What I Did For My Birthday and Cruising
So my birthday was on Wednesday. We went out to dinner that evening to CPK and then we picked up an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen afterwards. It was more like ice cream in the shape of cake, but it was still really good. It had vanilla and chocolate ice cream with a chocolate cookie crumble in the middle and a little whip cream on top. I just got a couple of gifts because tbh I didn't really know what to ask for for my birthday this time, but I was fine with that. I got Twelve Angels Weeping, which is a short story collection featuring the villains of Doctor Who. It's kind of a Christmas thing, so I might read it around that time. I also got a book sleeve with three more that came in the mail later that night. I like them, but they're really too small for hardcover books. But one of them has sloths, another has foxes, another has an Aoxotl (A Mexican salamander), and the other has these cloud things with faces. They're all cute. I also got movie tickets from Grammy.
Then just yesterday we went out for an early dinner again to Olive Garden down near the miniature golf course. It's called Camelot Golfland and it's in Anaheim. We've actually played there before, but it was a long time ago. My mom invited Phil to join us. He couldn't come to dinner because he had to be at work, but he did play mini golf with us. So it was my parents, Grammy, and Phil. My brother went over to Kourtnei's of course, as he does every weekend. :/ I hadn't seen Phil for several years. I think the last time was when my parents' friends came out to California from Idaho. But Phil still looked the same as ever. Mini golf was fun. A bit more challenging than the Boomers courses. Several of us got water balls lol. And there was a mound of doom that no one could get their ball in the hole except for my dad and Phil. Then there was a hole with a dragon. It took me multiple tries to hit the ball in the first hole. That dragon was the death of me. We all had a great time though. I think I might have been second to last ahead of Grammy. With mini golf, I either do well or absolutely terrible with little in between lol. After our game we went into the arcade and my parents were catching up with Phil. My feet were really starting to hurt standing around. Then we took Grammy home. She wanted us to cut a cantaloupe for her, and then we ate some of it. It was hard, but tasted good. Then we went home. So, it was a nice birthday.
And I have a new update. This was back on Mother's Day when my aunt Jennie suggested we could go on a cruise for Grammy's 90th birthday. This of course freaked my mom out as she had other trips to plan around this time. She's going back to Ohio at the beginning of August for my cousin's wedding and then at the end of August both of my parents are going back to Idaho again to visit their friends. So, it's totally crazy. My mom was trying to think of alternative ideas to celebrate Grammy's birthday, which included a possible trip to the Grand Canyon. Then recently my mom decided to watch a video of a tour of the Carnival cruise ship and she suddenly got excited. They've got quite a few fun things you can do. So she changed her mind about that and we actually booked the cruise last week. It's a three day to Ensenada, Mexico. We've actually done this cruise twice before. The last one I remember was actually in 2001 just before 9/11 happened. I don't remember when the other one was. But it's been a long time since I've gone on a cruise. I found the last one a little boring after a while, so I wasn't exactly keen on doing a cruise again after that, but this one may be better, and I know it's more fun with a larger group of people. I haven't really had a vacation with extended family. The closest thing was when we went to Grand Cayman in 2008 and my aunt and uncle just happened to be on vacation there at the same time. So yeah, it's going to be my aunt and uncle, Grammy, and my parents. My brother isn't going. He didn't want to do a cruise. So I guess he's staying home with Luke. I hope he really takes care of him. Anyway, the three day cruise was the only thing we could realistically do, and Ensenada was really the only 3-day cruise available, even though we've done it before twice. I don't know if we will even get off at the port. It's kind of a been there done that thing. But I'm actually excited about it and hope it will be a good time. Different ship this time. Before we went on Royal Caribbean, but they don't go there anymore, so Carnival it is. Specifically the Carnival Imagination ship. We leave on September 12th and come back the 15th I think. Looking forward to water slides, mini-golf (Yep, they have that), and 24/7 pizza and ice cream. :P The only bummer is wi-fi sucks and it's not free, so I'm going to be backlogged on my favorite sites and emails when I get back, but I'm not one of those people who always has to be on their phone. At least it's only for a few days. I think I can deal with it.
But now I've been having a major chronic stiff neck problem. Usually it goes a way after a little while, but this time it's not going away. Not much helps and I don't really know what to do about it. It's been getting me down. Is this going to be my new normal? My body's giving up on me. I don't know if I can go on like this. :'( I'm sure my lifestyle doesn't help, but there's not much I can do about that either. I just don't know what to do. Sorry about the sad ending, but maybe things will get better eventually.
Then just yesterday we went out for an early dinner again to Olive Garden down near the miniature golf course. It's called Camelot Golfland and it's in Anaheim. We've actually played there before, but it was a long time ago. My mom invited Phil to join us. He couldn't come to dinner because he had to be at work, but he did play mini golf with us. So it was my parents, Grammy, and Phil. My brother went over to Kourtnei's of course, as he does every weekend. :/ I hadn't seen Phil for several years. I think the last time was when my parents' friends came out to California from Idaho. But Phil still looked the same as ever. Mini golf was fun. A bit more challenging than the Boomers courses. Several of us got water balls lol. And there was a mound of doom that no one could get their ball in the hole except for my dad and Phil. Then there was a hole with a dragon. It took me multiple tries to hit the ball in the first hole. That dragon was the death of me. We all had a great time though. I think I might have been second to last ahead of Grammy. With mini golf, I either do well or absolutely terrible with little in between lol. After our game we went into the arcade and my parents were catching up with Phil. My feet were really starting to hurt standing around. Then we took Grammy home. She wanted us to cut a cantaloupe for her, and then we ate some of it. It was hard, but tasted good. Then we went home. So, it was a nice birthday.
And I have a new update. This was back on Mother's Day when my aunt Jennie suggested we could go on a cruise for Grammy's 90th birthday. This of course freaked my mom out as she had other trips to plan around this time. She's going back to Ohio at the beginning of August for my cousin's wedding and then at the end of August both of my parents are going back to Idaho again to visit their friends. So, it's totally crazy. My mom was trying to think of alternative ideas to celebrate Grammy's birthday, which included a possible trip to the Grand Canyon. Then recently my mom decided to watch a video of a tour of the Carnival cruise ship and she suddenly got excited. They've got quite a few fun things you can do. So she changed her mind about that and we actually booked the cruise last week. It's a three day to Ensenada, Mexico. We've actually done this cruise twice before. The last one I remember was actually in 2001 just before 9/11 happened. I don't remember when the other one was. But it's been a long time since I've gone on a cruise. I found the last one a little boring after a while, so I wasn't exactly keen on doing a cruise again after that, but this one may be better, and I know it's more fun with a larger group of people. I haven't really had a vacation with extended family. The closest thing was when we went to Grand Cayman in 2008 and my aunt and uncle just happened to be on vacation there at the same time. So yeah, it's going to be my aunt and uncle, Grammy, and my parents. My brother isn't going. He didn't want to do a cruise. So I guess he's staying home with Luke. I hope he really takes care of him. Anyway, the three day cruise was the only thing we could realistically do, and Ensenada was really the only 3-day cruise available, even though we've done it before twice. I don't know if we will even get off at the port. It's kind of a been there done that thing. But I'm actually excited about it and hope it will be a good time. Different ship this time. Before we went on Royal Caribbean, but they don't go there anymore, so Carnival it is. Specifically the Carnival Imagination ship. We leave on September 12th and come back the 15th I think. Looking forward to water slides, mini-golf (Yep, they have that), and 24/7 pizza and ice cream. :P The only bummer is wi-fi sucks and it's not free, so I'm going to be backlogged on my favorite sites and emails when I get back, but I'm not one of those people who always has to be on their phone. At least it's only for a few days. I think I can deal with it.
But now I've been having a major chronic stiff neck problem. Usually it goes a way after a little while, but this time it's not going away. Not much helps and I don't really know what to do about it. It's been getting me down. Is this going to be my new normal? My body's giving up on me. I don't know if I can go on like this. :'( I'm sure my lifestyle doesn't help, but there's not much I can do about that either. I just don't know what to do. Sorry about the sad ending, but maybe things will get better eventually.