finding time

I've been trying to keep up with the blog. Hmm, as usually, it starts out fine for the first few weeks. Then I just can't seem to find the time. Too many emails to deal with and by the time I've done those, I'm really not able to make myself write on a blog.

The cruises are booking, some what slower than last year, but nevertheless, they are selling. Finding time for swim classes, kids gym, weekly play date and park visits and other places like the zoo, kids museum and so on, are taking it's toll on my time. Not to mention keeping up with the house and all those other things that come up. But even with all that, we, well I guess it will mainly be me, are seriously thinking about homeschooling for a few years!

A big concern for me is my situation with holidays and my cruises. Schools start here in the middle of the year, some time around August and they only get a few days off over the Christmas and New Year weeks. With the cruising season in Australia being October through April and our main times being January through March, that just doesn't work for us. I can't take Cassandra out of school for several weeks at a time, in fact, schools here will not allow time out of school for holidays. So it seems the only options I have are to give up the cruises, or work out other ways of getting schooling.

Schools here, especially in our area in Los Angeles, are not that great, most people prefer co ops, private or homeschooling. So we are looking into our options, for the first couple of years anyway, just to see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, then we'll be looking at what schools we can send her. We do have a couple of years before we need to really make the decision, but that time is coming up faster than we want. Boy, I can't believe our little girl just turned 3!

more cruises!

2014 is going to be an even bigger year for our cruises!!
This year, we've found we finally have some competition for our crafting cruises. There are a couple of other scrapbook and another quilt cruise, that is leaving from Sydney. But, I think because we have a few years of experience cruising in Australia and working with the cruise lines for these types of cruises, we have the upper hand. Plus we have the best instructors anyway!!

That said, here are the choices we have for our Australia cruises next year.



The 3rd Quilting Cruise

• 10 night South Pacific and Fiji leaving from Sydney
• Featuring Dorothy Clee, Larraine Callinan and Chris Dowell
• 27th February - 8th March 2014 on Voyager of the Seas

Here's a picture of the workshop from the last cruise (thanks for the pic Dorothy)


The 5th Annual Scrapbook Cruise

• 11 night South Pacific leaving from Sydney
• Featuring Melissa Kennedy
• 3rd February - 14th February 2014 on Radiance of the Seas

Our 2nd Stamping Cruise

• 10 night South Pacific and Fiji leaving from Sydney
• Featuring Jane Mann and special guest instructor both StampinUp instructors
• 27th February - 8th March 2014 on Voyager of the Seas

 Creative Scrapbook Cruise

• 11 night South Pacific and Fiji leaving from Sydney
• Featuring Kaye Ebbott and special guest instructor both Creative Memories instructors
• 13th January - 24th January 2014 on Voyager of the Seas

So as you can see, we'll be busy this year. Now that I say that, I know it means I have to really be disciplined and  make the effort to keep the blog going again. Wish me luck on both!!