Mr Papa's World » Travel

Savannah Places 11th at State National Geographic Bee

Suzanne — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:42:36 +0000

On Friday, April 1, 2011, our daughter Savannah placed 11th at the Arizona state level National Geographic Bee competition. She qualified for the bee by winning the school bee, then score high enough on the written test to qualify for the 100 or so positions at he state bee. At the state bee, the competitors are divided into 5 groups of 20 to compete in preliminary rounds. The top 10 with the most correct answers
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Photos from our 2010 Eastern Caribbean Cruise

Mr Papa — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:55:38 +0000

In early December, we enjoyed our 2010 cruise on the Celebrity Equinox as we sailed to the Eastern Caribbean. Hopefully, you were following along on my daily blog. Today, I have posted some photos from the cruise for you to check out.

The cruise was absolutely fantastic. Celebrity Cruises continues to do an amazing job ensuring the cruise is nothing but fun and relaxation. The Celebrity Equinox is a beautiful ship with much to do – or not.
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 10 – Day at Sea

Mr Papa — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:42:09 +0000

Yesterday was a day at sea and the last day of the cruise as our Caribbean Cruise 2010 winds down. Tomorrow morning we will be docking in Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) and the cruise will be over. This has been a fabulous cruise and has provided much needed rest and relaxation. The ship, the ports, the staff, etc have all been great. We continue to love sailing Celebrity.

This was another day at a sea, but it was
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 9 – Day at Sea

Mr Papa — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 14:10:02 +0000

Yesterday was a day at sea as we begin to wind down our Caribbean Cruise 2010. After today, only one full sea day remains before we arrive back in Port Everglades. This has been a great cruise and a couple of days at sea are a nice way to close out the cruise.

As has been our habit on this cruise, we arose around 8:30 and headed down for breakfast and a leisurely stroll about the ship checking out
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 8 – St Maarten

Mr Papa — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 13:53:25 +0000

Yesterday was our fifth and final port of call on our 2010 Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox. Around 8:00 AM we docked in the port of Phillipsburg on the island of St Maarten. We planned to go ashore late morning and rose about 8:30. This time we actually planned to stay ashore most of the day. We had planned some shopping and then a day lounging on the beach.

This was our second visit to St Maarten
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 7 – Dominica

Mr Papa — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:07:14 +0000

Yesterday was our fourth port of call on our 2010 Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox. Around 8:00 AM we docked in the port of Rousseau on the island of Dominca. We planned to go ashore late morning and rose about 8:30. Once again, we donâ€™t have any excursions planned any just intended to walk around town and do some shopping. Today was the kind of day I feared for a Caribbean cruise. It was hot and
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 6 – Barbados

Mr Papa — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:28:19 +0000

Yesterday was our third port of call on our 2010 Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox. Around 8:00 AM we docked in the port of Basseterre on the island of Barbados. We planned to go ashore late morning and rose about 8:30. Once again, we donâ€™t have any excursions planned any just intended to walk around town and do some shopping. Itâ€™s another sunny day with a few clouds and temperature about 80 degs. They are
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 5 – St Kitts

Mr Papa — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:23:53 +0000

Yesterday was our second port of call on our 2010 Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox. Around 8:00 AM we docked in the port of Basseterre on the island of St Kitts. We planned to go ashore late morning and rose about 9:00. Once again, we donâ€™t have any excursions planned any just intended to walk around town and do some shopping. The weather remains good with the temperatures in the mid-80s but a lot of humidity
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 4 – St Thomas

Mr Papa — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:18:27 +0000

Yesterday was our first port of call on our 2010 Caribbean cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox. Around 7:00 AM we docked in the US Virgin Islands at the port of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St Thomas. We planned to go ashore late morning and rose about 8:30. We enjoyed a late breakfast on the back of the ship.

We finally got off the ship about 10:30. We had no excursions planned and simply strolled around
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 3 – Day at Sea

Mr Papa — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:03:01 +0000

Yesterday was another wonderful day at sea. This cruise, thus far, has been extremely relaxing and enjoyable. We continued plying the deep waters of the Atlantic on our way to the Eastern Caribbean. Ocean depth has been between 5000 and 6000 meters. Temperatures have been hovering around 80 degrees, but the motion of the ship has kept you relatively cool.

Since we had a late night the night before and lost an hour on the clock, we
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 2 – Day at Sea

Mr Papa — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:25:47 +0000

Yesterday was our first full day of the cruise and it was a day at sea. We love days at sea when cruising â€“ even better than days in ports. Days at sea are wonderful relaxation days and a very good way to recharge your batteries. We are currently making our way to the Eastern Caribbean where we will make 5 stops, the first being in St Thomas.

We slept in until about 7:30 in the morning (late for
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Caribbean Cruise 2010 – Day 1 – Departure Day

Mr Papa — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 13:52:18 +0000

Yesterday was the start of our 2010 Caribbean cruise on board the Celebrity Equinox. The cruise would be departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Our destinations would be St. Thomas, St Kitts, Barbados, Dominica and St Maarten. Add in four days at sea (plus the departure and arrival days) and it should be a fun filled cruised.

We flew in Fort Lauderdale on Thanksgiving Day. We celebrated Thanksgiving a day early back in Arizona with our kids and
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Celebrity Equinox for 2010

Suzanne — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:06:15 +0000

We have booked our next cruise for 2010, the Celebrity Equinox 10 Day Ultimate Caribbean with stops in St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados, Dominica, and St. Maarten. For us this cruise is much more about the ship and the relaxation that it has to offer, than the actual destinations. In some ports we may not get off the ship, in others, we may just pay a simple visit to the closest beach. I do enjoy snorkeling, so we are hoping
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Showstopper Time

Mr Papa — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:43:49 +0000

It’s almost time for our annual jaunt up to Phoenix for the Showstopper Regional Dance Competition. Suzanne and Savannah have been doing this competition for years.

Savannah usually dances a bunch of numbers with her various dance classes and then throws in a solo or two. Suzanne usually does similar but a few less.

This year, Sean will also be doing one dance. While he no longer dances in multiple classes, he is doing one
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All Rome and Celebrity Solstice Transatlantic Cruise Photos Now Uploaded

Mr Papa — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:32:58 +0000

Today, I have uploaded photos from the last two days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This means that all of our photos from this fantastic vacation in Rome, followed by another terrific cruise have been uploaded.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

See the photo gallery.

Next Batch of Photot From Rome / Transatlantic Cruise Uploaded

Mr Papa — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:57:20 +0000

Today, I have uploaded photos from the next six days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This was a fantastic cruise and I hope it shows in the pictures.

We still one more batch of photos from the last two days to prep, but we hope to get them up here in the next day or two.

See
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Photos From First Five Days of the Transatlantic Cruise Uploaded

Mr Papa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:36:11 +0000

Okay, Suzanne has finished her work on the photos from the first five days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This was a fantastic cruise and I hope it shows in the pictures.

She still has another 8 or 9 days of photos to prep, but we hope to get them up here in the next week or two.
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Initial Rome – Transatlantic Cruise Photos Available

Mr Papa — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:38:21 +0000

Today, I have uploaded the first set of photos from our recent family vacation to Rome, Italy followed by a transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Solstice. This first batch of photos are from our first four days in the city of Rome, Italy. I still want to go through all the photos and caption them, but that take quite a bit of time and I wanted to get
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Rome â€“ Transatlantic 2009 – Wrap Up

Mr Papa — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:58:39 +0000

The cruise/vacation is officially over. Yesterday we returned home. Our day in Fort Lauderdale was restful and uneventful. None us wanted to do anything but relax, so about all we did was swim in the pool at the hotel and eat. With a 4:30 AM wake up call for our flight back home, we turned in pretty early too. Both flights home were also uneventful and on time with no issues whatsoever.

This was an absolutely
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Rome â€“ Transatlantic 2009 Day 19 â€“ Atlantic Crossing Day 6

Mr Papa — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:36:39 +0000

Yesterday was the last sea day of our transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thus far it has been an absolutely fabulous cruise. The weather finally turned against us as it pretty much rained all day. The temperature remained warm and the seas remained calm at 2 – 3 foot sea state. Actually, I rather enjoyed the rain. It was rather calming and relaxing. It didnt really keep me from doing
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