Enough about Italy, we're going on a Cruise!!

3 working days until the BIG vacation! 15 days on the Disney Magic, from California to Florida through the Panama Canal.

Here's our itinerary:

• Sunday August 17 - Fly to LA, Embark
• Monday August 18 - Sea
• Tuesday August 19 - Cabo San Lucas
• Wednesday Aug 20 - Puerto Vallarta
• Thursday Aug 21 - Sea
• Friday Aug 22 - Acapulco
• Saturday Aug 23 - Sea
• Sunday Aug 24 - Sea
• Monday Aug 25 - PANAMA CANAL (watch us go through at: http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html)
• Tuesday Aug 26 - Cartegena
• Wednesday Aug 27 - Sea
• Thursday Aug 28 - Aruba
• Friday Aug 29 - Sea
• Saturday Aug 30 - Sea
• Sunday Aug 31 - Castaway Cay (Disney's Island)
• Monday September 1 - Debark in Port Canaveral, Fly home

We've done the shopping for cruise clothes and sunscreen. We've done the research, we have plans for every port. We've got the passports. We just need to pack!

First of Many

Yesterday was a hard day. Probably the first of many.

Brandon was upset in the morning about Stevie (our cat), and the fact that we have to find him a new home. I had not realized how attached he is to Stevie, but as Brandon says, "He is part of our family!" We talked about it for a while, and decided to make a Stevie scrapbook the he could take with him to Italy. I had the book, we went to Creative Crafts for a few stickers and rub ons, and then searched our old photos to find our favorite Stevie pictures. This seemed to help for the moment. I'm sure there will be many more tears from him and from me.

In the course of this, it was fun to look at many old photos. Here's my all time favorite photo of Stevie!

Patrick was also feeling like we are giving up a lot to go... We talked for a while and ended up sorting out our hall closet - what we'll take, store, sell and throw away. There is not much that we need to take! Just doing something helped him feel better.

Only 6 days until our cruise. Last night I researched our Cartagena port stop. Time to get packing!!