Thursday, December 31, 2015

Thursday, December 31, 2015


Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2002. We had a snow fall and I opened up our front door for Mattie to check it out. Mattie was sitting in "tot wheels," his favorite vehicle and mode of transportation! Mattie could zip around our entire first floor in this thing, and I honestly do not know how he managed tight corners and spaces. But he did it! Mattie wheeled himself right over to the door to check out the snow! 








Quote of the day: Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

Today was our first full day on the cruise abroad the Royal Princess. It is amazing to us that there are almost 4,000 passengers aboard this ship, and yet things don't seem crowded. Perhaps it is because the ship is so large. However, just walking from one thing to another on the ship (without purposefully exercising), I walked four miles today. Which should give you a feeling for the size of the ship! One of the features on this ship is the "Sea Walk." It is on deck 17 and this walkway literally juts out over the ocean. It has a glass floor so you can see down into the water. 

This is what the walk way actually looks like. 

We were busy today with activities from line dancing, zumba, bingo, and walking. Yet what amazes me is you really can't sit outside and enjoy the weather. Meanwhile inside the ship is like a freezer, with air conditioning! The way that the decks are arranged, once the ship is moving, air passes over it and the outdoor decks are like WIND TUNNELS. I mean wiping wind, not just a light and inconvenient breeze. It was Peter who warned me as he invested deck chairs today and when he came back into our room to share his observations, he said.... NO WAY! I did go check it out the decks myself, but naturally if Peter (who can tolerate all sorts of weather) is telling me no way, he means it. We never sat outside today!

In 2013, the ship was christened by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge..... Catherine Middleton (who is married to Prince William). In the main lobby area of the Royal Princess, they feature this tribute area to Cate, with her photo and fresh flowers. 

There is also a museum style display in the lobby which has the top of the champagne bottle that she used to christen the ship, the scissors used to cut the rope holding the champagne bottle, and a replica of the dress she wore for the occasion. 

This is a first for me. Princess cruises now has quotes inside each of their elevators. As my faithful readers know, I love quotes. So I snapped this photo today on us in the elevator. Not easy to do, given the volume of people using the elevators. Typically they are SO full, I can't even see the floor, much less photograph it. 

This is the piazza or main town area of the ship. It is actually quite lovely, spacious, and full of gold coloring, which of course reminds me of childhood cancer awareness. The crew was getting the piazza ready for New Year's eve, and as you can see there were a ton of balloons overhead that will be dropped at midnight.

It is hard to believe that we will be celebrating our 7th New Year's without Mattie in our lives. We continue forward somehow, but we will never move on.