Son became involved with a Boy Scout group from school where he embarked on a camping excursion with spouse and some others in the group to a camping area on the bank of a large lake. During the night a large storm struck the area that caused considerable angst to both spouse and son as they huddled together in a small tent. Spouse and son enjoyed building and racing a pinewood derby car at a Boy Scout event where they won second place. Another event organized by the regional Boy Scout group of the area, was a family evening and night Halloween outing that invited participants to explore a “spooky forest” after dark. The forest was a pine forest where scouts were dressed in ghoulish costumes and would attempt to frighten people who walked along a dark path through this wooded area. At the end of the pathway that circled back to the campground, a substantial hole was dug that some people fell into in this dark area. I was most disgusted with this hole and finale, as some people could have suffered a serious physical injury due to falling into such a large and unexpected hole.
The family vacation for this year was our first extended excursion on a cruise ship. We vacationed for one week touring the Eastern Caribbean waters and visiting the islands of St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and a cruise line private island which we enjoyed. I thought this kind of vacation to be lavish, extreme in some cases, and well planned by cruise line employees. A full daily itinerary that was placed under the door of our cabin early each morning created a sense of hurriedness in me, prior to breakfast. The amount of food and quantity of meals served aboard this ship was gluttonous and many times wasteful as people would fill their plates with more than they could eat thus discarding the leftover food. I stated to spouse that two meals and a snack daily would have been more than enough to eat. A disco for young teens did not allow parental entry which perturbed me greatly. This policy was not stated or posted prior to the admittance of teens. Port holes that I discovered in an inside the ship’s lounge provided an underwater view of people bathing and swimming in the pool which provided me with an uncomfortable feeling and so after that discovery I avoided the activity of swimming in the ship’s pool. Later in 2001-2002, Spouse daughter, son and I were on a Christmas/New Years cruise where we attended a New Year’s Eve celebration on the ship. The celebration consisted of viewing the most mind boggling magic show that I have ever seen. At the end of this show and at midnight the ceiling of the auditorium opened to release thousands and thousands of balloon and “tons” of confetti resulting in the adults in the audience becoming knee deep in this celebratory material. I thought this entire evening to be bizarre. Also during this cruise, a woman with an infant of about ten months old was seated directly in front of me holding her baby whose head was at her shoulder level. We were seated close to a passage way to the outside ships’ deck. I was talking to the baby who faced me and who was lively and engaging. The mother, who I believe was from Spain, appeared not to speak English. Suddenly, a tall heavy set English speaking man wearing an oversized Disney World tee shirt and who was walking through the passage way grabbed the baby from the woman arms and tossed the baby in the air a few times catching him each time. A wave of anxiety overtook me as I observed this scene in disbelief. The woman and mother of the baby had a frozen smile on her face as she waited for this unknown “goon” to return her child to her. After giving the child back to the woman we both nodded our heads to the left and the right while engaging in eye contact as she quickly departed the area with the baby.