Little Mermaid on Broadway

The week we came back from the cruise we had tickets to Little Mermaid on Broadway. They were a birthday present from Michael.

The show was another fabulous Disney production. Disney has great sets, huge musical numbers, and elaborate costumes. Each Disney show usually has a tap dance sequence too - I was wondering how they were going to tap during Little Mermaid, but they did!

When the scenes were set underwater they used lighting and movement on the set to create the feeling you were underwater. When the mermaids and fish were on set they glided on Heely's. A very clever way to give the feeling they were swimming.

As I was walking to the theatre (Michael and I were meeting there), a bird pooped on my head right in the middle of Times Square! I just happened to have my hand up on my head to hold my hair back in the wind - so luckily my hand got most of it. I was so upset though as I kept running my hand through my hair and finding more poop! As soon as I met Michael we found a bathroom and I did the best I could to clean up my hair and of course thoroughly wash my hands. My hair looked fine, but my head itched all night - I think not because something was there, but the thought of what was there was running through my mind. Now here's the best part: as we were being seated the usher turns to me and says "Your hair is beautiful."

Father's Day Card

In a brief flash of creative brilliance I made this card for my dad. Now that he has received the card I can post it for everyone to see.



Front of card:

And the inside -

I'm about 6 months old in the photo, and I'm sure the beer can is empty!

For a family who doesn't do syrupy sweet sentiments it was perfect.

Best Thing Overheard This Weekend

Guy #1: If I don't have a girlfriend by next summer, I'm getting a dog.

Guy #2: You need a bigger place.

Guy #1: For a girlfriend or a dog?

By Popular Demand

OK, here they are - the wig photos.

I was told I look like the mom from My Big Fat Greek Wedding - I completely agree!

And here is Michael, he looks like he just came from singing in the musical Spamalot!

Carnival Pride Food

As most people who cruise know, it's all about the food. What amazes me is how easily one gets used to room service, round the clock pizza and ice cream, and minimum of 3 courses for dinner.

Room service: We only had room service in the morning, it was a limited but adequate selection of breakfast choices. We had the same order each day, a pot of coffee, bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon, a banana, and cereal with milk. Even though it was delivered according to our pre-selected time frame it always seemed to come a little too early. Each night we were sure to leave out a few dollars for a tip, so we wouldn't have to fumble around in the morning. The best part was enjoying the food out on the balcony watching the waves.

Breakfast buffet: I enjoyed the breakfast buffet. There were several stations with pre-cooked favorites including sausage, bacon, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, potatoes, toast and bagels. There was an omlete station but it always had a line, so I never waited. I made my favorite - crispy bacon sandwiched between wheat toast. On the last morning I had a flash of brilliance and wrapped a pancake around a piece of sausage - pure breakfast delight!

Lunch: There were several lunch options, the main dining room offered menu service, Mermaid's Grill (the casual restaurant) offered 4 stations of choices including a rotating selection with an international menu, and there was usually a grill by the pool with hotdogs, hamburgers, and french fries. I only ate in the main dining room once and that time I brought my own food and just sat with the rest of the group. The menu was very nice and the food looked fabulous - the only complaint was the waiter who was less than helpful. Mermaid's Grill offered an Asian station, a made-to-order sandwich station, generic buffet food station, the international menu of the day, a salad bar, and a dessert bar. I never tried the Asian, but did hear it was good. I never tried the generic buffet station either, usually there was a baked pasta, a baked fish, maybe some kind of chicken in sauce - it was fine, but just didn't appeal to me. The sandwich bar had a great roasted pepper, arugula, and fresh mozzarella sandwich that was delicious. Definitely one of my favorite lunch items. The international station featured Greek food one day and offered a delicious tofu pita sandwich with cucumber, red onion, and a green sauce that I would love to re-create. The grill by the pool had fresh cooked hotdogs and hamburgers with a nice selections of topping including chili and grilled onions. I'll take a good chili dog for lunch any day! And finally my favorite lunch and late night snack food were the french fries - the ship had the best fries, thin and crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside with lots of salt. At lunch you could even get a side of ranch dressing from the salad bar for the ultimate indulgence of a dipping sauce.

Dinner: Every night, except for our last night on the ship, we ate in the main dining room. We had an awesome round table for 10. Our waiter was Manuel; he did a great job accommodating our large group. (He even took this photo and spent one night folding napkins in to shapes to entertain the kids. OK, the adults enjoyed the napkin tricks too.)

Dinner had starters, first course, main course and dessert. We usually each had a starter and a first course and dinner and dessert. Most of the time there was one item I wanted for a main course, but several items I wanted for starters/first course. The only disappointing meal I had was the first night. I had a horrible headache that would not go away - I even thought I might be seasick. I ordered a tilapia that was covered in an olive tapenade and sitting on a bed of asparagus covered in hollandaise. The fish was dry and both the olive tapenade and the hollandaise sauce were too heavy for the delicate white fish. I had about two bites and called it done. (Melissa had fish later in the week and it was dry as well - probably too hard to cook it well in such a huge kitchen.) I ended up eating late night at the grill and enjoying grilled chicken with mushrooms and chili fries. Dinner definitely improved - the next night was formal night and they offered a fabulous lobster tail. It was served with grilled shrimp and a side of mushroom risotto. Each section of the menu offered a featured item from the Carnival executive chef - we quickly learned those were generally the best items on the menu.

Another tasty starter were the stuffed mushrooms served with a cheese straw - yum!

Dessert: My favorite part of the meal. They always had about 4 dessert choices along with ice cream and cheese. You can also get a cappuccino for free after eating in the main dining room - usually they charge for the fancy coffee drinks, I definitely took advantage of my free cappuccino every night with dessert. Surprisingly some of my favorite desserts were the sugar free selections. One night it was an orange cake with cream frosting that tasted like a Creamsicle. Another night it was banana cake and then a lemon cake.

The dessert plating was always very fancy, with extra sauces and chocolate swirls. Two of the most delicious desserts were the warm fig cake with a super creamy white chocolate mousse on the side.

And this apple tart - it had a layer of creamy vanilla mousse and a layer of chopped apples with warm caramel sauce on the side. I love the crunchy puff pasty mixed with the smooth mousse.

David's Supper Club: The last night of the cruise the adults ate at David's Supper Club. There is an additional fee to eat here, but it was completely worth the expense. The food was definitely fine dining - lobster bisque, surf and turf, lobster tails, escargot. Just look at the proteins:

Michael and I both had the surf and turf - the plating was fabulous. It was a big square plate with four smaller plates. One had the lobster tail, one had the filet mignon, one had a large pumpkin ravioli, and the one had an asparagus puree wrapped in pastry and fried. Everything was delicious and the service was impeccable.

Grand Buffet: Well I didn't make it to the big midnight buffet, but Michael and Bex took photos. The displays are impressive but it maybe looks better than it tastes....

How cute are these deviled eggs?

I would love to learn how to make something like this - it's all fruit and veges!

And what better way to end than with an amazing dessert display. How about this for the next Oscar party?

It's Been a Lovely Cruise - Carnival Pride May 2008

Oh to be on a cruise again....



I think I missed my calling. I should have worked on a cruise ship for a few years - I understand working on a ship is quite different than being on vacation, but I could totally see myself running bingo games and coming up with questions for super trivia.



We set sail from Long Beach - half of the group were VIPs and they were able to board about an hour before us non-VIPs. Of course that hour in line gave us time to not only finish a Propel Plus but we came up with the idea for this totally awesome boarding picture.











We sailed on the Carnival ("the Fun Ship") pride from Long Beach to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. All of our cabins were along the back corner of the ship - while we were never to come up with a good cruise t-shirt we did have lots of fun making 'aft' jokes.


We had a balcony room with an extended deck.









The room had a long couch, small table, lots of storage space with 3 full length closets, 4 drawers, and a small 2-shelf cabinet. The bedding was very comfortable but there was just a sheet and a comforter, no blanket - so some nights temperature was an issue. It was too cool for just the sheet but then too warm for the comforter.


Our balcony was on the back of the boat, and the decorative glass railing angled out giving us more, but basically unusable balcony space. We didn't pay any extra for the extending balcony, and you shouldn't.

We had major problem with our balcony, it was right below the Lido deck - it was fine having people look down in to our balcony, it was not fine having smokers ash down in to our balcony. Michael and I both ended up with shorts that have ash stains on the bum. Once we realized the problem, we just took out towels to cover the chairs before we sat down, but it was annoying.


The balcony was great for the views, relaxing while at sea, and breakfast.

Most mornings we had breakfast delivered by room service and then enjoyed our meal on the balcony. A lovely way to start the day. (The robes were provided by Carnival, they were really plush and luxurious.)

We sailed away from Long Beach with our own deck party. Gordy and Linda had a suite with a huge wrap around balcony. It went along the back of the ship and then turned the corner and down the side. It was great having so much room - I think we all made great use of their space.

Their cabin was even more awesome than the wrap around balcony. It had two separate rooms, the bedroom and the living room with a couch and chairs. In between the two rooms was a vanity area (which was taken over as our own private beauty salon) and a walk in closet! Their bathroom had two sinks and a full bath tub - total luxury.

Our first two days were at sea - this meant we had plenty of time to eat, drink, and explore the ship.



Monday night was formal night. We did our best to dress to impress.

The ladies used the McGuire salon featuring the services of Miss Karen for hair and make-up, with Linda's closet available for accessorizing. For whatever reason Rebecca decided we all needed to wear wigs one night. Well it turned in to each of us taking a turn wearing the black bob wig Linda is wearing in the formal picture above. I think our waiters thought we were one wacky group. When I wore the wig I looked like the mom from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', needless to say I don't have room here to post that photo! (Michael was a good sport and even wore the wig long enough for us to snap photos. He pulled it off really well, he looked like he should have been performing in Spamalot.)

After hours formal night we did some drinking and dancing. In one of the ship's nightclubs. The ship also had a casino that was really nice to Miss Karen.

The shows on board were hit and miss. Unfortunately for me the show I went to was more of a miss, so I didn't go back later in the week.

The ship does have a fun miniature golf course. The course was pretty tricky and the ship is moving, making it even more difficult to sink a putt.

I had a few favorite on-board activities. For some reason I decided we needed to compete in a 3-day super trivia contest. Day 1 was great, Michael, Mel and I teamed up with Doug and Elizabeth. They were young, cute, and competitive. We ended the day in first place. Day 2 of the competition we all enlisted the help of others, our team size grew to unmanageable size and we were subject of many stolen questions. Our competitors were playing tough. Due to the unfortunate events and missed opportunities on Day 2, our team size was considerably smaller on Day 3. Day 3 was looking pretty grim until the Wades answered our first question and rolled the scoring dice for a top score of 6 points. We held strong in Day 3 and ended the competition in a respectable second place.

Gordy, Mel, and I also participated in a ship scavenger hunt (it was billed as an 'Amazing Race' type game - so Mel and I were suckered in and brought Gordy with us on this fool's errand). Our second stop on the hunt was in an on-board restaurant that just happened to be starting a wine tasting. Goodbye scavenger hunt, hello wine tasting. The three of us had a great time learning how to taste wine and trying wines with different food pairings. We decided we were the real winners of the scavenger hunt!

And finally one of my all time favorite ship classes - towel and napkin folding. Who doesn't want to know how to make those great towel animals the steward leaves for you every night?

As fun as it was on the ship, we managed to have a great time in the various ports as well.

Our first stop was Puerto Vallarta.





Mel, Michael, and I went in to port a little behind everyone else but Linda. It was pretty warm, after walking the boardwalk we found a restaurant with an open patio and an ocean view. We had some cold beer and good shrimp and guac. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.





Next stop, Mazatlan.





Here I got off the ship with Gordy and Linda. Mel and Michael enjoyed some quiet time on the ship and everyone else went to a really cool private beach where they rode ATV's and found coconuts. Gordy, Linda, and I took a cab to the shopping district.











We stopped at Sea Shell City and eventually found ourselves at a nice restaurant with an open patio and an ocean view. Again we enjoyed cold beer and margaritas and good food.





And our final port - Cabo San Lucas. This time Michael and I were behind everyone else leaving the ship, but we all managed to meet up. Because of the port size you had to take a tender from the ship to the port, coming back they even let me steer the tender.





Once again we finished our time in port at a restaurant with an open patio and cold beer. The weather in Cabo was perfect, unfortunately we had to leave early - we could have stayed there for hours.

Leaving Cabo I took one of my favorite photos of the trip. I went to the Lido deck and snapped a picture looking down at Gordy and Linda's deck.

It really was a lovely cruise.

Sing us out Jimmy....

These moments we're left with

May you always remember

These moments are shared by few

There's wind in our hair and there's water in our shoes

Honey, it's been a lovely cruise

Beckham, Up Close and Personal

Using natural light, a tripod, and the zoom on his dad's fab camera Michael was able to get these photographs of Beckham.

I love how you can even see his eyelashes.

Mom's Day Tea 2008

Every year we participate in the Soroptomist Mother's Day Tea.

Not only do we enjoy a lovely afternoon tea we get to set up and decorate tables.

This was our year of whimsy - the main table featured Leo the Lion and 6 other carousel animals.





Once again we were able to cut fresh beautiful roses from Jason's house. They looked and smelled amazing - most people didn't think they were real!




We added small bouquets of fresh rosemary, star jasmine, and lavender to the chair backs.




We called our second table 'Jamaica Me Crazy'. We used Jason's tropical plates to set the mood. It was kind of busy - but it seemed to come together. The ladies who sat there loved it, especially the fun plates.




This year everyone had short hair and Mom and I were both in hats.




We have yet to win a prize for our tables, but there is always next year!

The Other Tea Tables

Here are photos of some of the other tables at the tea.

I saw the slideshow on the Wade blog - thanks for the new trick Bex!

Cheesesteak Anyone?

We spent one day of the Waldron visit in Philadelphia. Just a two hour train ride to get to this historic city. Compared to my last visit, in 1993, the downtown historic area was really clean and visitor friendly. While the crown jewels of a traditional visit include Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.

We arrived too late in the day to get tickets to see Independence Hall. Walking through the huge new Visitor Center we pretty much walked right in to the National Constitution Center.

http://www.constitutioncenter.org/

Not only did they have a great special display of baseball memorabilia, they have a fabulous permanent exhibit all about (yes, you guessed it) the Constitution. We spent all afternoon here - there was so much to see and do.

Lot of interactive displays give you a real sense of how the Constitution was developed and how it shapes our nation today.

Hey look - it's the new Waldron $5 bill!

The last exhibit was the 'Hall of Signers' - life size bronze statues of the signers of the Constitution. Did you know only two presidents signed the Constitution? (Madison and Washington). Where was Thomas Jefferson - he was in France doing diplomatic work. Also the average height of a man was just 5'8". Madison was really petite and Washington really stood tall - easy to see why he would be a commanding leader.




Michael speaking to a packed house.



(His dad was just being silly - I didn't get what he was doing at first, but it's pretty funny.)