Thanksgiving Feast

The bird is fried! Let the Feast begin!
Kyle ran into the house to prepare his famous mashed potatoes---assisted by Deb who peeled, cut and cooked the potatoes.
Rachel and Rebecca are putting the finishing touches on the table settings. We were a little late getting it done because an unnamed grandchild decided to swing from the chandelier earlier in the day pulling it out of the ceiling. He and my dad would have gotten along great. Mom always said that Dad would let us kids swing from the chandeliers. . . .but I think Rxxxx is the first one who actually tried it.
The buffet is ready. . .
We assembled for the prayer. . .
Which was lead by Roman Lewis.
Time to eat!
Typical adult's plate. . .
Typical child's plate. . .and we wonder why they don't pile on the pounds like we do at the holidays.
Miss Libby entertained us with her rendition of "Turkey Dinner"

Turkey Dinner
(tune: “Frere Jacques”)

Turkey dinner
Turkey dinner
Gather round
Gather round
Who will get the drumstick?
Yummy yummy yumstick
All sit down
All sit down

Cornbread muffins
Cornbread muffins
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin pie
All of us were thinner
Til we came to dinner
Me oh my
Me oh my

Followed by a "Hat Show" by Davis and Roman. . .

Before the Feast

Shortly after we arrived at the Lewis's home, my brother Jim and his wife Deb also arrived. They had a very early start in CT to arrive in Kansas City around 10 AM.
The Twenter Family arrived early Thanksgiving Day.
Everyone loves the "marble game" building ramps and loop-d-loops for the marbles.
Libby found a new use for the tubes!
It was a beautiful Thanksgiving Day with the men outside around the fire,
While Jason fried the turkey.
Our grandchildren played outside while the women were cooking!


Only Casey (in the house) and Louie (behind a bench) didn't really enjoy the company.
Meanwhile my brother found Roman's drum set in the garage and with a few warm ups, entertained us with some 1970's rock.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Ship's Log

Clearly the Dunn's River Falls are the Jewels in Jamaica's crown---they were a part of almost every excursion to Jamaica.

Although we didn't climb them as many did, we could still appreciate their beauty.

These are from the viewing platform half-way down.
Our next stop was "shopping", but we stayed on the bus. Again, I'd only brought $10, but the coffee I'd intended to buy as souvenirs was $13-20 per pound. . .
Our third stop was to a botanical garden which was pretty hazardous walking with stepping stones, slippery walkways, steps with no handrails---it was not Shaw's Garden!
We saw several "fire eaters"---hate to think what that does to their sinuses.
Every now and then, the family historian kicked in----I wanted to check when my ancestor was stationed in the West Indies---I think he preceded this cannon, but I took the photo to check out the date and place.
I still giggle every time I see this photo---beauty is so cultural!
We got back to the ship but missed lunch in the dining room.
We'd decided early on to avoid the buffet for a variety of reasons. Although we ate in the dining room for almost every meal, we ordered room service which was certainly better than the buffet.
From the Ship's Log:

We were lucky the weather was in the high 70's and low 80's the whole time with cloudy skies. The few times the sun came out showed us the beauty of cloudy skies so close to the equator. That font and all caps makes this difficult to read, but. . .
The resolution on this map is really dreadful---I think they need a graphic designer on board to print these up. But, at least you get an idea of the cruise. I am hoping for a "do-over" so we can see some of the ports that we missed, but we thoroughly enjoyed what we did see and highly recommend the cruise.

Formal Night---IV

As indicated in a previous post, I got a sinus infection on our cruise. I went to the Medical Center within 24 hours of my first indicator (sore teeth). We missed our excursions to Panama and Costa Rica, but I was better on the ship than being miserable on boats. I was very impressed with the medical center and was stunned by the bills. I am hoping my insurance company will ask that I go on a cruise at the first indication of a sinus infection. These fees are BEFORE the insurance company pays.
The Island Princess certainly was not trying to gouge us. The medical staff and drugs were all British. But, after 48 hours, I was in the Dr. Nadine's words "Worse." My face had begun to swell, so I returned to the Medical Center where they put me on an IV.
Yes, it was unfortunate that I got sick on board, but what better place than on a cruise ship with a medical center right there.That didn't stop me from getting all dressed up before heading down for my final IV which was right before dinner.
We were very fortunate to have such compatible dinner partners each night. Above are Heather (Poconos in Pennsylvania) and her mother Esther (Florida). Below are Fay and Gus from Virginia who have a granddaughter in her 20's!
Barb and Gil [or "Gill" as I liked to think of him] from Staten Island added a zest to our table, we missed when they weren't there. Gil was like being on cruise with Dave's brother Tom.
Although not at our table (they were behind Barb and Gil), Bob and Carol were our first "friends" whom we met at the Ramada Inn outside in the courtyard where we were entertained by the stray cats. They were from Greensburg, PA which was our county-seat when we lived in the Pittsburgh area.All in all, the other passengers were friendly, up-beat despite this being the most "senior" cruise we have ever taken---the average age was around 70. We saw 6 children and about 6 adults under the age of 30. . . Another interesting observation was that almost everyone had already been on an Alaskan cruise and many had been through the Panama Canal on a previous cruise.

Gatun Lake through Panama Canal

The ships in Gatun Lake are waiting their turn to go back through the Panama Canal (I call it "treading water")

We are entering the Gatun Locks.


A new, larger cut is being made on the other side of the checkerboard towers.

Our Onboard Authority, Tom Ryan, said that the "mules" won't be needed to guide the ships through---new more powerful tug boats will be used.I felt like I was looking at a giant Thomas the Train when I saw the mules on the turntable.

Not all of the ships going through were cruise ships---some looked like rust buckets.


The people above were probably on one of the excursions---they reported back that it was very interesting watching from their perspective also.
When we went to lunch, we were seated by a window and could see the canal walls from a new angle.
Like an Alaskan Cruise, everyone should try to take a Panama Canal Cruise---the only way to see both of them is aboard a cruise ship.