A-crusing we will go

Plans are made for a family reunion of sorts on a cruise to Alaska. That wasn't planned, it just happened. It is quite a tale.

D.W. and I took our 1st cruise this past December, courtesy of his parents. We had a good time. You can read my previous post if you want to know more about it.

We have said for the past 20 years that we would like to take a cruise up the Inside Passage to Alaska "someday".  Well! In February we received a reasonably priced cruise offering, which we decided to take.

Remembering the pleasure of cruising with "the folks" we asked them if they would be interested in booking onto the same cruise. They decided to join us on board.

A couple of weeks later Mom told us that she had been talking to D.W.'s sister and told her about the cruise plans. Sis decided that she and our niece would join the party. (Bro-in-law is doing a stint with an overseas company, which is 1/2 way complete. His schedule precludes him from joining us. Sis was already planning to be in the States taking care of business that would be difficult if not impossible to do from overseas.) We haven't seen Sister and Niece for way these many years.  So now we are 6.

Another month passed and again Mom called. She left a message. D.W. said that he couldn't tell if she was laughing or crying, but that she sounded slightly hysterical. He called back.

Mom had been talking with her sister and telling her how the 6 of us were going cruising as a family. Mom's Sis looked into it, and now she and her daughter have joined the party as well. Mom called the cruise director and re-booked the dining arrangements as we will now need a larger table for the 8 of us.

Cousin expressed some reservations about them just "dropping in" on us.  I emailed her that it was by far the easiest family reunion I had ever planned. All it took was a phone call to Mom. And none of us has to worry about housework or cooking for a week.