Stateroom Door Decorations

Ever since our apple expedition this past weekend, there's been a conversation about the different types of apples out there.  Alan, a friend of ours, strongly recommended something known as the SweeTango apple, and it seems to have a cult status online.  It's apparently the crown jewel of apples, with an unrivaled taste.  Other apples, we'll agree, are not the best.  In our house, we've been fans of Jonagold, but the Pink Ladies are also really good.  Anyway, here's the review I sent our friends towards the end of our usual apple conversation this week.

Tonight, my parents came back to our place with the prize:  SweeTango apples!  I had looked earlier at the Publix here in Gainesville, but came up empty.  Fortunately, as everyone knows, if you want to find really good produce, there’s one spot you should visit:  Walmart.  

Seriously, Walmart.  Anyway, it was late, so the four of us divided one of these SweeTango apples up into quadrants, and passed the sacred slices along as if it were communion.  Looking at each other, each of us regarded his or her apple portion as if it were the last bit of food we’d be eating for a while.  

The moment was upon us:  after all the fanfare and discussion about this sought-after apple, would it live up to the hype?  Was it worth the pursuit?  Or would we discover that Alan is a complete and total liar face? 

My friends, the moment was at hand:  it was time to try SweeTango for ourselves.  And after a few tentative bites into this jewel of the orchards, all four of us concur:  this is indeed a really good apple.  It was surprisingly juicy, and very full of flavor.  The flavor was certainly sweet, more sweet than any apple I’ve ever had before.  So yes, Alan is off the hook:  it was a great apple.

Now, I’m not going to say quite yet if it was the best apple I’ve ever tasted.  Not yet.  I need time to process my feelings and emotions about this moment.  But all four of us thought this ample apple was worth the effort.  

Also, as noted earlier, it cost twice as much.  Is it worth twice as much?  Oh yeah, definitely.

Today we were planning for the cruise - it appears as if Hurricane Maria will not affect us at all, outside of perhaps some interesting waves.  Part of our planning involved making stateroom door decorations for this Disney Cruise.  Daddy used some designs he found online, on the Disney site and elsewhere, and came up with this one here.

Obviously, that's not our stateroom number.  And Mommy glued some magnets to the backside of this design, so it's all ready.  Our door will be decorated for a Halloween on the High Seas.  Especially after we add these pumpkins as well:

We made three of these with our names on them to add to the door as well.  The stateroom door will look nice - we'll take pictures!

Tonight, we received a letter from Madison's teacher asking for permission to test her for special advanced classes.  Madison is a candidate for gifted classes, which is pretty exciting news.  Although Madison takes it in stride!  According to the letter (which sought our permission), she's going to be tested over the next few weeks.  The question here is, "What kind of tests?"  And "Testing for what?" Are they testing her for mutant powers?  Of course not.  I'm guessing it's just some written tests, the sort you can't really study for.  But nevertheless, it's exciting for her.

It's still hot today.  They were removing that big tree from Nana and Ye-Ye's house, using a huge crane to hoist the trees over the top of their house.  Impressive!  And finally, the big trees are gone.  Now to address the rest of the house.  Fortunately, until then, Ye-Ye and Nana have a place with us - although not next week.  They'll be in our place, sure.  But we'll be off for our nautical adventure!