Crusing and Families - Top of our news

Never a dull moment, at least we try to keep it that way. We took off for the "LONG" 90 minute ride to Port Canaveral. We left enough time for a McDonald's breakfast (having stripped down the fridge of anything that wouldn't last - like milk). We lucked into the coolest McD's! Definitely done in Key West style, here are a few snaps.









We really enjoyed the atmosphere - it's just off Hwy 528 (the old Bee-Line Expressway, now called the Beachline Expressway, I think), exit 9 according to Google Maps.

We parked and then boarded fairly quickly, arriving close to the 1-2pm suggested time. We dropped our bags in our room and went to the atrium for a drink. Not much news there. LOL!

The cruise went about as expected, we had ended up being wait-listed for the Your Time Dining, so we stuck with the 8:15 late seating. Since we never asked for a table size, they seated us by ourselves. We had a nice table and enjoyed watching others and chatting. Great servers, even though we didn't eat there every night.

Stu managed to dive in Cozumel, Belize and Roatan but by the time we got to Costa Maya, the weather had gotten nasty and it was too rough to go to port. So we ended up with another sea day...and I ended up spending 24 hours in bed to stave off the queasies.

The only port I went into was Roatan, managed to snag a couple nice t-shirts for us. Of course we've been to ALL these ports multiple times. I didn't take many photos since we've been to ALL these ports multiple times. LOL! You can see all the photos in our Smug Mug album, as well as other photos from our other cruises.

But I did get a lot of writing done...my new MacBook Air is the perfect solution. (Yes, I sold my Chromebook. While it did work, it was awkward keeping things synced and finding apps that worked for me.)

Remember on our cruise in January when Stu was so kind as to bring me shells WITH LIVE CRABS INSIDE? This time he brought back a rusty pair of bandage scissors he found on the bottom. Knowing they didn't belong there, he brought them back.



And just for fun...Stu said he never knows if he is coming or going.

Here he is going...


And here he is coming...


Before the cruise ended, we picked up a couple of these to share with family who have served.



You can read more about Operation Homefront here.

The rest of our news is about family. We had been on the cruise for one day when we got the news that Stu's brother, Scott, lost his wife in her battle with cancer. This came less than a month after his late wife's daughter losing both her father and her brother.

We made the decision that he when we go things squared away at home, he would head to Maryland for a couple of days to see family. Today he will head out on the motorcycle, please keep him in your thoughts for a safe journey.

To make things worse, I woke up yesterday to a text from my oldest daughter. My grandson, Ryan, her only child, was involved in a bad accident. On his way home late Saturday/early Sunday, he rolled his vehicle. He had a fractured skull, fracture in his temple, 3 broken ribs, a bruised heart, a bruised lung, a pelvis broken in two places and to top things off, he aspirated his vomit on the way to the hospital. He was heavily sedated and due to low blood pressure, not getting any pain medication. He was also on a ventilator.

Thirty or so hours later, the swelling in his head hasn't increased, his blood pressure has come up enough that they can give him pain meds and they hope to wean him off the breathing machine soon. His mother, father and step-mother (and assorted siblings) are there with him in Topeka. I will be on stand-by if I need to go out there.

Time to pull your loved ones close and tell them you love them. Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone.

Ciao for now!