March 10th: Catching up on the blog!

 

I decided I better get another blog posted. I was waiting for more pictures from our trip but I guess they are not coming! So I'll go with what I have. 

 

I flew to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday January 14th. to meet up with the Peterson and Andrews families on Sunday in preparation for a Disney cruise. The group consisted of Randy and Cindy, and their daughters' families. I decided to fly in a day early because of all the flight cancellations due to weather and Southwest's technical crashes. I switched to Alaska airlines, a direct flight, so no worries about missing a flight at a layover, and all went well. My motel was in a very Eastern European neighborhood in Ft Lauderdale. I was very pleased to find a European grocery literally across the street. There were many tempting items but I was just looking for something for supper. I did well.

The next morning I took an Uber to the Shelbourne Hotel on South Beach in Miami. This was a special getaway for Niki and family and they wanted to stay on the beach. Pretty pricey but it was only one night.

Liam, Steve & Mea

I met up with the Andrews first, Nick, Niki, Liam and Mea. It was fun to get together again.

Turned out, by chance I ended up with the best room. It was on the 10th floor with a corner window overlooking Miami. Very cool! 

We walked the beach for a while and the kids decided the ocean too cold to swim in. Surprising for Canadians, but I agreed. This place was just like the movies. Lots of umbrellas, beach chairs, people bringing drinks, etc. It was very enjoyable sitting on the beach and then going to the pool and hot tub.

Next, Randy and Cindy arrived. We walked out for a nice dinner. It was outdoors and very nice.

Mea, Cindy, Nick, Niki, Liam & Randy

The next morning we were all ready to head to the Disney Dream. Erica, Tom and Eve would meet us at the ship terminal. Cindy loves Disney. She was already well prepared with her Mouse Ears even though we hadn't left the hotel yet.

Niki is pretty good at taking Selfies. She got this one as we were leaving Miami.

And I got a nice panoramic view. It was a beautiful day!

Liam, Mea and Eve

The ship was beautiful of course. The kids accused me of trying to blind them looking into the sun but it made a good picture!

My cabin was quite nice. A little bigger than I expected and I was glad I went for the balcony. Fortunately, there is a significant discount for Florida residents, both on the cruise and Disney resort/Disney World. 

My balcony

There is a very large 3 story atrium in the center of the ship, with a very grand staircase. I was able to get a fun picture of the Andrews family during a down time.

A lot of action took place in the atrium with many opportunities to take pictures with characters. (There were photographers capturing everything in case one wanted to purchase pictures.) 

Daisy Duck

It was usually pretty crowded so sometimes the best view was from the second floor which overlooked the main area. All the Disney characters were much larger than the kids.

The people on the cruise were quite an enjoyable group. No grumpy people, (Except of course for full sized Grumpy walking around), many cartoon characters in full costumes, as well as Marvel Comics Super Heroes. There were always excited kids coming across Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Chip and Dale, Pluto, etc. as they walked around the ship.

This cruise was of course packed with kids. There were always so many kids in the hot tub that our kids skipped it and went for the pool. Of course the pool was quite crowded also.

There was a huge water slide that was a lot of fun. It went almost 360 degrees around the open pool deck. The little rafts held two so we went with the kids. Cindy got a great picture of Erica and Eve.

We enjoyed some live performances in the theater. No photos were allowed. The first was Mickey's Golden Awards. Many Disney characters were involved. There was music from many Disney movies. I still haven't gotten "Under the Sea" out of my head. Popcorn is available in Mickey Mouse containers. The containers were refillable for $1.50 on the ship and at Disney World. Cindy decided the kids each needed one. They were good about sharing!

I was beginning to feel like a large part of the people were like a Disney Cult! Mouse ears and all sorts of Disney clothing were in abundance. People went to great lengths to decorate their cabin doors. The doors are metal so they used magnets and tape. Here are just a few.

Rated #1 by me

Of course Cindy brought door decorations and shared them with her kids. Here is my door! Nobody told me about this door decorating! This little guy showed up the second day. I think the cabin steward put it there. He, (the magnet) now lives on my refrigerator.

All cruise passengers were notified ahead of time that this was a special Marvel Comics cruise and we were asked to wear a costume for Marvel Comics Heroes Day. I ordered two Aquaman T-shirts and wore them. I was informed by several people I didn't even know, that Aquaman is a DC Comics superhero, not Marvel. One even called me a "Traitor"! But when we took the kids to meet Ironman, I apologized to him for my t-shirt and he said, "That's okay, we're all on the same team!" Nice!

Niki was again on the ball and signed us up to meet some of the real live Action Figures. We met Spiderman and IronMan

Mea found a friend with an outfit of the same Superhero, Thor. (I didn't know there was a female Thor!)

It was the day before Marvel Comics Heroes Day. I returned to my cabin before dinner and found an addition to my sliding glass doors! They were really going all out.

Erica and Tom, Water slide above

Tom and Erica did not go all out like the kids, but at least they had Marvel character costumes. The whole day was more fun than I expected because the kids really got into it.

Groot and his fellow heroes

I went to a show that was designed to acquaint people with the Marvel Action characters, good and evil. I learned there are over a thousand characters since Marvel began. Obviously we only covered 50 or 60. No wonder I didn't recognize all of them. I learned about Groot. Very fun character. Reminded me of the trees in Lord of the Rings. Apparently all he says is, "I am Groot!" Working on the blog reminds me I want to see a movie he is in. Groot showed up on a balcony with two other heroes. (Couldn't figure out the other two but Groot was simple. He was at least 7 feet tall and looks like a root!

 

Not to be outdone, Wakanda showed up in full battle gear and put on a martial arts type demonstration. She also interacted with the kids about good vs. evil, etc. 

There were a variety of fun"Props" around the ship. I liked this Throne chair. It felt very Royal and made for a good picture. Except my outfit didn't quite work.!

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Eve and Anna

Cindy took Eve to meet Elsa's sister Anna (Frozen). Anna is the youngest child in the royal family of Arendelle, whose older sister, Elsa was born with the power to create and control ice and snow. Despite this, the sisters become best friends and frequently use Elsa's abilities for their enjoyment.

There were also meetings and pictures of the kids with Ironman, Spiderman, Captain America, etc. but I'm still waiting to acquire those pictures. I might do an addendum in the future because they were other fun pictures taken.

 

We docked at a private Disney Island for a beach day. The weather was perfect. We rode a little tram to the beach. There were options for snorkeling, paddle boarding and a very fun water slide. The kids and grand kids snorkeled and paddle boarded.

 

 

 

 

Eve and Steve headed to the water slide, again.

I went on the water slide with Liam, Mea and Eve. I guess I'm still a kid at heart, I enjoyed going on the water slide with the kids while certain others were relaxing with their margaritas!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mea, Cindy behind Mea, Niki, Liam and Eve

 Back on the ship Liam, was determined to compete in the Family Trivia game. Cindy, Niki, Liam, Mea, and Eve participated. There were two teams. One person was selected as the one who could guess the answers the other members came up with.

Our team did very well until it came to the age of the oldest person in the family on stage. Liam had the correct answer but the females overruled him! Turned out Liam was the only one who knew Cindy's age! So they came in second! (Out of 2)

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant

Every night the cabin steward left a "Towel animal" on the bed. This elephant is a good example. It was entertaining to see what he came up with each night. And of course the chocolate mints were also nice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cruise stopped in Cozumel. It is definitely a tourist city. My group had to go to Senor Frog's. They are apparently very popular in Mexico. Randy, Cindy and I went to one in Playa Del Carmen last year. The fun started with balloon hats.

Then Tom was selected for a special event that would never fly in the U.S. First, the wait staff passed out marsh mellows  and sticks to anyone who wanted one. Then they wrapped Tom's head in a lot of aluminum foil. A bowl with some kind of flammable  liquid was added, lit, and people were invited to toast their marsh mellows.

 

 

 Outside was the typical Senor Frog picture taking opportunity. This is one crazy place!

There were some activities we could participate in on the cruise. One was a Disney character sketching lesson. I of course had to attend, along with Niki, Cindy, Liam, Mea, Eve. It was fun but I clearly need more lessons!

The cruise ended, but that was okay. Next we were headed to Disney World for three days!

January 8th: Palm Desert and more pottery

 

Craig and Karen Rahn invited me to spend three days at their Marriott Resort time share in Palm Desert. They bought in about 20 years ago and the place has grown exponentially. Here is a map of part of the grounds. It was much more extensive than I had expected. The map shows only the Marriott Hotel portion. There are hundreds of time shares surrounding the golf courses.

Craig brought some putters and golf balls so we were able to play a little putt-putt! 

The grounds include many ponds and water fowl. The flamingoes are not at all skittish!

Craig and I went for a hike up Tahquitz Canyon. We knew there was a waterfall at the end. We were warned that there were over one hundred over sized steps. It was strenuous but worth it. 

Here are some pictures. The view looking back to the desert floor was amazing.

The climb up was challenging. If you enlarge the picture above you'll see hikers along the trail. 

We crossed the river several times on the way up.

We arrived at the falls and it was worth the climb. A very pretty waterfall coming down from the canyon above.

The next day we went to the Rancho Mirage Library observatory. It was during the day but we were able to see the inside of the observatory and learn about the telescopes. The city had some grant funds that some communities decided to use to build golf courses, but these folks opted for an observatory that would allow the public to view the skies. Great idea. 

These telescopes are taken out onto the deck at night and set up for people to observe the moon, planets and stars.

Here is the website. Observatory

After the observatory, Karen took us to Create - Center for the Arts. It was very interesting. I particularly liked the 3D printing that was taking place. I was amazed at the stuff the 3D printers can do. Here are some pictures of finished products. 

The young man who teaches the technique explained that a 3D printer can make something like the snake skeleton in one piece. The pieces are attached but you can shake the skeleton and it wiggles and stays together. 

The Center includes painting studios, fabric studios, graphic arts, and audio productions.

This dress was painted with an air brush The picture doesn't capture the vibrancy of the dress but you can get the idea if you enlarge the image.

There were a lot of these little creations that were knitted. 

 

I particularly liked this one. Not sure what it is but I liked it!

The highlight of the place is an amazing origami creation. The artist started to make and display origami cranes for each person who died from COVID. Read the description for the details.

We had a great dinner and watched Wednesday on Netflix. Very fun. The next day we went to Sunnyland. I'd never heard of it but Karen said she was sure I would like it. She's never steered me wrong. I found it very interesting. I had heard about the Annenbergs but really knew very little. The website provides a great deal of interesting information, but here are a few pictures I took.

Entrance to the Annenberg Home

Rose garden 

Views from the house overlooking the private golf course

I was very impressed with the philanthropic efforts by the Annenbergs. In particular, they wanted to provide a quiet place where top heads of state could come to have formal and informal conversations to resolve serious conflicts, and about how to make the world a better place. They established a foundation that continues to provide a quiet, out of the "Media's Eyes" place where top leaders can come to make the world a better place.Annenberg Foundation Sunnyland Palm Springs, CA

When I returned to Encinitas Wendy and I went to the Fire and Mud Studio to see how our glazed pottery turned out. We were very pleased.

Steve's mugs and soup bowl

Wendy's creations with the lids on

Wendy's creations with the lids off