Vacation Days 4 & 5: Bikinis and Butterflies

Monday morning, I woke up stiff from the pullout bed, so I threw on my swimsuit and went and had a lovely, peaceful soak in the hot tub. After that, I grabbed two cups of coffee & took them down to the stateroom. Mom & I had coffee on the verandah, then I took a shower and she went off to kidnap a grandchild or four for the day. Monday was pretty much the same pattern as Sunday--breakfast, pool, lunch, nap, reading, dinner, relaxing as could be. I remember thinking that I hadn't felt that relaxed since JammiesFest.

One totally snobby and judgmental comment from me: No one, and I mean NO ONE, not even, say, Sophia Loren, who is my size and my mother's age, should be swanning around a public pool wearing a bikini. I understand about being comfortable with yourself, loving the you that you are, all that, but BLECH!

Tuesday was our day at St. Maarten, and Mom, Dad, Bookworm Mathgeek, Princess Mathgeek, Tinkerbell and I went on a bus tour of the island with a stop at a butterfly farm. We passed the biggest Ace Hardware store I'd ever seen, and made a point to draw Dad's attention to it. The butterfly farm was neat, and I'm hoping my pics came out, because a huge butterfly landed right on Bookworm's cheek as I was walking next to her (yes, I'll get off my ass and get the pics up at some point). Princess Mathgeek was chosen to carry a leaf full of tiny butterfly eggs around and show the members of our tour group, and brave enough to touch a caterpillar in its cocoon, so I got her a little butterfly pin to remind her of the occasion. The rest of the tour was probably a little too much for the girls--lots of sitting and not much chance to burn off energy, but they were still pretty good.

And yes, the pics came out!








Speaking of kids and energy, Disney's cruise ships have various age-appropriate activities for kids, and they are well done enough that none of the kids in our family really wanted to leave the "Oceaneer Club" once they'd gotten there. They also did very well at mealtimes, which was doubly impressive because we were eating at 8 p.m. Our waiter took the kids' orders first, and brought their food while the adults were eating appetizers. On the one hand, this was good from the point of getting food into my nieces and nephews. On the other hand, it meant that they had to sit at the table and behave even after they'd had dessert. They were all very well-behaved every night they ate with us.

One night, when Emmanuel was taking dessert orders from the kids, Princess said "Nothing for me." When he brought out the desserts, he had a plate for her on which he'd used chocolate sauce to write the word "Nothing." He also did magic tricks for them, and made a talking banana at breakfast on our last morning there. He was absolutely one of the highlights of the cruise.