Thank you, Ron Moore (I promise no spoilers)

Galactica Cast 2, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I just watched the end of Battlestar Galactica and yeah, I'm crying me a river. A big Ol' Mississippi River for people who never even existed. To quote Ron Moore when he and his team were trying to end the frakking show:

I went into the writers’ room the next day and wrote on the big dry-erase board, “It’s the characters, stupid,” and the writers laughed and we all sat back and said, “Who gives a [expletive] about the plot? Let’s just talk about these characters.”

So thank you, Ron. Thank you for Mom (Roslin), Dad (Bill Adama), and the twins (Apollo and Starbuck). Thank you for Saul and Ellen, and Baltar and Caprica, and Helo and Athena and Hera, and Chief and Boomer, and the 268's and the 145's and 3 and Dualla, Gaeta, Hoshii and Doc Cottle, and a frakload of other characters I've come to care about. Hell, thank you for Hot Dog, who I didn't know the character's real name is Brenden until I read the credits last week. That made me laugh.

I can't stop crying, Ron. Totally, extremely, awesomely, thank you from the bottom of my not so mechanical heart.

Some More Unrelated and Unimportant Things

IMG_2549, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

1) The Orlando Airport doesn't have a play area for children. How lame is that? The Manchester, New Hampshire and Tampa, Florida airports do! It's a great way to let the kidlets vent some energy (and find like-minded folks to play with). We had a four hour layover from the time the bus got to the airport to when our plane back home left. Keeping Brenden in check was insane.

2) No cruise ships in existence can possibly have better ship's horns than the Disney ships. Upon departure and 12 noon on sea days the Disney Magic (and Wonder) belt out the first 7 notes of "When You Wish Upon a Star".

3) Speaking of WYWUAS, I watched "Pinnochio" for the first time in forever. I had forgotten how terrifying a story it is, even the softened version that Disney produced! I also saw bits of "Finding Nemo" and "Fantasia" up on the deck 9 screen (see above).

I also had to sit through "Kung Fu Panda" just about every night on TV because that's currently Brenden's favorite movie.

Other Random Vacation Bits:

Magic and Dutchman, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

1. I enjoyed the cruise, and I would do a Disney cruise again. I'd love to cruise on their new ships which come out in 2011 and 2012. In 2010, however, I want to do the villa thing again on St. John. My small taste of Trunk bay left me wanting more.



2. The friendliness of the staff made it easier for me to overcome my shyness and dislike of crowds. They make it a point of learning your names and more importantly, your beverage of choice. Our dining room server knew to bring Jon an Amstel Light and me a Guinness Stout.



3. Disney thinks of everything! At least they try to. On Castaway Cay during the walk on the beach we discovered a group of pull wagons - available first-come, first-serve, and a freebie.



4. Brenden inherited a good dose of shy from me so that's why we only managed one set of photographs with a Disney character. There was NO WAY IN HECK he was going anywhere near Jack Sparrow.



5. About the beer: As long as it's in a bag that can go through the x-ray machine (and no ice), the security folks at Port Canaveral don't care despite the 'no alcohol' signs. Jon also bought 6 bottles of Cruzan Rum in St. Croix and was allowed to take it to our room. Cruzan pineapple rum and pink lemonade is actually quite tasty.

6. Your stateroom host / hostess tidies up your room twice a day, and at the evening service he / she leaves you chocolates (which B gobbled of course) and a cute little towel / blanket animal.



Our host was even nice enough to make up Beary Bear and Kitty Kat's bed. Those two spent so much time in the sack during the cruise I think it's safe to call them Life Partners.

The Rest of the Trip

Charlotte Amalie Harbor, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Wednesday was St. Thomas. Jon did a scuba excursion and brought back nifty photos including turtles. Brenden and I took a taxi to Red Hook (30 minute drive), took the Red Hook ferry to St. John (20 minute drive) then caught a taxi to Trunk Bay (20 minute drive) and spent 2 hours on one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere, then we went back the same way in reverse order. It was exhausting. I wanted to see St. John again, but the anxiety about making it back to the boat on time kept me from enjoying it as much as I should. We should have just found a beach in St. Thomas. Despite me going it alone Brenden was fairly easy to herd (for Brenden).



Wednesday night and Thursday were all ship days and kinda bumpy. It didn't bother us much which is a blessing. People more vulnerable to motion sickness most likely had problems. I can't remember what we did on Thursday but I remember during one of Brenden's stays at the Kids club Jon and I watched Bolt in 3-D. Now for me watching a 3D movie on a rocking boat was fun, but your mileage may vary. The movie, by the way, is enjoyable and should have done better at the box office.

Friday was Castaway Cay day, and the Cay in the Bahamas is a private island that Disney bought and Disney cruisers have for their exclusive use. In a nifty marketing move, Disney parked one of the sets for their Pirates of the Caribbean movies on a sandbar so the first thing you see when pulling up to the island is the Flying Dutchman.



We went to the beach, ate lunch, and then while most people were still on the island Brenden got almost exlusive use of the ship's pools. I walked around and took photos. We kind of overdid the photos - the digital age rules. We took over 300.



Saturday... I don't want to talk about Saturday. By that time I didn't want to leave the ship. Not because of the drinking or the food or the entertainment, but because it was great having someone else do the cleaning and cooking! Our stateroom host, a nice young man named Jojo, was fantastic and I wish I were rich enough to hire him away from Disney. I miss him. *Sniff!*

Hotel on the Cay

Hotel on the Cay, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

While we were in Christiansted this place intrigued me . I also remembered the name of the place we ate: Fort Christian Brewpub. The habanero hotwings and the honey wheat ale are nummy.

In the meantime I may have gout. My freakin big toe hurts like hell!

The rest of my trip report soon come.

Trip Report - St. Croix

Fredericksted Statue, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Tuesday we docked at Fredericksted in St. Croix, where Jon had reserved us a car so we went and got it and drove to Cane Bay for some sun, snorkel time, and sand. Afterwards we drove into Cristiansted and found a restaurant by the wharf and had some awesome Habanero chicken wings.



I'll say one thing for St. Croix - it has a 2-lane highway where you can actually reach speeds over 55 mph, something that is almost physically impossible in the other USVI's. I liked St. Croix. The people were friendly and while it doesn't have the money that St. Thomas or St. John has, you can find nice places to visit and to stay.



We returned the jeep and were back on board by 4pm - the boat left dock promptly at 6 and sloooooooooowly made its way to St. Thomas. St. Thomas was just next door so we went at a snail's pace.



Tuesday Night was Pirates night - a Disney Cruise tradition that involves dressing up like pirates and drinking like one. Brenden got to wear his pirate costume from Halloween and he was happy. He had taken a nap so we actually made it to dinner that night. He also managed to stay up for the fireworks. Before dinner we discovered a deejay playing kids music in one of the lounges and all the little folks had their boogie shoes on. Brenden didn't really dance, but he ran around like a maniac. If there's one thing that Disney is good for, it's finding places and situations for little kids to run around like maniacs.

Trip Report

Loading the Magic, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

So we flew down to Orlando on the 27th, Friday Evening, while there were thunderstorms in the area. The Southwest flight had plenty of turbulence. Bleah. But we weren't late, and we had no problem getting our luggage and a trip to the hotel (a Holiday Inn Express).

On Saturday we caught the shuttle back to the airport and did a number of things to get on another bus to the port (Canaveral). Jon had bought some beer at a convenient convenience store and was stressing as we went through security at the port terminal but they let it through without so much as blinking.

We were let on board around noon but the staterooms wouldn't be ready until 1:30. I knew about this ahead of time and had thought to bring our swimsuits in our carry-ons. So armed with beer and swimwear we splished around in the pools for a while. Brenden, I might add, spent the majority of his time in the pools.



So we eventually made it to our stateroom, did the obligatory emergency drill, more swimming, etc and eventually ate room service because our dinner seating was at 8:30 pm and there was no way in heck we were going to make that (a common problem during the trip).

Sunday and Monday were sea days and are a blur. The highlight was a visit to the spa after we dropped B off at the Oceaneer Club (for 3-4 year olds and Brenden seemed to enjoy it). I had reserved the 'Rasul' room which basically is a steamroom / spa area where a couple can enjoy some alone time (nudge nudge, wink wink) (I know! On a Disney Ship!). I also recall swimming, drinking (a LOT - the case and a half Jon brought aboard disappeared a day and a half in), food, and not much else.

Frak you, Ron Moore!

No, this isn't a spoiler, it's a spleen venting. 3 hours away from the end of Battlestar Galactica, and Moore gave me exactly what I wanted IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY!

I envision 3 solid hours of crying in my future.

Back From the Cruise

IMG_2787, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We returned yesterday evening from our 7-Day cruise aboard the Disney Magic. I'll blog more later but I'll say this: Disney does it right -down to little details up to the design of the ships. The Magic wasn't the biggest cruise ship in port, but it was the prettiest. The Carnival ship parked next to it looked like a garbage scow compared to the sleek, old-time look of the Disney ship.