Clue Number Three (Summer Photos Day 48 of 69)

You've all figured out where we are by now, haven't you? I hope so—because this is the last clue.

See you soon.

Clue Number Two (Summer Photos Day 47 of 69)

So how is everyone? Any correct guesses on where we are yet? Today's picture should make it a lot easier. Right?

Clue Number One (Summer Photos Day 46 of 69)

Clare, Clare's Mom and I have taken off for just a few days. I won't be blogging while we're gone, but thanks to Blogger's new feature I can schedule posts to be published while we're away.

Where are we? It's too easy to just tell you. So I've left you a clue. Any guesses?

Time and Money

Yes, it's been over two weeks since I've posted. I've got a good excuse...really. Time and money.

Two weeks ago, Clare, Clare's Mom and I spent a week in Disney World. We had planned to do the responsible thing and go during Clare's spring break from school, but we postponed that while my Mom was still in the hospital. We thought about going in July or August, but it's really crowded then. (It's hot too, but we've been in August and didn't think that it really felt that much hotter than here. Clare's Mom and I both like temperatures in the 90s.) So we went in May.

May has to be one of the quietest months in Mouseville—after spring breaks and before summer vacations. I don't think we waited for anything for more than five minutes. So, as for timing, it turned out pretty well. We did have to change the hotel we were planning to stay at—so we'll have to wait for another time to see what it's like to stay at a "New England-inspired" resort. That's as opposed to staying at an actual New England resort which we can do a little closer to home. May is also the annual Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.

Aside from hitting every park at least once and a waterpark, we got a few bonuses too. We had breakfast with Minnie and Goofy—and Chip and Dale, but you can't turn a corner at Disney World without running into those two. Clare also danced with the High School Musical Review at Disney's Hollywood Studies. And she checked into the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where girls (maybe boys too) can become a princess—hair, makeup, nails, dress, shoes, wand—Clare got it all and became the Little Mermaid.

The same night we went to Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party—a night when the Magic Kingdom is open only to guests willing to spend even more than the usual arm and leg. I'm not sure it was really worth it, but we had fun. The wait for rides was even shorter than the aforementioned five minutes, there was pirate treasure to find (we all got necklaces and sacks of "jewels"), there were DJ-hosted dance parties at a few locations (we danced with Lilo and Stitch), and we saw a special parade in which Tinkerbell made her first parade appearance. The only problem—since our last trip to Disney, Clare has decided that she's afraid of a few of the rides and anything with a "drop" was out.

So, we had a pretty relaxing week (I really want to be back there) and spent a lot of money. Time and money.

Last week, I caught up on all the things that hadn't been done for a week. The grass had grown nearly to my shins, we did a lot of planting now that the threat of frost is over, and...yeah...there was some paid work too that I had to make a priority. Time is money, right? Unfortunately, I didn't read your blogs over the past two weeks either. Have I missed anything good?

By the way, before leaving for Florida, we asked Clare's teacher what she'd be missing during her week away. The school doesn't allow teachers to give assignments early for time taken off, but we figured maybe there was something we could cover with Clare during the week. The teacher's answer? Clare would be missing lessons on time and money. Time and money. We tried to bring up telling time and counting money a few times during the week, but it's kind of hard when you're on vacation time and paying for everything with your room card. If Clare never fully grasps the concepts of time and money because she missed them in first grade, her future husband has my apologies. I think it was worth it.

Friday Talent Round-Up

One of the Guys

Alltop has added me to their Alltop Dads page. In return, I promised to give them a little blog love.

It's actually a pretty cool concept they've got. They compile stories from “all the top” sites on the web in various topics. Some of those topics are serious—like education, economics, and politics— and some are not so much—like celebrities, fashion and wine. Then there are the Dads. The fact that anyone reads about our daily lives still boggles me.

Check out Alltop. There's an Alltop Moms page too.

Good Thing I Bought Those New Chucks

Last year's Nike Oregon Waffles are pretty beat up after a year of wear—which this morning included mowing and fertilizing wet grass and using up the last of that topsoil. That's right, the dirtpile is gone. Sorry to all you kids who didn't get here in time to play.

And Away We Go

After a tough and busy spring, this family is finally getting some time away. I'll tell you more about it when we get back.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous

Our local library had a Princess Party yesterday. About fifteen girls showed up to hear princess stories, play princess games, make princess crafts, and share pink cupcakes and juice. And, of course, they all wore princess dresses.

Clare spent a few days deciding which dress she would wear and, in the end, Cinderella came out on top. The night before, Clare laid out the dress, shoes, tights, gloves and necklace. When it was time to go, she had been ready and waiting early for a change. Then she realized something was missing.

For about ten minutes, Clare and I dug through her closets, toy boxes, and everything else we could think of trying to find one of Clare’s princess crowns.

“I can’t figure this out,” I said to Clare. “You’ve got about a half dozen of these things.”

Then it hit me. Clare had packed months ago for our April vacation to Disney World—the crowns must be in one of her five or six suitcases so I asked her if that’s where they were.

“I packed some, Daddy,” she said, “but only five of them.”

Only five of them? I don’t know how the princess’ll make it through the week.

Executive Orders

Today is Presidents Day, so I'm providing some presidential trivia. I found a pretty good Presidents Day Quiz that's not too easy and not too tough. I got nineteen out of twenty correct, but I'll admit that a couple of my right answers were good guesses.

For anyone too smart for that quiz, here's another Presidential Quiz that has some lesser-known facts. There are a few different sets of questions (click Quizzes for new questions) and I've been getting about half of them right, again with some good guesses as opposed to solid knowledge.

Take the quiz. How are you at presidential trivia?

Have a great day off, everyone. Or days off—Clare has Tuesday and Wednesday off too so we have some big fun planned.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go..."

Another snow day. Just when all the snow had melted. Sure it looks pretty, but the shoveling, icy roads, cold and gloomy days aren’t so much.

This morning we didn’t even have phone, cable or internet access. Clare’s Mom stayed home from work too and we all had to actually sit around and interact with each other. We played Polly Pockets and Pirates of the Caribbean Scene It? twice (Clare’s Mom won both times) and we shoveled.

This is exactly the time of year we need a vacation. Clare apparently thinks so too and is ready to leave for Disney World. Bathing suits, spring clothes, princess dresses, toys, books, iPod…it’s all packed in there.

The only problem? We’re not going until April. I feel like packing too. Anybody want to send some warm weather our way?

'Gansett

For the past three years, we’ve vacationed in Narragansett, Rhode Island, for a week in the summer. We’ve gone with Clare’s Mom’s brothers and their families in the past, but this year we were on our own. We rented a guest house that was a little too “cute and cozy,” but wasn’t bad for the three of us.

Even though Rhode Island is only a couple hours away from us, it offers some things that we can’t find so easily in Connecticut—things like clam fritters at every restaurant, lots of beaches and attractions within about 20 minutes (the state is only 37 miles wide), surfing, body boarding, and bobbing in waves that are higher than one foot because they’re not blocked by Long Island, more than a few confusing TV stations in Portuguese (Rhode Island has more Portuguese Americans by percentage than any other state), and Mario Hilario on the weekend news (yup, that his real name).

The state also has beach communities that range from historic old seaside resorts (Watch Hill) to strips with arcades, clam shacks and old motels that still boast COLOR TV on their signs (Misquamicut) to preppy havens with historic mansions and cliff walks (Newport) to family towns with a few beaches, evening concerts, and lots of great restaurants and ice cream (Narragansett).

So, we went to the beach everyday, dug in the sand, played in the waves, chased seagulls, had chowder, steamers, lobster and beer, ate ice cream almost every day, and had a grand ol' time.

Pretty much the only thing that was wrong with the week was that it was too short. Next year…two weeks.

Friday Talent Round-Up

Whoa, Dude

It’s the middle of July already. I thought that since I wasn’t working, this summer might be long and lazy like we used to have when we were kids…you know, like in the Country Time Lemonade commercials (except that we don’t have a good ol’ swimmin’ hole down the holler). But that isn’t the case—it’s flying by like it always does for us grown-ups. I guess maybe we really never can be kids again. Or, maybe when Clare is grown and we’re retired—if we ever get there—life’ll get a little slower again.

Awesome, Dude

Above Average Joe just tagged me with an Awesome Dude Blogger badge. Thanks, Joe. I know that some of these things get passed around like pink eye at preschool, but they really do mean something. It’s great to be recognized and pointed out by someone who’s both a good Dad and a talented blogger (even though he's a Sox fan). And, as Joe said, I get a little bling for the blog.

Tracking back through the blogs, I noticed that this badge originated just a couple weeks ago at NewBlogger.net. The original was an Awesome Guy Blogger badge, but it looks like either can be used.

A few guys have tagged five fellow bloggers, which I could easily do. But, others have tagged only one and the original rules are “tag someone else,” so I’ll stick to one.

Any of the Dads in my blogroll deserve this title—and the Moms deserve one too. There’s one guy though who probably does more blog reading and writing than most of us, checks in for every post rather than just scrolling through a reader, and always comments to let us know he’s been paying attention. He’s also not afraid of showing both his down and dirty and his sensitive side. The badge is sure to get to him sooner or later, but I’ll be the first to say, Whit, you’re an Awesome Dude Blogger. Wear it proudly and pass it on.

Later, Dude

We’re off to our beach house for a while. We’ll, it’s not really ours, but it’s a house at the beach and we’ll be in it. So, in the sense that we’ll be legal tenants, yeah, it’s our beach house. More on the vacation when we’re back. Have fun without me.

She Be Travelin', Mon

Clare just might have made some money at that new job (The story’s in the last post. I’m not going to link to it. Just scroll down if you don’t remember.) that I don’t know about.

In the mail today was a brochure—addressed to Clare—for a luxury resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. And it’s for an adults only resort. So she must be planning far ahead.

Clare’s Mom likes to plan vacations early too, but only about a year or so ahead. And we are seriously looking for an all-inclusive kid-friendly resort in Mexico or the Caribbean for next summer. Anyone been anywhere good?

We just flew back from Florida and boy are our arms tired…

Okay...that was a tired joke. But, we did come back from Walt Disney World this weekend and were absolutely exhausted. I think we packed more into six days there than we ever had before. To keep this from being a too long and boring report of our trip, I’ll just post some highlights:

On the Friday evening before we left—with threats of a Northeaster bringing rain and ice—we quickly changed our flight plans. We stayed overnight on Saturday at a Westin in Stamford, where we learned—like Steve at The Hygiene Chronicles—that the “heavenly” beds are far from heavenly unless you enjoy sleeping in what feels like a pile of cotton balls. Then, instead of flying out of JFK at 11 a.m. on Saturday, we flew out of White Plains at 9 a.m. During the flight, we learned that by 10 a.m. most flights from the northeast were delayed or cancelled because of the storm. If we hadn’t changed, we probably wouldn’t have gotten out until Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks to so many people being delayed by weather, checking in at the airport and hotel was easier than ever. In less than an hour, we were in our room at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. This was our first time at Disney World as Disney Vacation Club members. Yes, we did get tired of hearing “Welcome Home,” but having a one-bedroom villa was great. It meant that we didn’t need to have lights out when Clare went to sleep.

Over the next few days, we packed in three trips to the Magic Kingdom, two to Epcot (where the annual flower and garden show was in progress), two to Typhoon Lagoon (where we got surfer Minnie and Goofy tattoos), one to Animal Kingdom, a few to Downtown Disney (it was walking distance from our room—but I still had to carry Clare a few times), and a few dips in two of the pools at the resort.

We raced around to a few restaurants we hadn’t been at before too. For Clare, we had dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table in the castle and went to the Princess Breakfast at Askerhaus in the Norway Pavilion at Epcot. Clare, of course, had a different princess dress for each occasion. For Clare’s Mom and me to try something new, we went to Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge. We loved them both, but Artist Point is a place we’ll definitely go back to again. We also really liked the Turf Club Bar and Grill right at our resort and Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney—where we got a great dinner for much less than the cost of full sit-down meal.

Clare’s favorite ride was once again Splash Mountain—and it’s one of my favorites too. She also loved Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom where—thanks to Extra Magic Hours—we got to ride twice in a row without long lines. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean twice too—that’s Clare’s Mom’s favorite. Another of my new favorite rides is Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I hadn’t been on it before—it’s like being in a video game! We also all loved Soarin’ and The Seas with Nemo and Friends at Epcot. Clare collected all of the stamps and cut-outs at every pavilion in the World Showcase too. (I might take some heat for saying this, but even at Epcot the French were rude. In most countries, the cast members smiled and asked Clare questions about her trip and where she was from. In France with no other kids waiting, the cast members stopped talking to each other just long enough to say, “Give me your mask to stamp.” and “Au revoir.”)

So, we had a fantastic time and it was once again too short. I know that this post sounds like an ad for Disney, but if you haven’t realized by now that we’re big time Disney fans, you haven’t been reading long enough. In just a few years, Clare won’t get excited by being invited to dinner with Cinderella and won’t light up quite the same way when she sees Minnie Mouse. While she still has that magic in her, we’re going to take advantage of being kids with her.

Friday Talent Round-Up

Rabbit Season

Thanks to some of your good suggestions, we got the Easter Bunny’s footprints last Sunday—he even dropped something in the tray. And we didn’t have to harm the bunny, Whit.

New Gigs

In addition to my recent feature, I’m now a contributor at Clever Parents. Check out my first post here. I’ve also just sent something over to DadCenter. My post there isn’t up yet, but check out this great one until it is.

Search Party

Here are a few of the more interesting searches that have led readers to this blog.

• Things to do in Long Island for a fifteen year old boy: Just stay away from Connecticut.
• My child is disruptive in Kindergarten: Join the club.
• How yellow fever changed the world: Sorry, I posted that one on my history of disease blog.
• Was the name Clare ever used for a storm: Have you ever seen our house after a play date?
• Como son las doce princeses: Están todavía en el DVD player, gracias.
• Where to buy meringue powder in Vancouver: Somehow, I’m the first result on this search. You never know what’ll do it, do you?

Heading South

I’ve had it with winter weather. Yesterday morning, we had sleet and freezing rain (I still don’t know the difference). Temps in the next few days are low 40s to near freezing. And on Sunday it’s supposed to snow. (We’re in the northwestern corner of Connecticut where the rain and snow come together on the map.)


So we’re heading to Florida. I’m serious. We’ll be back in about a week.

A Week on the Magic

I’ve been away from blogging longer than I expected, but we did have some great fun in January. We were away for over a week at Disney World and on a seven-night cruise on the Disney Magic to Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Disney’s private island in the Bahamas.

Last January we took a four-night cruise and had such a great time that we booked another one. Clare had to stay out of kindergarten for few days, but we figured she could handle it…and that she’d learn a few things onboard too.

Like last year, Clare spent some of every day in the Oceaneer’s Club with other kids her age. They had a pirate party, a luau, a pajama party with Goofy, made cookies, made flubber, and learned about animation.

Being the Disney fanatic that I’ve become, I could go on and on about the trip, but I’ll just post some highlights:

• Spending the night before the cruise at the Polynesian in Disney World where Clare learned the hula in the lobby and thinks she’s been to Hawaii;

• Having the Polynesian pool almost to ourselves along with other New Englanders and northerners who didn’t think 65 degrees was cold;
  
• Getting off board without Clare (who chose to stay in her “club”) in Key West and visiting the original Margaritaville, Sloppy Joe’s (where Hemingway hung out), and Mallory Square;
  
• Spending sea days by the pools and getting a couples massage in the onboard spa;
  
• Dressing for dinner on formal nights with Clare in her best princess dresses (this is Clare wearing her Mom's wrap over her dress);

• Spending money on Grand Cayman with Clare and Clare’s Mom where the beach was beautiful, but things seemed to cost more than anywhere else I’ve ever been;
  
• Leaving Clare on the ship (again) and taking a morning tour of Cozumel with Clare’s Mom—where we got a couple cheap Coronas, a free shot of tequila, and some Cuban tobacco products;

• Visting Mayan ruins and Playa Mia, a great beach in Cozumel, later in the day with Clare and Clare’s Mom;
  
• Having about a nine course dinner with Clare’s Mom in the adult’s only restaurant onboard while Clare partied at the club;
  
• Seeing The Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney’s island, Castaway Cay;

• Winning a TV-theme song version of Name That Tune on the last night with Clare's Mom while Clare (again) had a going away party in the club;
  
• Picking up Clare after the party and saying good-bye to all the princesses and other characters onboard.

The last highlight was joining the Disney Vacation Club since we’ve already been going down there about twice a year. And, coming back to near zero temperatures after spending a week at eighty or better in the Caribbean, we’re sure glad we did.

Gone Fishin'

I'll be back with more updates and explanation in just over a week.

I had hoped to have a more of a post up before this break, but my time for blogging has been short. But it's all good...more details when I'm back.

I Think Maybe I Drank the Kool-Aid

For the past two weeks, I’ve spent part of every day at the computer. And I’m not talking about blogging. I’m talking about the “something else” that’s occupied my time that I first mentioned in a post over a week ago.

I’ve been on message boards. Disney message boards. More specifically DIS message boards…the “Internet's Largest Unofficial On-Line Guide to Walt Disney World.”

Clare’s Mom first found the DIS website and message boards when she was planning our Disney World vacation for this past August. In September, I registered for the site but didn’t really spend much time looking at it. But at the end of October, Clare’s Mom told me that celebrities—most of them affiliated with ABC—were starting to post on the boards. The celebs included Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa of Live with Regis and Kelly, Rosie O’Donnell of The View, and Oprah Winfrey. I’m not much of a celebrity whore, so I still didn’t pay much attention to the site.

Then Clare’s Mom told me that the celebs were starting to post about a “secret project”…a contest that DISers (the name for users of the site) could really benefit from. But they weren’t saying what the contest was…they were slowly revealing it in the form of clues. So for about two weeks I’ve been online with fellow DISers trying to piece these clues together to find out the details of a contest that I know nothing about for the chance to possibly win a prize that hasn’t been named. But tomorrow is a big day…at some time that still hasn’t been revealed a podcast will be uploaded to reveal the details of the contest and how DISers might become involved.

When the contest details are revealed I’ll probably end up spending more time online applying to do something for the remote chance of winning some prize. And when I’m not doing that I can scan the DIS boards for good advice for a Disney cruise this winter and another WDW trip in the spring.

I never even went to Disney World before I was 32 years old, but now we’re in the middle of four Disney vacations in the span of two years. Have I become a Disney freak? I don’t remember drinking any Kool-Aid.

Writer's Block

You’d think that after posting only eleven entries all year (remember that Clare’s Mom’s May post for me doesn’t count) I’d have something to say.

You’d think that Clare’s adventures in kindergarten would provide some subject material. Or even my own adventures as a new stay-at-home Dad. The truth is that I do have some things to post about those. But I’m stuck on a couple other posts that I promised back in August—about Clare’s being on stage in Seussical and about our vacation to Disney World.

The Disney post isn’t really a tough one. It’s just that after two months it seems like old news. Suffice it to say that Clare loved every minute in the self-proclaimed Happiest Place on Earth. We hit all four major parks at least once plus Blizzard Beach and Downtown Disney. Clare’s favorite ride was Splash Mountain—which is one of my favorites too. Clare’s Mom and I loved Disney too. We not only love seeing the parks through the eyes of Clare, but we’ve become real Disney fanatics. We’re already booked for another Disney cruise and a trip back to the World next spring.

The Seussical post is more of a stickler than Disney World. Being in the show this past summer was a great experience for Clare and it was fun for me to have her around work…but it’s kind of brought down by the fact that I’m no longer working at the theater where Clare was on stage. I’m trying not to let my own feelings about that place affect her experience there. There are a lot of downbeat things I could write about the place, so it’s still kind of hard to write anything positive. But it’s time to move on…and extract the good that I have to say.

I’ve written about the fun that Clare and I had at work before.

Clare loves my work too. How many kids can say that they have fun coming to Daddy’s work? Clare has a ball here and most everyone on staff and involved in productions knows her and loves seeing her around. She saw Cinderella here with her best friend Libbie in February, has actually sat through a band concert, and will come each December to see The Nutcracker. When we come to work during tech rehearsals, she loves running and being chased through the aisles and looking at the lights, sets and costumes for each production. And then there’s the candy from the concessions counter.

We had that fun right through August. The director of Seussical (who’s a friend of mine) asked Clare to “audition” and she started talking about it months before the show. Ninety-nine percent of the kids who auditioned made it into the cast, but Clare still had to go through a singing and dancing audition. I snuck on stage and watched her audition—even though it was somewhat a “conflict of interest” for me to be there—and was so proud her. Sure, she couldn’t read the sheet music given to her and ran around more than followed the choreography, but what did anyone expect from a four year-old? Kids from three to twelve were placed in a “fish” chorus for a song called It’s Possible (McElligott’s Pool). At their cue, they ran in from the audience and “swam” as fish up on stage and took their place to do little more than just be cute scenery.

There were over one hundred kids in the show and they were broken into two casts to perform on different weekends. Clare made friends with a few of the others and had fun offstage while they were waiting for their big scene and then their curtain call. Clare also loved that family and friends came to see her perform. Other than some school shows that everyone was in, I was never on stage until high school. Clare now has a ten-year head start on me. (Actually, she was also in a student review show a couple of years ago at the theater where she crossed stage—with me because she couldn’t be trusted to cross stage and exit—during Broadway Baby.)

Clare isn’t auditioning for any more shows in the near future, but she’s been thinking about it already. Before I left the theatre, next summer’s show was announced—Peter Pan. Clare, of course, wants to be Tinkerbell. She doesn’t quite understand when I tell her that on stage Tinkerbell is usually “played” by a green laser light. I’m not sure she quite understands that I don’t feel like going back to that theatre for a while either.

This past weekend, we were talking about our favorite places. Clare said her favorite place is the same as her Mom’s—a bookstore. I asked them to guess my favorite place and Clare’s Mom got it. It’s a stage. I don’t know if we’ll be back on the stage where I worked anytime soon. But as the saying goes, “All the world….” At the very least, Seussical and the theatre in general gave Clare the opportunity to learn more about my work and share something that I’m passionate about. And if that’s not a good experience—and blog-worthy—then I don’t know what is.

Catching Up

Despite my lack of blogging, a lot has been going on for Clare since I last posted. Some of the highlights include:

• Going to the circus in May and sitting right on the floor where we could see everything up close;
• Graduating preschool in June and being named "Most Creative" in her class (that made me particularly proud); she also played a red bird in a skit at the graduation ceremony;
• Spending July vacation in Narragansett, Rhode Island where we went to the beach everyday, traveled to Newport and Block Island, and I surfed (check out number 81 in this post);
• "Acting" in Seussical the Musical as part of the children's "fish" chorus...this will eventually get it's own post;
• Spending six days this month at Disney World which was so much fun that it may also get its own post soon.

And the biggest news of all is that Clare starts kindergarten in just five days. Wasn't she just the little pumpkin that slept on my chest when she came home from the hospital? What happened to the last five years?

Clare Goes Cruising and Clubbing

Author's Note: A couple posts back I resolved to update this blog more frequently in 2006. So where the heck have I been you might be asking? Well I'm not the slacker you might think I am. The answer to where I've been is in this post.

Clare has been cruising and clubbing this month. No...she hasn't aged twenty years and started hanging out in Manhattan...we've been on a Disney cruise where Clare spent some time each day in the "Oceaneer's Club" with the other 1000 kids on board.

A little over a week ago we flew to Orlando and spent a night at Walt Disney World at the Grand Floridian. The day we arrived we took the monorail (we sat up front and Clare was a "co-pilot") to the Magic Kingdom. Despite outrageous crowds that kept us from doing more than a few things (including meeting Ariel, riding the teacups, visiting Mickey's toontown and seeing a show outside Cinderella's castle) it was magical to watch Clare see Disney World for the first time.

The next afternoon we left for Cape Canaveral and the Disney Wonder. Over the next five days we sailed to Nassau, Castaway Cay (Disney's private island) and back to Florida.

None of us have been on a cruise before and it was amazing. In fact, for anyone who isn't a Disney or a cruise fan the rest of this post might sound like a commercial. But Disney does do it all right. There's a kids' club that kids don't want to leave...which means that moms and dads gets to spend time in the adult-only areas of the ship...the counselors (enough to watch all of the kids booked on the ship) will even take kids from breakfast right until midnight (but don't accuse us abandonment...we never left Clare there that long). There are four restaurants (not counting the buffets, lunch counters and round-the-clock room service) and one of them is exclusively for adults. And there are three pools, a spa, bars, dance clubs, movies for the kids and a stage that rivals almost any I've seen. I could go on...but I'll just mention some of the highlights for Clare and us:

• Getting stopped by airport security for having Clare's bubble gun for the sail away celebration in my carry-on;
• Clare's excitement in meeting her favorite princesses, dancing with Snow White and having tea with Wendy (the characters are much more accessible than in the parks and the lines are much shorter...sometimes we even just "bumped" into them on deck);
  
  

• Clare's dressing in her princess dresses for dinner each night (except when she had dinner in her "club" and was better off in play clothes);
• Clare's amazement that every day after dinner we'd go back to the room and someone had turned her couch into a bed...and the animal-shaped towels and chocolates left on our bed;
• Showing Clare (and Clare's Mom for the first time) the blue waters of the Caribbean and swimming in the middle of January;

• Bringing Clare to the kids' play area on Castaway Cay and sharing tropical drinks with Clare's Mom in the middle of the afternoon;
• Clare's falling asleep on my shoulders in the middle of an on-deck Pirate Party complete with appearances by Captain Hook and Smee and late night fireworks;
• Sharing martinis with Clare's Mom while Clare watched late night movies in her club;
• Clare's appearing on stage for a last day celebration and "graduation" ceremony...during which Clare pulled off her club-issued t-shirt "so everyone could see her Belle dress;"
• Loving the cruise so much that we already booked a longer one for next year.

So I ask you...how do I go back to work and every day life in a New England January after that?

Weekend Getaway

Clare took off for a few days this past weekend with her Mom and me...packed her Disney princess luggage and went to Mystic...home of Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, and Mystic Pizza. Now those of you anywhere on or near the Eastern seaboard know that it's been raining for about five days (and it's forecast to rain for about five more). Luckily we had some indoor plans as well.

We stayed at the Mystic Marriott Hotel and Spa...which houses an excellent steakhouse and an Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa. So, in between the one rain-free day seeing the sea lion show at the Aquarium and the rain-soaked day at Chowderfest at the Seaport, Clare's Mom and I took turns playing with Clare in the hotel pool while the other one indulged in spa treatments. We rarely ever do this, so we kept it kind of vanilla...no seaweed wraps or mud baths or anything like that. Sue went for a full body massage and I got a facial with a bit of a hand and foot massage thrown in. I also got a badly-needed haircut for about $50 which frankly doesn't look so different from the $20 haircuts I usually get. But the facial was...amazing...about 50 minutes with funky music playing, cool minty stuff being rubbed on my face and neck, and my hands and feet wrapped up in warm mushy bags of something. And best of all? For about 50 minutes nobody needed me....no work, no questions, no chores...just relaxation. If all of this sounds a little feminine to you...I don't care. Heck, we're dads who help to get things done around the house and spend quality time with our kids...can't we get a little rub in once in a while too (some of you maybe shouldn't answer that). Anyway when it was Clare's Mom's turn at the spa, I had just as much fun with Clare in the pool for about two hours...practicing swimming, jumping, racing (I gave her about a 3/4 length head start) and a little responsible rough-housing that any manly dad would be proud of. All in all it was a pretty well-rounded something-for-everyone kind of weekend.