This is One BIG Ship

This is one BIG Ship!

You can read about everything that is on the ship but you cant really start to understand exactly how big it is until...

you are pulling up to it at the dock and see that it has a pier area all by itself, then you actuall see it, then you see how many people are getting on with you and then...

well you have to give Royal Caribbean credit because the embarkation was sooooo smooth! We had no idea that we were on board with 5200 other people.

We signed our papers , proved it was us, took a picture and then went down the gang plank. People with kids went to the left (where each family group was given walkie talkies and the kids were wrist banded according to their age group) we went to the right and then ..OMG!!! We found ourselves right in the middle of the promenade and that was truly amazing ...and we realized "We were not in Kansas anymore"

We found our cabin (more about that later) and then we went out and started to walk.... I have no idea where we went but we walked and walked and walked and walked a little more.

2 laps of deck 5 is a mile,

we found Central Park,

Boardwalk, the carousel,

we found the sports deck with miniature golf, zip line, flow riders, full basketball court, rock climbing walls and who knows what else.... but we will find it.

bon voyage

I am not sure if it was because we were so busy getting things done once we got on board or because they want to distract you from the actual exit process...But we were in the room putting things away when Barry said "hey Ren I think we are moving" and my

response was "no they didn't tell us to go on deck" but yes we were moving ....so I grab bed a camera and we went out somewhere. I am not sure where but we joined in the crowd and wow!

There was a parade on the promenade and well I guess the pictures will show you a portion of what was going on but the best part was that they (every other crew person not in the parade) shot off confetti canons at the end of the parade and there was a of confetti and it was great...if this is just the beginning then it is going to be a great cruise!

3 hours till we board

However in between landing yesterday and getting on the ship we have not been sitting around doing nothing.

First we went and got some postcards....you know who you are and if you should be looking out and then went and had a glass of wine, wrote postcards, and waited for Morgan to get here,

Morgan was here by 8:15 we had dinner and just caught up. It was a really nice evening but it was way to long of a drive so she spent the night. We had breakfast and as I type she is on her way back home so she can work tonight.

Morgan thanks for coming down

So that brings us up to date our bags are packed and now we wait.....

he is singing and changing the words

.

Our First Empty Nest Adventure

I know I know I have been saying that we are practicing for so long but now the real thing is here we (just Bear and me) are off. Well actually right now we are sitting (arrived at 6:45 am for a 10:00 flight) at LAX waiting for a Virgin America (quickly becoming my new favorite airline) flight to Ft Lauderdale where we will have dinner with Morgan and then tomorrow we will board the Oasis of the Sea the largest ship in the world.

For the last week everyone has been asking me if I am excited and the answer has been not yet...and even as late as last night when I was packing but then Barry was channel surfing and came across National Geographic Man Made and the data line said it was suppose to be something made in Dubai but it wasn't it was a show about the Worlds Largest Cruise Ship (it will be on again Nov 11) and I was watching and packing and packing and watching and all of a sudden I was starting to get excited.

First it was very exciting to see how this ship came to be... but then to actually see it happen and to find out that on the day we get back into port Nov 13 it will be 1 year since The Oasis of the Sea first arrived at Ft Lauderdale.

So now I am excited and there is nothing to do but wait.... in an hour and a half we will board the plane and in a little more than 24 hours we will get on the boat.... until then I will try to catch up on some of my old entries that are still in draft status.

One Last Wave and we are Empty Nester

and with that wave we officially became Empty Nester's...

So it was just 4 short years ago when I started this blog...because everyone was moving on with their lives and away from the house...

and it was 4 short years ago when Sam also made this trek to Israel but it is amazing how much can change in just 4 years... but that is all backwards not forwards

so in the very early morning on Aug 30th we (The Alfasso's and us) excorted these two beauties to LAX where we met up with 8 others who were also about the start the experience of a lifetime.

Nativ 30 a year in Israel one semester at Hebrew University and then one semester in Ber' Sheva (for Ash) or on a Kibbutz (for Matt).

so here we are....my last one is off and now Barry and I are on our own learning how to cook smaller meals, not have to worry about car pools, I don't have to sign any paperwork...how strange it is to move to this next stage in our life.....so I will need to spend less time face booking and more time blogging because there are no excuses.

off to the River...

So my face book profile reads ...Wishing you a shabbos full of everything wonderful from the south fork of the American River...Ruach no problem....rest???? that will be a whole other issue. Remember the power of the cyber hug. Shabbat Shalom

yes we are off again year 3 at the American River it is becoming a really nice tradition...same time every year (the first weekend of August) the same place (Camp Lotus) and the same people o.k. some of the same people.

The first year it is was just
The Bear and Me and his Rotary Club.

Year two was The Bear and Me and some of RGEB.

This year we finally have a kid going with us....

and that kid would be Morgan.
Now it's a 7 1/2 hour ride where
The Bear usually does the

driving ...
I do the navigating and computing,
face booking or blogging
and Morgan does the

sleeping.

time....

I am amazed at how fast it seems to go
no matter how hard I try to post on a regular basis
a week or two or a month or two just zip right by
and I have posted nothing
so here we go again...I have so many old posts to finish
and so many yet to be started.
I started this blog almost 4 years ago
as my oldest daughter left for Portland
and my middle daughter left for her first year of study in Israel
Daughter #4 was on her way back to Florida
and it left the Last Daughter with me she was now an only child.

So now we are 4 years later sometimes I have been really good about blogging and sometimes I have not but now my last kid is off to Israel to study and I have to get back into some good habits and blog on a regular basis.

so lets see if I can do better