Journal entry by Barbara Bradley — Dec 12, 2011

Are we feeling the Christmas spirit yet? You better be. My son informs me every day how many days are left until Christmas. I am a little behind….on everything. I haven’t even gotten an update out about Thanksgiving and the next Holiday is near. Since I am in complete denial of Christmas, let us all go back to Thanksgiving for a moment.

Thanks to Billy’s brother and his wife, the Bradley clan made their way to Cape Canaveral, FL the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Saturday morning we boarded the Disney Magic cruise ship and escaped to warmer weather.

I can tell you we about starved to death, and don’t get me started on the conditions of the ship.  Mickey mouse leads the children to the bottom level of the boat and makes them take turns paddling. The places they take you are just despicable. I really don’t know how we all survived.

Of course I am kidding.  The cruise lasted 7 days. We docked at St. Maartin, St. Thomas and Castaway Cay an island Disney owns. Is there anything Disney doesn’t own? I can honestly say I didn’t commit the islands to memory until a week before we left. I only did so because people kept asking where I was going. They could not comprehend how I didn’t know. To be honest, it did not matter to me. We honestly could have just floated in circles in the Atlantic for all I cared. All that mattered was to be far away from reality for even just a short time. It would no doubt be a complete 180 from how I spent last Thanksgiving.

In St. Maartin, we chose to forego the excursions and took a very bumpy taxi ride to a local beach. It was a perfect spot for a low-key morning on the beach. It wasn’t crowded so we had plenty of space to spread out and enjoy a little swimming and exploring the shoreline. The hardest part of the morning was steering clear of the topless locals. Even though this was supposed to be the lesser “French” of the other beaches a couple women still managed to lose their tops. One woman looked to be about my age. We saw her and her husband when they were leaving the beach. Thankfully the kids didn’t even notice. The other woman was well…like the old lady from the movie Something about Mary. If you haven’t seen it just imagine too-tan sagging, leather skin. I just got the shivers reliving the image. No worries about the men staring. Some screamed “My eyes!” and others just turned to stone.

St. Thomas was the next destination. Our excursion included a scenic tour of the island and a visit to Coral World. Think of a scaled down sea world with sea turtles, sea lions, birds and a large aquarium. We couldn’t have done this because the kids are too young but there was a tour that included scuba diving in the aquarium. Of course you can’t get off the island without taking a stroll through the market square and shops.

Castaway Cay was our last stop. It’s like a water park set in paradise. The kids swam and built sand castles. Billy and I did some snorkeling. At first I was disappointed. I loved the clear water but I wasn’t seeing anything. I wasn’t exactly hoping to go head to head with a great white but give me something. We noticed the heads of other snorklers further out so we followed. Now that was more like it. We saw lots of fish, a sunken boat and even a stingray sleeping along the bottom, which Billy disturbed so we could watch him swim away.

The other days were “days at sea”. Believe me when I say there is always something going on no matter your age. They have kids camp going on most of the day and into the night. We couldn’t keep the kids away. They played games, did crafts, played on the computer and even made flubber one night.

For the most part, the kids got along well.  Nathan is at the tattling age so we have been trying to teach him to work things out first before coming to us. The quote of the trip was born – Please don’t involve the adults unless you are bleeding, burning or barfing. Try it. It works brilliantly.

Every night you returned to a clean room with your bed turned down and towel-made animals perched on top. Under Disney chocolates was a schedule of the next day’s events. The theatres run popular movies for the kids throughout the day and the nightly performances were a must for everyone. The Disney characters are listed on the schedule showing where they will be and the times so you could meet your favorites and get pictures taken.

Many activities are geared towards children and families but the adults are not left out. You will find entertainment for adults only, a pool that is kid-free, a spa, and bars…lots of bars. You wouldn’t be hard-pressed to find a martini tasting or a bingo game.

In true American Thanksgiving fashion they played football games on the big screen over the pool complete with “tail-gate” food. Personally I was still patting my expanded waistline from brunch but the wings and grilled corn on the cob looked divine. I am not much of a football fan but don’t take pity. I made my way to a lounge chair over-looking the pool and read while Ramón brought me patron’. By the way, that’s what I get for using the line “I’ll have what she’s having”. What you get is patron. That is the most expensive drink I didn’t know I was ordering. I will say it was goooood. Thank YOU, Ramón, I WILL have a magical day.

Besides Katie, Nathan and my nieces know the characters aren’t real but it didn’t seem to take the magic away. And Katie, sweet Katie cannot control her emotions around Mickey and Minnie. We tried to get a few family pictures with them but Katie could care less that you are trying to capture the moment. If you can get her to at least stand still you are doing well but she will not take her eyes off Mickey. She’d grab his face, kiss his nose, and then run away squealing in circles and run back to him again. You finally just have to take the picture and move on.

We usually had the buffet for breakfast, ate something quick on the deck by the pool for lunch and then had dinner as a family in the dining room each night. It is really amazing how much food they have at any given time.  The dinners have appetizer and soup/salad course and then the main dish and of course dessert.  Every night the kids got Mickey bars for dessert. A Mickey bar is vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate and shaped like Mickey.

I am not outing anyone but I am certain I saw Papa eating at least one Mickey bar. This is the same man that ate an omelet as a prelude to our Thanksgiving Day brunch buffet. Only Papa can get away with calling an omelet an appetizer to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Bring on the stretchy pants. There were a few freaks I saw running laps on the top deck but the rest of us ate and drank ourselves to a happy, elastic waistband heaven.

We spent last Thanksgiving in the Duke Hospital room with Katie the day before her surgery.  Our meal consisted of eating lunch served in the elevator bank by a local church. This Thanksgiving was spent with family on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Traditional turkey dinner was an option on the menu but I was torn between the turkey and the lobster. What is a girl to do? She orders both. Because she can. Even tough Billy informed me it was a little redneck to have lobster with my turkey I did it anyway. I even took a picture of my plate which I admit was probably is a lot redneck.

Just when you are really getting used to the fabulous life…..Seven days later it happens.  You get one last meal in the dining room and then they just throw you off the ship and send you home. Like an animal living a lifetime in captivity only to be thrown back into the wild to fend for itself, we were headed back home.

Back in Cape Canaveral we were told a rocket would launch at the space center in a couple hours. We were already planning to take two days to drive back anyway soooo off to our first and likely only rocket launch.

For three days we just sat at the kitchen table dressed in semi-formal attire waiting for someone to bring us food. I had to sleep on the couch the first night because I couldn’t remember how to turn down the bed. The kids just kept following me around insisting that no kid’s camp exists in the real world.  My key to world card that hung around my neck for the past week won’t buy a thing anymore. It’s cold outside. I can’t nap. There is no Mickey. There is impromptu martini tasting. There is no Ramón.  Sadly, there is no patron. Sigh….

Although my pedicure has begun to chip and real life is full of worries and responsibilities, we took lots of pictures and made lots of memories. More importantly, we also took home a happy little boy and a healthy little girl. November 26th marked Katie’s one-year post-op anniversary of seizure freedom. A lot can happen in a year.