Signs of Life : The Brownie Chronicles

  Ken and Sarah kicked off 2022 with a 25th anniversary cruise, then we bought a house after 10 years of renting in Austin!  We did some very “Austin-y” things by going to our first UT football game (Tian joined us and TJ, who has been to many games, was there, too!), and seeing Willie Nelson at a Beto rally. Tian (13) and Travis (14) started Mu Sool karate this year. In summer, they were pages with Jr.NAD ’s page program at the National Association of the Deaf biennial conference in Orlando, Florida, then traveled to Rochester, NY for a week of Tech Tigers Camp at NTID-RIT. Ken and Sarah stayed nearby at an AirBnB and visited Niagara Falls.  Both boys are halfway through 8th grade and will start high school next fall!! How is that possible?! TJ (19) started a new job at a water storage systems company. He worked 2 jobs all summer to buy a 1997 Corvette and has just enrolled for spring in the welding program at ACC.  Early this year, Kenzie (21) moved out to an a...

Maya Chan Beach Resort A Great Way to Spend a Port Day!  In a Nutshell Do yourself a favor and go.  Just go.  My bet is that you will not regret it.  It’s the relaxing day you may not have realized you needed.  The location is dreamy.  The staff are kind and attentive.  The owners have set it up to make it very comfortable and stress-free for the guests. Just go. Video Review in ASL Getting There and Back The walk is a bit of a trek, but the people at Maya Chan send you a very clear map and instructions.  If you look at Google Maps satellite or the picture below, you’ll see that the port dock is long.  Great for taking photos, though! We walked quickly through the maze of shops without stopping, following the instructions and photos from Maya Chan and found the spot with no problem.  They were waiting with a covered area and some seats while we signed a form, then got on the taxis to head over. You may read about the bumpy ride.  ...

I'm super excited to share our meals and how we saved well over $400 during our vacation! **Check with your hotel to learn what appliances are/are not allowed. These meals can all be made in the microwave if a skillet cannot be used.** Originally, we had booked two standard rooms at Cabana Bay Beach Resort. When they offered us a great upgrade deal, we changed to a tower family suite with a kitchenette.  This ended up offering us a huge savings by allowing me to prepare 5 breakfasts, 4 dinners, and some snacks in our room.  The grands ate a few breakfasts and 3 dinners with us, so we were feeding 7-9 people at an average of $15.55 per meal!  (That's $1.73-$2.22 per person!) Big thanks to Trader Joe's for providing such high-quality, quick-prep foods!  (No, this isn't an ad or sponsored blog!) First of all, if there is any debate about the size of these "mini" fridges at Cabana Bay Beach, see this photo and notice the gallon of milk in the background. T...

If you're unfamiliar with the Fish Extender (FE) phenomenon on Disney Cruises, a simple Google search will quickly get you up to speed, but Dis gives an excellent description and this is one of my favorite blog posts about it. For the past 8 months, we've been a part of an active Facebook group consisting of about 350 of our cruise mates.  It's fun getting to know a bit about our fellow-travelers.  If you are going on a cruise, I highly recommend you join DisBoards or Cruise Critic so you can connect with others.  Our travel group has created tee shirts, booked mixology classes, teamed up for excursions, shared stateroom door decor  designs, and of course, organized a fish extender exchange...and a Halloween candy exchange....and an ornament exchange. (Don't let all this fun overwhelm you. We chose to participate in the FE gift exchange only, so you aren't required to do it all! It's meant to be fun, not stressful.)  We are looking forward to meeting up...

This blog post is the "before" the cruise excursion.  It will be interesting to see how the "after" turns out! Thanks to an excellent review from Joel Barish 's travels Around The World, we knew we couldn't miss The Baths National Park at Virgin Gorda!  (His review of The Baths begins at 04:00) We've never planned a cruise excursion on our own; it's a bit scary!  There are pros and cons to going it alone, the biggest two pros for me being control and money. Money If all goes as planned, it's much cheaper to plan your own excursion than it is to book with your cruise line.  The greatest risk, and probably the main reason most people book with their cruise line, is the possibility of being left behind.  If a shuttle breaks down, if traffic comes to a standstill, if some act of God causes you to be late for "all aboard," the ship will not wait for you.  On the contrary, if you've booked through the cruise line, the ship will wa...

I've only flown first class once in my lifetime.  It was a glorious 13-hour international flight with comfortable seating, personal service, and all the food and drinks we could handle. When considering taking a bus ride, I had never envisioned a first-class setting...until I met  Vonlane . Earlier this month, I was headed to Houston for a professional conference .  My hotel room was reserved and I had even planned out my stops for a road trip .  A day or two before the conference, I learned that parking would be $16-$20 per day!  That added up to $80-100 just to have my SUV sit in a dark garage for 5 days.  With my low MPG, I was also looking at a $60 gas bill. Knowing Greyhound busses would not be my cup of tea, I decided to check out Megabus .  Reading this blog review scared me, though, and I decided not to spend $20 one-way on an iffy experience.  When the author said to "lower your expectations" and "we've never taken a Megabus that ...