*OFFICIAL* CC Group Cruise 02/15/2014 Cupid's IV Southern Caribbean - Carnival Breeze

[Cruisin Dave]

Dave - I agree, we're loving the rain up here in OKC!

Howdy OKC. You'll have to meet up with Kathy and Frank. They were on the first Cupids cruise and I think they are signed up for this one. They live on the northside of OKC.

Looking at the radar, more rain is streaming north from Texas.

Dave

[Cusp79]

Thanks Dave, Kathy is also on our facebook page for this cruise as well. I've chatted with her and she lives only about 35 min from me! My bf is a Texan (from the Houston area, Kingwood to be exact). We also have a few friends in Fort Worth area. One of these days we're hoping to make it back down there. Greg loves to stay at the W hotel in Dallas when we go down there. Plus he LOVES going to Top Golf in Dallas, he's a golfer ... well a sports guy. Me, just give me my booze and I'm happy wherever, lol. :D

Edited July 17, 2013 by Cusp79

[Flick]

Dave:

Have I got rain for ya! Lots and lots of rain! It has rained here every day for three weeks and not only is it depressing but our arthritis is giving us fits!!!! You can't make any plans because of the rain and it IS ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!! As you can see we are starting to get a little "testy" about this situation.

Edited July 17, 2013 by Flick

[HeidiHo]

Ryan -I've been meaning to ask you, are you originally from LaCrosse, WI? My niece went to UW LaCrosse. We have been there several times. We have skied at the ski resort there a few times.

Edited July 18, 2013 by HeidiHo

[AKB10]

I finally bit the dust and signed up on Facebook. My page doesn't have much on it, but at least I can keep up with everyone now. You all will be seeing me requesting to be friends.

Heidi, how do I get to the Cupid's page?

 

We have been enjoying the rain the last few days and the cooler temps, but that is about over. Hot humid days in the forecast - a normal July forecast.

[Cusp79]

Heidi - Yes, I grew up/lived in LaCrosse until I was 18. UW-L is a great school, especially for medicine. Mount Lacrosse is great as well, I've only been there once but I would love to go back; Greg loves skiing as well. I love going back home, LaCrosse is so beautiful especially in the Fall time. Kathy - Facebook is fun for communicating with friends, but be aware it can be quite addictive after a while. lol

[HeidiHo]

Good Morning!

 

I have a very long day ahead of me. I'm working a double at the OG. (that's the Olive Garden to you newbies). I never normally do doubles but this time it was hard to say no. One of our very young hosts asked me to pick up her shift because she has her first chemotherapy session today. She is only 18 and just graduated high school and a couple of weeks ago was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. :(

 

Eric was home yesterday for his interviews at the 2 Longhorn restaurants. he has decided he's going to work at the one in DesPlaines instead of the one right across the street from my OG. It's a much farther job but he will get a lot more hours there. they plan to put him on the schedule by Monday, July 29th so he'll be moving back home that weekend. His current plans are to take a certification course that will certify him to teach English and then take another teaching job out of the country, probably central or South America. Colombia is a strong possibility. He says he will get paid better if he gets certified and the course only takes a few weeks.

 

I am posting a link here to a Youtube video of the Van Halen music video of their song "Right Now." Dave's aunt that passed away last week is in it and his cousin produced and directed it. Mark (his cousin) won Best Director at the 1992 MTV Music Awards for it. The band also won for best song that year. Watch it and look for the lady in the red raincoat that walks up to the camera and kisses it, that is Dave's Aunt Marlene. Then towards the end you will see a photo of a young man, it looks like a senior picture or something and it's on fire. That is actually a picture of Dave's cousin Mark, the one who directed it. Check it out.

 

 

RIP Aunt Marlene

 

Have a good day.

Edited July 18, 2013 by HeidiHo

[HeidiHo]

Ryan - yes, the LaCrosse area is very beautiful with the river and the bluffs and all. I haven't been there in years though.

 

Kathy - I sent you a personal message on Facebook.

[Cusp79]

Heidi - Greg and I went back to LSE this last May ... it was my first time back home four years ... boy did I miss it!

[Flick]

I too went to LaCrosse every year for Reinhart Foods Show as a manufacturer's representative. Beautiful country!!!

Well I mailed my Passport renewal in today. I kept thinking I have plenty of time before the Breeze cruise but totally forgot I'm going to Cayman, Roatan and Mexico in November on the Brilliance. DUH!!

[HeidiHo]

I just want to remind those of your who only put the $25.00 deposit down initially, the rest of your deposit ($225.00 per person) is due on Aug. 18th. If you need to change your credit card be sure and let Erin at Crucon know because it's my understanding that they will automatically put the charge through on whatever card you put the original deposit on. Final payment is due on Nov. 2nd.

[Cusp79]

Rick - I have renew my passport as well, before the upcoming cruise in Feb.

[Flick]

Would anyone like some rain.....PLEASE! Tonight was supposed to be a date night on the beach with wine and sunset but it is very overcast this morning with a 60% chance of rain forecast. Thank goodness I have lawn service...I couldn't begin to keep up with the way the grass is growing because of all this rain.

Yesterday, well actually the night before, we had a little excitement here. We had a snake in the Florida room. I DID NOT sleep well that evening but the "smart" animal found his way back out and my blood pressure is beginning to go down again. For the record...I am terrified of worms because I believe they can turn on you and become quite vicious so you now know how I feel about their bigger cousins.

[momofzeke]

Ryan - you sure are right about Facebook being addictive!

 

Kathy, glad to see you on Facebook!

 

Heidi, how cool about Dave's aunt & cousin, thanks for sharing the video.

 

This pivot is driving me insane! Got the pivot, but special bolts & fittings needed to assemble it were missing. Got the bolts yesterday, but part of the fittings were missing. All these things have to be shipped to us, so we are delayed YET AGAIN! :mad:

 

Helped Dave fix a fence the bulls tore up yesterday. Bulls are a pain in the keester, always fighting and tearing up fences and being a general pain. They get turned in with the cows in about a week, and they are getting very restless.

 

We already turned one bull in with the cows because he kept getting out of his field and Dave would have to put him back in. He finally just put him in with the cows to get him out of our hair. Talk about rewarding bad behavior! There is already a bull from the neighboring ranch, Mr. ZX Bull, in there, so we will have some early calves again next year!

[HeidiHo]

Good Morning!

 

My day did not end up being so long yesterday. The manager on duty at the OG decided he didn't need all of the hosts scheduled for last night so since I was a double he said I didn't have to work. I just had to stay until the evening hosts were there and then I went home. That was at 4:00.

 

It has been super hot this week (mid 90's) but after today it's supposed to start cooling down. Still, the heat has been nothing compared to last summer when we had a lot of days over 100. we haven't broken 100 yet and have only had a few days in the 90's. We had too much rain earlier in the summer but it has been pretty dry now for a couple of weeks so Dave is starting to water the grass. We had a brief shower yesterday but it wasn't enough. We are not in a drought though. Dryer weather in mid to late summer is totally normal for us.

 

Tomorrow night we are going to a graduation party. It's a college graduation party for one of Staci's best friend's. Some of her friends are having parties but we decided for our kids that one graduation party was enough. We only did the high school graduation party. We know people who throw huge parties for 8th grade, then high school and then college. That's just fine if you love to entertain but I find preparing for parties to be so stressful, not to mention expensive.

 

There is already a bull from the neighboring ranch, Mr. ZX Bull, in there, so we will have some early calves again next year!

 

Sue - So how do you get Mr. ZX back to his own ladies? Guess he likes your ladies better. Maybe he thinks the ladies on his own ranch are a bunch of cows. Yours must be much better looking.

 

Have a good weekend. :)

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon Cupids,

It is starting to warm back up around here. It's in the lower 90s today but will be back into the triple digits next week. With all the rain, it is quite steamy.

Rick, what kind of snake was it or did you try to check. We get rattlers around here so you have to be careful.

Sue, you know, the grass is always greener on the other side and you neighbors bull know you girls are special.:D Like the pictures of Dave cleaning the solar panels. Do you have any supplying power to other places on your ranch.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Dave

[ed_k_tx]

It's been a while since I've been on here. Well, at least posting on here. I have been lurking some.;)

 

We made a road trip up to Illinois over the July 4th holiday. Took the scenic routes this time though. Stopped in Bossier City at the new Margaritaville casino on the way up. Very nice. Then drove over to Tunica, Mississippi. First time for us and Dale managed to win enough to cover our losses from the night before. Then 3 days in Champaign with our DD, DSIL and DGS. Saw some fireworks on the night of the 3rd then watched the neighborhood bike parade on the 4th before heading up to Chi-town to visit Mom. Her 85th birthday was on the 6th and my sister had arranged a party at Champps which is right down the street from Heidi's OG. This was the time Heidi was off so we missed you again. We did stumble across the Bahama Breeze one night. Loved the Rum Runner.:D

 

Stopped at IKEA on the way out and bought our DGS a new big boy bed. Mom and Pop have to convert his other bed back to a crib for the new baby. ETA 10/3. We stopped in St. Louis for the night then headed to OKC. We had never been to OK before so got to cross one more state off my list. I'll admit to an ulterior motive for this route. Driving from OKC to Houston we went through Dallas where there just happens to be In and Out burgers. Double-Double Mmmm. Only drawback was that Dale found a new batch of casinos.:eek:

 

I'm going in for an epidural steroid injection on Monday. Been having pain in my leg related to a back problem. Possibly caused by a water slide at Margaritaville in Montego Bay last March. :rolleyes:Medication hasn't helped so this is the next step. If this doesn't help then surgery which I want to avoid. I'll let you know how it turns out. Definitely want this cleared up before our cruise.

 

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Ed

[Flick]

Well we got to the beach last night and the rain held off while we there but the sky was soooo overcast that we never saw even a hint of a sunset.

Dave, I believe it was what we call a rat snake. Their primary diet is palm tree rats.

Most of our rain has been when the two sea breezes meet (the Gullf and the Atlantic) so we have had wonderful comfortable temps instead of the usual heat we get plus a pleasant breeze..

Well I finished physical therapy (at least what the insurance company authorized which was half of what the doctor ordered!) and now we are waiting for the insurance company to extend the number of visits. I have made a great deal of progress and would hate to stop here.

[momofzeke]

 

Sue - So how do you get Mr. ZX back to his own ladies? Guess he likes your ladies better. Maybe he thinks the ladies on his own ranch are a bunch of cows. Yours must be much better looking. :)

 

Ha ha ha! Yes, the ZX bulls do like to visit, it seems! We call and make them come get their bulls when they get in with our cows. The ZX is a gigantic ranch owned by Simplot, which is one of the largest privately held agri businesses in the world. It is the biggest ranch in Oregon, and one of the biggest in the country, if not THE biggest. They run over 10,000 cows. So they have a LOT of young cowboys. We let those boys come get their strays, they have a lot of energy!

 

Dave - we only have that one solar panel, which supplies power to pump water from a well into a large watering trough for the cows. We are in the process of getting a second one with another trough put in on the other end of the ranch. That way, when the creek gets low in the summer, the cows will have a place to get a drink, and we won't be so worried every year that the creeks will dry up to the point there is no stock water. We already had these stock water wells, so it's a great solution.

 

Ed - good luck with the shot, back probs are no fun! Hope you can avoid surgery!

 

Heidi - glad you didn't have to work as long as you thought.

 

It's hot here again, too. Close to 100 yesterday. Ugh.

 

Pivot parts did not show up yesterday, so we are still playing the waiting game. :mad:

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

[Cruisin Dave]

Good afternoon Cupids,

 

Ed, good luck with the shots. I've also been experiencing pain in my leg and have been doing stretching exercises and taking muscle relaxers. So far it's getting better.

 

Sue, hope the parts are in soon. You need to keep Dave busy or he may start running with the bulls.😱

 

Rick, maybe the snake was just looking for a little snack. :eek:

 

Took the kids and grands out to Mimi's Cafe this morning. Just wish the DGS was stop sulking so much. He is 10 and would not put his tablet away to eat so his mom took it away. Wonder what these kids would do if they had to use their imagination like we did as kids.

Later,

Dave

[Cusp79]

Since we're the newbies to the group, what does everyone like to do on the ships? Just to get an idea of what the groups likes to do.

[momofzeke]

Since we're the newbies to the group, what does everyone like to do on the ships? Just to get an idea of what the groups likes to do.

 

One thing we do that is fun is meet in the atrium lounge each night for cocktails. There's usually music there in the evenings and it's nice to relax and visit before dinner, or after for those with early dining.

[Cusp79]

Momo - Sounds great, this last Feb we were on the Breeze and we spend every night before dinner in the Ocean Plaza lounge; our friend Consuela was singing there and she's fantastic (very jazzy). :cool:

[HeidiHo]

Good Morning!

 

Since we're the newbies to the group, what does everyone like to do on the ships? Just to get an idea of what the groups likes to do.

 

Like Sue said, one of the things we do is meet in the Atrium bar before dinner. That just kind of happened a couple of cruises ago. It wasn't planned but for some reason we were all showing up there before dinner so then it became our routine. We will also plan a couple of meet and greets and maybe a cabin crawl. The cabin crawl was fun on the last cruise. We have also done a whit elephant gift exchange. we didn't do it on the last cruise but might do it again this time. NONE of these activities are off limits to non group members. EVERYONE is welcome to join in. The only time we ever had to exclude non group members was when one of our group amenities was a cocktail party with one hour of open bar but we are not doing that on this cruise so there's no reason to exclude anyone.

 

We went to a weird graduation party last night. It was for one of Staci's best friends college graduation. It was weird because it had a Zombie theme. :confused: Yes, you read that right, it was a college graduation party with a zombie theme. It was fun though. Unfortunately we got rained on quite a bit. They had rented a tent though and have a large house so the rain wasn't a big deal and later it stopped and we were able to go back outside. I didn't drink at all so I feel great today but Dave and Staci a little out of it today. Dave and I left the party around 1:00 AM. Staci spent the night there because she wasn't ready to leave then. She got home around 9:00 this morning and went straight to bed. I just looked outside in the back yard and Dave is sitting up in a lawn chair but I can tell by the way his head is dropping that he's asleep. LOL

 

I have to work tonight but then I am off tomorrow. I normally work on Monday's but I requested the day off because we were trying to plan an outing to six flags with other people from the OG but that fell through because only 2 of us ended up being able to go. Staci and I might do something fun though anyway. We might go down town.

Have a great day.

[Cusp79]

Not sure if anyone has been on the Breeze before but there are much more bars on the promenade deck than on previous ships. I know our group loved the Ocean Plaza bar (which I believe is right by the casino). The other place that Greg and I loved is the sports deck, the ropes course is so much fun, I think we did that at least once a day. In the evening, usually after dinner, you'll find us at one of the blackjack tables. As far as the shows are concerned we're not big on the shows. During the day, we love to sit outside at the Ocean Plaza and play Phase 10 for hours (and of course drinking many of cocktails). After this upcoming semester I'm going to be needing this cruise so the anticipation will be building even more, the closer we get to the sail date. :D