Who the heck are the Gilmores???

Ok, probably time to introduce you all to the Gilmores.   The Crawfords already know us -- and they say they like us.......kinda makes ya nervous doesn't it??   And here you thought you were going on this trip with sane people ?!?!?!

As Jim and Michelle mentioned, they have known us forever.  They say they first met us when I hit their son with a pitch at a Coach Pitch baseball game.  I say that Shane stepped into the pitch -- trying to get a walk.  If we didn't have a 9 year old as the umpire, he would have thrown Shane out of the game for such a blanket disregard for the rules and ethics of the game.....but he got away with it and my skills as a professional pitcher for 7 year-olds has been forever tarnished.  Instead, I had to go out and get an honest job (you know how few of those there are out there??!?!)

Deb and I were both born and raised in Ohio.   I was born and schooled in Washington Court House Ohio (yep....that was it's official name).   Small town USA.   Deb was born and schooled in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio.

I was always one of the tallest kids in school -- so I always made the basketball team automatically when I was in grade school / middle school (of course, they didn't tell me at the time that EVERYONE made the team).  I discovered that my height was very impressive on the bench -- because they sure didn't want me to embarrass them on the court!!  By the time I got to jr high, they figured out that my height wouldn't do them any good if I couldn't catch the ball -- and I certainly couldn't jump and/or shoot the ball -- so I no longer made the team.  

I played football in 5th and 6th grade, but again, they decided that my 88lbs of skin and bone wouldn't support my continued participation as a middle school offensive tackle (who put me on the offensive line at 88 lbs anyway.   Sure, I couldn't hold onto the ball and run at the same time -- and I certainly couldn't catch the ball, but surely there must have been something else for a skin and bones 88 lb player to do on the football field.   Well......maybe not.  At least as an offensive tackle, I had the guard and the tight end to help me up when the defense ran over me during every play).

So at twelve, I decided to give up on sports and starting working for a living (if you want to call 50 cents per hour picking green beans / sweet corn and planting flowers at a nursery making a living).   Been working ever sense.

By the way, I did take up basketball again at the ripe old age of 25, and played pretty consistently once a week (with a few gaps in there) till I was about 50.   By then the 'ol knees had given out.   Some of my greatest thrills were playing basketball with my teenage boys.   I wasn't very good -- but I sure loved to feed them the "'ol rock".   Both played a pretty mean game in the mid and late teens.    When the school officials didn't let me get on the court to play with them during the school games, I sure enjoyed watching them from the bleachers.

I also did a lot of coaching (mostly assistant coach) for the boys in baseball, basketball and soccer.   Enjoyed that a lot as well.

Now one of the boys (Brian, the oldest) is married to a great gal.....and the youngest (Eric) is getting married to another great gal in July.

The boys learned how to pick'em from me.  I won the championship when I won the heart of my wife, Debbie.   Of course she says she picked me......but she is the sane one, so I think it must have been the other way around.

Deb and I met when we both worked for Kroger Supermarkets.   We both put in 15 years with Kroger.   Her running the front end, me running the Dairy Dept.

When I hit 28, we  both decided that the Grocery business probably wouldn't support us for the rest of our lives, and I went back to school to get my Electronic Engineering degree.   Raising 2 boys, with both of us working nearly full time, and me going to school full time was not fun -- but we both have always been willing to sacrifice for what we wanted.

We then moved to Dallas Tx while I went to work for JCPenney for 19 years, and Deb whipped the boys into shape (while she also had a few part time jobs along the way).

I'm now an IT Consultant, and enjoy the flexibility / variability of different challenges.

I still love sports (watching them), and playing Disk Golf whenever I can.   Also really enjoy Texas Hold'em, and just recently picked up bike riding again (after 40 years of not doing it).

Deb and I both enjoy watching movies, eating out, and playing with our pooch (a mixed breed black lab we picked from the dog pound).  Mia (the lab) is 60 pounds of pure muscle -- and constantly on the move.   She insist on playing ball 10 hours a day.   She never met a person with a reasonable throwing arm that she didn't love.

Deb also spends a great deal of time providing all kinds of support (both mental and physical) to her aging parents.   Notice I said "great deal of time"......not "a great time".   Totally different concepts.  I'd tell you more about Deb -- but she will probably be embarrassed with what I have already said.   You will love her when you get to meet her -- but she doesn't talk about herself much.

Our first cruise was for our 25th anniversary.  We must have enjoyed it, because except for visiting my family back in Ohio, it is pretty much the only type of vacation that we have taken since.    We have about 6 or 7 cruises under out belt at this point.

Yep, pretty boring life -- but we seem to be comfortable with it.   Our only real step outside of normal is our cherished friendships with the crazy Crawfords.  I use to think that Michelle wasn't crazy -- that just Jim was.   But Michelle keeps hanging in there with him so she must be crazy as well.

I guess that also says a lot about us doesn't it..........

Looking forward to the Cruise, and meeting you all in person. 

How Big is Big

The longest naval vessel in the world is the USS Enterprise Aircraft Carrier. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(CVN-65))

At a length of 1,123 feet (we're talking nearly 400 yards - over a 5th of a mile in length) and 93.3 thousand gross tons we could probably argue that the Enterprise is big.  REAL big.

The USS Enterprise, however is not the biggest ship in the world.  The Oasis of the seas, weighing in at more than twice the tonage (225.28 thousand tons) is heavier and with 1,186.5 feet of length she is also longer so in ship terms there is no argument she is bigger.

This ship is big (so big, in fact, that it doesn't even fit in the space allocated for this blog - yup!  That's big)

Not just bigger, but better (assuming you don't need to launch F-14s).  Looking at the back end you can see there are two flow-riders where you can ride a surf board.  Moving forward from the top flow-rider you can see a miniature golf course.  Moving forward from the bottom flow-riders you can see the sports court where you can play basketball or compete in a dodge ball tournament.  In that same area there is a zip line and a couple of rock climbing walls.  They call it the sports section of the boat.   

Forward of that you can see a number of swimming pools.  Some are specially designed for playing volleyball while others are architected to work well for smaller children.  There are hot-tubs for all and hot tubs for adults only - speaking of adults only, there is a whole section of the ship where you are not allowed unless you are older than 18 years of age.

Deep inside the ship there is a BIG selection of things to do.  Comedy clubs, shopping centers, dance clubs, karaoke bars, big show theaters, work out rooms, a spa and even an ice skating ring.

Big ship.  Big fun.  Big vacation we look forward to.