Cruising!

We are at sea off the coast of California. So far all is well. Tonight is formal night, and Mali is excited and will be getting a haircut in an hour. Right now Susy and kids are painting ceramics. They just went to see Monster-in-law at the theater. Andrew and I played Bingo yesterday morning, which was very fun even though we lost. Mali and I had a workout session in the gym, and she's eager to do that again (strangely enough.) Our rooms are great, though there's no door between the two. We were able to get extra keys so we all have one for each room.
The kids have not yet tried the kid activities, but tonight is a movie, Kicking and Screaming, that Mali has seen and wants to see again and it's aboutsoccer so Andrew's into it. That will be after dinner. Then we are thinking of going to see the Princess Idol competition.
Yesterday's shore expedition on Catalina island was interesting. We walked to the Casino, which had the most fantastic murals all over it. The kids were less than thrilled, but Susy and I loved it. Afterwards we went shopping, then had our bag stolen while we took photos just before heading back to the ship. Very annoying. But we have recovered from the loss, and we're back to having a great time.

Our first traditional dinner did not go well. Irene and Melissa signed up for Free-Choice dining and weren't able to switch. They were stuffed anyway, so opted out of dinner Sunday. We were seated by the kitchen with two families with other kids. They were fine, but it was very noisy, which really bothered me since I'm still fighting off my ear infection. Then we seemed to have really lousy service from our waiters. Then the killer was Andrew didn't get his hamburger until everyone was almost finished with their entrees, and we got our entrees last among the entire dining area. So: we switched to free choice, made reservations, and had a wonderful dinner last night with Irene and Melissa. Tonight is formal night, and it should be great. I'll post more tomorrow, we'll be at sea off the coast of Mexico.