The most WONDERful time of the year 12/21/13 from Galveston

[allbluezoo]

Aloha! I've never done a PTR before, but I thought it might help me to keep organized and document all the things I need to remember to bring, do and see!

I'm Melissa....the commander in chief of the allbluezoo, which consists of

Husband Raymond, currently serving in the US Navy and just crossed his 15th year.

DS1 Deegan, will turn 11 before we cruise and going on 17.

DS2 Cameron, 8yo and my mini me.

It will be our first family cruise and the 2nd for the hubs and I. He surprised me with a cruise as a Christmas gift in 2008 and we had a GREAT time. We are keeping it as a surprise for the boys - I don't want to tell EVERYTHING in my very first post so I'll save the rest!

Next up: how did we get here? Aka, why are we cruising?

 

[allbluezoo]

So, why are we cruising? I think a lot of people assume that when one takes a cruise they do it for purposes of vacation, relaxation, etc. There is an occasional celebratory cruise and obviously...with this cruise, we are celebrating Christmas. But this cruise is much, much more for my little family of four.

I have Crohn's disease. I won't get into all the details....it's not appealing. Long story short in December of 2011 I had what many would call "routine" surgery. Unfortunately, nothing is routine with me. I ended up having 4 surgeries in 39 days, completely lost 36hours of my life when I almost died and spent Christmas in the hospital. It was the MOST horrible time ever. Christmas in the hospital...not the other 38 days. My poor poor babies - they were all I could think about. How that ONE Christmas would now be marked in their minds forever because of me.

Blah! Anyway, I'm MUCH better now - still have Crohn's disease - but it is under control. And now my husband (who is in the Navy) is gone. I know, a Navy guy going on a cruise....why? Well, he has been in the Navy 15years and aside from one deployment with an MEF he hasn't stepped foot on a ship. He's a greenside guy, mends the Marines....a doc. Sooo, he is off finishing his Master's degree in San Diego right now. My poor kids have missed SO much over the past 2 years between my illness and his school that is breaks my heart. I vowed that I would do any and every thing I could to make it up to them in whatever way was possible.

And I've been doing just that. With a chronic illness like Crohn's comes lots of medication. One of them made me really really REALL sick. Like, call your family to come and say their goodbyes sick. Thank goodness I'm still around to tell about it. At any rate, that unfortunate incident has enabled us to do things that wouldn't have been possible before. We had quite the roller coaster of a summer vacation, we've been able to fly my husband home for a few long weekends and generally have had a GREAT time!

Our time is up here in Texas, next year we will be moving to wherever the Navy sends us. So that got me to thinking, we should take advantage of being so close to Galveston and get on a cruise - and SOON! Then I realized DCL was LEAVING Galveston and it became a MUST DO.

I brought up the idea to the husband and his response was "like I have a choice?" Well, pretty much I had my mind made up and it was just a matter of finding the right cruise for us.

Next up....the WONDERful cruise that almost wasn't

 

[allbluezoo]

Got our little blue "passport" book in the mail - thank GOD I didn't send one of the kids out to fetch it that day! While I have been quiet here, there has been much planning and plotting going on at home.

My husband was here over the holiday weekend and officially planted the seed in the boys heads that we are going to the coast (we live in Texas) the first weekend he is home for the holiday break. They don't know from Adam which way we go to get there and won't know the different between headed towards Corpus Christi or towards Galveston via Houston - plus they will probably be asleep at the insane hour we will be traveling!

We have quite a little group going for our cruise so far and it is fun getting to know everyone. I think we have collectively decided to move forward with a FE exchange for those that choose to participate. I've been stalking Pinterest looking for different ideas and can't wait to get the info on all the participating families so I can start gathering/making things!

Hubby keeps asking if concierge is really something I want to do. Of course it is! But do I really want to pay DOUBLE the cruise fare? No. We will wait and cruise concierge when it ISN'T the week of Christmas! I'll just keep things crossed that there may be an opportunity to upgrade to a verandah once we get to port - and if not, I'm completely happy with our oceanview room!

 

[BusyBeesMom]

Sounds like a much needed family vacation. I'm reading along.