Journey to Alaska

Dave’s parents celebrated their 52nd wedding anniversary!!! As part of the festivities, they invited each of their children along with their mates;) on an Alaskan cruise via Holland America. Initially, I was thrilled, but very quickly got nervous (based on our previous hellish Disney Cruise experience). In short, it was nothing like our first cruise…quite the opposite in every way as their was:
*Plenty of old people
*EXCELLENT food
*Many ports
*Great weather
*Steady waters
*No murderers or missing cast members

The whole gang! This is right before we climbed aboard. I was smiling, but oh, how scared I was on the inside!

First stop…JUNEAU, the only capitol city that can ONLY be reached by sea or air!

Just arriving in Juneau. Greeted with a little rain, but beautiful!

Goofball, tourist shots:

While in Juneau, we hit up the world famous Mendenhall Glacier: an absolutely stunning and breathtaking sight to see!

Us on the bus:

The glacier is situated right next to a waterfall called Nugget Falls. We walked short trail that took us right next to the falls, and as close the glacier as you can get on foot.

You’ll quickly learn that none of my pics do Alaska justice. Our good camera broke before the trip and had to use our cell phone cameras instead:(

The above hot dog was eaten on the ship. Seriously heaven!!!!

After experiencing the glacier we walked around a bunch of nature trails (very similar to Cascade Springs). It took us out to see glacier chunks in better views. We also saw a porcupine perched on a tree branch, bear poop, and several smashed grass trails indicating places where Mama Bears and their cubs walk. It was just neat. Seriously.

We slowly made our way back through town enjoying gift shops and city views, and eventually made our way back on the ship.

Here’s a pic of Rob at 11:30 at night in Alaska. Pretty fun having extended daylight!!!

Juneau was awesome! It was also my birthday this day, which made for a pretty unbeatable, memorable birthday!

No More Teachers, No More Books…

The last day of school arrived. WE WERE READY! Great teacher, great year, but time for summer!

Kate not only brought home her infested tote tray and books, she also brought home a PERFECT report card; as in a 4 in each and every skill and category tested. We’ve got a genius on our hands, folks!

Here’s Sister with her teacher, Miss Allen:

I’m not sure why, but I felt all sorts of pressure to help the kids celebrate their new freedom! I texted several neighbors and in no time we had a serious water party planned, complete with a blow-up waterslide and a slip n slide!

The kids played for 4 hours out in the sun! By the time we were done, these tiny little backyards of ours had a serious swamp going on! But so fun for the kids, and fun for the moms to visit too!

 

Later that night was Father & Sons. Dave took Cole up to the canyon (not to sleepover, but to eat and play for a few hours). Cole, ignored his picky-eater inclinations and actually ate chili! Shocked us all! Meanwhile, Kate and I had a girls’ night. She chose Café Rio for dinner, which is so unlike her. Afterwards, we went home and did a sewing project from her new sewing kit (her idea). After we hit Walmart to spend some bday gift cards of hers, and then on the way home, hit up a Sno Shack even though it was 9:30 pm by this point. All in all, a DREAMY day and an excellent way to kick off summer!

Cast, Be Gone!

6 long weeks and the cast is finally off! The bone wasn’t as healed up as the doctor had hoped, but the cast was removed anyway. It’s been fun not having to bathe Junior with a bag on his arm (most especially) and seeing him gain strength back in his right arm. We may just have a Lefty after this experience!!