The Best Part of Having A Fall Birthday!!

Erin had her 9th birthday this week and it was lots of fun. Hannah and her friend Sarah made up a new twist on "Pin The Tail on the Donkey" game. It involved lipstick and a frog and is called "Can You Turn This Frog Into a Prince?". The girls had a lot of fun playing, especially because it involved wearing lipstick. They also enjoyed the fall weather and playing in the leaves.

This morning I took Sam to the Salvation Army store to buy items for his halloween costume. He is being a little vague, but we suspect he is either going to be Michael Jackson, or one of the zombies from the video "Thriller". He bought a suit coat, a white shirt, and very high platform boots. I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

I am adding the link to the travel agent for the cruise in case anyone wants it. Nothing new to report at this time, but am happy that so many are really thinking about going. Again, the travel agent is Tenenbaum's Travel and the website is under the link for the cruise line. The agent I am working with is Joanne.

A Call From The Wild

This week was Sam's birthday and he chose "Smokey Bones" as his birthday dinner choice. When we ordered the cake from the restaurant they seemed puzzled that we wanted a whole cake. When they brought it to the table we knew why - it was huge. We managed to eat about 1/16 of the cake and had to take the rest home. It was served a second time at Sam's party on Saturday and a third time at Sunday dinner. There is still almost half left. I have to say that although it is ridiculously huge, it is also scrumptious.

I have been thinking a lot about Katelyn the last couple of weeks and wondering how she is doing with her Outward Bound experience. Well, I spoke with Jillian this morning and she received a phone call from Katelyn and all is well and she is loving the experience. We have had no contact with her since she left for North Carolina on September 15. I really admire her for doing this and am happy that she is enjoying it. I don't know how I would do in the wild for 50 days. I think a Mediterranean Luxury Cruise is more up my alley.

With that nice segue into the cruise topic, I wanted to mention the email that Cindy sent regarding her plan to finance the cruise. I shared the email with everyone - I found it interesting that giving up a few things can earn enough money to finance the trip. The cruise sounds less expensive when you look at it that way.

Took The Big Step

Cindy and I both booked the cruise yesterday! I decided on the spur of the moment to find another travel agent to work with. I went to the yellow pages and found one that specializes in cruises. I think I hit the jackpot!! I stopped in just to check it out and loved Joanne right from the beginning. She has sailed on the Norwegian Jade and began by telling me the best places on the ship to book a stateroom. I had read in a travel book I bought several months ago that location on the ship was important, but didn't know where to begin. I was struggling with having any faith in the agent I had been working with; it seemed to me I was doing all the research and sharing the information with her.

Joanne encouraged me to stay a night in Barcelona before flying home. I was easy to convince, especially after just seeing "Vicky, Christina Barcelona". Mary Jane and I saw it at the film festival and thought maybe we would run into Javier Bardem there and he would invite us to his place in Oviedo for some casual sex. It's not impossible!!!!

For those of you who are truly planning to join me on this adventure when you book it will be a $400 deposit with the rest due in August of 2009. That gives me almost a year to save. If anyone is interested the travel agent I am now using is Joanne Schall with Tenenbaum's Travel in Kingston, PA. 570-288-8747, email joanne@tentrip.com. Their website is www.tenenbaums.com.

One of the annoyances of traveling, in my book, is having to go through immigration every time you hit a new country. I found out that on cruises the cruise line takes care of that and you don't have to go through immigration at every stop. Another benefit to cruises.