The Big Family Extravaganza v2009 – It’s Bigger and Better Than 2005! - UPDATED 7/17 About This Page:

[JoanW]

Can it really be 4 years since the last Welch big family trip? Not road trip, but big honkin vacation? v2005 was an almost two week vacay with a small Disney Cruise and a week in Disney in a rental home. The famous taco bed incident happened on that one.

So, let’s get this party started. Here’s the 4-1-1. That would be 1-4-1 for Pat who is math dyslexic. Try calling back phone numbers he leaves for you!

The cast of characters: Me, the mom, JoanW, who turned the big 5-0 this year; Pat, another LSDH, age 64, who will have to work till he’s 75 because we have teens still.; DD Grace, turned 18 this year, and graduated from high school; DD Rachel, age 16.80, is now a senior in high school. For the extended family, from Michigan it’s Dsis Mary Jean, age 48, DBil Dennis, age 51, from Maryland DB Michael, 51, DB John 43 and his GF Amity and her son Justin age 9; cousin Debbie, 51, who had gastric bypass this past year and looks fabu and her daughter Lauren, age 17 and is also a senior in high school. And also coming is Lauren’s BFF and her family, which we’ve maybe met their daughter once before. I think total in the group is officially at 16.

The celebrations: My 50th, Grace’s 18th, our 20th wedding anniversary, Grace’s high school graduation, Debbie’s weight loss, and what ever else we can think of.

Grace is sharing a Deck 3 oceanview cabin with her Uncle Michael. Let’s see if they can stand each other after 9 nights. The rest are also in oceanview cabins on Deck 3. Rachel is in ours, which I upgraded us to a Junior Suite, Deck 8, cause I’m a balcony snob.

The where: We are sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas, out of Baltimore. This is our first RCI cruise, having done two Disney cruises. And this is also our first for Baltimore. Maryland invested a ton of money building a new terminal, which can be seen from I-95, especially when a ship is in port. Maryland is now home to four cruise lines: RCI, Carnival, Celebrity, and Norwegian.

Our itinerary is July 2, sail away; July 3 at sea; July 4 at sea; July 5 San Juan, PR; July 6 St. Thomas; July 7 Samana, DR; July 8 Labadee (RCI private like Castaway Cay); July 9 at sea; July 10 at sea; July 11, home. That’s 9 nights of family togetherness.

The plans: I’ve booked beach excursions for Samana and Labadee, and the Zip Line for Grace and I in Labadee. The girls are swimming with Sea Lions in Samana, and I think we are just shopping in San Juan and St. Thomas. Almost 24 years ago I spent over a month working in Puerto Rico, so I just want to revisit a few of my fav places. For a FAB or two. See if my name is still on the wall at a certain hole in the wall. And I did the Bacardi Tour back then with the office, which was Big Fun, cause you went through the actual factory and then FAB’s were served after the tour. Yes, I had some. And more. Frozen and not. Didn't matter, they were handing them out like Halloween candy. I felt like singing the Halleluja chorus. I think I may have broken into a little personal salsa dance. Gloria Estefan was big back in 1985. So was my hair. But I digress. Back to the present. Sigh.

So, after 13 months of planning, saving, spending, shopping, the time has come. I’ve wrapped the coins from the coin jar ($225). I’ve brought the suitcases out of the basement. I “Febreezed” them all. I gathered the “essentials”, which includes the duct tape, the Gnome, night lights, power strips, door signs, 1000 spray cans of sunscreen in varying degrees of strength, power cords, cameras, snorkels and swim fins, water back pack, portable fan, fancy clothes, dressy clothes, casual clothes, swimsuits, shoes for every possible need, and hats of various needs.

The dining room is again the staging area. One suitcase is full and packed. Now to not grocery shop for the next few days. We have several parties to attend, so that will eliminate the need to cook dinner till Monday, at least. That leaves Tuesday and Wednesday, but what the heck, we’ll get carry out. I'll even let the girls order Chinese, which I do not like at all.

Foo: My Foo of choice this time is BBW Cucumber Melon, cause they had that foamy body wash again, so I went with that as my Trip Foo.

I will update on Wednesday as the day progresses and I get my act together.