Ketchikan, Alaska, Our 1st Port

We'll keep our eyes open for bears! But, we didn't see any. I think this trip was the first time I really WANTED to see a bear. I didn't want to be too close, just wanted to see one in the wild!

Connor's getting suited up for ziplining...

...and so is Elianna...

We're all ready to go!!

Jon was the first to go!

Then Elianna had her turn!
Look at her go!
She got too scared after this zipline. (And this was the practice one!) I do think she was too little, probably. She wouldn't go with a guide either, so she and Jon walked down. A huge thank you to Jon, cause I LOVED ziplining! (But there are no pics of me doing it :-()

Connor's turn!!

Look at him go!! He did 2 on his own, then got scared. But he then went with our guide, Patrick, on the rest of them.

Connor and Patrick

This is where Jon and Elianna ended up, feeding reindeer and seeing an injured eagle and owl. They were with mostly old people. Elianna LOVED it! Jon wished he was still ziplining! We should have had Elianna go with Grandma and Grandpa!

Connor and I both got a medal for surviving the zipline. We also bought Connor a t-shirt that says that across the back.

Creek Street in Ketchikan

Our family before we got back on the boat. Some lady walking past asked if we would like a family picture. She said she know what it's like to have vacation pics with no pics of Mom :-)

Aboard the Norwegian Star

The pool area...not near as busy as on Caribbean cruises! But of course our kids were in the water on more than one occasion!

A large chess board

Our cabin...not the largest of places! But we survived. Our first night post-cruise, we walked into a hotel room and said, "This place is huge!!" Amazing how quickly you get used to your surroundings.

Enjoying an orange juice toast when boarding (they had champagne for those old enough)


Muster Drill! This had to be the weirdest drill Jon and I have ever done on a ship. The other times we've done it, we've been on deck and everyone has to squish together and listen to directions. This time we were in one of the restaurants sitting around tables, and in case of emergency we would meet there, then walk up a set of stairs to the next deck to get into our lifeboat. I'm sorry, if our boat was going down, I'd want to be out on the deck right away, not gathering in a restaurant!

The view of Seattle as we pulled out of port.

Happy Retirement! (After one more year of teaching, that is!)

Danae Geels, daughter of Randy (Jon's cousin) and Norma of Sheldon, IA.

She was our fabulous babysitter! Thank you Danae!!

I'll add some more pics later :-)

Seattle--Pre Cruise Pics

Here we are trying to get all of our luggage from the airport, into a taxi, to our hotel. Thankfully we booked our tickets when we could still have 2 suitcases per person! We went with 6 checked bags and came back with 7 checked bags :-)

Pike Place Market is a must see when visiting Seattle! Our visit there was much different a couple of years ago when our kids weren't along...it's much more stressful to make sure your kids are right with you and maneuvering their way through all the people!

We went to the top of the Space Needle...

...and we could see our ship, the Norwegian Star!

We also took in a ball game...watched the Mariners lose to the Nationals. And we got bobbleheads!

We're home!!

Yes, we arrived home more than 24 hours ago. We are enjoying a day of not doing much. I didn't get out of my pjs until close to 2:00 (gasp! shudder!). I emptied most of the suitcases, Jon took the kids to get the oil changed in his car and he cut down a huge branch of a tree right next to our house. I was a little nervous about that one and even brought the phone out with me in case I had to call 911 :-) No problems, though, so life is good. Here is a blog I started typing on the plane:

We have already begun our descent to MSP, so I’m not sure how long I’ll have yet to type this update. We are glad to be going home. Vacation is fun, but I think we are all longing for our own beds! I think the kids are especially looking forward to it…especially Connor. Elianna is not a fun one to sleep with! They did have their own beds on the cruise and one of the nights in the hotel, but otherwise they’ve had to share. (Neither Jon nor I want to sleep with either one! They cuddle too much :-))

Here’s a breakdown of where we stayed on the trip:
1 night hotel in downtown Seattle
7 nights cruise
1 night hotel near Mt. St. Helens
1 night hotel in Olympia
1 night guest house on San Juan Island
1 night hotel in Bellingham
1 night hotel Sea-Tac

And yes, we did do laundry on the trip! One of the nights on the cruise they had a fill the bag for $15. You can fit a lot of kid clothes in the bag! I also put in some of mine and Jon’s stuff too. I also did laundry when we stayed in Bellingham. It will be nice not to come home with too many dirty clothes. Jon’s method for packing for the trip was to pack things he could throw away after he wore them. He had some older boxers, t-shirts and socks that all found their way to the garbage on the Norwegian Star.

There were some things that we packed really well, and of course I overpacked things too. I packed to many clothes for warmer weather. I had thought that when we were in WA we would need a few tank tops, but I only wore one and Elianna didn’t wear any. I packed too many shorts for myself and Elianna too (her clothes are so little…it is so easy to overpack!) I also took a long 2 dressy outfits for both kids, but they never ate dinner with us in the main dining room. We did eat there a couple of times for breakfast and once for lunch, but then we didn’t have to dress up. Oh well!

Would I cruise Norwegian again? If the kids were coming along, probably. It is nice to be able to feed them and not have a set schedule for when we were going to eat. But, I don’t think the food was as good as the stuff we’ve had on Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We did make it to a specialty restaurant one night (that did NOT have a surcharge) but it was very hard to get reservations. If Kate and Khachick had not been in a suite and been able to call 48 hours in advance (rather than 24 for everyone else) we would not have been able to get a reservation. It is frustrating too to have an additional 6 restaurants as a choice, but having to pay an additional $15 - $35 per person to eat there. I’ve paid enough for my cruise, just include the food too!!

(That's as far as I got on the plane, now back to the present)

So everyone but me got to sleep in their own beds last night. I do have to admit that Jon asked if I wanted him to go, but he was already asleep and I was still awake reading (because I had taken a nap on the comfy couch in the basement!). Connor had come into our room crying uncontrollably. He said he was scared in his room by himself. I guess he liked all of us in the same room! But come on! We're not that far apart in our house! So I went and tucked him back in bed. We tried to find the night light we had taken along on the cruise (so there would be some light during the night in our inside cabin). Couldn't find it. So, I took one of the ones from Elianna's room. He went back to bed okay. But then about 10 minutes later he came back in crying again. He also said his head kind of hurt, so I gave him some ibuprofen and offered to sleep in his room with him. Thankfully he has a trundle bed, so I don't have to sleep on the hard floor like in E's room. But, that trundle is not as comfortable as my own bed!! But our little guy slept through the night after that.

Jon and I both slept until around 8:30. That's really late for us. I guess we were still on WA time. Connor slept until almost 10. I don't even know what time Elianna woke up. She was up early, had stopped in our room, but then went downstairs to watch TV.

I think I have all our pics downloaded to this computer now. I'll see if I can post a few from the trip :-)

Beautiful Washington

Hello again, this time from land. We have been enjoying our time in WA over the last few days. Tonight we are on San Juan Island staying in a little place called Juniper Lane Inn. The girl that owns it is named, appropriately, Juniper. I'm not sure how many rooms there are here, not too many. It is kind of like a B & B without a full breakfast, hostel (but nicer), and little inn. There is free wi-fi which I am taking advantage of right now. Everyone else in the family is asleep already, but for some reason I'm not too tired. Jon was taking some pics of this place and I will probably take a few tomorrow too. Because we have one of the bigger bedrooms we also get a private bathroom. To me, that is pretty much essential! (I guess unless we are camping...but then I'm prepared for it). Juniper granted us an exception because normally they don' t allow kids under 8 years old in the main house. But, the cottage was already booked for the night. I'm not sure how many rooms are in the cottage, but that also looks cute.

We have visited Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens this week. Mt. Rainier was too snowy for us to really do any hiking. Bummer! That first night we walked into our hotel room after the cruise we were amazed at the amount of space!! We were so used to being cramped in our little cruise cabin that it felt like a mansion! It felt awesome to take a hot shower too!

We arrived at Mt. St. Helens just after 10 am on Sunday. It was totally overcast at the time, so we didn't get to enjoy the lifting of the curtain at the end of the movie they show at the visitor's center. If any of you ever go...you need to go to the visitor's center closest to the top of the volcano. It does take close to an hour to drive up there, but it is worth it! We had a great time hiking around. Elianna hiked a whole 4 miles without having to be picked up at all!! Connor of course was in his glory hiking with Daddy.

We took 2 ferries today. First, from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island. That is where Jon's parents lived for a few years when they were first married. They lived in Oak Harbor. We did drive through Oak Harbor and go to Deception Pass. The kids enjoyed walking along the beach. Elianna thought the best part was finding sea glass. Connor was getting mad at himself for a while because he couldn't find any. But eventually he did. Then he was happy as a clam! Or should I say a crab...we saw a couple of them! One was small and alive, the other was quite big, but dead.

We then took a ferry over to San Juan island. That one lasted a little longer and we just made it on the 5:05 ferry! We were one of the cars at the back. The guy even reminded us to put on the emergency brake!!

On San Juan Island it is supposed to be one of the best places to see Orca whales. We went out there around sunset, but didn't see any. We'll probably head back out there in the morning.

Tomorrow we will head for Lynden/Bellingham. We will spend time with Grandma Van Leeuwen and Aunt Dodie Perry on Wednesday. My Mom says that Grandma absolutely LOVES going to Walmart. But I better be prepared to spend 2 hours with her as she checks every label and price! She also LOVES eating at Old Country Buffet. I am starting to see more similarities between my Mom and her Mom!!

Our flight back to Minneapolis leaves sometime on Thursday morning. So we'll probably spend Weds. night at a hotel near the airport.

Elianna wants us to buy, not just rent, the mini-van we are driving this week. She's also the one that tells us our van at home is getting old and we need a new one. I didn't want to raise a little princess, but she does have some of those tendencies! (I wonder how many ideas Grandma House puts in her head!!) The van we are driving is Chrysler Town and Country. It is a nice van and we have enjoyed it!

Alright, time to join the rest of my family in dreamland!
Good night!

Last night at sea

We will arrive in Seattle tomorrow morning. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time on our cruise to Alaska.

Today we were at sea the whole day and had a pretty lazy day. We slept in a little (until 7:30 or 8:00), ate, played a little bingo, read, took a nap, Elianna went to the kids' club, Jon and Connor played Rummikub in the game room, enjoyed our last dinner together as adults and double checked our bill. I was able to get the charge for Jon and Elianna reduced for the zipline excursion, sine they didn't go on it! Instead we were charged for the Rainforest Walk that they ended up on. I know Elianna enjoyed that a whole lot more than Jon did!

We did end up eating at Endless Summer, the Tex/Mex restaurant last night. It was good! We were stuffed! Our reservation wasn't until 8:30 and then we were so full we couldn't fully enjoy the Chocaholic buffet at 11:00 p.m.!! Danae and I did go---it was a madhouse! Alecia started with us, but was so full that standing in line wasn't what she really wanted to do at that point. Danae and I got our plates, but I didn't eat any of mine until today. Jon and the kids helped too!

It was a good thing our reservations were later--Kate and Khachik got back late from their whale watching excursion. And they were bummed because they didn't see any whales!!

We had walked around Prince Rupert last night. It is not very touristy right now. It has only been open as a cruise ship port since 2004. They do want to add some more docks for cruise ships in the next couple of years. There was a really cool little shop right off the pier that sold a lot of items by local artists. I got a cool wooden bowl that will look good sitting up on the shelf in our living room or as a center piece on the table. We also saw a TON of bald eagles!! It is amazing to see so many all at once...we feel fortunate if we see one around MN!

We opted to sign up to carry our own luggage off the boat in the morning. That means we will be one of the first people off between 8 and 8:30. That way we can get our rental van and start heading toward Mt. Rainier. We also have to stop at a grocery store to pick up breakfast and lunch supplies. No more huge meals for breakfast, lunch and supper!

Right now our cell phones, Nintendo DS and camera batteries are all being charged getting ready to go! Hope to update some more along the way if the hotels have free internet access!

A huge thank you to my dad for keeping up with watering our yard and bringing in the mail! I had put a hold on our mail online, but I guess it didn't work this time!

See everyone in a week!

Glaciers

I tried to post this last night, and it didn't work. I cannot get pictures to download!! Maybe I'll have better luck with that when we get off the boat and are in WA for a few days. Sorry!! I'll try to post this tonight and then type up today's activities tomorrow morning. We aren't into our final port, Prince Rupert, Canada, until 4:00 tomorrow afternoon.

I am having a hard time keeping track of what day it is! All I know is that today we were in Juneau. We had absolutely gorgeous weather! We went around most of the day in t-shirts and shorts. I’m guessing it was probably mid 60’s, maybe even 70. Of course I told that to my mom on the phone (who is currently in FL) and she said, “That’s nice? I won’t even tell you what the temperature is here!” I don’t care….it was beautiful today!!

Yesterday we were in Ketchikan. We had to meet our excursion at 7:50 a.m. on the dock and they would transport us out to where we needed to go. We were very excited to be going ziplining! Elianna was getting a little nervous, but had been excited about it and told everyone that would listen that we were going ziplining in Alaska! Here is a picture of us getting our gear on. One of the guides, Patrick, was from Faribault!



Elianna started getting more nervous as we walked out to the first platform and the guides were explaining the process. Your left hand to go on top of the gear, your right hand sits on the lanyards, but that is also your brake, so you have to apply pressure to the bottom rope if you need to brake, but only with an open palm, don’t grab it. Okay, so Jon and I were thinking, “They really think that a 6 year old can follow those directions? How am I going to follow those directions?” Elianna did do the first short zipline, but then was too scared. We tried to convince her that she could do it…and she could go with the guide! Hey, he’s from Minnesota too! You can ride with him!! Nope. Didn’t work. Jon was nice enough to go back down with her. I had REALLY wanted to do ziplining!

Connor did the practice line and the next line by himself. But then he too started crying (which made Mom cry…not another one!!) But Connor decided he could go along with Patrick and that would be okay. I owe Pat a huge thank you.. He did a great job and was so patient with Connor. So was the other guide (I forgot her name) and the other people in our group were great too. It was really cool! I would do it again in a heartbeat!

While Connor and I were finishing the zip line course, Jon and Elianna could join the walking tour. They saw some reindeer and walked through the forest a little bit. Jon was a little frustrated, but what a great dad!!

Today all 16 of us on the trip were going on an excursion together. We went on a Juneau City and Mendenhall Glacier tour. It was fun! We got some great pics of the glacier! Jon, Connor, Josh, Kirsten and Danae made it out to a cool waterfall. Kate and Khachik walked out towards it, but didn’t quite get there. We had to make sure we were back to the bus at a certain time. The kids were able to put another stamp in their National Park Passbooks.

While we were driving out to the glacier, we saw a bunch of bald eagles. What a beautiful sight!! We had also seen a bunch the night before off the ship.

After the glacier we went to a salmon hatchery. Unfortunately, the salmon aren’t swimming upstream yet, so there wasn’t too much to see.

Tomorrow we are renting a car in Skagway and driving up to see Emerald Lake. We need to make sure to take our passports along, because we will be crossing over into Canada.

Some comments about the cruise in general. The freestyle concept has been nice with the kids along. We usually feed them first in the buffet, then bring them to Danae in Kate and Khachik’s room (they have a mini-suite) and the adults go out to dinner together. We have all enjoyed the time together at dinner! The food hasn’t quite been as spectacular as the other cruises we have been on, but we’re not exactly starving! Freestyle means that you don’t have a set time to eat. You can just show up to 4 different restaurants to eat (Buffet, hamburger joint, 2 main dining rooms) or make reservations at several different specialty restaurants. One of those is a Mexican restaurant which is free, but the others have a surcharge. We have not eaten at any of the ones with a surcharge, but do hope to get reservations one of these nights to the Tex/Mex restaurant (Endless Summer)

It has been warm enough that the kids have gotten in the pool a couple of days. Jon even had his swim suit on today and got a little red on his shoulders.

The entertainment on the ship hasn’t been quite what I expected either. We saw a magician last night, who was okay. The night before we went to a comedian, who was really good, but was only on stage for 30 minutes. We then went to a show of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, but walked out after 2 ½ songs ☺

The kids haven’t gone to the kids club much lately. We’ve been having too much fun together! I’m guessing our last day at sea they probably will go again.

Today we drove into a fjord (I can’t remember which one…maybe Tracy Arm Fjord?) and were supposed to see Sawyer Glacier. Unfortunately there was too much ice and we didn’t get to drive all the way to the glacier. We were only 1 mile away! So yes, we could see the glacier, but not as close as we wanted. Although, we also didn’t want to hit an iceberg!

We have been having a great time! The scenery is gorgeous!! Wish you could all be here with us to see it all!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there. We are enjoying our day at sea off the coast of Canada.

We departed Seattle shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday. The kids have been having a great time! We went up to one of the top decks to watch the departure. They thought that was pretty cool...plus they saw the kids pool, which they also thought was pretty cool. The water actually was warm, but the air temp was fairly cool:-) Does that stop our kids from swimming?!? No way! Thankfully they are old enough and decent enought swimmers that we don't have to worry about it...and the water wasn't very deep.

I guess Norwegian Cruise Lines were losing too many beach towels. You have to put down a $25 deposit PER TOWEL!! You can exchange for dry ones, but then also have to make sure you return them by a certain time on the last day of the cruise, or they'll just charge you for them. Of course the kids needed the towels yesterday. They get mad if you bring your room towels up to the pool. I don't know if they will go swimming at all again...I'm pretty much betting that Jon and I won't while we're cruising!

We signed the kids up for the kids club on board yesterday afternoon. (Free! Except if you use it after 10:30 p.m. or in port) They didn't open until 8:00 last night and we planned to eat dinner around 7 p.m. So, our kids, along with Josh and Alecia's and Alex hung out in Kate and Khachik's mini-suite with Danae, our babysitter. She is the daughter of Jon's cousin, Randy Geels, from Sheldon, IA. She will be a senior in high school next year. She's a brave girl taking care of all those kids :-)

The adults enjoyed a quiet dinner together in Versailles (the main dining room). Jack, I tried some fruit soup (peach) for you, but it wasn't as good as the last cruise! I'll try some more along the way. Michelle, I haven't had my drink for you yet:-) I think tonight is the lobster night...I may be the only one at our table that won't enjoy that!

We often are making comparisons to our last cruises. We are adjusting to the freestyle concept. I do think that the food was better on the other cruises. (Not to say we are going hungry...not by any stretch!)

Jon was awake this morning by 5:00. He went out on deck and read for a while and watched the water. It was pretty windy and cool, but he enjoyed being out there. The kids wanted to go to the kids club this morning too, so we brought them there, then Jon and I enjoyed a little quiet time and took a much needed nap!

Now that I have signed up for internet I will go download some pics and post some of those later tonight!

Tomorrow morning we are going ziplining in Ketchikan!!

Today's the day!!

We arrived in Seattle yesterday afternoon! Today's the day we embark on the Norwegian Star :-) Yea!! The kids are so excited.

We all got to add another ballpark to our list last night. We watched the Mariner's play the Washington Nationals. We left after the 7th inning, and I don't even know who actually won! The Nationals were leading the whole game, but we heard a loud cheer go out from the M's fans as we were walking away from the ballpark. By the time we got to the hotel it was 10:10 local time...which meant our bodies thought it was after midnight. The kids did well despite that...although Elianna was a little crabby part of the time.

Last night was bobblehead night...and we got 4 of them!! We would never get them at the Dome...people are camping out for a couple nights to try and get their hands on them. Although they announced that they were giving away 25,000 of them last night, and I think the Twins only ever give away 10,000. We gave one to an older couple sitting next to us that hadn't gotten there in time to get one. We'll give one more away too. We don't have enough room in the luggage to take all of them home!

We are going to head to the Space Needle yet this morning, then Pike Place Market (we were there very briefly yesterday on the way to the ballpark). Then, cruise ship, here we come!!

I'll try to update later with some pictures :-)

Camping Pictures

Connor and I are going to the eye doctor today...he may need glasses and I need to get some more contacts. So, I had some time this morning to get a slideshow ready for y'all :-)

Here are some pictures from our camping trip with Kirsten and Grandpa and Grandma Farm at Great River Bluffs State Park in Southeastern MN over Memorial Day Weekend.

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End of the Year Craziness!

Yes, I know, it has been awhile!

The kids have their last day of school today and I teach until next Thursday. I am supposed to have a 1/2 day workshop on Friday the 13th, but our flight to Seattle leaves at 1:30 p.m.!!

Saturday June 14th our cruise ship departs to Alaska!! I am hoping to take my school laptop along so that I can post some blogs during our trip :-)

One of our dear friends, Michelle Brouwer, has been diagnosed with dermatomyositis. I helper her start a blog so that we can keep people updated on her progress. You can find out more at her blog by clicking here.

Once again, I will try to post pics soon.