Ken and Dan both greeted me with a happy birthday this morning while I was still in bed and Ken gave me a gorgeous card. Once we were dressed we started out the door only to find congratulation balloons and a happy birthday sign by our door so we stopped to take a picture
After breakfast Dan headed off to the fitness center to bike
and run on the machines while Ken and I went up on the track for a two mile
walk followed by a stop at the fitness center so I could do my assigned (by my
PT trainer) ten minutes to flex the knees good.
There were two recliner bikes available to Ken rode the one while I did
the other.
From there Ken and I went to the first Pop Choir rehearsal - more men than women showed up which was a real change from our past experiences though the balance was pretty close of 12 men and 11 women. We will be singing several of the songs from the Sound of Music which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary as is Princess. Because of this they gave Princess the rights to perform the music for the entire year. What fun singing things like Do, Re, Me and My Favorite Things. Then Ken got them to sing Happy Birthday to me.
From there Ken and I went to the first Pop Choir rehearsal - more men than women showed up which was a real change from our past experiences though the balance was pretty close of 12 men and 11 women. We will be singing several of the songs from the Sound of Music which is also celebrating its 50th anniversary as is Princess. Because of this they gave Princess the rights to perform the music for the entire year. What fun singing things like Do, Re, Me and My Favorite Things. Then Ken got them to sing Happy Birthday to me.
When we returned to our room Dan was just finishing a shower
and getting cleaned up so we were able to enjoy a bit more chat time and he
surprised me with several gifts and cards that he had brought along from Beth,
the Ratcliffes and his girls. Each
member of Dan’s family had written acrostic poems for me which I had fun
reading. Jerry and Joyce (friends at our
Hillcrest RV Park) had arranged for a happy birthday on board credit to be used
by me so I also got that surprise card.
We decided to enjoy lunch together at Alfredo’s, an Italian
restaurant that offers among other things great antipastos and individual
pizzas. So we relaxed there, with the
sounds of a string quartet floating round us (they were playing in the Piazza
just below us) and enjoyed a fantastic meal.
Dan was then off in one direction, Ken in another (he went
to hear a lecturer on Pirates) and I went off on my own first to stop at the
library and then to our room so I could do my PT exercises. I decided to flip on a movie while I was
doing them so ended up watching all of Saving Mr. Banks as I didn’t want to
quit once I was started. It felt good to
just relax.
Since this was a formal night we then spent a bit of time
getting dressed up for dinner and the other various activities.
Dinner was delicious and ended with a special
birthday cake for me and several
waiters gathering to sing Happy
Birthday.
Dan was then off to do his thing while Ken and I went to the
Princess Theater for the Soul Music Production Show. We watched people pouring champagne on the fountain in the Piazza for a short time before heading off to the the theater.
I enjoyed chatting with the people sitting
next to me who lived most of their lives in the city of Chicago before retiring
to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Last
winter, however, they had had it with all the snow (it was an extreme winter)
so they have now moved to Leesburg and are living at the Legacy which is just
across the road from Hawthorne where my folks lived for about 20 years.
We wandered up to the 17th deck afterwards hoping
to catch the fountain light show but they ended up cancelling it after three
attempts at getting the fountains to go and giving up.
We returned to our room, changed the time on our watches as
the remainder of the voyage will be on Caribbean time one hour ahead of Eastern
Standard Time. All of us just enjoyed
laying and reading for a bit before calling it a night.
Unfortunately after two years of not being ill with anything
I had a slight sore throat and very full head which kept me awake a good part
of the night because I couldn’t breathe.
At least it waited to hit till after all my birthday fun and festivities
J
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