Cruisin'~~A WONDERful trip!

We went on a Disney four-day cruise in the Caribbean this week. Talk about FUN (except for Bryan getting seasick--Sunday night was rough and it caught up to Bryan on Monday night). We had a "kids sail free" deal.

Here are some favorite shots of the trip:

Here we are in Nassau, Bahamas. We found the Straw Market and got a couple of things..Luci's little purse, and a little Conga drum for JT (would you please quit playing that, JT?!). That's our ship, the Disney Wonder, in the background. Luci was thirsty at this point, and tired of walking. Can you tell?

Since I'm taking the photo, I am not in the shot...and I have the right to not show myself. So there.







It really is a lovely ship. There are art deco touches all through it, but it's modern, too. A classic look to the ship.

On deck 10, looking out over Nassau.

At Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. Gorgeous there! This was taken around 11 am. There was a breeze, and about 80* weather. It felt wonderful! The water felt cold, though, until you got used to it. After lunch this lagoon had more families in it, but before lunch we pretty much had the water to ourselves. John, JT and Luci are on the inner tubes and Bryan is sitting next to me on the sand. He wasn't feeling too well after his night of sea-sickness.

Bryan with Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. That shipwreck in the background is the very one used in some of the scenes in the Pirates movies. Too cool!

I do hope Captain Jack was not giving Bryan pointers on how to deal with the ladies....

John and JT took a bike-ride around the island. This was at one of the view points along the way.

Luci did not feel like riding. She rested after lunch. She's in there somewhere!

We had a different towel-animal in our cabin every night.

Luci tried her own hand at this craft. Here she is with her very own creation, made with her napkin.

Are you ready for this?

"I made a bar of soap!"

Gluten-free bread just for JT! It was delicious. The basket started out much fuller. This was after we all had a sample.

Some of my favorite shots:

Luci on our veranda, on Deck 8. We had just left port and headed out to sea the first night.

And two shots from Castaway Cay. I can't decide which I like the best. Mom, do you recognize the hat you gave me? Luci used it that afternoon, and I had to arm-wrestle her to get it back.

I think I like this second shot best.

Stuart Little opened a BIG discussion

Stuart Little...do you remember that book? The movie was a big hit when it came out ten years ago.

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Luci and I watched it a few days ago. It wasn't until we were into it for several minutes that it dawned on me that this is a movie about adoption. (I'm a slow-rememberer!) Tuesday I was all set to take a nap, not be a psycho-therapist.

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After this past year of helping Luci live with the knowledge of her being given up, and finding her way here, and wondering why Daddy wasn't home, I really didn't want to go through a big movie all about adoption/abandonment and the birth-family coming back for the child.

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But it was better to do this with her in my lap than while driving down the road as the kids watch it on the DVD machine in the van. I was able to read her expressions and speak up when needed.

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For those of you who don't know this movie (which started out as a book by EB White), it is about a mouse who is adopted by a human family. The big brother does not accept him right away, the family cat tries to eat him, well-meaning but clue-less family members bring gifts that are definitely not appropriate (like a bowling ball!), and his original family comes to take him back.

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Wow, that scene of the mother and father mouse showing up at the door really frightened Luci.

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She totally understood what they were doing: taking Stuart away from the family that loved him and wanted him desperately.

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Luci begged to turn off the movie. Pleaded. Cried.

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I wouldn't let her stop watching.

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"This has a happy ending, and I want you to see it."

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Turns out the "real" family were not his family at all.

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And during the whole thing, she told me how her own big brothers love her, and have always accepted her (unlike George, Stuart's brother, who took some time to warm up to Stuart) even though sometimes she drives them nuts and vice-versa.

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I reassured her that if anyone came to our door claiming to be her real family, that we would never let them take her away.

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"Even if it's my real China Mommy and Daddy, don't let them take me!"

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I promise! They can live close by and visit whenever you want, but you will always live here with us. They can even live in our basement! But you will be here with Daddy and me.

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As long as she wants to.

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Forever.

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Always.

New Addition to the House...well, sort of

Plans were drawn up today for Luci's playhouse/tree house. John did the main work but Luci added what she sees as an important part. She says this is a No JT Zone "because he will play too rough and break it up."

Then they went scouting for a tree...
and marked it, Luci-style.

McWane Science Center

JT, Luci and I spent Friday at McWane Science Center. It's always a lot of fun, and this trip was even better with a homeschool friend. Jae and her daughter met us there and we had a ball.

We also got to meet Curious George!




Jae's daughter, Mamie. She and Luci are becoming good friends.


Notice the NOSE.
You can't see me!
When we got home, there were two more Princesses to play with! Fun day from start to finish.

Blast from the Past

This is especially for my family. When we moved back to the States from Japan, we landed in California. Of course Disneyland was on the list of things to do. So, here's a link to a 1960 Disneyland souvenir booklet. It is probably identical to the one my parents got while there in spring 1961.

Disneyland Souvenir Booklet

Check out the links at the bottom of that page to see the entire booklet.

Icy!

See? It truly was cold here. We did have snow. Just not much snow. We also had ice. This is a shot of Shoals Creek at Happy Hollow Bridge, on Sunday. The entire surface is covered with ice. Unreal!

John has some competition

...for Luci's heart, that is.
Today we saw our favorite six-year-old boy at church.

Mr. C.

Mr. C and Luci have been planning to get married for about 2 years now. Seriously. His parents and I don't encourage this, we just listen to the talk and try to calm it down when it comes up. Part of me thinks this is so handy, getting it all planned now. Both sets of parents live here, so chances are very good that they would live in our town when they are grown up. Sounds good to me. Besides, Luci says that "after the honeymoon--you are taking us on a picnic, Mommy--you can take Mr. C home to his house and then bring me home."

Today Mr. C came up to Luci and gave her a big hug. She just stood there, with her arms at her sides. I told Mr. C, "that is enough hugging."

His response?

"I just want to give her a little sugar."

Whoa, boy! Your Daddy told you you couldn't kiss until you were 25!

"It's just on the top of her head."

Smooch!

You know your daughter is being raised in a house with boys when...

...when she yells, INCOMING! whenever she throws something.

...and that the boys like space movies...

...when she says, TRANSPORT! when moving her baby dolls from one place to another.

Here is one of those boy-types who teach her that stuff.

Some Books

Since weathermen around here start saying "SNOW" as early as possible (i.e., about 6 days before it might, perhaps happen) I had plenty of time to get to the library and check out some picture books about the cold stuff. One of the favorites is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, illustrated by Susan Jeffers. A really beautiful book.

We didn't get much snow, but what we did get made a nice transformation. The back yard:

and our road. This kind of iciness made for 2 days of missed school for the area kids.

Snow Day!

This really should be called "Almost Snow Day." Schools in all of north Alabama were shut down for today, and some for tomorrow. All because one inch of snow was predicted. Yes, ONE INCH. We have maybe, just maybe, one-third of an inch at our house.

Just enough to make a snow angel that shows up. So JT and Luci bundled up and went outside.

After a little while, I heard this soft tapping on the back door. Now, don't look at the dirty door. We have kids, after all, and they touch things. But can you see the pink thing at the bottom right of the door? That is Luci, and she wanted in. All I could see was the top of her head. Her gloved hands could not turn the knob.


Here's how a clever young man gets enough snow together to make a snowball:



And then he tosses it for joy!

It's Really Over!

Luci and I made this long chain, draping it around the dining room (which is also our school room, as you can see from the posters on the wall). One link for every day John was gone.

There were 179 links by the time John came home on December 23rd.

I wondered just how long we'd need to keep this chain up. It ran around the dining room and was a pretty, but in-the-way decoration. I followed Luci's lead on this, on just when to take it down. We've dealt with her fear of abandonment all through John's deployment. This was definitely Luci's chain of remembrance, of counting, of longing. So it was up to her to take it down.

I was surprised Saturday morning when Luci said it was time to take the chain down. She wanted to burn it, the way John and the boys burn boxes, as a way to say, "Good Riddance," to a difficult time in her life.

So that's what John and Luci did Saturday morning.

My Daddy is home forever!

Happy New Year!

Our rural fire departments have fireworks sales for fundraisers. Which seems kind of silly to me--they use funds raised to put out fires caused by fireworks. Or, I guess you could see it as making sure their jobs are needed? Still silly, because they are volunteers.

Anyhow, the boys, since they are boys, like getting fireworks. When John is on his trips, I don't buy anything fun (according to the boys) because I am "Safety Susie." This year they made up for last New Year's Eve and last 4th of July. It rained yesterday, and wind was very low, so fire danger was low, and up went the rockets.

There were quite a few rockets that exploded overhead and some bottle rockets that whistled enough to scare most dogs in our area (and one 5 year old who lives at this address). Since I am still figuring out my camera, I did not get good shots of the fireworks or bottle rockets.

Here is what I did manage to shoot:

and my favorite: