Mommy Meltdowns: Cruising with the Toppall's, part 2

Cruises LOVE to take pictures of you. They also love to sell these pictures to you. It's big money for the cruise lines. It's also a great vacation for families and groups to have reunions and go on vacations together. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put 2 and 2 together that big groups/families and pictures are a natural combination.

One evening, while the boys were using the bathroom, Sam, Marcia and I were hanging out in the atrium watching the photography action. I love to people watch and very much enjoy seeing people get their photo taken. The photographer (named August, but born in September) was having fun chatting with Sam while this big group was forming. August, who was Asian, was going to be their photographer. The group that was gathering were all African American and all were wearing white. White tops, white bottoms, white dresses, white on white on white. They were stunning!

With a group this big, they had to position themselves on the curved staircase. There were so many of them! I went up to one of the women and said, "You all look beautiful, how many are in your group?" She answered with "46". Wow! The photographer had a great sense of humor and took quite a big risk saying this out loud while they were making their way up the steps, "All the dark people in the back, all the Asian's up front". Hahahha!

The boys finally come out of the bathroom and we are ready to keep making our way to the theatre to watch the show. As we are waiting for the elevator to arrive, the doors open and another 8 or 9 people come out. Clearly they belonged to this big group and were making their way to the staircase for the picture. Sam takes one look at people coming out of the elevator and says quite loudly, "MAN, HOW MANY OF YOU WHITE PEOPLE ARE THERE?"

It was very funny on so many levels. She would never think to comment that there were so many African Americans in one space, but you couldn't help but notice that they are all dressed in white, head to toe. I am so nervous that the kids will say something inappropriate or politically incorrect; either about color, height, weight, disability, etc. Sam commenting about all the white people who were clearly black was definitely never in my radar as a possibility. heehehehehehe

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This is me and Ken. Ken is the Maitre D in the Normandie Dining Room. Once we got on the cruise ship I had to let him know I was gluten-free. As instructed, I told Ken and from that moment on, I felt like I was treated like a celebrity. Everyone knew my name and I was offered the menu the night before to let them know what I wanted to eat for dinner the following night. It was pretty awesome and the family enjoyed getting a preview at the menu too. No dish was off limits and everything was able to be altered for my food allergy. I had GF bread waiting for me each night too. And, without me asking, in addition the dessert I ordered, they ALWAYS brought me a chocolate melting cake. I was given 2 desserts each night! How much do I love cruising!?!?

Anyway, back to Ken. Every single evening during our dinner hour, Ken would sing for us. By the 3rd night I noticed a pattern that he was singing Frank Sinatra songs each time. I commented to Ken how much I enjoyed hearing him sing as I'd leave the dining room at the end of dinner. By night 5, I started guessing on the way in which new Frank song Ken would sing. I never guessed correctly, but Ken got a kick out of my guesses and made one of the songs "Witchcraft". (Side note to mom: This was for you! Think back to New Orleans.). I had a lot of fun with this. Even though our table was in the back of the room and Ken was singing towards the front of this huge room, I'd stand up and he'd give me a little wave.

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Ian and Sam loved getting back to their cabin at the end of each day and seeing what new towel animals had been created.