Dr. Jekyll, Katie Cat

Thursday afternoon, Bill came home early with a migraine. It intensified as the afternoon went on. He started out on the floor of the family room, then moved downstairs where he lay face-down in the kitchenette area. I knew he was miserable, so I did my best to keep the kids quiet and out of his way. Around the time I fed the boys dinner, Bill finally felt well enough to go upstairs and climb into bed, where he was able to sleep for awhile. 

Some time after dinner, I went upstairs to fold laundry. Bill was sound asleep, and Katie was sitting with him, keeping a protective eye on him. I took a picture, it was such a cute moment. 

Then night fell. Good Katie was transformed into Naughty Katie. I have had a bad cold for over a week now. I have a cough that makes me sound like an eighty-year-old chain smoker. Bill has been sleeping on a spare mattress in the office so he isn't disturbed by my hacking. This meant he was able to miss out on what happened next. 

Around 3:30 in the morning, I was sound asleep, actually not coughing at the moment. Suddenly, Katie used my head as a landing pad. My guess is she tried to jump up in the transom window over our bed. She got up there, discovered the blind was down and she had no ledge to sit on, so she came right back down and landed on me. This scared her (and me!), so she jumped over to my nightstand, knocked off half the stuff on it, then took off running. 

So here I am. It's the middle of the night, I'm bleeding, there's a mess on my floor, and I can't even see what is going on, because Katie had knocked my glasses down. I had to find those first before I could deal with the mess and my face. It took me a long time to fall back asleep. 

All day Friday, my face hurt. It wasn't really the scratches that bothered me. It was the bruising from the weight of a full grown cat crash-landing on my head. 

She sure is lucky we love her. 

Green Acres

Earlier this week, shortly after I picked up the boys from the bus, I noticed the light to the basement was on. I flipped it off and went about my afternoon. The next day, I noticed it was on again. This time, I thought it was a little strange. The boys rarely go downstairs and Bill was still at work. Again, I turned the light off. 

On Friday afternoon, I noticed the light was on AGAIN. By this point, I was getting frustrated. Who was doing this and why?? I marched over to the stairs to turn the light off and then heard Sam coming up the stairs. He was very excited. 

About a week and a half ago, Bill and Sam planted some seeds indoors to get their summer garden started. Bill put the tray on the window sill in the basement bedroom, to protect the plants from the cats. Sam had been going down there every day to check his plants. On Friday, he was overjoyed to see the lettuce was coming up. 

I love his enthusiasm and the fact that he and Bill can do this together. Now, I just need to train them to turn off the lights when they are done. 

Bad choice of a towel rack

To my dear son Sam,

While I appreciate your attempts to hang up your towel after showering, I feel like draping it across the open toilet seat may not have been the wisest choice. It is true that no parts of the towel had actually fallen into the toilet, but you and your brothers have rather 'suspect' aim at times and I cannot guarantee the state of cleanliness of the rim of the toilet. 

Therefore, I have taken the liberty to wash and dry your towel and hang it back up on its proper spot on the towel rack. I also cleaned the toilet for the 12th time this week. 

I love you. Even when you're gross. 

Mom

That's gonna leave a mark...

This morning, while Nolan was getting dressed, he had a not-so-fresh feeling.  I have a container of kid-friendly, flushable wipes for just such a situation.  However, the container was empty.  I had more wipes in the refill baggie, but Nolan can't pull that packaging open (still doesn't have the best fine motor strength).  Rather than ask me for help, or his dad, or his brothers, or even his cousins (Clark and Miles are visiting this weekend), Nolan opted to use a product in a container he could open.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes.

He used one of those on his body.  Nolan has sensitive skin.  So if Nolan happens to mention getting a rash in a rather unlikely location, well, that's why.

Facts about the Eurodam

Today was another at-sea day.  Bill and I went to a one-hour Question and Answer session this afternoon with the ship Captain, the Chief Engineer, and the Hotel Director.  It was really quite interesting, and the three men had great senses of humor.  One question, for example, had to do with the leftover food.  The chief engineer said all unused food, and any food that had been on the buffet for more than four hours was carefully packaged up into 3 large containers and given to a company called Royal Caribbean.  That brought howls of laughter from the audience.

Bill and I looked around at the crowd and noticed it was mostly the older guests that attended the Q & A.  I know without a doubt, though, that my boys would have enjoyed the session and probably would have been very unhappy that each person could ask a maximum of one question, and they ran out of time for everyone's questions.  Here is some of what we learned:

**The ship gets 62 feet per gallon.  That sounds horrible (and amusing) until you consider that the ship is generating power to move it forward, electricity, heat, air conditioning, and it's making its own water.  And 2900 people (including crew) are on board.  So maybe 62 feet per gallon isn't so bad.

**The ship can stop in as little as 400 meters.  It can stop in 3 ways, by 'slamming on the brakes', by slowing and then reversing the azipods (sort of like propellers) or by turning in a large circle. If I recall correctly, doing a large circle was actually the most efficient way of stopping in a hurry.

**The ship must go in to dry-dock for repairs and maintenance twice every five years. It may not be at sea for more than 3 years without being in dry-dock.  The Eurodam was just in dry-dock in December 2013.

**The ship captains work in 3-month shifts.  They work for 3 straight months, then go home for 3 months.  Every 2-3 years, they change to a new vessel.

**The majority of the crew works a 10-month contract.  So they work for 10 straight months, then go home and have a few months off before they sign a new contract and start all over again.

**The crew (not the officers) are all from Indonesia and the Philippines.  Holland America has training schools in Jakarta and Manila.  The more training and education you have, the better position you have.  Eric, who is the host of the dining room, is very polite and well-spoken.  He told me he has been with Holland America for 13 years.  He and I get along well.

**The crew is all unionized.  That makes perfect sense because it means that Holland America doesn't have to hire each staff member one by one.  That isn't practical when there are 800 staff on board.

**The Eurodam has its own gym/fitness center for just the crew to use  It's called DAM Fit.  Haha!

**The ship distills sea water into water that is potable right onboard the ship.  It also cleans gray water before putting it back in the ocean.  There is a sewage treatment plant on board for the black water.

**A new engine/generator has just been installed on Deck 10.  It is being tested and approved for use this very week.  Its sole purpose is to be an emergency backup in case something catastrophic happens in the engine room.  So the Eurodam will NEVER be in a position where it has no power, water, toilet facilities, etc.  Carnival owns Holland America and Carnival is learning from its past mistakes and the mistakes of other cruise lines.

**Holland America has just started construction on its newest vessel.  It will be just slightly larger than the Eurodam (which is currently its largest ship) and will hold a few hundred more people.  Information is still being released regarding the new ship, and it hasn't even been named yet.  It was just announced today that the new ship will have a Dutch restaurant on board. Bill muttered that he hoped its focus would be desserts only.

Tomorrow is our last full day on board.  We will be in Key West, so I have promised to call home and see how the boys are doing.  I can tell you I am very ready to see my kids and sleep in my own bed, but I will dearly miss cruising.  But I know we will be back.  We put down a deposit on our next cruise today.  And we have 4 years to figure out when that next cruise will be!

Notice the radar in the lower picture.  It says 'Sam'.  We don't know what that stands for, but we knew our Sam would be proud.

Cayman Islands

Today was another first for us.  We spent the day in Grand Cayman, which is part of the British West Indies.  Like our earlier stops, this country was also breathtakingly beautiful, but in almost every other way, it was very different from Jamaica.  For one, the island is almost perfectly flat...no hills at all.  This hasn't helped them during hurricane season.  Jamaica's hilly terrain helps protect it from the worst of the damage, but the Cayman Islands have sustained several direct hits over the years.  But the country is fairly wealthy, so they just keep rebuilding everything.  Our tour guide today told us that their top two industries are tourism and banking.  They have over 200 banks in the country, but only six are public banks.  He said they call the rest 'washing machine' banks....think about it.  We laughed.

The island was full of resorts and spectacular homes.  I felt like I was in an episode of 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'.  Everything was so beautiful, and so out of my league.

Traffic was heavy and the cars seemed oblivious to this.  They just plow ahead and you'd better get out of the way. And since they are a British territory, they drive on the wrong side of the road.  I found myself holding my breath the first time we went through a traffic circle backwards.  They don't have 'Yield' signs. Their signs say 'Give Way'.  To me, that sounds more like a vague suggestion than an actual traffic sign.

We went on an boating excursion that was a two-part trip.  Our first stop was out on a sand bar, in an area the locals call Stingray City.  We were a few miles from shore, but the water was so shallow, it was only chest-deep.  There are stingrays everywhere here.  And they are huge!  Everyone in our group had our pictures taken up close with a stingray (by a photographer employed by the boating company), then we were given pieces of calamari to feed to the rays.  Some of the largest females weigh well over 100 pounds.  When one of those decides you have calamari and they want it, they can knock you over.  Bill had gotten back in our boat and was taking pictures of me, attempting to feed the stingrays.  Watching me get shoved around by overly excited stingrays was apparently quite comical to him.

Our second stop was snorkeling in a coral reef.  This was not my first experience snorkeling, but I think it was the best trip I've had.  We saw so many different types of fish!  Some of them were so brightly colored!  Our boat crew was attracting even more fish to our area by throwing calamari in the water.  Somehow, they managed to smack me in the head with a piece.  I had no idea snorkeling was a contact sport.

We were so pleased with our photos that we wound up buying them.  I have them on a CD, and I'll put some of the pictures on this post once I get home.

We've decided that we enjoyed Grand Cayman MUCH more than Jamaica and Cozumel, and a little more than San Juan.  Saint Thomas is still our favorite port of call.  I think we'll be returning to the Eastern Caribbean on our next cruise.

Jamaican Me Crazy...

We crossed off another county on our bucket list today.  And honestly, I'm not sure I'd hurry back to Jamaica.  Our excursion was nice enough.  We toured the Green Grotto Caves.  I saw enough bats to last me for the rest of my life, and I saw a boa constrictor in its natural habitat.  NO, I did not pet it or attempt to pick it up.  We walked about 3/4 mile through the caves.  By the end of the walk, the humidity was making me nauseous and I was happy to be done.

The next part of our excursion was visiting Fern Gully.  It was pretty, but not quite what Bill and I were expecting.  It was very narrow, hilly road.  Whenever the road widened a bit, vendors had crammed the space full and were shouting at us to stop and shop.  Our driver, Hugh, said there was no way he was stopping, as he told us the vendors would swarm us like vultures.  So he slowed down a couple of times, rolled down our windows, and told us to take a few pictures.  

After our rather fast, harrowing drive through Fern Gully, we stopped at a few stores.  Our guide told us he'd bring us to a place that would treat us somewhat fairly.  He was right...we got a reasonable price on a few things we had been looking for, but the storekeepers were unnerving.  They followed us everywhere and would NOT let us leave until we purchased something.  Bill and I stood our ground and negotiated better pricing, but after a half hour of dealing with Jamaicans like this, I was tired and ready to return to the ship.  Jamaicans are much poorer than we expected them to be.  The unemployment rate is a staggering 33%.  Their homes are very simple, and it's clear they don't have too many possessions.  Our guide told us that the people of Ocho Rios love having the cruise ships visit, because it has done so much to boost the local economy.  But the downside of that is Jamaicans don't see us as human beings.  They see us as dollar signs.

I don't want you to think we had a bad day.  It was beautiful, and Hugh was a lot of fun.  And I think it's important to see how the rest of the world lives.  Now, on to Grand Cayman!