Cruise 2011

Well another adventure for us.

A few months ago I booked us on an Eastern Caribbean Cruise.

Our ports of call were Nassau, of the Bahamas, St. Thomas, of the US Virgin Islands, and St. Martin & St. Maartin of the Antilles.(look up)

We had some great and some stressful times on the cruise.

Our first task waking up at 3am to be at the airport by 5am. We flew down to Charlotte, NC, next onto Orlando Florida, where we waited about a half hour to get a bus to the cruise ship. Finally we got on board the Norwegian Sun. This was our first time on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

We went to our rooms first and then decided to try to find something for lunch. David found rice and such, I found some French fries. HA! We walked around the corner and there was another place to eat. So I tried to eat a hot dog. I believe the bun must have been setting out for a few days. (Just kidding) but it was not fresh.

We looked around the ship for a little bit and then found our room. The first thing I did was step out onto the balcony. Just like our last cruise, breathtaking.

We were off on our journey. First stop Nassau Bahamas. We went to Atlantis. David had been here before, but I hadn’t been so we went in to see it. Spectacular, some of the artwork was absolutely beautiful. The underwater aquarium was also cool, you walked under the fish. So very cool, we almost did not make it back to the ship on time, but with David having long legs, the ship waited for us. Mind you had the ferry boat riders not taken their sweet time to smoke the wacky weed we may have gotten back on time. Moving forward, we rested for awhile, then walked around down on the ship again. We decided to get a Bahama mama as we walked around it was ok but still not as good as Applebee’s back home.

We were at sea/ocean all day Monday and Monday night

So we decided to go see a lecture on art. And then the next day we went to an art auction. We did get a small art piece, but then we decided against it, because we happened to see 2 “Pino’s”, we truly loved. So we now own 2 of these, one of them will fit beautifully in our formal dining room, the other at the top of the stairs. I can’t believe we spent that much, but I guess as the art people say, if you like it and can afford it, buy it you’ll never tire of it.

Our new art pieces are called “Diva” and “Mysterious woman” The way the artist uses the appearance of light without light being shown onto the picture is amazing and it’s all hand done.

Beautiful, spectacular, breathtaking, you name it these pictures are, in a word, “Priceless”

We are now on our way to St. Thomas. We are scheduled to do a Sky ride to Paradise Point. This is where you go up in a tram 8 people per car 6 cars. 3 go up and 3 come down at the same time. The view is totally worth the ride to go to the top. We watched a man dance around on stilts, there were also many young girls dressed up and dancing with him, they were not on stilts. David had rum & coke & I had a drink called the Bushwhacker After drinking almost all of it, I felt tipsy, I’m a total light weight, however they do say if you want to forget the day just drink 2 of those drinks, so maybe it wasn’t me. We ate a little bit, a taco salad and some fries and cheese sticks. About an hour later we were headed back down the mountain. We ended up in a car with 5 women & a man and they had all been drinking since early morning, they were on a different cruise ship, although they were funny. So it was a good trip back down in the tram. We then needed to find our way back to the ship. We could see the ship, we just had no idea where in the world to get a taxi to get back there, I believe we were shell shocked from almost missing the boat in Nassau, so we rushed back to see the Iguana’s sitting on the rocks in front of the ships. It didn’t seem like much of an industry was there, mostly tourism. We puttered around the ship for a bit and then got all dressed up to go to dinner, where our waiter, Alfrefo, no that is not a typo, was absolutely great, we waited for absolutely nothing. Tonight I believe we will request to be seated at his table.

Off to our next port of call, St. Martin & St. Maartin. Yes these are the same island but they are owned by the French and the Dutch, the northern part is French and the southern half is Dutch, it’s split about 60/40. People there learn to speak 3 to 4 languages, French, Dutch, English and another I can’t remember but it’s a broken French language. We got a land tour and we also took an underwater tour, in a mini submarine. It was cool to see a diver get in the water and see the fish swarm around him. He also picked up a sea urchin to show us, it was black with very long spikes. David or I got pictures, which I hope to attach to this, although I always say that and never quite seem to get them on here. I must do better at that.

Once we were finally on our way back to the ship it seemed to take forever. We looked at jewelry and many other things in the shops, we saw a pair of blue diamond ear rings, but they just didn’t look right on me. We went to another shop and found a beautiful pair of blue Topaz ear rings, set in diamonds. They are beautiful in the light. I have only taken them off to sleep.

We are on our way home, it’s a 2 day cruise. There are many activities aboard the ship. David and I attended a comedy show, listened to a Jazz band, listened to a guitar player/singer and listened to a man of 22, play a grand piano, one of many on this ship. I have listened to many people play the piano in my life time, my grandmother toyed with it, my uncle plays wonderfully, my aunt also plays, David and I “Plunk” and try our best to play, but this man was like, wow, chills went down my spine, as they always do when I hear someone play the piano. We heard a group called Sol “Play” they were very good. We also heard some Karaoke singers, 3 of the 4 that we heard were nice. (One was Awful, but we gave him credit for getting up there.) Then we got to see the comedian again. Funny man, he’s been on HBO and MTV’s comedy hour. Buzz Sutherland. Our last day aboard, clothes are packed and ready to go. We tried to enjoy sitting on the deck a few times, unfortunately the people beside us were chimney smokers and it was awful.

We got off the ship first thing in the morning and we headed toward the busses as that’s what we were told would take us to the airport. Well we’re we wrong!!!!!!!!! 10 min of walking quickly to catch a bus that was not even ours. Then somehow no one really knew where we should go. David finally found someone that was pretty sure where to go. We rushed to the other bus, and finally got the correct one. We were both quite warm by this time. Finally a driver got on board, and off we went, only to be pulled back into another parking lot, awaiting people that missed the bus, which would have been fine, except that we sat there another almost half hour and we had a plane to catch. Getting quite frustrated, I called the transfer people and asked them what was up, and why were we sitting in a parking lot when many of the people had planes to catch. The woman was nice and said there was some security issue so the busses were grounded, but that she would call her dispatch and let him know people were in rushes to get to the airport. Within a few minutes she called me back and said the busses were released and we would be on our way. (we were) We got to the airport & what do you know, the bus driver like doesn’t even know where he is going. (have I mentioned my patience level was totally gone at this point) We arrive at the place where we began a week ago. We went into the airport and because of a Major screw up on NCL’s part they checked us in and they screwed up our seats. It was ridiculous. So off we rushed in search of a human. Found one!! Most of the time, that I have had to deal with humans at any airport, they have been well not so very nice. However we must have hit gold, this woman was great, not only did she change our seats to exit rows (best seats on the plane, other than business class) she let us know our plane to Philly was delayed by 15 min and she pre-booked us on a 9pm flight just in case we missed our connection home. Got to our gate, and now we are sitting in Philly and this flight is also delayed by a ½ hour. We hope our limo driver is watching our arrival times.

Our limo driver Rich was watching our arrival and he was right there as we walked out the door. (We love this limo company)

We are home and the kitty and ferrets are happy, now for our next ordeal we have another leak in the roof.. wonderful…. So another story for another day.

Until next time.

~Nancie~

A Charlie Brown Christmas tree

Well to all of our family and friends.
This year we had gotten our tree later than usual, due to trips and, well as we all know, a busy life. Better late than never.
So we got our 7' tree (yay) and a beautiful wreath for the front door. (decorated this year, with a beautiful bow and decorations, thank you David for spoiling us)
So to continue, everyone knows that you have to let the tree "relax" before you decorate it, we of course did, for a few hours. When we began to get everything ready to begin decorations, lo & behold, the bottom was full an beautiful, just the way the ferrets love it to play on, however, right about the middle of the tree it looked as if someone had chopped away all the branches, then an ok top. So I said "I can fill it in with lights and such, it just needs some TLC"
So I began putting on our 300 light string, filling in all the gaps & so on. Being very excited to turn on the lights and see how it looks before putting on garland, and ornaments. So I plug it in and guess what?????????????????, only 1/2 of the lights work. I tried a couple of different lights to see if they would light up, all to no avail. I took off all the lights, all the while, still being cheery, having 2 more sets of lights, we had enough. I plugged them in first to see if they would light. what do you think happened?? No lights. and of course it's too late to go buy any this late at night.
Next day (Sunday) We ran to CVS, because the Sunday before Christmas is not the day you want to go into any big stores, deals or not deals, neither Dave or I like crowds. So we bought this 18 foot string of lights, should have been enough right????? Wrong again. So at this point, I think we both thought we were just going to have an expensive ferret toy.
Back to the store. Wouldn't you know it, they had no more of those lights. So we had to go to a different store. They had many lights. (I got 2 long sets just to be on the safe side.) Finally I had enough lights to go around the whole tree. (Whew) Next garland and decorations. Of course there is one decoration that goes on before the garland and that is David's and my first ornament together, a precious moments one, that says "our first Christmas 2006". David put his Santa clause topper on the tree, and my fiber-optic Angel goes on just below it, symbolizing how we took our 2 households & 2 lives and turned them into one.

Our tree is up and is beautiful, our stockings are hung by the chimney with care.
We wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas.

By all means please comment or let us know what your Christmas set up was.

Christmas In St. Marys

Been awhile since I've blogged, and many things have happened.
For now I just want to tell you about David's and my christmas with Shannon, Braeden, and Justin.
We left of a Wed night, and we drove the new challenger. It ran quite smooth, and we didn't run into any snow, until we hit Scranton, PA. David happened to be driving, when all of a sudden, it was like a white out, we had just missed our exit where we usually stay for the night, so we took the next one, and stayed at a hotel called "The Clarion Inn" All I can tell you is that it was very very nice, and it was cheaper than where we usually stayed, so Hey, now we have a new place to stay.
We got up the next morning, and got on our way. Still no snow, "whew", our luck was still holding.
We drove quite quickly and drove the other 4 hours of the trip. Of course we had to make a pit stop in Dubois, because I had to have lunch at Long John Silvers, and the closet one to us here is about 45 min to an hour away. I smiled when we reached our final destination. We got into the hotel, and I had already gotten 2 messages from Shannon (oldest daughter) asking where we were. I messaged her once we got all the gifts in the room for the 3 of them. Apparently Our Grandson, Braeden, could not wait until to see us. So we just rested a few moments, to regain our bearings again, and we were off again, back into the car and drove the short distance to Shannon's house. We knocked and up the stairs we went. At the bottom of the stairs we were greeted by the dog, "Cloe", and at the top of the stairs, I was greeted with the sweetest smile and the biggest hug ever. It just about brought tears to my eyes.
So since we, David & I, did not want any gifts for Christmas this year, we asked Shannon to cook a home cooked meal for us, and that would be our gift. We had Roast, potatoes, gravy, beans, peas, cream corn, and rolls. EVERYTHING was perfectly delicious.
After dinner, we just sat down to visit, and next thing we know Braeden is bringing over David's present and says "Here Dave, it's a cup" LOL Shannon of course said, "Braeden, your not supposed to tell him what it is", So he then brought over my gift, and said, "here Gramma I'm not allowed to tell you it's a cup." We all just laughed. David and I opened our gifts. Braeden drew pictures to put in the cups. They are awesome. The next day we had brunch with some family, Aunts, Molly & Carol, Cousin Jan, Shannon, Braeden, Justin, niece Crystal & my great niece Pyper.
After Brunch, Braeden wanted to go with David & I, without mommy hanging around. It was the first time she has let us take him, again another milestone. (awesome) that night. (Fri.) we went back to Shannon's house for opening presents and pizza party. fun fun fun..... We had gotten Braeden a cardboard clubhouse, that you color. It was pretty cool, although the adults had more fun coloring than the kids... LOL Someone said that it's because Adults have a sense of finishing the job...Crystal, Shad & Pyper came to visit also.
Saturday Morning was nice, we slept in.... (YAY) We went to visit with my best friend Stacy & her family.
We had dinner, Shepherds Pie & Lasagna, yummy. Then we played the new game Mad Gab. It was sooooooooooooo much fun.. I believe Dave, Shannon & I made the best team. on the last game, Shannon and I guessed 12 of them in 30 seconds. sooooooooooooo much fun.

Sunday morning we hooked up for breakfast with my nephew, Jamie, his girlfriend, and 2 boys.
Nice visit, and we headed off back home. 7 & 1/2 hours later we arrived home. The cat and ferrets were still alive and happy to see us.
Until next time. Post a comment if you wish..
~Nancie~

B'Nai Mitzvah

Before I begin my tales of our weekend to Pittsburgh, I would like to send our heartfelt thanks to Ben, Sam, Jean & Bruce, for inviting us to share in this joyous occasion. We were truly honored.

Our trip began on Sunday morning with the rush of finishing packing and getting all those little things, (ha cards for the kids gifts, almost forgotten on the kitchen table, almost but thank goodness not forgotten) so off we go to get things into the car. David gets out his "to do" list of things not to forget on a trip, and as far as I'm concerned, thank goodness for it, "chargers, laptops, cards, directions, tickets, GPS, Kindle, gum, pens, magazines, passports, important phone numbers, all reservation #'s, Ok I believe we are ready to pack the car. We load up our back packs and of course "the Nancy bag", which for all of you wondering, is the bag which, aside from my tiny purse, carries electronics, my wonderful sony notebook, snacks, (by which David informed me that this is what moms are known for "snacks" ) So we each grab our carry on luggage. and into the car.
I now know my way to our airport, it only took 2 years, tee hee, (again for those of you that know me, I can get lost in a shoebox and need directions to get there) So we are off, we get there and park the car, It then seems like we walked a mile to get back to where most people get dropped off. (foot is still ok at this point thank god for small favors) We get in line and go thru the line quite quickly, although I thought I would get cavity searched when I forgot my cell phone in my pocket. DUH !!! We get through fine, yay again. All the planes seem to be running early, our plane is a full one and all passengers are asked if they would like to check luggage because it's a small plane. We did for the rollaways. Philly was a quick stop and off we went to the next plane, and we were off again, Awesome, so far the trip has been great, not really rushed at all. While David and Dee went to pick up the luggage I went to the rental car place to pick up our car for the weekend. Dodge Callipar I believe, and trust me Never Never again. and We are the family that likes Dodges.. (we have 4 of them) so we set up our nav, and begin the trek to our hotel, which was according to mapquest 45 min from the airport, Great plenty of time to get there and then back for the Shabbat Dinner and the evening worship service. So why didn't anyone tell us that 28 was down to one lane???? Our 45 min drive, took almost 2 hours. UGH!!! Now tired of driving, and hungry because we have not eaten since breakfast, have only 45 min to get dressed, and drive 20 min or so to the Rodef Shalom. Not knowing if we would hit the awful traffic again, and not really knowing at all where we were going, we rushed, and jumped into the car, and off we went, only being about a half hour late for the dinner. "Whew" Saying Hello to everyone, but we made it for Kiddush, and I really hope I used that word correctly. So after this, dinner is served, I honestly do not know what all was there, Chicken, and Mac & Cheese, some potatoes, salads, and many vegetables, all of which was wonderful. (We sat down to eat with some lemonade and water. 2 of my personal favorites, and then we got to visit for a few minutes, with friends, Bonnie & Brian, and With our brother & sister-in law, Suzi, & Don. While getting in line to eat, our cousin Suzan came and talked to us. Everyone has grown up so quickly as we compare notes, of how we haven't seen one another or the kids since Dee was 6ish, so in years, Erin was a baby, still in diapers. and Joe was just getting ready to deliver Chandra. I've now determined I'm getting old and time certainly does not stand still. We ate and while I went to visit with Denny, Joy,Connie, Peggy, Derek, and Little Owen David had some business with work to attend to. Altogether too soon, the dinner ended, and we headed into the service. "Rainbows" I liked that portion of the service. (I did not say so then, but the day I brought Dee home from the hospital there was a rainbow over emporium, or out that direction anyway) So service now over, and now there is ice cream. I thought I would have a nestle crunch but, Dee found a peanut butter Klondike bar, who could resist.... Peggy came to sit with us, as we both said that it has been forever since we have had one of those. Suzi came to sit with us to. I'm not exactly sure who else. But we had a nice chat if only for a few min. Then being exhausted from the day, David, Dee and I said our good nights and good byes for the evening. Departed and got to the hotel to once again change, and relax for a bit. The alarm seemed to go off just as we fell asleep. I can not imagine what Jean & Bruce were going through, they were up earlier than anyone else. and I'm sure in bed the night before, after anyone else. So we were up and had a Mickey D's breakfast, and then off to Rodef Shalom for the Shabbat service, and then the Kiddush Luncheon. This is where we were proud to be a part of Sam and Ben becoming young woman & a young man, as they read from the Tora. When Jean & Bruce stood with each of their children, they were I believe a little nervous, but in those moments when they forgot, they were in front of dozens of friends & family, and they would sneak a look at their children reading from the Torah, They were so proud, and happy, as they should be. After all of this, there was a Kiddush luncheon, and a fountain, of rainbow colored cupcakes. Everything was perfect. but the day is not over yet. Back to the hotel to change and then off to the boy scout camp for food, soda's, chips, and dessert. Games, and Glow styx.. TOTALLY Awesome idea by the way. There were glow rings, glow necklaces, glow glasses, and miniature glow styx. Fun was had by the old, and young, the young had much more fun. So well fed, and fun & games aside. Jean & Bruce decorated the hall with rainbow colored everything, from Napkins to plates to the rice Krispy treats. Flowers in the Vases that Bruce himself made. (beautiful) and of course, a bonfire to cook, what else, S'mores.
I had a wonderful day talking with My family and friends. I would like to thank Bruce, for taking a few moments to talk with me also. I know he had a million little things to do, yet he made time for that and I appreciated it very much. so at the end of the night we were getting ready to go, again tired from the day, My family, Jean, Joy, Peggy, Derek, Denny, Don, Suzi, and Susan, and friends Brian & Bonnie, and my fiance David, Sang happy birthday to me. Jeannie gave me a hug and said thanks for sharing my birthday with the twins. I almost cried. (and I am as I remember it) Thank you to all of you for that, it meant a lot. with all of our good bye's said we were off again to sleep. As this blog is getting quite long, the next day was a morning spent and Panera bread for some breakfast, and saying goodbye to people we love.
Thank you again for some beautiful memories.
Love to all of you..
and until next time.
~Nancie

Happenings

Wow! Well again it has been a long time since I have blogged.. We have had a few busy months..
To catch everyone up since last time.
We have been busy people.. Viper Events, and car shows, and just everyday work and play.

Deanna has a new job of which she really enjoys and it seems like she is almost full time. She is also finally doing well in school.. ( Threats of her life may have had something to do with this.. ha ha)

On her birthday she was on her way to class, and she totaled her car. Luckily we found another neon, it's red instead of blue, and an 05 instead of an 04 but at least she is familiar with it. She was bruised on both eyes, looked a little like a raccoon. Just a week before this she had all 4 of her wisdom teeth taken out. so her lower cheeks were also bruised.. She looked like she got beat up..
'But she was fine.. sore but fine.

David surprised me for our anniversary, and rented a stretch Limo. I was totally shocked, I only knew that we were going out for dinner, I had no idea about anything else. He also surprised me with tickets to see, Joseph and his brothers. It was so very wonderful. On our way there we got to have champagne, another surprise. Now somewhere between where New Hampshire ends and Massachusetts begins, David was on bended knee and with the most beautiful and wonderful words I personally will never forget, Asked me to marry him. I have known since we have been together that someday we would get married, but even knowing this, I cried many happy tears and said yes. He made me a CD with some beautiful songs on it. Some we hummed together and others I sang to him, others we just held each other and knew our love would continue to grow through out the years.

2 weeks later David gave me another gift for my birthday, just early, He had gotten tickets for us to see Wicked. Again wonderful.. absolutely loved it. He again rented a car.. The driver had gotten lost, we missed about 10 min of the show but after we got settled in, it was wonderful.

Everything else has been wonderful.. We have more trips planned over the next couple months.. one to Pittsburgh for a b'nai mitzvah (they are twins a girl and a boy)
Another hopefully to India, and a 3rd to go see the grandson, Braeden, and some other family members if its at all possible.
So I will try to keep everyone posted.. We are living life to the fullest..

Until Next time..
Happy reading.
~Nancie

Rhode Island

It was so fun..We flew my cousin in from PA, for a 2 week visit, for her birthday.
Today was a wonderful event with the Viper club. We went to Rhode Island to visit the Marble House, at the Vanderbilt Estates.
(So much marble.)
21 Vipers, and our new Challenger, went. The drive was nice, a little bumpy along the cobblestone streets, but none the less fun.
The ocean was beautiful as we went to eat lunch, next to the ocean, at the Atlantic Beach Club. Beautiful view of the ocean. The fish here was very good. High marks for the fish and chips.
Pictures along the way were also fun, we were all watching while the guys positioned the cars to take a picture and then of course the group shot.
We were all happy that the Canadians made the trip. their viper was beautiful also. Silver with a snake design on the stripes, very nice.
Any way, today was a great day for a drive. I believe fun was had by all.
we are doing many events the next 2 weeks, and will post again soon.
~N~

All I can say is, "Chipmunk!"

All right guys and girls whom is up for a laugh and a sad story at the same time????

So the brat, aka, Deanna, goes out to the car to run to the store and buy a few groceries, no big deal right?, Well she starts the car, and within like 2 minutes she comes back in the house and says, "Daddy I think there might be something wrong with my brakes" and then says "it's hard to steer" (Trust me I couldn't believe that one either) So aside from that, David goes out to look at the car, opens the hood, and you will never ever guess, A chipmunk scampered up into her engine and well, lets say the "serpentine" belt and the chipmunk had words and the chipmunk lost, but not without a fight, and it literally knocked off the whole belt, and passed away peacefully, laughing how he got the belt..ha ha.. (r.i.p. little chippy) So David and I are trying to figure out if we can fix this in the driveway, so I get a blanket and lay on the ground under the car but we didn't really have the correct tools to fix it, and gee we just let triple AAA run out because in 2 years we have never once needed it, (Joke was on us) anyway, When I went to get up, I sat up and almost stepped on this dead chipmunk, Scared the snot right out of me, (guess I won't have a runny nose for awhile), I thought the brat, aka, Dee, threw it in the woods. Oh well Live and learn.
Needless to say We made a quick call to the shop down the street and the fixed it within a 1/2 hour. (amazing how a 1/2 hour costs so much) and then on top of that, they left David ALONE in the parts department, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?????????
Sooo not only did they come home with the car fixed, David comes home with the best of the best air filter for his truck, When will I learn I can't let him go into places alone.. LOL.. like I could ever stop him.

So the car is fixed, but because Dee killed one of the chipmunks under the hood of the Neon, she lost about 5 horsepower. :-)

Enjoy. Until next time ...
~Nancie~