It's all fun and games until somebody breaks a hip

Happy Halloween to you all! When we went down for our morning coffee today, the ship was decked out in Halloween displays. Today we are docked in Sydney, Nova Scotia which, by the way, is home to the world's largest fiddle. Yippee! Notice the size of the fiddle compared to Jim in the picture. Sydney is a quaint little town with not much to do. We enjoyed a stroll through town and did some window shopping. We stopped at a park with a small lake and fountain and sat to enjoy the view for a while. We also stopped at a booth in a craft show that offered a print-out of your family surname and their coat of arms. The man found both Ebbers and Thatcher for us so we bought one, inscribed with our wedding date. (Uncle Fred, I'm counting on you to tell me if the family crest is accurate). Apparently the Ebbers were courageous and regal, with a coat that showed an eagle and lion. The Thatchers had grasshoppers, so what the heck does that mean??? I may have to do some research on this...
Upon returning to the ship, we enjoyed hot coffees in the Piazza (which is fast becoming our favorite people watching venue). Today it reminded us of a nursing home, with all of the old folks who were sound asleep down there. We got the giggles again listening to the various snores and grunts. I couldn't help myself, I had to capture the moment on film to share with you all! And I told Jim he would fit right in, with the way he can fall asleep anywhere (as evidenced by the picture below!) While we were down there, the cruise staff started a game of 'ring toss' with the prize being a bottle of champagne. You wouldn't believe the line that formed. It was fun to watch until rings began to be flung wildly into where we were sitting. I was a tad bit scared (and surprised!) at how strong some of these old gals were. In the end, Irv, Ruth, and some Japanese guy won. Some slept right through it. Tonight we are planning on trying the drink of the day, (which is called a zombie, in honor of Halloween) before going to dinner. We'll probably try to attend the costume contest after dinner because let's face it: Old people in costumes is funny! Tonight I am especially grateful that I do not have to answer the door to trick-or-treaters all night. Signing off from the scariest cruise ever...Happy Halloween to you all!

Outta my way, I'm heading to the Walmart!

What do you do when your ship makes an unscheduled stop at a tiny town in New Foundland, Canada? Why, you take a bus to the Walmart, of course! Yep, the highlight of today was our bus ride and subsequent visit to the Walmart. (Aunt Patty and Uncle Bob, I couldn't help but think of you guys and our late night trip to Walmart that time when I was in North Carolina looking at colleges.) And I can tell you for sure now that once you've seen one Walmart, you've seen 'em all. I did need a couple of hair clips since I broken mine while clipping them to things they weren't meant to be clipped to, so the stop was not only exciting, but functional as well. That was pretty much the extent of our day. When we arrived back onboard we managed to get a short nap in, then went to the sun deck to relax, read, and people watch. I was thrilled earlier to see a net over one of the pools onboard, thinking maybe we'd captured a stray dolphin somewhere and were bringing it to Florida with us, but no such luck. The pool was merely closed for maintenance (see picture below). Other pools were open today and believe it or not, there were a few old folks actually swimming. The sight reminds me of that scene in the movie 'Cocoon' when the old people find that pool of youth, or whatever it was, and helped themselves to a bath. Seriously, it looks just like that. The average age of these passengers is what's making people watching such a hoot. I kid you not when I say that Jim and I are the ONLY ones under 40, possibly under 50. Well, actually Jim is 44 so I guess I'm the only one under 40. We did attend a comedy show last night that was mildly entertaining. The comedian was a 30-something African-American guy who made quite a few jokes about trying to pass by old people in the narrow ship hallways, etc. Needless to say his jokes didn't go over real well with the older, all white crowd. I'm guessing tonight will be more of the same, relaxing and watching the 80 & 90 year olds. Until then, this has been the Ebbers, reporting live from the fountain of youth...

Sleeping in, naps, dessert

Folks, that pretty much describes our day. We slept in until (oh this is embarrassing) almost 11am! We ended up having a late night and well, I haven't been sleeping much at home so this has been my chance to catch up. After getting up we had an early lunch, read our kindles for a while (thanks, Doug and Michele!) and took a nap. Exciting, huh? After our nap we dressed for dinner and ended our day by attending the Champagne waterfall thingy that the captain hosts. Am I the only one who kinda wishes this tall stack of glasses would fall over? Bad, I know, but I can't help it. Nothing else to report really, and not too many pictures to show so I'm going to make you hungry with some more food pictures. We had chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room tonight, courtesy of the princess loyalty program. We also sent our dirty laundry out to be washed for us, again courtesy of the loyalty program. I think I could get used to this! One more little tid-bit I have to share: (and it's probably terribly unsophisticated to tell this story but again, I don't care) We were enjoying a nice cappuccino in the cafe late last night when an elderly couple sat near us. All of the sudden Jim heard a loud rumbling noise, followed by an awful stench. We couldn't help it but we started giggling like third graders and THAT is how we ended our night. We are having so much fun! Goodnight all, smell ya, er, I mean see you later!

Do we belong here?

Today was a day spent in Saguenay. What? You say you don't know anything about Saguenay? Neither do we. What I can tell you is that it is a small town and that the news of the year was the October 28th visit of the Emerald Princess Cruise ship. Seriously folks. The ENTIRE town came out to greet us. The town news van was there filming the tourists. You'll see in one of the pictures below a crowd of people lined up near the ship and THAT is the population of Saguenay. Needless to say, there wasn't much to do in port today. We walked around for an hour or so, visited a church that held a picture of a terrified and odd-looking Jesus (see below), and returned to the ship. Really, there isn't much worth reporting about. The picture of the old car is for you, Dad. I don't know why it was sitting at the port but I needed something to take a picture of.
We have gotten a few comments on board about our ages. Last night we stepped onto the elevator and were met by an older couple. The woman told us with a laugh, "You're too young for this cruise! You don't belong here!". We laughed it off and told her we liked having the ship to ourselves after 8pm. She agreed, telling us that the old people need their rest. Today as I got onto another elevator I was asked if I was working on this ship. The group was surprised when I told them I was on vacation. In fact one of the men responded by saying, "Are you sure? You don't look like you should be here.". Is that why people keep asking me where the bathrooms are? Tonight we went to check out the "Rock and Roll Party" in one of the lounges and found the crowd singing a rousing version of Que Sera. So perhaps that was rock and roll back in the 30's??? We joke about this but it is a great vacation for people watching, I tell ya.
Since there aren't too many pictures from the port today, I thought I'd entertain you with a couple of food pictures. Enjoy! As for me, I'm going to bed. Us old people need our rest, you know!

No cross-dressing for Jim

Today was a good news/bad news kind of day. The good news? Jim's bag has been found and was delivered to the ship early this morning! Yay! He's relieved now that he doesn't have to borrow my clothes or underwear. Personally, I thought he might have looked cute in my skirt and sassy wedges but alas, I may never get to see that.
Now the bad news: Because of this storm that's supposed to be coming, we will be skipping the ports of Bar Harbor Maine, Newport Rhode Island, and Boston. Of course I'm bummed but oh well. This just means we'll have to return someday to visit those ports. I thought I'd share our new itinerary for those who are curious:
Sunday Oct 28: Seguenay, Canada
Monday Oct 29: At Sea
Tues Oct 30: Corner Brook, Canada
Wed Oct 31: Sydney
Thurs Nov 1: Halifax
Friday Nov 2: At Sea
Sat Nov 3: New York City
Sun Nov 4: At Sea
Monday Nov 5: Charleston SC
Tues Nov 6: At Sea
Wed Nov 7: Ft Lauderdale
Thurs Nov 8: At Sea. Fri Nov 9: At Sea
Sat Nov 10: Antigua
Sun Nov 11: St Lucia
Mon Nov 12: Barbados
Tues Nov 13: St Kitts
Wed Nov 14: St Thomas
Thur Nov 15: At Sea
Fri Nov 16: Bahamas
Sat Nov 17: Ft Lauderdale By the way, if anyone knows where the heck Saguenay or Corner Brook is, or what there is to do there, let us know. As of right now we'll be the people you see getting off the ship, looking confused and consulting one of those cartoon tourist maps.
The ship itself is gorgeous so we don't mind spending time on board, plus there is Bingo! I love Bingo but sometimes can't help mysel from yelling Bingo even when I don't have the numbers. Bingo! See? Yell it, it's fun! I will say we must have the friendliest shower curtain in the fleet. It's constantly trying to give me "hugs" while I'm showering. I also like how I can put soap on the shower walls and just spin around to lather myself up. Efficient! We also discovered that one of the 3 stooges is our Hotel General Manager! I don't know his real name but I think he used to go by the name "Curly". See attached picture if you don't believe me ;)

We spent some time walking around Quebec today and purchased some product apparently made with maple syrup. I have no idea what it is exactly but it was the last one so I had to try it. Jim is holding it in the second picture. A prize to anyone who can tell us what it is. We also came across a little shop call 'La Fudgerie'. (See picture) I don't know what a la fudgerie is but it smelled like chocolate and the sign made me giggle so it became picture-worthy. I've found that putting 'La' in front of words makes them sound fancy. Try it. La toilet, La dump, La athletes foot, etc. I do love the French!
Upon our arrival back on the ship, we had the pleasure of attending the muster drill or as I call it, the mustard drill! Our fellow passengers were captivated, as evidenced by the picture below of 2 who were sound asleep. I felt compelled to demonstrate the proper way to wear the life jacket (also shown below). If mustard time is this much fun, I'm not sure I can handle Bingo...
The second to last picture is Quebec as we set sail for our next port so goodbye until then!
Ps, the very last picture was SUPPOSED to be of a delicious fruit tartlet and a tiny little fruit pavlova but unfortunately they were gobbled up before I could capture the moment. You'll just have to trust me when I say they were just as tasty as they were cute. (I just realized these pictures are out of order and I can't figure out how to fix it. Oops)

Hello, we are the Griswalds!

Yesterday started as a minor disaster. Our plane left Boise late due to who knows what, which caused us to arrive in Chicago AFTER our scheduled departure time for our next flight to Quebec. We ran over a mile to try to get to the gate on time, sweating and looking like red-faced clowns. Luckily, our plane was delayed because the president was flying out at the same time and air traffic was stopped for him. We ended up waiting in Chicago over 3 hours for our flight to leave. Unfortunately after arriving at Quebec, we discovered Jim's bag had been lost. At this time, we still have no idea where his bag is and he may have to end up wearing my clothes this week. Yikes, I hope he looks good in a sundress.
The good news is that we had a great walk around Old Quebec City today. Breakfast was a delicious baguette for me and a ham croissant for Jim, ordered in our butchered French. Did you know Quebec is pronounced 'kay-bec'? I didn't. We arrived after a ride from the city's craziest taxi driver (who at one point threatened to report himself to the transit authority). We are still getting used to the idea that the ship is our "home" for the next 22 days. The demographic of this ship is quite a bit older than us, (by like, 40 years!) making dinner at 530pm impossible but at 8 pm, the dining room is almost empty. Tomorrow we spend the day walking around Kay-bec some more and I think I'll do some shopping (don't tell Jim!) The pictures that follow are all of Quebec City. So, until tomorrow, Au Revoir!

Away we go!

I'm not sure how we did it but I finally managed to pack our months worth of clothes, shoes, toiletries, snorkel gear and other various necessities into 2 bags, 2 carry-ons and one little Kate Spade purse. Bee and Peanut gave us their best sad faces as we were loading up the car. It's hard to leave them, especially knowing they have their ways of seeking revenge for our absence (I'm wondering how many pee stains and chewed up couches we'll be coming home to). At the same time, we're both excited to spend this month seeing some new places. We'll see 16 different cities in 8 different countries...word for the day is EXCITED!

And the packing begins...

Today we're facing the dilemma of how to pack a month's worth of clothing and toiletries into a small(ish) suitcase. This is especially hard considering that over the course of the month we'll be experiencing weather ranging from in the 40s (Quebec and northeast coast) to the hot and humid caribbean. If you look closely to the picture, you'll find my two little "packing assistants". Searching for them amongst all this stuff is like a furry version of Where's Waldo. Last night I did tell Jim that I was very sorry but there simply wasn't room for much of his clothing and that he would just have to wear the same thing over and over again. This didn't go over well but I still have a couple days to convince him that this is a good time to be practical, not stylish. ;)

T minus 11 days...

We officially have 11 days until we leave for our honeymoon.  Because there are so many of you who generously contributed to our "honeymoon fund" as gifts for our wedding, I wanted to somehow show my gratitude and appreciation.  So here we are!  I am going to attempt to blog about our vacation each day in the hopes that you all will see how much we are enjoying our gifts!  On Thursday October 24th, we will board a plane bound for Quebec Canada.  From there we will set sail on the Emerald Princess cruise ship, which will be home for 22 days as we travel along the Canadian and US east coasts and eventually cruising around the Carribean.  After we disembark the Emerald, we will then have 4 more days to explore the Florida Keys before returning to our home in Idaho.  So please, sit back and come along on our little adventure!  :)