"An Apple A Day Bunch"

Who is going to start over with me tomorrow, September 1st, keeping track of their healthy diet? I'm going to keep track of what I eat every day and weigh-in at least once a week to see if there is any progress on getting back to a normal, healthy, weight. Is there anyone that hasn't started over in the past 8 months and still going strong on the same diet that we started in January? Who has lost the most weight in the last 8 months? Please report here so I know who is participating with me. Let's support each other to continue our healthy lifestyle!!!

We're in Branson

We're excited that we arrived in Branson safely. It was a good, but long trip. I rolled down the window and took these photos while Wayne was driving along. They were taken outside Salina, Kansas, where we stayed last night, before we drove through Topeka. 

"Wonky's Book Worms"

Is everyone ready to start the book of Job? This week we will be reading Job Chapters 1 – 14. Wayne and I have a few more chapters of Esther to finish but once we’re settled in Branson we shouldn’t have a problem keeping up. It’s been busy with the cruise, getting ready for Branson and traveling. In order for Wayne and I to read together it has to be a quiet place and that can be challenging when we’re traveling. 

Wings Over The Rockies

Before leaving Denver today we stopped at the “Wings Over The Rockies Air and Space Museum.” It’s the best aviation museum that I’ve ever seen but Wayne’s been to a couple of others that he loves too.  He would like to visit every air museum in the United States.

Wayne’s favorite airplane at the museum was the F-104. It’s always been Wayne’s favorite airplane because it’s just like a rocket and went so fast for it’s day. It was used in the cold war as an interceptor to protect our US boarders.  It still holds the speed record for a single engine jet. Wayne made more models of the F-104 than any other airplane.

 I really enjoyed seeing the Lear jet 23, because it was almost like the jets that Wayne flew for the Smith Brothers and their executives. They owned two Lear 24’s and a Lear 35, which he flew for Smith's Foods. He actually took his check-ride in a Lear 25.

 It was also fun to see the Star Wars Spaceship that was used in the actual filming of the movie.

 There was also a Boeing 727 flight simulator that was exactly like the one that Wayne flew for Western Airlines to try and get on as a pilot. Western was later merged with Delta Airlines. At that time Wayne didn’t have enough hours to be hired by Western Airlines but his career would have ended shortly anyway because of his brain cancer.

 We’re now in Hays, Kansas eating dinner at IHOP.  We should arrive in Branson tomorrow.

HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY MICHELLE!!!

We're in Denver

Wayne and I started driving to Branson today. For Wayne's birthday he wants to visit the Air Museum in Denver. We just arrived at the Comfort Inn that is located on the way to the Museum. Tomorrow we'll be close by to visit the Museum before continuing our travels to Branson. The first three photos were taken in Utah and the last photo was taken in Colorado. Beautiful scenery to pass the time!

Happy Birthday to Wayne!!! The Annual Ice Cream Party!!!

Yakov's Theater in Branson

We're home after traveling all day yesterday and arriving at the Salt Lake Airport around midnight. Adam, Sarah and Noah had arrived from Chicago earlier last night but were already tucked into bed when we got home. It's been so fun seeing them again. Noah has gotten taller and is much more independent. What a handsome little guy!

To sum up the cruise, we were on sea all day Monday with The Brothers performing two shows that night (9:00 pm and 10:45 pm). The next day we were in Curacao and yesterday when we got up we were docked in Aruba. We disembarked the "Serenade of the Seas" and said "good-bye" to everyone. The flight from the Aruba airport to Atlanta was really long and I started watching a couple of different movies but they couldn't keep me awake so I took a couple of naps before arriving. After a layover in Atlanta we flew directly to Salt Lake City. It feels so good to be home.

You have probably heard that there is a change of plans and The Osmond Brothers will be performing 8:00 pm shows at Yakov Smirnoff's Theater in Branson, starting on September 3rd. Everything and anything can change in show business at the very last minute. I don't plan on anything until it's actually happening and even then I'm still trying to "roll with the punches." Ha!

Why can't we catch a cab?

Sunday, August 26, was the end of the cruise for the first cruise group that we joined in St. Lucis. They had embarked "The Serenade of the Seas" in San Juan, cruised around for a week stopping at several islands and when they were docked at St. Lucia we got on the ship. Their cruise ended in San Juan where they had started and when they disembarked the ship in San Juan at the end of their cruise we got off with them. The Brothers did two 50 minute shows (7:00 pm and 9:00 pm) on Thursday night for this cruise group and then we all got off of the ship at the end of this first cruise and embarked the "Serenade of the Seas" cruise ship again with a new cruise group. After a day on the sea, the brothers performed for the second cruise group, then we got off of the ship half way through their cruise in Aruba to fly home.

We checked our cruise account and then disembarked the ship before 10:00 am. We couldn’t get back on the ship until after 12:00 pm with the new cruise group, so we decided to catch a cab at the terminal to pass a couple of hours and had our cab driver drop us off in the new area of San Juan.  It wasn’t easy to get a cab to stop for us even though there were many outside the pier. The cab driver that finally let us get into her cab told us that most cab drivers would refuse to pick us up because we didn’t have any luggage with us. Cab drivers can make more money driving passengers with luggage from the ship terminal to the airport and wouldn't bother with us.

In previous visits we have always visited the old section of San Juan. We had the cab driver drop us off in the newer area of San Juan to walk and look around the new section until it was time to get back on the ship. The cab driver promised to pick us up after she dropped another group of passengers off at the airport. I gave her my cell number and she did call to have us meet her at the same place where she dropped us off. She graciously drove us back to the ship terminal and of course our next stop onboard was the Windjammer, to eat lunch on "The Serenade of the Seas" with an excited new cruise group.

Escaping Into an Imaginary World

Libraries are one of my favorite places to browse.  On the Serenade of the Seas I picked up these three books from the library and enjoyed reading all three of the following books that I would highly recommend to everyone.

“Terry, My Daughter’s Life and Death Struggle with Alcoholism,” by George McGovern, A Plume Book, August 1996.

Just before Christmas in 1994 Terry McGovern was found frozen to death in a snow bank in Wisconsin at 45 years old.  She had fallen asleep in the snow outside of a bar. Her father, George McGovern, tells of his daughter’s struggle with alcoholism and her downward spiral.

George McGovern was the 1972 Democratic nominee for president of the United States and a longtime U. S. Senator from South Dakota.  He tells of his daughter’s attempts at sobriety and the McGovern family’s efforts to help her, which are both failures. George McGovern looks candidly at his inability to save his child and gives advice for those struggling with addiction in their family, including what he would have done differently.

“Daddy’s Little Girl,” by Mary Higgins Clark

Pocket Books, New York, 2002

A superb suspense story that is written in the first person by Ellie, the sister of a murder victim whose murderer is paroled twenty-two years later and is determined to maintain and prove his innocence. Ellie, now an investigative reporter for an Atlanta newspaper, uncovers new facts as she does more research to write a book proving the guilt of her sister’s murderer. The book is a very easy read but was difficult to put down until I read the very last word. 

“The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots,” by Carolly Erickson, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2009

Mary Queen of Scots tells her own story in this historical fictional book. I was enchanted with her personality and life that took place in the sixteenth century. The book is very suspenseful and entertaining. Next I’m going to do some research on her life to see what exactly was fictional and what was factual.  Looking into the life of one of the most fascinating historical women was very intriguing.

What are some of your favorite authors and books that you would like to share and recommend to us?

Too Hot and Humid

At 7:00 am on Saturday, we met in the dining room with our passports to show immigration officers because we had boarded the ship half way through this cruise. Realizing how hot it was the morning before, we decided after breakfast to get off the ship even earlier at St. Croix, a US territory in the Virgin Islands.

To our surprise there wasn’t much to see within walking distance so we talked to someone on the pier and they had room for us to join a scenic tour that started in a half hour. It was even hotter than the previous morning. After about 15 minutes of sitting under a palm tree in the shade waiting for others to join the tour, Wayne decided that he couldn’t endure the heat and humidity any longer. After getting back on the ship we watched the scenic sights from our air-conditioned cabin on the TV. The only historical landmark that we missed was a place where Christopher Columbus had landed.

It has to be extremely hot and humid for Wayne not to be able to enjoy the hot weather. Ever since his brain cancer surgery he gets cold really easily. In the winter he wears his winter snap-on coat on the cruises, while the rest of us are complaining about the heat.

After checking out all the books at the library I settled down to reading “Daddy’s Little Girl,” written by George McGovern. 

St. Maarten

Friday morning we woke up docked at St. Maarten. I love to cruise at night because the ship is just like someone singing a lullaby and rocking me in a cradle when I’m sleeping. Having never explored St. Maarten before, Wayne and I got off the ship after breakfast around 8:00 am. We walked around the island to the town center in order to get a better view of the Island.

The island is so beautiful with the white sand beaches, crystal clear deep blue water and quaint buildings. I took so many photos that I’ll have to post them on Wayne’s website. It was just too hard to decide which ones to delete.

We got behind a school class at the dock and enjoyed watching the children. They weren’t sure whether to pose for us or ignore us. Cute!

By around 10:00 am we couldn’t handle the hot, moist heat any more and walked back to embark the Serenade of the Seas. We were not only dripping wet but our clothes were also soaked. We had an enjoyable time but decided that we needed to be involved in water sports to enjoy the Caribbean more during the summer months. Wayne turns into a crispy critter sitting under an umbrella.

Show Day!

The Brothers all sighed with relief when they were told that show day wasn’t until the following day.  We spent most of Thursday catching up on our sleep, even though we had cruised during the night and were docked at St. Thomas. After sound check at 4:00 pm, we ate dinner in the Windjammer because the shows were at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm.  Wayne doesn't like to eat right before show time. I purposely sat on the front row of the showroom so I could take some really good photos to share with you all. I’m going to have to leave the photos of the shows and concerts up to most of you - who are photographers. Using my IPhone I mostly got white, blank faces of the brothers in all my shots. Since the brightest spotlight is always on Merrill singing lead, he was really a white blur with his white hair. The Brothers did two 50 minutes shows that the guests on the ship really enjoyed.  The showroom wasn’t completely full the first show and word must have gotten out and around by the second show how great they were, because the second show was packed.

Who is the Real Character of the Osmond Brothers?

After jumping up to answer the loud ring of the telephone, Wayne and I scrambled down to the hotel lobby with all our bags to catch the shuttle to the Dallas airport. Everyone leaving on the 4:15 am trip to the airport was waiting for us. How embarrassing. I was too tired after arriving at the hotel to find my alarm clock and decided to trust the alarm on my IPhone, which up to this time had never failed me. Because of a delayed flight in Salt Lake City we didn’t arrive in Dallas until the early morning hours and even considered just hanging out at the airport until our early morning flight to Miami and then St. Lucia. The thought of lying down for even an hour on a bed seemed too good for me to resist. For some unknown reason the time change didn’t automatically change to Dallas time on my IPhone. I’m sure it was probably some setting that I had unknowingly changed.

Making our flight to Miami in plenty of time was a relief so we were able to catch our flight to St. Lucia without any hitches. We were met by a driver from Royal Caribbean at the airport that took us on a crazy drive up, down and around hills that lasted over an hour. I kept telling Wayne to quit looking ahead and concentrate on something else because he was sure we were going to crash head on with another vehicle as our driver kept cutting corners around all the curves. 

It was one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean that I had ever seen.  The island seemed different from the other Caribbean islands because of all the hills. The foliage was thick, lush, rich, and vibrant green colors that it seemed like we were traveling through a jungle or forest. St. Lucia is a paradise island like you would fantasize being stranded on in a movie. Despite Wayne’s anxious comments I still enjoyed the beautiful drive and safely embarked the Serenade of the Seas.

After going through the security checks and dropping off our bags in our cabin we went straight to our favorite dining place, The Windjammer. Our cabin was only one floor beneath the huge buffets that were waiting every day for us. After trying to indulge in only fruits, vegetables and a little fish we were off to explore the ship.

We immediately discovered a little Seaview Café that was outside and around the corner from the Windjammer. To our surprise guess who was hiding out there enjoying their sandwiches? It wasn’t until I downloaded the photos on my computer that I noticed Merrill’s funny antics in the photo. And they call Wayne the character?

Scott and Brenda

Wayne and Pete