Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, because Devin and I were too busy having fun! We took a short road trip to my hometown and spent a couple of hours with my Dad. Dad had to go to the town cemetary to mark off some gravesites (I think that's what he was doing, I wasn't really paying attention!) and Devin was happy to help him measure and whatever else they did. While they did that, I walked around, looking at gravestones for people I had once known. After that, we met up with my sister and my nieces to see the movie "Hop" (really cute movie) and out for Chinese food afterwards. So much fun! Drove two hours to get home, and immediately fell onto the couch and almost fell asleep! Yet, I was able to stay awake long enough to watch "Glee" before passing out for the night (in my bed, not the couch!) Dev's school vacation week is going really well. I have enjoyed spending this time with him so much. He is such a funny, bright kid and I am amazed at the witty things he will come up with! Can you tell I like my kid a little bit? LOL

Vacation week has me thinking about vacations in general, which is where the song of the day pick comes from. My song for today is "Venus in Overdrive" by Rick Springfield, from his album of the same name. I believe this album was released in 2008 or 2009, but don't quote me on that. How does this song relate to vacations? Well, I will tell you. A year ago, I entered an online contest from Sirius/XM, the prize being a one week "Rick Springfield & Friends Cruise" on Carnival Cruise Lines. As with any contest I enter, I signed up and forgot about it. Imagine my surprise when I got the phone call that said I had won!! We took the cruise in November (the first cruise either Tom or I had ever taken), sailing out of Miami (they paid our airfare for that as well) and sailing to the Bahamas! I am not a fanatical Rick Springfield fan, but he was the first artist I ever saw in concert, when I was about 13, so it was a nostalgia thing. The other people on the cruise.....well, I can safely say that THEY were fanatical, hardcore Rick fans. From some of the conversations I overheard, many of them spent a great deal of time stalking Rick around the ship, and bragging about how many photos they'd had taken with him, etc. In fact, there were two cocktail parties during the week, and when Rick would arrive, you could see a swarm of women forming around him, all grabbing at him and yelling his name. It got so intense that he couldn't stay at these parties long. Tom and I would just stand back on one of the decks, secure in the knowledge that we would never have to experience fame like that! The "& Friends" on the cruise were: Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon, who turned out to be one of the nicest people, so gracious and friendly with everyone, Doug Davidson, better known as "Paul" from "The Young and the Restless", who has apparently been Rick's best friend for a long time, Eric Martsolf, an actor from "Days of Our Lives" and some of Rick's childhood friends. We got the chance to have a meet n' greet with each of the stars and have our photo taken, so I got to chat very briefly with each of them. I told Eric Martsolf that I don't watch his show (I told him nicely, not in an insulting way) and he turned his perfect little nose up when I told him that I used to watch "Guiding Light" and "As The World Turns" instead! He was nice, though. Rick was a little formal and not so chatty, which was understandable, since he had a nasty cold that whole week. Doug Davidson was such a sweetheart to everyone, and so damn funny! I was kind of proud that I was able to make him laugh at my meet n' greet moment with him. I'd watched him on TV since I was a kid, so it was nice to see how down-to-earth he was and how he genuinely likes people. The cruise offered so much more than star-watching, though. At each of the 3 ports we stopped at, there were gorgeous beaches, even more gorgeous weather and some fun shopping as well. Half-Moon Cay is a private island owned by Carnival, and I still daydream about that place on cold, dreary days! I took some small, glass jars with me on the trip, and I have sand from each beach we stopped at on a shelf in my craft room. The Half Moon Cay sand is the whitest and softest. The water on that beach felt like bathwater when I went swimming in it. Tom actually forgot his swim trunks, so he watched from a beach chair as I swam with some people I met. I can't tell you how peaceful I felt on that beach, but I would love to feel that again. Okay, back to the song of the day.....there were several concerts onboard the ship that week, and since rock concerts are my favorite thing every, I went to all of them. The first time I ever heard "Venus in Overdrive" was at these shows, and I really liked that song instantly. A good album overall.

Well, time to kick Devin off the videogames! Until next time.....