Really the last word, I promise

I know most of you reading this blog really only want to see cute pictures and precocious stories about Lily and Amalia--and not see naked men running around on stage--but I really do have to share this one last video from the cruise. Don't be afraid. It's really quite funny (or it was in person, at least).


Tyler Streaks Guster from Dead Elm on Vimeo.

Assignment: Black History Month

For Black History Month, Lily had to create a poster of a famous African American. The poster had to include four things: 

1. The name of the person.
2. A picture of the person.
3. Four interesting facts.
4. "Kindergarten creativity" (not sure what was meant by this last one)

Lily selected Marian Anderson, the opera singer. I'll let you decipher Lily's phonetic spelling for the four interesting facts. What tickled me most is Lily's full portrayal of Ms. Anderson, complete with fringed dress and dangly earrings--particularly in light of the fact that the picture I gave her to work from is below: 

She was pretty right on with the hairstyle, though. 

Cruiseapalooza: The last word

Here are two videos from the folks who put on the Ships and Dip cruise. Gives you a much better sense of the experience than my Kodak Instamatic.

Ships and Dip 4 Recap from Sixthman on Vimeo.

Thank You Dippers! from Sixthman on Vimeo.

Cruisapalooza: Debarkation

On Friday, we were debarked. Really, they call the process debarkation. Did you know that? I feel like it should be disembarkation. But that's not what they call it. Anyway, here are some pictures from our last few precious moments on the ship.

 

Here's Andy eating breakfast in the kids' section of the dining hall. Very uncomfortable for adults, let me tell you. And yet, I'm sure they would not appreciate it if I just let my children hang out there unsupervised while Andy and I eat in normal-sized chairs. See the tiny little buffet line behind Andy? They had Lilyputian-height food warmers and everything. 

Lily on the last morning.

 Amalia wearing her self-decorated cruise t-shirt. 

 A fond farewell from her buddy Sofia.

A more perfect vacation I could not imagine. Thank you to Barenaked Ladies, Guster, and everyone at Sixthman for putting these things on. Really. I could not imagine anything better. I'd better sign off before I get all verklempt. 

Until next year!

Cruisapalooza: Thursday

After such a late night, this is the view that greeted me the next morning, our last full day on the ship. Lily and lemur, dead to the world. In fact the entire family (except the resident early bird) slept in until ten o'clock, which allowed me to go to an 8:30 a.m. yoga class with Jim from BNL--an experience that was both challenging (the pool deck was windy and tilty, making everything a balance move) and gratifying. The latter because I was able to thank Jim in person for his generous donation to the the breast cancer 3-day walk I did nine years ago. (I'd sent him one of my fundraising letters on a lark and was surprised and moved when a donation showed up in his name.)

We visited this arcade frequently during the week, but never put any money into the machines. (What a wondrous miracle it will be when our girls find out what the games really can do!) I should mention, however, that Lily was rather distressed by the hunting shooting game with the animated deer and bison targets and talked about it quite a bit.

 This is how we spent much of our last day at sea, hanging out at the kiddie pool. That's Lily and Amalia with Guster kid Leo and Angela (Ryan's wife). 

 I'm going to set the next video up with a bit of explanation. See the tiny red slide in the previous picture? It took 2 1/2 days for Amalia to go down it. Why the hesitation, I have no earthly idea. However, we owe much gratitude to Sofia, pictured above. She is one of the Guster manager's kids who hung out with the girls quite a bit in the Kids Camp and she did her darnedest to coax Amalia down the slide when my persuasive skills were spent.

Then, on our last day on board, Amalia up and decides to "go down the scary slide" (the same one in the Sunday entry that Lily went down immediately) all on her own. And without a moment's hesitation, she threw herself down--head first, as it turns out.

Here's her second trip down the slide. Each one thereafter--and there were many--looked like this. I've no idea why Amalia was so lacking in hydro-dynamic assets. Lily's bum would zoom down the slide.

 More kiddie pool pics. That's Ross, Cookie, Ryan and Baby Dash in the chairs. 

Lily and Amalia going down the tiny slide. Brian (Guster drummer) and his wife sitting by the pool. And their daughter JoJo in front of them. An excellent, relaxing afternoon, I must say. 

  So this pelican landed on our boat and I wondered, "Good luck or bad luck?"

Although he looks quite at home here, apparently he was injured and weak so they decided to capture him and take him to some wildlife rescue folks in Miami.

Here's the footage that Andy got of them boxing up the bird. No worries, although she looks like an average tourist, this woman was actually an ornithologist or some sort of person with bird training.

Our cruise was bookended by Guster shows. For this one, they dug into the ship's costume closet.

 Acoustic "Jesus on the Radio," an encore standard.

 Farewell until the next show, Guster!

I don't have any pictures of the late-night jam, which is a last night tradition for the Ships and Dips cruise. Any and all of the artists come together on one stage to sing, dance and play into the wee hours of the night. Of everything on the cruise, this is probably the most fun for them, as they get to truly jam, interact and experiment with each other as musicians and artists. And for the fans who get to witness it (those who are hearty enough to stay up), it's true exhilaration.

Cruiseapalooza: Wednesday

I should have mentioned on the Tuesday entry that we ended the night with a fabulous Guster show. Too busy dancing and singing to take pictures.

Our second port of call was Cozumel. We did invest in an actual excursion this time and took a ferry to an eco archeological park (their description, not mine) called Xcaret. It was sort of a San Diego Zoo meets Club Med type of experience--with some Mayan ruins thrown in for good measure.

Amalia loved the flamingos. She would ask, "What color is the white one? Right, white! What color is the red one?" and so on.

OK so this cat was simply on the side of the path we were on. It looked wild enough that it might warrant being in an enclosure but I guess it really couldn't have been a baby lynx or anything like that, right?

Amalia had a couple of tough times that day and leaving the tapir exhibit was one of them. Perhaps she was fascinated by his proboscis. 

 I was glad this cat was actually in an enclosure--one with quite a large moat around it. 

 We saw lots of these guys around, mostly sunning themselves on rocks. 

 After looking at animals, we got some lunch and then headed for the water. 

 Me playing tugboat.

 Lots of sunscreen slathered on this one. 

 This one too. 

 Andy teaching the girls how to make drip castles. 

  Back on the boat, Lily fashioned an outfit for her lemur (newly acquired from the ship's gift shop). 

 Another BNL show. 

    Some more acoustic loveliness. 

Here's Ryan (from Guster) singing "Jerome" with the BNL guys. Head tilt.

And Adam (from Guster) singing "Call and Answer," one of my favorite BNL songs. 

In a role reversal with her sister, Lily was the one still awake when we went to pick up the girls at Kids Camp at 11:30. She didn't want to leave and asked if she could stay a little bit longer. What in the world does a 5-year-old still need to do at midnight? It reminded me of when I was in high school and would ask my parents if I could stay out past my curfew so I could "watch the end of Saturday Night Live" with my boyfriend.

Endless conversation

Quick break in the Cruiseapalooza chronicling to report on today's ride home with Amalia:

Amalia: I need to do Dora's house.

Me: You need to do Dora's house?

Amalia: Yes, I need to do Dora's house.

Me: What do you need to do?

Amalia: I need to work.

Me: What do you need in order to work?

Amalia: I need stuff.

Me: What kind of stuff?

Amalia: Some things.

Seriously, the conversation could have gone on forever without any resolution. And then, a little while later:

Amalia: Are we going on the boat?

Me: No, we already went on the boat.

Amalia: Oh man! I want to go on the boat again.

Me: Me, too, Amalia. Me, too.