Roaming Gnomes (or other such objects)

[kabux]

My 3rd grader is doing Flat Stanley for a project with his class this year - each student made their own "Flat Stanley" and send him with his journal on trips with friends/family. Well, I got to take him with me on my "girl's weekend" 40th birthday cruise - it definitely made the trip 100% more fun!!!! We took pictures of "Cool Stanley" all over the ship, buried in the sand, in a lifejacket, at dinner with a spoon on his nose... the best picture (which we didn't send to school!) was of flat stanley laying on the floor next to an empty nip bottle!!!!!

 

Another funny bit from the same cruise was when I was just holding Stanley out to take a picture of him from the tender and some other ladies on the other side of the tender started yelling out "hey! it's flat stanely!!" like he was a movie star!! Totally funny!!!!

 

We're cruising as a family next week and Stanley will be coming with us again - this time my 3rd grader will be in charge of him - should be fun!!!!!

[YSTim]

 

Would I be shunned and ridiculed and banned from cruising if I brought Moolie along?

 

(I wonder how Moolie would look in a miniature sombrero).:D

 

This is a wonderful idea. A cruise is a vacation, you should have fun. If someone doesn't like it or thinks it's strange than they may be on the ship but they certainly missed the boat. I am sure others will love it and your grandaughter will have a something special to cherish her whole life.

 

Did I say I liked the idea? :D Go for it!

[debihen]

On our last cruise (Celebrity) we had two couples onboard who carried around two fully clothed blow up dolls (one male, one female...not the naughty kind:)). They said that they represented Tony and Rachel, another couple who had actually planned the cruise for all the couples but at the last minute had some sort of event that prevented them from attending. These two couples made sure that Tony and Rachel had a fantastic time, and before the cruise was over, we all knew Tony and Rachel! Those two dolls had several outfits (swim wear, casual wear and formal wear) and they participated in everything from Trivia to a special guest appearance at the big show on our last evening. We all appreciated the effort these couples made to include their left behind friends!

[luvtrips]

We always take our stuffed Javelina, Josephina. She rides in our car everywhere we go, and she goes on all vacations. We have pictures of her sightseeing on every trip. She sits on our bed on Carnival cruises and makes friends with the towel animals. She is our mascot.

[traci28]

What is a Javelina?

 

We always take our stuffed Javelina, Josephina. She rides in our car everywhere we go, and she goes on all vacations. We have pictures of her sightseeing on every trip. She sits on our bed on Carnival cruises and makes friends with the towel animals. She is our mascot.

[sleepysnr]

i believe a javelina is a type of pig, it lives in arizona.

 

thanks to all these great posts i am going to be doing my own roaming gome. my boyfriend wont be able to come on vacation with me so i am going to take pictures of the bear he gave me. im so excited!! when i am done i think i am going to make it into a scrap book

[Waitin to cruise]

Loved you pictures. Thanks for posting for all to enjoy!!

[crusinpsychRN]

On a trip to Europe we took 3 small animals and they posed all over the place. They have their own album. Pics on the airplane, hotel rooms and the beach in Nice. My fovorite was when my son put them in the chandalier in our hotel room.

 

We also took a baseball cap and randomly asked people to sign it. The first to sign was a guy in the airport in DC. He was an exact look alike of John F. Kennedy and sign that as his name. The rest of the guys he was with signed also, they were a NATO submarine crew. The most difficult one to get was a nun walking down the street in Florence. I don't speak Italian, she spoke no English. I asked in Spanish and she waved us off twice before she finally signed it.

[cruisingirl75]

I have a new traveling companion for this year's cruise. My friend bought me a small plush dog toy that looks like a pinata.(My sister and I have an inside joke about pinatas), the original one we had named Mini Pinata got kidnapped by my brother-in-law and never returned so my friend bought me a bigger one so that I can aggravate him with it.:rolleyes:

[happyshelly]

There is actually a school project that involves sending "flat stanley" to a family member or friend that lives out of state and that person is supposed to take picture of flat stanley in various locations. I think this is just a fun variation of such school project and should be encouraged by everyone !!!! My daughter took her unicorn, "uni", on her first cruise and when we came back from dinner she was thrilled that the cabin attendant took the time to tuck Uni into bed. We have many pictures of that..... and BTW, my daughter spent her well earned $5 in Mexico on a mini sombrero for uni.....

 

When my son did his flat Stanley project i sent him to relatives in London and Stanley had a great time. When my best friends son got his Stanley we took him on a cruise out of San Juan. I had a blast getting his picture taken everywhere on the ship. He even got to visit the bridge and get a picture with the Captain. On one of the excursions the husband was not feeling well and we decided to stay on the ship and people we met on board offered to take Stanley on their excursion for scuba diving. Great shots of Stanley captianing(sp) the boat.

 

Michele

[electro]

I took flat Stanley with me last March to run the Barcelona Marathon and come on our cruise.

I'll try to attach a picture

[HPINE1]

This is a great idea. I just saw the flat Stanley. How tall are they.

[electro]

About 8 inches I think.

That is a drink swizzle stick from the ship that I am using to hold him without having my hand in the picture.

He has a piece of self adhesive velcro on his back, I would pin the other side of hte velco to my shirt and wear him around.

 

When I wanted to take a picture, I would put the swizzle stick between the velcro to hold hime out without having my hand in the way.

 

When we returned, I put all the pictures on a cd for my nephew and he did a class presentation on all the places that Stanley had been.

 

Lois

[vital1]

Being a single mom, I take my son (heehee). He's only 9 and is working on his 5th cruise. He has a passport for pete's sake :D. Seriously, I'm thinking of taking a Capt Jack from now on. My son used to take Jack everywhere. I have a pic of him on Coki Beach and thought it was funny.

[DoggieDash84]

I have TOGA. Toga goes on all trips w/me. She used to go on car rides w/me, too, and follow me around in the wee hours of the morning. People rarely see Toga, and I don't think that I've ever purposely taken pictures of her. She WILL be with me on my next cruise, though. When people do see Toga, they make fun of her and ask me when I'm trading her in. I then feel bad for her and tell her that it will be okay and that those people who make fun of her are bad.

 

I used to have Maggie Bear - she was given to my parents by Aunt Margaret (hence Maggie) when I came to the USA and became part of the family that adopted me. When I became old enough to not eat Maggie Bear, I was given her to have at all times. One time, I left Maggie @ church and I cried and cried until my wonderful dad picked her up and brought her home to me. As time went by, I started to worry about Maggie Bear and her worsening condition, as she started to look as though she lost too much weight and her only shirt was becoming increasingly holey. It didn't help that a mean mean ex boyfriend (and I stress EX) got mad at me and took it out on her by stabbing her three times and hurting her fur. Luckily, a nice lady who owned a bear shop (who I visited often bc she was in walking distance and I liked playing w/her dog) mended Maggie Bear for me free of charge :)

 

I decided that I wanted Maggie to last forever and that she could only withstand so much exposure to what can be the harsh outer world. I started just carrying her shirt around, which worked because I already associated the shirt with her. I then found another piece of material that felt the same as the shirt (after the shirt became too ripped) and now carry this piece (TOGA) around. I associate Toga with the Maggie Bear's shirt, and Maggie Bear's shirt w/Maggie Bear, so all is well :)

 

You have just read the story of Toga.

[MarieO120]

I take my little stuffed Tigger with me on all trips. Cruises are his favorite. I have returned to my cabin to find Tigger lounging around in sunglasses, all dolled up in my jewelry, reading a book amongst other things. My prankster cousin usually is traveling with me, Tigger wound up trapped in a water bottle and duct taped to the ceiling as well. Here are a few of Tiggers pictures...

[chancerdancer]

tiggers beware

[MarieO120]

Don't forget you're slowing down in your old age ;)

 

Tigger could probably take you on and win now lol jk!!

[giftcard]

Love the Ninja Ducks and Tigger! I have a roaming gnome named George who travels with us.

 

 

I used to put his pics up on a blog, but now just put them on Facebook.

 

http://roaming-george.blogspot.com/

[olemissreb]

My son's school mascot is the owl. Every kid is given a stuffed owl when they enroll. The owl's name is Al. Last year in the school's first yearbook, there was a section named "Where in the World is Al?" - it was pictures of Al on vacation with various students all over the world. This has become the most popular section of the yearbook.

 

Al has accompanied us or my family members to Hawaii, Oman (where he was photographed with some wild camels and on a firing range complete with a blindfold over his eyes - the last one was not submitted for publication in the yearbook), India and Guam. This summer he's going with us to Washington DC (he's been there before, but he's never had his picture taken with one of our state senators until now!). In April, he'll be joining us on our cruise.

 

Al has become a topic of conversation when my husband travels with him. Everyone wants to know why a 47 year old man is traveling with a stuffed animal. When he explains it to his colleagues they start helping find places to take pictures of Al and it becomes a great game for them! (Al on the firing range for example!)

[chair123]

My mom's neighbor (whose grandson was doing the project for school) threw a birthday party for flat stanley with cake and presents and everything. It was so fun, I think the adults had more fun with it than the guests.

[anniecat]

we take a little plastic yellow duckie...our's has sunglasses and sits in a pool float. his photo gets taken all over. on excursions, on the balcony rail overlooking a port, the gym, on the plane, at check in with our passports (airline staff thinks it's very funny...more than a few giggles) (but never tried it during customs/security etc...duckie doen't want trouble). He even has his own mini album and slide show.

Silly but fun....even the straight laced DH joins in photo-ops.

[Tmrlovesjr]

I have to show my hubbie this post. I was inspired to get a gnome from the origional gnomenapped 1. My hubbie thinks I am insane, but I just thought it would be a lot of fun.

[svetty]

Here is my Cow companion lol, moomooka occasionaly travels with us..here on a trip to Alaska...:-)

[TkinNC]

How well I remember Flat Stanley.

 

 

My 29 yo DD never goes anywhere without her stuffed dog "Snoopy"

She always hides him in her pillowcase- even went to college-

good thing wasn't charge room and board or tuition for him.

 

One year he got left in a hotel room..we had to drive back 2 hours to get him!

 

 

She got him from Uncle when she was born. So it is his fault!

 

I am 36 and have a Snoopy, I got him when I was 4 and never let him out of my sight when I was little. He also went to college with me and traveled the world. He is a great travel companion.