Formal night before dinner pictures

Cindy and I show off our new Bahamian hair braids in a family picture taken one day before dinner

Mike and I pose for a picture on board

Robby poses with one of the show girls after her show

Our Embarkation picture

Were Back !

A week and a day after we left with freshly packed suitcases that actually fit in the Aztek, we have returned with things stuffed everywhere just to get it home. Though there were some stressful moments , in the end it all turned out wonderfully well. Though I was ready to come back home and actually sleep in a bed that allowed me more than an hour sleep without waking up to discomfort, I was sad to leave it all behind. I have been asked by a few to review the places that we stayed , especially the cruise , and share some of the must do's as well as the don't bother's As promised I will, but for now, I have 10 bags that were checked on the plane,plus a couple Carry ons to unpack and organize as well as a homesick pup to pick up from the doggy resort. I also must work on getting our families eating habits off of cruise mode. Thanks for your patence

In just a few hours

Not only will our family be leaving for a vacation that we have fantasized about for years,but I will be the Mom of three teenagers !
I honestly didn't realize that we would be leaving on Robby's thirteenth birthday when I booked our cruise but it worked out that way. Robby,the sweet boy that he is, never seemed to mind celebrating his birthday another day especially when he received his present, a new Nintendo DSI, he was so happy that we could have called that moment his party and he would probably have been fine with it. Since we will be eating out at least one meal tomorrow after our flight, perhaps we will go someplace that has cake and we can sing to him then.

Happy # 13 Rob !!!!!!!!!!!!

By Golly they do exist

As we get closer to back to school this year, I have run into a problem. My problem is not huge but yet it is big enough to have my stomach in knots.
My problem is that Robby is now too tall for the size 10 jeans that he has been wearing since last year. No problem, you say ? Well not quite as even these size 10's are too big around the waist. I had been only buying him pants with those elastic things inside that let you "cinch" up the waist. This worked all year last year as many companies who make boys jeans don't make slim in sizes past 8.Since 10s are now too short I have tried to cinch up 12's but even fully cinched ( and looking like cinched sac cloth) these are too big for Robby. I did see a seamstress who could take pants in for him, but was told that to get the length, the pants would have to be completely redone which would be costly. So I have been looking everywhere for extra long or slim or anything that would work. I have even asked the seamstress about adding length. again she didn't recommend it. Then today I was in a Wal mart that I usually don't go to and I looked. And there there were, I believe they were called slims by Wrangler and they had size 12. I grabbed all four pair that they had and asked if all Wal Marts carried them,to which I was told that they must not as they had called other stores for sizes that they ran out of and no other store seemed to have them. This is OK I guess as I got four pair which is enough until I can find more.

Another upgrade for only $500

Last night I got another cruise upgrade offer( for a penthouse suite) . This one was only $500($100 per person) and though I thought about it and decided that one only lives once and called to accept, I was too late and someone else had snapped it up. I am a bit sad that I missed out but at the same time $500 is quite a bit of money to just throw away so MIke and I had to discuss it before accepting. At this point it looks like we will be staying in our original stateroom ( which BTW was a free upgrade from what I paid for) which has no marble,balcony,nor jacuzzi but honestly..... We don't have any of those here,at home either so I am number one on the list if another upgrade comes up but at this point it looks like we will be crusiing like the poor only the poor don't cruise so who knows where that puts us. Anyway,I will not be floating in the luxury that would be nice, but simply cruising is good enough for me !

Frequent flyer or Secret archives worker ?

While on Mike and My anniversary trip, an employee of the airline that we flew started a conversation with Mike and I. During this conversation Mike and I expressed our preference for this airline for several reasons. It was then that the employee asked if we were rapid rewards members,we were not. The employee encouraged us to become members so that we could get even better deals than we already had. He also stated that with just four round trip flights we could earn free flights. This sounded good and I intended to sign up upon returning home but life has happened and I never completed the task,until this morning that is. This morning,I printed off my paperless reservations for Friday mornings flight and decided to sign up for the program. Since one flight has already passed, I needed to call a representative for help. Having our confirmation numbers from the old flights ,I thought I was set. Not the case I soon found out. The lady who started as sweet as pie was frustrated by the end for a few reasons. One was that since we payed with gift cards( which we purchased at Giant Eagle and received enough fuel perks to fill my tank for free for)each person had their own reservation number. This was their companies rules probably in an attempt to stop people from doing this I assume. Anyway, as she got more frustrated, she asked more questions that I didn't have an answer too. There was a point where I was trying to remember if I ate peanuts or pretzels as I was sure that this was her next question. Anyway I am now told that we are registered but am afraid to check .The one question that I keep asking myself is....... Why didn't they sign me up months ago when I booked the first flight? Is this honestly a secret society that one only gets into if a company employee selects them to talk to ? In all reality, we are not wealthy enough to fly four times a year so we have little chance to earn a free flight but..... I do follow flight deals for several people so just maybe it will be worth it.

Four more days

Until our family embarks on our dream family vacation. Last night as Mike and I drove home Mike mentioned that he thought that we should get started packing. Yes, I agreed, we should but I had promised to help out at a benefit garage sale for my Mom's cousin who has terminal cancer this morning, then I had some grocery shopping to do as we had only two eggs and 1/2 cup of milk left and we needed both for tomorrows breakfast. We agreed that after these things we would begin packing. Well, I did help out at the benefit and we did go to Sam's club but we have not gotten to packing yet. In the process of getting ready for today I noticed that our drain was not draining . No big deal I thought so we bought Draino while we were out. Mike poured it in and we were talking when the kids noticed that the drain pipe was leaking. Well Mike worked on the leak and cleared the clog but now we need a new piece of some sort so he is off to get it.Then there will be dinner to cook and the hope of starting to pack is fading. I should have known better than to think that I could get ahead. Oh well as for now we are keeping up so what else could one ask for.... Right ?????

Cindy's pinning cerimony

Kent state and Hannah E Mullins signs






Cindy and her Best friend ( also a fellow student)get a surprise visit from Mrs. Holzer, their High school Medical Technology teacher



Cindy is pinned a senior student


Cindy is pinned a senior student




Cindy lights her Nightingale lamp after she is pinned



Cindy Stands with her lamp burning in acknowledgement


Cindy Processes out at the end of the pinning

A sad day

Today has started as a day of great sadness. My three year old black female cocker spaniel,Clarissa has passed away.This dog has never left our yard but for some reason she got out and ran off early this morning and was hit by a car. The Police called to inform meand the lady who hit her also stayed at the scene to apologize to me, though hitting a black dog when it is dark out was certainly not her fault.
We are all terribly sad as anyone who knows us knows that our dogs are family members.We will however go on with God's grace. Please pray for our broken hearts.

Yea I have an extra $1400.00 laying around.... Don't you ?

This afternoon, upon returning from our sushi lunch to celebrate Cindy's finals being over, I had voice mail. As I logged onto my voicemail I heard a message from Carnival Cruise lines asking me to call about the cabin we have booked for the end of this month. I called the number and waited, praying that there was no problem which would hinder our coming cruise. Once I got the lady, who left the message on the phone she said that we qualified for an upgrade to a suite at a minimal charge.The woman asked me to go to this page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0tvRTBHsrk
and look at the room I could upgrade to for less than one quarter of its regular price. Well the room is gorgeous so I asked what the charge would be .For a second I thought it might just be a possibility when the woman said the upgrade fee would be $350. Then she added, per day. That's $1400.00 I said. yes but look at that room she said.It broke my heart but I didn't pay this much for the whole cruise for five people so I had to decline. The woman accepted my decline politely but still I wonder, do most people actually see this as a slight upgrade fee ? After all, don't we all have an extra $1400.00 just laying around ?

Good job Cindy

After the whirlwind weekend that we had, Cindy dove, head first into Nursing school final exams. I have to admit that I was concerned about her studying enough but the final final of her junior semester is over and she has prevailed. Tomorrow she will be "pinned" a senior student before being given a couple weeks off, one of which will be spent accompanying us on our cruise / vacation. I do plan to attend the pinning ceremony, even though I was not invited until this morning when I asked if I was going to be invited and she shrugged with a " I guess that you can come if you want" If I want..... Well, yes I do want and I think I will ! Hopefully Mike will also be able to come too, but even if he has to work, I will borrow his camera and try to get a good picture to post.

What a weekend !

This weekend has been a busy one. Mike's brother Wayne, who hasn't been to Ohio for I believe six years paid a visit with his lovely wife and daughter.Unfortunately time allowed only an extended weekend visit but boy did we squeeze in lots of fun. Mike was blessed so much that we left our final family event,a wiener roast ,last night at about one AM to get him home in time to get three hours sleep before he had to get up at five AM to go to work this morning.
Even though the weekend included an air show, a visit to the zoo , and other fun times,Mike was thrilled to have professional family pictures taken. Usually Mike is known for taking thousands( yep I said thousands. No wonder the Mid America region ISKF web site takes poor Christian so long to update ( sorry Chris :-) of pictures at karate events not to mention the millions of scenery and inanimate objects that Mike has on discs( and yes he knows his inventory and can find one of the white plane ( OK he is more specific but to me it is only a white plane)usually within seconds of getting the disk or to the computer where it is stored. Anyway, after getting My families pictures done a couple Christmas's ago, Mike has mentioned that he would love to have his family's, but due to so many issues he wouldn't hold his breath. This is why when I heard that everyone would be in the same tri county area a month back I suggested it. Well, of course there where some that were less than thrilled with the idea but in the end everyone showed up and we got it. I would like to Thank the Niles Ohio, Eastwood mall Picture people location employees for one great Job well done.( I do plan on doing a customer service review online ,hopefully later today) the two Employees Jennifer and Justin, (I believe) were wonderfully accomidating.If anyone is looking for great low cost professional pictures the Picture people are your people. Anyway since I don't have near the energy to pick out photos from the weekend's events. Why not take a look at our professional ones at
http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=cf54d3b8-5e2c-4001-8de9-09ea2b9b2833

Seriously ,do they teach math in school anymore ?

The other day I got an E mail from Shoe carnival telling me that since I am a frequent buyer or some club member that I could shop their store for the next couple of days and get 30% off any purchase. Since the boys will be heading back to school shortly after we come back from vacation,I decided that this was a good opportunity to save on school shoes so we planned a shoe shopping trip . Upon arriving at the store I notices that they were offering a buy one get one 1/2 off special to the general public. Now BOGO 1/2 off is not a bad deal by any means but obviously( to me anyway) 30% off was a better deal . Anyway, we went in found the couple pairs of shoes that they had in each kids size, ( honestly there were two pair of Nike athletic shoes* which we were looking for) in Michael's size and five or six in Robby's no joke) the kids picked one pair and we headed to the register. A girl of about 18-20 was working behind the counter. As I put the shoes on the counter I greeted her and then handed her my E mail coupon as I told her we would like to use this offer. At first the girl looked dumbfounded.Then she proceeded to wrinkle up my coupon.Though I was taken aback,I just looked at her. This is when she told me that I couldn't use my coupon. Why I asked, trying to suppress my annoyance. Because you can only use one promotion and we have BOGO 1/2, she replied. Yes, I replied I understand but I want to use this instead. It was at this point that the girl looked at me like I had a horn and said but why ? this way you save 50% off of one pair. Yes I replied but with this way you get 30% off of each, dollar per dollar my way saves more.After a minute of silence I was sure that she still didn't get it but she called the manager over. She handed the crumpled coupon to the manager and explained that, though she didn't know why, I wanted to use it instead of Bogo 1/2. The manager said OK and she stepped back while he rang me up.As I walked to the door, I overheard the manager try to explain why I got a better deal than the BOGO 1/2, though the girl just didn't understand. Finally the manager gave up. Just give the customer the discount that they ask for was his comment as he walked away shaking his head.
On the way home I asked the boys why I got a better deal than the BOGO 1/2 and they both knew. Thankfully they had taken some of the last public school math classes, and for that I am glad !

The saga of my blue tooth units

I have quite a little history when it came to blue tooth units. My first one was part of a package deal over two years ago when I upgraded to a blue tooth capable phone. From day one I disliked this one. First it (was supposed to) fit into my ear and it never really fit properly. Then there was the matter that one button controlled everything from on /off, to volume control, and even call/ end call. Because this unit was not cheap, I suffered through using it. Well until one day when enough was enough. After having it fall from my ear several times during the day I took it out , turned it off , and put it in my pocket. This would have been OK except that it didn't turn off but called a random( I think) number from my phone book. This number could have been any number like Mike's phone, one of the kids phones,the home phone, any but it wasn't.... It was Mike's work number which rang at the foreman's desk. This also happened to be the number that the foreman had hooked to his answering machine. So here I am calling the foreman's answering machine. Since I didn't know this was happening, this answering machine taped everything that I said for the next forty five minutes or so. Now it could have been worse but my call to Michael's school in which I demanded a meeting with his teachers and principal were among the recordings. To add insult to injury, my number and Mike's name showed on caller ID so there was no doubt as to who I was. Mike took being called over to listen to my message relatively well but called to tell me to be careful. It was at this point that I gave this blue tooth to Cindy.
Next I bought a blue tooth that didn't enter my ear.It was comfortable and I liked it,however one day it went dead so I took it out of my ear and left it in my car.It has not been seen since.Finally I bought the Cadillac of all blue tooth units at our local Wal Mart. This one had a slide on and off switch and was as comfortable as my skin.I loved this unit and would not have traded it for the world but a couple weeks ago I went to the doctors and took it out of my ear and laid it on a chair with my purse. Well I walked out of the room without it and when I came back,it was gone. I asked the med assistant if she seen it but she hadn't. I left my number for them to call me when it showed up but it never did. I was heart broken. After a couple days I decided that I had to get a new blue tooth and went to Wal Mart, but they were out. I went to three other wal marts but no luck. Here my precious model 550 was discontinued. I tried another model but the ear piece was too thin and uncomfortable.Finally I scoured the Internet for a 550 and Best buy .com had it on clearance.I ordered two. The unit was supposed to be sent out to arrive Friday but guess what ? It came today !!!!!!!!! I am so excited ! It is now on the charger and tomorrow I can use it ! Thank you Best Buy.com. and welcome to my new 550, I love you !

Congratulations Rob

You are now officially an ISKF purple belt !

Fifteen days until our cruise vacation.......

And I just realized that the boys still need ties for dress up night.... What else am I forgetting ?????

Something to Ponder......

Why is it that the one who feels the need to question the motives( and critisize the methods) of the one trying to be helpful, never seems to even try at all ????

where has the time went

Have you ever gotten excited about something a year before it was set to happen and start preparing so enthusiastically that a few months beforehand you feel that you have done all that you can and back off only to realize that you are now only a couple short weeks from the event and freak out ? That is where I am now. I booked our families cruise months ago. Mike even yelled at me back then to wait on buying this and that. Well I waited and though I think we are pretty much where we need to be,I am now freaking out that we leave this month. More like in just over two weeks! I had it into perspective in that Mike and my (casual)anniversary trip was a month beforehand. Well now that trip is over and it was wonderful but now I am two weeks and two days from my dream family vacation ( I figured that since Cindy is 19 we better make this dream come true before our family either gets bigger( yes I mean marriage but no ( she says)she is not seeing anyone seriously until she graduates from nursing school) or one or more members go their separate ways:-( . Anyway, honestly, how can anyone, after twenty years, finally be preparing for their dream vacation and not be a bit nervous ? This vacation is so much different than any before. Anyway, I will stop short of boring you to tears with this but be forewarned, I plan to devote days of blog space to pictures when we get back. Well I best get back to doing things like printing luggage tags.

Yep, we clean up quite nicely