This past week has been another new adventure, for both Jonathan and me. For as long as I can remember, Jonathan has dreamed of working for Disney. Once when he was young, while on vacation at Disney World, we paid for him to have a day of ‘behind the scenes’ learning. He LOVED it! Over the past several years, he has been trying to figure out a way to work in a ‘Disney ish’ atmosphere…..zoos, aquariums, etc……since obviously working at Disney was surely a ‘pie in the sky’ dream. You may not be aware of the fact, but it is extremely difficult to get a job as a graphic designer/artist at Disney. Even with great talent, it is hard to become an Imagineer, as that elusive dream job is titled. This past fall, Jonathan quit his job and began a master’s degree program in Themed Entertainment Design at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), with the hopes of getting a job in a field more to his liking. Three other students and he joined up and entered a competition sponsored by Disney called ImagiNations, where students design a project worthy of Disney consideration. His team was chosen as one of the six finalists from across the country and they were all treated to an all expenses paid trip to Glendale, California to present their project. While they didn’t win the competition, they were still able to interview for internships and jobs. It was truly a dream come true for Jonathan. Within a few short months, he went from designing brochures for an A/C parts distributor to being one of only two people specifically requested for an interview by the head of all of Disney’s creative departments. I couldn’t be more proud of and happy for him!

My new adventure was going on my first trip with Kenn. We flew to Puerto Rico for a couple of days and then went on a seven day cruise of the southern Caribbean. The first night, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant to try to soak up some San Juan cuisine. We walked and searched and there it was….the main eatery……Outback Steakhouse. Hmm, not exactly what I had in mind, but since steak in Kenn’s absolute favorite meal, Outback it was. Turned out there was another place to eat called La Placita. But Kenn kept calling it La Placenta and if that’s not an appetite killer, I don’t know what is. So on the second night, back to Outback we went.

When you travel with people for the first time, it’s interesting to see how they pack. Once on the ship, my luggage arrived first so I got totally unpacked before Kenn’s suitcase arrived. I sat back and watched as he started unloading his stuff. First out? A flashlight. I asked him what that was for, and he said so we could see if we had a power failure. Ok. Next? He had tweezers. Now I carry tweezers to keep my eyebrows in shape, but since he doesn’t do that (thankfully), I asked what his were for. In case he got a splinter, he replied. Hmm. Next came the binoculars. All things that, in 26 cruises, I have never brought nor needed. Well, we ended up using the binoculars a couple of times, and wouldn’t you know, he got a splinter! Thank the Good Lord we didn’t need the flashlight!

The highlight of our trip was going on a snorkeling excursion in Barbados. One stop was snorkeling with sea turtles and another one was over a reef where we saw beautifully colored fish. We had mandatory life vests and, although Kenn and I are both decent swimmers, we didn’t mind wearing them so we could concentrate on looking for turtles/fish. Now I wore sunscreen, but Kenn refused. The rest of the cruise, when we would go to the pool, his back looked like an advertisement for the Red Cross due to the waist strap and vertical strap on the life vest.

It was a fun, safe, and healthy cruise. We are ready to do it again!