Coach French is retiring.

Coach French is retiring after 21 amazing seasons. The Gauchos won't be the same. We'll miss him.

Here is the news story from KEYT channel 3.

Here is a picture from an earlier story on the coach's retirement. If you look closely, you can see me in the seats that we've held for about 10 seasons. You can just see my head behind the radio guys.



We're hoping that Cori Close, a former assistant coach and player will come back from her coaching job in Florida to take over. She is a spit-fire, an excellent coach, and she has the French fire.

Welcome Erito!

Check out the new space for my fellow blogerette, Erito Burrito!

Keep your thumb inside!

I was walking down the hall at one of the skilled nursing facilities that I work at, and I heard one of the elderly ladies sitting in a wheelchair talking to a gentlemen, sitting in his wheelchair.

"No, no! Keep your thumb inside! Keep it in!"

Curious, I turned to look. She held up her hand to demonstrate. "You tuck your thumb inside here, like this," she explained. "See, that way, when you punch someone in the face, you don't break your thumb!"

Mike and Frank

I've been watching The Monkees on Netflix, and poking around the internet this evening, I found this. I'm not quite sure what to make of it! Interesting juxtaposition.

You always wanted to know the lyrics to Carmina Burana

Hope this helps.





In related cyberspace, check out Misheard Lyrics.

I thought it was China.....?!

Find out where you'd dig to.

M/S Paradise - Day 4

Cruisin' At Sea

Day 4 was spent at sea. It was a gorgeous spring day!

One of the charms of a cruise are the towel animals the steward leaves on the bed every evening when he turns down the bed. Here is our last one. There is some controversy: dog or pig? You decide.





Kevin again got up early on Thursday and left to have fun. Erin slept in very late (hey! It's vacation!), while Mike and I went up to the pool deck for some sun. Mikey had to take a Dramamine, as the boat seemed to be rockin' a bit more in the morning, and he took a nap in the sun. Not a good idea: burned knees! After he got too much sun, he reverted to his usual "sun-bathing" condition: as Eskimo Joe.

Self-portrait on the Pool Deck
Mikey bought the pretty silver earrings for me in Ensenada!

We did a few fun activities like a "Newlywed" game (we were observers, not participants), and a game of "Millionaire"--Erin did quite well and made it to the last question. Here she is on stage with the finalists. "A" answers are hands on head, "B" is hands on shoulders, etc.






We were pretty burnt out by evening. We joined our table for dinner--the only time I saw Kevin the whole cruise was at dinner! Here are some of the wait staff making merry by singing and dancing through the dining room.






After dinner, Mike pretty much crashed and burned. We hadn't even opened the champagne that we had brought, so we had a couple glasses this last evening before collapsing.

We docked in Long Beach early Friday morning. We hit a snafu when miscommunications resulted in Kevin leaving the ship by himself and the rest of us searched high and low for him, afraid that he had found a place to nap while we waited for the debarkation line to thin. As the rest of us went through customs, one of the customs agents reassured me: "Don't worry; he's not in the back." Finally, we met up outside, stopped halfway for lunch, and drove home to post bail for Cocoa and Kibble.

The lady at the kennel said that they did very well, and Kibble even made friends with her, giving her kisses on the nose. I was glad to hear it! I was pleased with the kennel. A couple runs it, so the dogs get some individual care and their quirks are accommodated, plus they get consistency with only a couple people caring for them. We had thought about sending them to a doggie "spa," where they could play all day with other dogs, but that was going to get very expensive.

Now, we're back home. Now, we have to make our own food, take down our own covers, and go to bed at a reasonable time! Work and school start tomorrow for most of us. Mike headed out to patrol the city this morning at 6:00 am.

A cruise is a fabulous vacation, and I recommend it to everyone! Living so close to port, it makes it easy and not too expensive to do. It is great for families, with babysitting and supervised activities for the younger set, and the teens had a great time exploring on their own. The Carnival Capers (the activities newsletter) even listed a meeting of the Friends of Dorothy every evening (I had to look that up when I got home. I'm glad I didn't go to that particular bar to see what it was all about!!).

We're already talking about our next cruise.

Any comers?

M/S Paradise - Day 3

Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico

When we awoke on Wednesday, we found the ship docked in Ensenada. Erin and I had planned a horseback ride, so after breakfast, we disembarked and boarded a bus headed for the hills.

I was surprised to see that the Ensenada area is very similar in geology and climate to Santa Barbara, so we felt right at home! It was an absolutely beautiful day, more so since the weather forecast had called for rain.

Upon arrival at the Ranchos Los Banditos Stables, we mounted our trusty steeds, Erin on Shadow and Karen upon Molito. They were good ponies.

Our main cowboy, Miguel, brings out some horses!

Erin and Shadow (the only horse with an English name)

Karen and Molito

Fast Friends



Shadow and Molito were fast friends, too!

We rode up to a ridge with really spectacular views of the bay and the town. Our cowboys were fantastic, galloping along our trail and encouraging pokey ponies. Molito and Shadow didn't need much encouragement other than our own. Erin did a great job of keeping a hungry Shadow from munching a few mouthfuls along the way.

One of the cowboys. He rode along side, and also did little tricks.

The end of the trail.

We enjoyed some really good soy "chorizo" tacos before heading back.

Erin's legs were sore from all of her stair-hopping the night before, and the horseback ride didn't help, so she didn't feel like shopping in Ensenada. It gave me a chance to try out the jacuzzi on board, as well as the jacuzzi tub in our stateroom!

Mike and Kevin went to Ensenada in the afternoon and spent a few hours together. It was good for them to get some one-on-one time.

After joining back up, Mike and I had a great time just hanging out and talking into the evening. Erin again enjoyed quiet time in the room and Kevin was off with his new friends. None of us much felt like dinner, so we skipped it.

Mike and I wandered into the art gallery at some point during the evening. Having spied an artwork the day before, and not wanting to participate in the auction, Mike threw his credit card down for a piece that he very much wanted. It is a Optical Art piece by contemporary artist Yaacov Agam. It is impossible to show a photograph of the piece here, as it is a geometric "agamograph" or lenticular lithograph. I suppose you'll just have to come visit to see it! It is to be delivered to our home in the near future.

Another fun thing that happened on the cruise is that we met up with some friends from the neighborhood! They are vacation stalkers, as we ran into them the last time we went to Maui! We caught up with Cristi at the Karaoke bar (no, we didn't participate!) on Wednesday night.

Erin, Mike, and I did hit the the magic and comedy show that night. It was a good show. The magician, Bobby Borgia, was very good! The comedian wasn't as good as Lowell Sanders, so we skipped his spicier show.

Another late night, another deep sleep.

M/S Paradise - Day 2

Catalina Island

We rolled out of bed late on Tuesday. Breakfast buffet: breakfast-y!

We had docked early in the morning at Santa Catalina island. I ask you, though: how the heck does it take 14 hours to go the 22 miles to Catalina?!

We'd never been to Avalon before, so I was eager to visit. Mike and I headed ashore on tender boats. Kevin went ashore with his friends, and Erin stayed behind. Her preference was to spend some time in the pool and relaxing with a movie in the stateroom.

I hadn't researched Avalon, nor had I arranged for an on-shore excursion, so Mike and I just walked around and enjoyed the town and had a margarita before heading back. Darn camera pooped out on our way over, so we don't have pix of the town. Here are some pictures of our trip from the tender boat.

The tendering boats left from right under our balcony.

Motoring toward Santa Catalina Island.

On the second day, Erin also enjoyed having her first room service delivery. It was the one thing she was looking forward to, and she was sure to indulge!

Caesar salad was a favorite.

That afternoon, Mike, Erin, and I played a version of "Scattergories" in a bar--we nearly won! Here we are with some folks we met who we recruited to our team.


After Scattergories, it was time for a nap!

When I woke up, I found that we had set sail again and headed out to sea. We got to enjoy the sunset from our balcony. Ahhhhh.....Paradise!



This second night was designated formal night. Time to dress up!




Mike and I attended the captain's gala cocktail party. We danced a third of a dance (I was lucky to get that out of Mike), and we had a drink or two. The captain introduced himself and his crew. He and most of the senior officers are Italian. The staff is international, from the Philippines to the Baltic states, and everywhere in-between. Meeting a staff member with an American accent was actually quite a surprise!

Dinner was lobster. Yum!

That night we took in the "Here's Hollywood" show, a cheesy song-and-dance of movie tunes. I wasn't overly impressed. Lowell Sanders's "R-rated" comedy show at midnight was good, though! We enjoyed a few laughs!

The second night, Erin had found a friend and wandered the ship all night. She had fun!

Anyway, we all got in quite late again on Tuesday night and collapsed into sleep.

M/S Paradise - Day 1

Exploration and Sail-Away

After taking the doggies to jail on Monday morning, we drove to the Long Beach Pier, in plenty of time to board. So exciting!

Our first view of our ship! (Ignore Long Beach)

It was really easy to drop off our luggage with the porter and take just a few carry-ons to lug around until our stateroom was ready. We headed up to the pool deck, where we sat on pool deck chairs and were immediately handed drinks, the first of many! We had a nice buffet lunch until our room was ready.

Our first moments of the cruise!

Our room was fantastic! Since it was our first cruise, I had decided to splurge and book a suite with a balcony. It was great! We had plenty of room, and Kevin even decided to sleep out on the balcony for two of the nights! Here are a couple pictures of our stateroom. These are taken from about the same spot, just a pivot to the other side of the room!





After we dumped our carry-ons in the room, we got to explore the ship. It was fun to go up and down staircases and find all the treasures on board. We found that cruise ships focus on a couple of concepts: food and alcohol. The makings for a fun vacation!

We headed up to the top forward deck for sail-away. It was a little breezy, but a lot of fun to get underway!

Sail Away!


That's Erin poking her head out of our balcony as we got underway.


Our Coast Guard Escort

Dinner in the dining room was quite nice. The food was pretty good, and there was a nice selection to choose from. We sat at a large table with a single mom and her 11-year-old daughter and a couple a little older than us who had an 18 year old son.

After dinner, Mike and I went to the casino for a very few minutes. Mike played four hands of blackjack. He won three of them. When he learned that a "push" would lose (he was lucky to draw an ace on his 18 hand against the dealer's 18), and blackjack paid even money, he left the table. That was the end of his casino time on board. Texas Hold-em wasn't too appealing: they played off a computerized system, and didn't even get cards dealt.

Kevin immediately went off to "Club O2," the teen hang-out. He made some friends and we really didn't see him much the rest of the cruise!

The rest of us didn't do too much the first night besides walking around and enjoying being on a cruise!

A view of the atrium looking down on the bar.

We're home!

We had a wonderful vacation!

More to come.

Take all you can carry; they're taking us to jail anyway!

Yesterday we bought Cocoa and Kibble some new toys. Guilt, you know. They are going to jail tomorrow.

Cocoa decided both the toys were for her.



Blogging will be on hiatus until we return. And then, look out!