5.25.09 at sea

I woke up (late) this morning to wonderful news. My sister Martha had a baby! Emily Carol was born Sunday morning. Mother and daughter are doing fine! And then, tonight, I came back to my stateroom and found some more great news – Sammie’s brother Steve and his wife Janet also had a baby girl! She doesn’t have a name yet, but she’s also beautiful. Congrats Martha, Adam, Emily, Steve, Janet, and Baby Girl!!!

I knew Martha’s baby would be born while I was gone, so I called her from the airport to wish her luck. When I was in Europe in 2000, my niece Lizzie was born. I commented to Martha that I like this arrangement: she and Lindsay stay home and have babies while I take trips to Europe. :)

Today was another long, lazy day at sea. Sammie and I staggered upstairs for breakfast and then I walked a 5k around the ship’s deck. I listened to one of my recorded lectures, this one about TS Eliot’s Wasteland. It was very interesting.

When I came back to the room, Sammie was already working hard on his morning nap. He was way ahead of me on rest, but I soon caught up. We finally made our way to the pool in time for lunch—kabobs, salad, and rolls out by the pool. After lunch, the ship DJ held a line dance class by the pool. I loved it last sea day, so decided to join in again. The last line dance was “Hey Baby” and DJ Glenn got everyone in and around the pool dancing. It was awesome!

After sunning, swimming, and hot tubbing, we changed for dinner. It was formal night again tonight, so Sammie dressed in his suit and I wore what I had worn to church. We sat with a recent college grad and her grandmother. It was lots of fun to sit by them. They asked what has become, for me, the “golden question”: how did you guys end up in Virginia? I love turning to Sammie with a big grin and saying, “Yeah, Sammie! How did you end up in Virginia?” Then he has to tell about being a funk musician in LA and moving to VA to get a real job and find a wife. People always get a kick out of it. (And, of course, he always asks if they’ve heard of the p-funk…)

Tonight’s show was music from Broadway and it was very good! Some of the Noordam singers shows have been cheesy. Okay, they all have. But tonight’s was really good. Very low on cheese and high on entertainment.

I know the big question on everyone’s mind is what towel creation we found when we got back to our room. An elephant! Our guys are getting more and more creative.

Early to bed tonight. Big tour in Tunisia tomorrow!
Congrats again to the new babies! Welcome to earth!