December 2009 Fun With Family

What better way to celebrate fun then with family on a Carnival Cruise Ship in December.Our time began the first part of December,taking the girls out of school for almost a week and ahalf,packing our bags and saying arividercy to our cold,winter weather.The girls naturally were totally excited to finally see our morning arrive after much anticipation from many months earlier.Annette,Earl and their girls arrived about nine in the morning to find me trying to figure out how to possible downsize on our stuff located all over the living room.Here, Chuck will do without maybe a couple pair of jeans maybe a few less underwear,maybe two less dress jackets ect............ He came in with Annette and I standing over his belongings,beginning to get rid of many items with frustration in his eyes.Oh no you don't! Oh yes I will! Oh no you don't ! Who won out you ask?Tug a war began.It's a woman thing ya know.Our first response is to check out the other person's belongings before we begin on our own.While this was going on in the living room,Earl was outside with all of their luggage,cooler and items the girls would be using to keep themselves from getting bored,scattered around the van.Annette had looked all around and summed up the situation and was attempting to help.She was doing her best to help her mom so that the items could all get hauled out to the van and add to everything else.Chuck was horrified at the possible outcome.What would become of his situation?Stay tuned for the outcome.

I had already twice went through RuthAnn's belongings for possible leave behinds and found nothing more could be subtracted.After Chuck went back out to the van I did look through my items once again.I took out a few more items and Annette and I proceeded to zip up the luggage, garment bag and begin tugging our heavy luggage out to the dining room to be weighed on the human scale.They felt to me like they were way over weight but seemed to be ok.I did have a sudden urge to run back for the items we had left out but kicked the urge in the butt.The men hauled everything outside to be placed with the rest of the items and stood there summing up what needed to be done.Annette and I walked out feeling successful in getting closer to getting in and driving out of the driveway.I stood their looking all around at everything with horror in my eyes.I wish I had taken a before and after picture of everything surrounding the van and all of our faces with horror in our eyes at what needed to be done.Icame up with the idea of putting luggage down on the floor with a blanket over them under our feet for foot rests.Noone wanted to go with that idea so we continued to mull it over in our heads.We all stood there having a rerun of what went on in our living room just minutes before.The back end of the van got piled up high enough only a small area was left for the driver's vision and everyone was strongly advised not to open up the back door until we were down in Florida at our hotel.Both large coolers stayed out and the cases of pop got pushed under seats or stuffed where there was loose space.We were able to put two suitcases in our stow and go in the middle and stacked items up on the one side that normally would be kept empty for everyone getting in and out from inside the middle and back seat.We had a small dvd movie player,the girls had their ipods,they all had ear phones,Annette had her laptop computer,our gps and books,color books and crayons.Paper towels,hand sanitizer wipes,ziplock bags ect.Chuck and I had gone to Radio Shack and picked many different adapters,and plugs and extention cords to be able to use both items with adapter ends or where you could also plug in regular house hold cord ends into it.The adapter for the dvd player actually had a way for three adapter plugs to be plugged in so that three could use ear phones at the same time.There were rechargeable units in case rechargeable batteries died while in the van.We were set.Everyone got in the van minus Earl who was moving their van into the driveway up next to the garage for the duration.In our 2007 Dodge Grand Caravan Earl climbed,with smiles all around we backed out and began our all night trip to Florida.

The girls each had a perscription pill container filled with five dollars in quarters for power leverage over behavior problems that could surface.As needed whether it was Annette or I,would let the person know they would have to fork over so many coins to us and lose them permanently.When we got down to the hotel whatever they still had they could keep and enjoy using for their enjoyment.Did it work?Yes it sure did!Our gps worked wonders getting us down there with one exception.It was very early the next morning,very dark out,high in the mountains,we came upon a deteor sign.We proceeded to take the advised route only to realize something wasn't looking quite right after driving for alittle bit.Needless to say everyone was very,very tired by then.We turned around and proceeded to turn around and begin back tracking.After a bit we all realized we were in trouble so we stopped at a small camp area on the side of what looked like a beautiful mountain river that white water rafting could be done.We pulled into a gas station that was closed except for the two pumps that could be used if a debit card was given.Yep we needed gas especially if we did much more driving around in circles.Do you know what happened next while we were all trying to decide what we should do?A guardian angel pulled up in his car,rolled down his window and proceeded to ask if he could help us.Right now remembering the moment a few tears threaten to roll down my cheeks.Wowwwwwwwwwww!Isn't the Lord wonderful?He was an older man in maybe his upper seventies who had lived in the area for around 20 or 30 years and had been doing lots of helping people find their way just like us at that moment.He told us to disregard our gps and just do as he said.He kept telling Earl and I we didn't need to write it down because it was simple .Of course Earl and I knew better then not to write it down.We said our heart felt thankyous and pulled out in the direction he said to go.We did find our way out of our problem and finally came upon the road that led us down the mountain.Even though everyone was dead tired and weary from road travel by then,everyone stayed calm,cool and collected.Thankyou Lord.Are their gaurdian angels?Yes there are! We pulled into the Casalablanca Hotel in Miami around about 5:30 pm.Upon checking in,we were asked to take all of our belongings out of the van.Everything we asked? Yes,everything had to be taken out before they would park it.We all looked at each other with horror again.Oh well,what could we do but do as they asked of us.

What a beautiful welcoming sight.As we walked out the back of the hotel,through the pool area and across the walk through onto the beach my breath caught in my throat.Oh how beautiful,the two toned blue,warm ocean water looked and felt to the feet.I stood there taking it all in saying thankyou Lord,thankyou.I couldn't believe we were finally all here standing in the sandy warm ocean water.The water seemed to stretch on and on and on.The water was so warm,not like Lake Michigan at all.Are we really here Lord?We had waited so long before we could begin our journey and here we were.What fun we would have,all of us.We were missing two people though.Bryan and Dan stayed behind because of work and finance.The pool was enjoyed later on and then we walked out and down the road to order take out pizza for back in our rooms.The girls had one room and Annette,Earl,Chuck and I had the other room.We had the whole next day to enjoy looking for beach shells ,pool and then shopping which Annette and I really enjoyed.We found a specialty,discounted clothing shop for us in which we each bought a few items and then went over to yes Walmart.Lunch at a place Hannah and Sarah wanted and then back to the hotel for more fun and once again pizza down the street for back in the room.