 according to a brief history I found. Then I stumbled upon a more exhaustive article (I only skimmed), that said the patent was issued in 1933.

Feel free to read the long article if you like, but there was one funny moment I wanted to share.

In 1983, tampons went to space. When Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, NASA engineers asked her whether 100 tampons would be enough for her weeklong journey on the space shuttle Challenger—arguably helping cement the tampon’s reputation as both a fixture of modern womanhood and a complete mystery to men. (The first tampons in space, The American Prospect notes, “were packed with their strings connecting them, like a strip of sausages, so they wouldn’t float away.”)

Not something you'd expect to learn on my blog, but I hope you learned something and laughed anyway!

First Interview

I had my first job interview today. I'd hoped to do it after school, but they scheduled me for a Skype call on my planning period.

That had me nervous.

I frequently don't get to do much planning on my planning period. There are kids who come and go and the threat extended our weekend I expected the school to be unsettled.

Turns out the kids did fine. The technology came up short.

The interviewers said my voice kept going in and out except when I looked to the left. So, I looked to the left as I talked!

When that quick-fix didn't work, I turned off the video to save bandwidth and eventually switched to a regular phone call.

It was far from what I would consider ideal, but the show carried on without interruption. I was looking at this as possibly a practice interview to get back into the swing of things, but I'd be happy if the school offered. They said they would let me know one way or the other shortly after spring break.

Foot Traffic? What Foot Traffic?

"Be prepared to go somewhere for the weekend," we heard. "You could easily get 8 or 9 people a day."

Nope.

We had three people all weekend check out our house.

We got our first bite when the agent put up a 'coming soon' ad on her website. Carrie wanted the house on the market Thursday night to help with scheduling appointments. Our expectations were high and didn't pan out.

We consistently received the same feedback: "Needs a yard."

One family said they had young kids and couldn't raise them without a place to play!

That blew Carrie's mind. Two teenagers live next door to us and twin toddlers live on the other side. Two houses down is Henry, Sam, and Rosie with their parents. Two houses down from Henry is another toddler and there's a large island and empty pair of lots for kids to play in.

Carrie's stressed because she expected to get an offer by now. I'm less disappointed. I thought an offer would be nice, but wasn't holding my breath.

Anyway, looks like we're in for a longer haul.

UPDATE: Carrie decided to highlight the open lot by buying a soccer goal and some yard toys. Go figure, the local kids all got into them.

I'm surprised Raheem didn't ask about the sign out front. We haven't seen as much of him lately.

With nicer weather and daylight savings, I expect we'll see more kids out and about. The toddler twins actually walked by to see what was going on.

UPDATE 2:  The nice weather is bringing out some lizard life, too.

I saw Henry and Shane chasing the critter, but never imagined they'd actually catch him! Henry was holding him up to say, "Look!" when the tail broke off. Stunned the boys into silence!

I let the boys look for a little bit. Carrie shooed him back into the grass and Shane lamented not keeping the tail. 

Dylan's 2nd Birthday

Second birthday's aren't as common as second breakfast. Dylan's dad invited Shane and I for a trail walk and cupcakes Sunday afternoon.

We grouped up at the bridge and let Dylan pick the way.

Then we marched. There were broken sticks, bamboo forests, and lots of rocks.

Eventually, we stopped in a field.

What's not pictured is Eli really needed to poop. Only there were no facilities available.

Dylan figured it out, but the other kids were too busy making a rock store to peddle their wares.

I'm lucky I didn't get sunburned. We were out for a couple of hours.

We regrouped at John's Dad's house for electronics and cupcakes. While some kids went outside, Shane and Dylan kept their heads in tablets for the next couple of hours. They only came up for air to grab cupcakes. The rest of the time it was Mincreaft and (Clean) Funny Fail videos.

It would have been nice to come home and hear we had some visitors, but no one checked out the house today.