Boy Bands
my secrets revealed. . .

At the gym today, I saw the new NKOTB music video. Or for those of you struggling to remember that blessed year when The New Kids On the Block debut their first album (1986), basically they were one of the first boy bands (created by Simon Fuller) to pave the way for other rockin' boy bands like Backstreet boys, N Sync, 98 Degrees etc.

Back to my point, I was "Hangin' Tough" on the treadmill watching the screen and I had such an enormous grin on my face. There is something about being in sixth grade and buying every Teen Beat Magazine that contained a NKOTB poster of one of the members of the band that made me laugh with joy. I owned two albums on cassette. I remember plastering my walls with their images and swooning over heartthrobs Joey and Donnie, who definitely had "The Right Stuff." And who can forget "Step by Step" or "Soul Train," those grade-school anthems that were staples at dances -- we all knew the dance routines by heart.

Sadly, at the end of that year my family moved to another house but the posters did not. They never made it up again, nor did any other bands pictures ever grace my bedroom walls again. At first, I talked about the fall of the NKOTB with bitterness. But then, as was the fashion, I started to mock them, even pretending that I never liked them to begin with (though when I was alone, I still sang along with enthusiasm when one of their songs came on the radio). But don't worry NKOTB, "I'll Be Loving You Forever."



THEY are BACK



In 2000, I was hanging out in London with my soon-to-be-husband and he introduced me to the London sensation Westlife (a boy band from Ireland). Yeah, the first question you should all ask yourselves, why is Ben listening to boy bands? Well, let me squeal on him for a moment. Ben has always been a huge fan of the Backstreet Boys. In fact, while in London, (keep in mind that we are 22 years-old at this time), Ben's journal was a Backstreet Boys journal. I always used to tease him about this because I was not yet a fan of that boy band. What's even stranger is that Ben also owned the N'sync Christmas album, which we just barely threw away last Christmas. Wow, this entry is just full of neat secrets.

So back to Westlife. We brought the boy band Westlife's album back with us from London and we haven't strayed from them ever since. We are still huge fans of them. Westlife became popular in Utah not long after they were the singing sensations in London, thank goodness, and you could even hear them on the radio at times.

After eight long and good years with my honey, I'm happy to say that boy bands are still in my life. I liked the new NKOTB song "Summertime," and for my recent birthday Ben just gave me the newest Westlife album, "Can We Be Frank?" The songs were all originally Frank Sinatra's. I've blogged about music before, (I promise I'm not fanatical about music), but I basically only listen to Oldies. So for Ben to bring two of my favorite kinds of music together is pure harmony.

Check out this old blog for another music update:
http://welchwhirlblog.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html





Thanks honey for allowing a love of boy bands in the house.

How to have a ROCKIN' Disney Cruise Vacation




Safety First- to calm the kids minds.



Be sure to hit the Karaoke Bar at least a few of the nights on the boat.



Be sure to visit the Caribbean Natives.



Pose with a few of the Disney Royalty every so often.



Hang out with the Mermaids on the beach.



Get some parents like these. They gave us this amazing cruise for our Christmas present last year!!



Be sure to rent mopeds and travel to beautiful beaches with the gals you love in the Bahamas!



Buy sunglasses, multiple pairs, you'll need them for all the rays you will be soaking in.



You can always look forward to the magical bunk beds that just appear out of nowhere for the kids to sleep on in the rooms.



Go scuba diving with the hard core on Disney's private island.


I could go on for hours about this awesome trip. It went way beyond my expectations. Think magical vacation and there you have it. The food was yummy, the company was perfect, the activities were delightful, with kids or sans kids. The kids clubs were very fun, Wiley was always asking to do that first. If anyone needs anymore convincing about this amazing vacation, let me know. It was fabulous! I have about 800 more pictures from this AWESOME trip.

The Bags





As mentioned in my previous blog, today is the first day that I've found some regular time in my day. I'm going to attempt to blog our amazing summer. But after looking through 1000+ pictures I couldn't think of a more appropriate picture to start with other than this picture. It explains how we managed for so long. 3- 50 pound bags loaded with all the necessities as well as an awesomely equipped game bag (nintendo, dvd player/movies, card games), two back packs, two strollers, one car seat, and the computer bag. All that we took was chosen very carefully knowing we had international weight limits to deal with as well as a tiny 1 bedroom apartment in Germany that would fill up faster than we wanted it to.

3 days left of summer!

Help I'm not ready, I need a break from summer but wait I'm not ready for the constant getting and going of school, homework, school lunches etc. What is the solution? I think I need a vacation from vacation. We have had a very busy summer and today is the first day that I feel like I can do laundry and clean the house knowing it isn't in preparation of the next family vacation/get together.

I somehow missed all the important house work days that a summer gives me. I need a few Saturdays to paint some walls, buy some school supplies, clean my windows, clean out drawers etc. A few of the basic things that are supposed to happen in a summer but somehow I managed to forgo in our travels.

It's no wonder that I don't feel like I have accomplished anything this summer, in the last 7 days alone my kids have slept in 4 different locations. Just a sample of what our whole summer has been like. I just want to stay unpacked for a while. No suitcases, no backpacks, no place to be but home.