Carlos Hazday

I think North Korea will trip him up.

Two more chapters and CJ takes over. We'll see the kids reaction to the first meal aboard and CJ's subsequent conversation with Nina. Poor woman has no idea who she'll be tangling with.

CJ may not change his personality, but being in the limelight frequently will lead him to soften his approach at times. However, I can guarantee he goes off on a couple of senators, completely trashing them. Once while having lunch at Forbes Grille, his private dining club. And also during his confirmation hearing when appointed ambassador to Cuba by Biden.

She's definitely CJ's daughter, and we saw further proof in Loving Anniversary. I suspect she'll be a cunning, manipulative, woman who more often than not will get her way.

Spanish chorizo's my favorite, but I mentioned the Mexican version in CDMX, and CJ and Owen will be sampling Portuguese chourico in a future story. Did you see the picture I posted in the forum thread? How can anyone tell those two apart is a mystery. CJ and Owen have a temporay solution to the problem. I'm pretty sure she'll end up with at least one tattoo. Her grandmother will hate it but the twins will insist they want ink too.

Yep. Those three will have sophisticated palates by the time they become adults. i suspect the three will be traveling a lot. CJ and Owen will only leave them behind a few times.

Yeah, they're simply being nice for now. Let's see how they handle the adults once at sea. Oh, wait, everyone will be cursing like sailors!

Welcome to the party, Jeff. LOL The next couple of chapters will feature the family playing in Barcelona before they board the Flying Circus. I recycle a couple of characters and introduce a couple of new ones. Let's see if they fit in.

Oh, please. You have plenty of supporters of your own. Aren't your stories the most popular ones on GA? I'm sure your readers will back you up.

I can see Jeffer and Roo getting into fights when some kid uses a homophobic slur like most boys will. That might be a fun flash piece to write.

You mentioned food in stories in your AAA outing. Get ready for a lot of eating and drinking.

And if they wind up spending time in Australia, mingling with vineyard and winery workers, they'll be fluent in American and Australian cursing.

I'm not sure I did it consciously, but you're entirely right. Looking at my recent stories, characters are introduced when they become part of the action; in this case I lumped them all together at the beginning. Although I'll share tidbits about most of them in future chapters, I wanted the focus to be on the family and how they interact. I'll identify them when they show up again. LOL

Thanks, Tor.

The only Bravo show I religiously watch is Top Chef. It has influenced meals and restaurant choices in my stories. I've caught at least one show from each of the Below Deck franchises (a couple more of the Down Under 'cause the captain's hot) but those shows concentrate almost entirely on drama among crew members. I guess my story's more Above Deck than Below Deck. LOL CJ may have a word or two with Nina at some point.

Totally! Did you see I called you my hero? I'm kinda jealous to be honest, and so should everyone else. I'll rally my readers to support you if you need a hand.

I have a feeling those three (and eventually Davey) will be as foul mouthed as CJ. We got an inkling of it in Loving Anniversary.

Mrs G beta read my anthology entry and mentioned something about Liebe being headstrong and resembling her. Then she mentioned kicking a bully in the nuts while a kid. I sent her the little section where Liebe explains her issues. Mrs. G became my hero at that point. And you're entirely right. Yes, her getting suspended was something fun and funny to write, but the intent was to show her developing a personality similar to her parents and how CJ being in the public eye will impact their lives for the next 20+ years. They're all stuck on a boat together for a week, so except when the kids and CJ nap, they'll all be in every scene. Okay, not when they hit a dance club in Ibiza. The toddlers and the geezers will remain on the Circus.

The entire story's posted but I thought only staff and I could see them. How did you manage to read ahead? They didn't even offer chicken fingers as an alternative to burgers? I've been on a couple of cruises, but this is something I've never done. You realize the ratio of crew members to guests is about 1 to 1? I think they'll get better service than I ever did.

I debated delaying chapter 1 for a day or two, but decided I wanted to bring the family in as soon as possible. Next week we explore the Gaixample, visit a little church, and hear about what they did the previous day before Ritch arrived. We get to meet a new character and hear about th lives of two we met in a previous story.

We might get to see one or two of their antics. The have a father who wants to try everything at least once, an uncle who's a speed demon, and a grandfather who's a 4o-something teenager. I'm sure those two will be the best behaved kids in school. The principal may have CJ's number on speed dial.

Hitchcock did it before Lee. And as I've previously mentioned, the inspiration to include myself came from Clive Cussler's books. I always thought his MC, Dirk Pitt, was hot!

I'm glad I don't get called out more often for all my typing mistakes.

Thank you! My next story's title Newport! LOL 21 started having financial issues a while back and I was worried I'd written in the future about it. Not sure what the current status is, but I thought they had found financing or a buyer. That place's an institution and I hope it remains open. At least I got a visit there a long time ago.

LMFAO FanDuel has really good odds on them right now. I'm planning a semi-involved conversation about pro sports ownership during the next Everhope dinner party I write. Two of the guests will be NFL players. After I wrote this, Welcome to Wrexham started airing on FX. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought a football team in Wales and made a documentary about the club's first year under their ownership. I planned to trash several owners (Commanders and Dolphins in the NFL and Suns and Mercury in the NBA and WNBA) I'll bring up Wrexham and how Rob and Ryan are interested in winning but more so in the community. I see CJ and Owen following that approach. Can you imagine CJ in the middle of an election and the pro team he owns being in the playoffs ?Not that he would milk the publicity, but I'm sure his opponents groaned whenever CJ was on camera talking about his team. At least they got Liebe a decent tutor!