Counting Down the Days

We spent July counting down the days to a very grand adventure set for August 1st...an Alaskan cruise aboard the Disney Wonder!! 

This was a trip long in the making. The trip was booked by Ben's parents for his entire family, siblings, and kids all, in May 2021, and we kept it a secret from Daniel and Annabel until Christmas 2021 when it was revealed via a puzzle they had to put together. My kids were SO excited and absolutely aghast that we kept it secret that long. Annabel promptly spent a LOT of time researching excursions and learning all about our ship. It was so cute.

And then we began the countdown- months and then weeks (us adults remember when the countdown was something like 450 days!), until we came to July 1st and we started counting days! Disney has an app for cruises, of course, and when you log in, it displays a countdown every time. It's extremely fun to watch it count down to the second how long until your sailing! We had already started booking excursions in the spring, too, excitement mounting ever more then.

Much of July was spent texting/emailing amongst all the siblings, arranging things, reminding each other things, sending packing ideas, shopping online, sharing links for pre-boarding paperwork, checking and planning excursions, and so on. Lots of fun! July was also spent avoiding COVID like you wouldn't believe- because not a one of us could have it if we wanted to sail. No exposure, no positives- no chances taken. And we dodged a few bullets, truly. We made it all the way to July 30th healthy! Phew! 

One of the last things we had to do before we even flew to Vancouver, where we boarded our cruise, was do a virtual COVID test via Zoom. I was insanely nervous about this- everything was riding on the results of this test- longest ten minutes of our summer, I tell ya.  But we were Cleared to Sail!! Thank heavens!! Now we could take off and enjoy our vacation!

Anyway, vacation pictures are taking an inordinate amount of time to go through- so. many. pictures.- so that will be whole other post, but this- this is a collection of all the fun "getting ready" pictures we took all throughout July. Because it was such fun to plan and prepare for this awesome vacation! 

Enjoy!

30 DAYS!!! We couldn't believe we'd be sailing in 30 days!!

Annabel spotted this Stitch suitcase and begged and begged for it! Said it would be perfect for our trip. I had to admit it really would be. We didn't buy it that night...but, spoiler alert- we did finally grab it a couple weeks before we left! It was a set of 3 actually and they really were perfect.

Annabel models the golden Mickey ears we bought to celebrate Mary Kay and Larry's Golden Anniversary! These ears were just PERFECT! I got enough for everyone in our group of 10 to wear as we boarded the ship- so fun. This was also a surprise for Mary Kay and Larry, too- just as much fun!

Our family was the holdout for matching shirts...I'm not crazy about them, my kids had eyes stuck from all the eye-rolling...but we finally caved when Wendy sent us this shirt- it made us all laugh and we even got Daniel on board for wearing it. This was Grandma's trip after all- we would join the fun. Plus the excitement really was catchy by mid-July- we just couldn't wait to go, so matching shirts for all it was! The only problem...they didn't arrive in time. Pooh. So we'll have to wear our shirts another time and just pretend. Or perhaps go on this cruise again, Annabel says! Anyway- fun shirts!

 GAH- less than 10 days!!!

I tell ya- packing for this trip was a nightmare!! So many logistics, so much to think about, so much to remember, so many stories of lost luggage making me nervous and a packing maniac (I made sure everybody had a little of everything in each of 3 suitcases- there were essentially 12 piles of clothes on my bed- it was nuts!). We had to find cold weather gear, formal clothes, dressy clothes, photo shoot clothes, theme-night clothes, regular clothes, warm weather clothes, swim gear, and on and on. This was no simple thing. These are a couple pictures from when we were trying on clothes- I threw them in because they're cute. :)

Frozen-themed ears- Anna for Annabel, and then we also had Elsa and Olaf ears, too. Very cute. 

Amazon is amazing when you're getting ready for a trip. The last 2 things I purchased for the trip were a cell-phone purse and lanyards for the cell-phone- best purchases ever!! I was ever so grateful I had those two things. These ears were a semi-last minute purchase, too.

More logistical fun. The photo shoot we were doing was to be done in black and white only, and, working with advice from Jason, I was painstakingly making sure my four people would look good and not too matchy. I took lots of pictures of the various shirt options and turned them black and white to see what it would look like and then made adjustments from there. (This is one such picture.) I'm clearly an over-thinker, haha- but it worked- the pictures turned out beautifully!! The hard work and advance thinking paid off.

The cats were very curious about these suitcases- note the tail sticking out. I believe that was the second cat to go in, too, haha.

Piles of clothes and a cat on top.

More suitcase exploring.

SQUEEEEEEAAAALS!!!! FOUR DAYS!!!!

Overthinking-me wanted to make the ears specifically for Mary Kay and Larry extra special- we were wearing them because it was their 50th anniversary not Disney's (though it was recently), so I added a little extra special touch that said "Married 50 Years." It turned out great, I think!

Afternoon screenshot from the day before we flew out...(yes I should have been busy packing instead of playing around...)

Evening screenshot...we literally looked at this thing a thousand times a day just to watch the seconds tick by and the pictures and numbers change! :)  Probably still should have been packing at this point, too, haha.

 And then we were off!!! Our trip was HERE!!!!!!! 

Spoiler alert- it was AMAZING!! Stay tuned!

Our Life: July 2022

July went by in a blink with so much to get done and so much fun to be had!!

The month started with this mounting excitement...July 1st and only 30 days left!! We looked at this countdown app almost daily. It was so fun to see the numbers go down!! (Some of us in the know saw this countdown when it was May 2021, so over a year ago...the number was very high then, haha!)

Aunt Amelia and Uncle Brian gave Annabel this 3D Stitch puzzle and we finally sat down one day and worked on it. The kicker? The directions were not in English!! We managed okay, thanks to mostly numbers and a handy diagram so we could at least do a character match. It wasn't easy at all (it fell apart on me at least a few times, and this is the kind of thing where when that happens you have to start allllll over again!), but we methodically worked it out with a handy organizer of our own making and some extra hands for cooperation and stability. It turned out so cute! Will we pay Brian and Amelia back for this someday? We just might, haha!

 

Pineapple upside down cake!!

Cozy fluffy kitties.

Fourth of July fun at our usual spot, complete with glow balls and a glow frisbee! Fun night!

Annabel taught Aggie a new favorite game, Sequoia. Cosmo kept them company.

More baking fun! Annabel loves her new zester- a gadget we did not have, shockingly enough!

Boys and their toys! Power washing was Daniel's fun this summer on a few occasions!! This time they were washing our very very dirty basketball hoop and the sidewalks, too.

New spot for Ziggy for a while.

Annabel and I had a sleepover together at Grandma Cheryl's house- the most fun! We met up for dinner at Noodles and Company first, but since Annabel and I were early to the restaurant, we popped into Kohl's super fast to make a loop and look around a little. Well, look what Annabel spotted!! A Stitch suitcase!! She was DYING over it- begging for it and all, just LOVED it. It is, admittedly, cute. Ben and I told her we'd think about it. We literally never heard the end of it, for weeks. (Spoiler alert- we did get it...eventually! We surprised Annabel, too- so fun! We needed more suitcases for our trip, after all!)

Rom Coms all night with Grandma Cheryl!! The Proposal and Legally Blonde. (Annabel has since said Legally Blonde is one of her favorite movies! Love it!)

So fun to plan for our trip! I found golden Mickey ears to celebrate Grandma Mary Kay and Grandpa Larry's Golden Anniversary!! Annabel modeled them for us! They were impressively cute and sturdy! Us girls, Wendy and Rose included, all had fun shopping and planning and texting all month long- Annabel was delighted to be clued in with the big girls. :)

Annabel did a current event presentation on the new James Webb telescope before it launched back in December...and now this month the first images finally came back and were shared all over the Internet and Instagram...SO COOL!!! It's mind boggling. Truly.

Where there's a pile of clothes, you can bet there'll be a cat.

Annabel made this cute Stitch from rolled up magazine papers- he turned out so cute! This was a video library program and kit that she did with Aggie and they had so much fun together! Annabel went on to make another one because it was so fun, but we're partial to Stitch of course!

Fluffy!!!

 Oh look at the countdown now!!! How could we already be less than 10 days away?!!! So exciting!!

Hail! I know hail is not good for houses and cars and such, but it's still pretty cool when it happens (because it hardly happens)- it's fun to watch it all bounce all over. And it's fun to try to catch some, as Annabel tried to do...but she didn't actually want to get wet!

Kitties in my library.

Where there's a crossword puzzle I'm working on, there's a cat.

So sweet. This is not a chair the cats sit on very often, so when it does happen, it's pretty cute.

Oh me oh my!! FOUR days!!!

It is now July 29th and we're at...TWO DAYS!!!!

And the rest of July is another story for another day...

The Third Strike

Well, the third time was not the charm for us...

Annabel's Girl Scout overnight camp was cancelled for the third summer in a row...COVID strikes again. 2020 we all know what that summer was, 2021 was understaffed camps, and now this year 2022 the counselors themselves had COVID. Boo. Boo boo boo.

We had worked so hard to get Annabel's ankle recovered, get her packed plus get new stuff, send surprise mail to her at camp (all of which have since been returned to us, like I wanted that reminder!), get some advance shopping for August done beforehand (we literally ran around like crazy the Saturday before because I knew time would be tight after she got back!)- just everything, so much effort, and wham, cancelled. And the kicker? The girls were literally on the highway on their way to camp when we got the email notification about the cancellation. Talk about a slam! 

Annabel had been so excited to go, as with other years. This year would have been a full week away this time (so exciting!!) and a zip line camp, too. She was going with her friends, Aggie and Zeynep, and they were all so excited. Annabel was well packed up- we thought of everything. And then once it was all packed, we quizzed her on where everything was (those are the first two pictures below), because she had a lot of stuff and I wanted her to be able to find things. We even went and got one of those simple blanket sleeping bags because it was going to be a hot week for them. I mean, we went all out. And she was so cute and so ready! Hence my sharing of the pictures and the story here, even if it is sad. I was so proud of Annabel's independence and readiness and eagerness- this was a big deal. 

But honestly, our biggest takeaway: we dodged a really big bullet!!! The camp was cancelled because several counselors had come down with COVID and oh boy we did NOT want any part of that, that's for sure. We had worked SO hard to stay healthy all summer and stay away from potential exposures- we had a really big trip in August that could not happen if anyone was exposed or came down with it. Hard stop, no go. So, small blessings- even if that was hard to see at first. 

We made sure the girls had fun in other ways. Annabel and Aggie ended up being able to do a library program together that we had just planned to do when they got back (it was an online watch-a-video type of project kit). Zeynep had the girls over for some games and s'mores one night. We found Legos stashed for Annabel to put together. And of course we read books and she and I watched lots of rom coms, our new thing together this summer (which has been SO fun!). We also got Annabel's room put back together with her help, too. And she was able to come with us to Food Truck Friday after all, too. So in the end we made the best of the week. It wasn't what she wanted, but it was still full of fun and distractions.

I gotta tell you though, it was something else to say goodbye to her, cry for a while (I was going to MISS my baby...we took a walk after she left and I just felt this missing piece, this empty space, already), and then literally not even an hour later learn that she was coming back home. Talk about complete turn-around emotionally. We spent a lot of the week thinking well she would have been doing this or that, or my mail would have arrived today, or today she would have been coming home. It was just a really odd thing overall to have gone through so much effort and thought to this whole week, to have looked forward to it, to have already grieved her empty place in our house, and then boom nope she's home. Oh but my poor girl, I felt SO bad for her. Who knows if we will try again another summer or not, we've been burned so much. Only time will tell. 

But I go back again and again to- bullet. dodged. Really. My goodness. Phew. 

Anyway, these pictures, like I said, were too cute not to share.

This girl was SO happy to go!!!

Our week instead... library video craft program, her room put back together, and fun with friends! We still had some fun after all!