Prince Rupert, BC--our final port

There were a couple of mounties right there when we got off the boat. Had to get a picture!

I know, it's only a phone booth. But, we don't see many of those anymore! And, the trash can next to it is painted like a cow...we were at Cow Bay.

How many eagles can you count in this picture? Believe it or not, by the end of the trip, seeing a bald eagle wasn't that exciting. But here in Prince Rupert there were at least 9 eagles flying around and in and out of these trees. We think there must have been a nest in here. It was pretty impressive.

The kids in the Sunken Garden.

Kirsten probably won't like me for putting this picture in here :-) She was not feeling very well this day (she had been sick for a couple of days...even had a ship nurse come to check her out. There are signs everywhere around the ship to let the crew know if you are having intestinal issues! I guess I'm glad they're cautious about the norovirus, but it does get a little annoying after a while.) I did figure that Heather would want to see some more Kirsten pics :-)

Skagway--our 3rd port

In Skagway we had arranged to rent a car from Avis. I had read on Cruise Critic about renting a car and driving up to Emerald lake. There is a guy from Skagway that has a guide online that covers mile by mile (and down to the tenth of a mile) what you see along the way. (Murray's Guide) There is also a very popular train ride up here. That is what Josh, Alecia, Jake, Andrew, Eli, Mom and Dad did. Kate, Khachik and Alex walked around town. Kirsten and Danae went rockclimbing.

Here's their train!

We drove up into the Yukon! None of us have ever been this far north!

We went into the PO in Carcross to get our passports stamped "for free." They wanted a donation to the local humane society for stamping the passport. I only had $1 in my pocket, so that's what I gave them. There were 2 women working...they both had on Stevie Nicks t-shirts with some Stevie Nicks music playing in the background. They must have gone to the concert the night before :-)

This is what the toilets in the Carcross visitors center looked like. I thought it was cool...I think all public restrooms should have a pedal to step on to flush the toilet!!

This was our rental car. This was a little shop that had all kinds of stuff. We stopped for an ice cream cone! Yummy!

This is Emerald Lake. I was expecting more of a visitor's center or something, but it was a beautiful, green lake! We walked around it and explored a little bit.

The kids were being quite cooperative, so when they asked...

...if they could do a crazy pose, I of course took a picture of that too!

We stopped at this little place for lunch. They had some soup and sandwiches. They were nice enough to make the kids some PB & J. It wasn't the cheapest of places, but sometimes it's all about atmosphere, right!?! Another car came in while we were eating. It was a couple (late 50's?) from Australia and 2 younger people (guy and gal). They were on a 3 month vacation! They had started in CA or AZ and now were up in the Yukon. We weren't sure if the younger 2 were both their kids, or if it was their daughter and boyfriend.

We stopped at a place along the way where they raised huskies for dog sledding. They also had a little museum and gift shop. You could go for a dog sled ride too, but we deemed it too spendy.

You could tell those dogs love to run! We were standing amongst some and petting them by their houses When a sled returned from giving someone a ride, they were up and barking wondering if they would be next to go running!

This big sand dune is what they called the "Carcross Desert." It reminded us a lot of the Sleeping Bear Dunes we had seen last summer in MI.

Connor of course had to run down as fast as he could. He couldn't quite stay on his feet this time :-)

A stop at a cool waterfall on the ride back to the ship.

Alaska continued...

I didn't think anyone was paying attention to the fact that I hadn't finished Alaska pics...until Heather caught me :-) Bummer that we'll miss you in Galena this year!!

These pics are misc. pics taken around the ship. (Including some of Kirsten :-))

Danae and Elianna

Looking for whales and eagles

Poor Alex and Eli! They got "carried" like this a lot by their big cousins.

Alex loves to ride on Mommy and Daddy's shoulders!

Kids don't care how cold it is...they love to swim!!

This was for you, Michelle!! Love you!

Proud and Scared Mom

Yes, right now I am both proud of Connor and scared for this fall :-)

The little smarty pants got a 99% on his Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (yes, they still take those things!! I remember them like they were yesterday!). His listening skills were a little lower, but still above avg. (a 91 or something). I just chalk that up to the fact that he's a boy :-) It must be some inherited genes from his father!

Why am I scared? He's going to play tackle football this fall!!

He's even got the no smiling for a picture while wearing football attire down pat! Our neighbor and principal of their school brought Connor along with his son to go get fitted for his pads and helmet. I would have had NO CLUE how that stuff was supposed to fit. Sean played football and is a football coach, so he is a lot more knowledgeable than I am in that area.

My wish...Connor doesn't like it and wants to play soccer again next year. My fear...he'll love it and I'll have to watch him play football for the next 9 years!! As a guy from church said, "Connor will say, 'Hey, you never let me hit people like this otherwise! This is cool!'" I think he is speaking from experience...he has a 13 yr. old and a college-aged boy!

Oh well, I'll just hide my eyes when anyone comes charging at him!

Already the middle of July!?!

How can that be? This summer is flying by! We have really enjoyed our summer, but it sure goes by quickly. Jon has said a couple of times that summer is so nice...it is still light out when he gets home :-), the kids don't have to hurry off to bed, and we can enjoy the evening together!

The kids finished their 2 week stint at swimming lessons. Connor was disappointed that he didn't move up a level (again), but maybe that will be motivation for him to let Mom help him at the pool. His main problem was with the breaststroke kick (they call it the bend, open, sqeeze), he tried to combine that with his dolphin wiggle (butterfly kick). He needs to learn to keep his belly level when he's doing the breaststroke! Elianna did move up a level, which means they would both be Starfins...not a good idea to this mom! Connor would NOT like being with his YOUNGER sister. So, we'll see if we can work on that.

Baseball has ended for the year. Connor had a blast playing with his TLO buddies and the other guys he met.

As I blogged earlier, we went to the Dutch Festival last weekend. Unfortunately, the organizers were unable to book the carnival that had been there the last couple of years. This year the carnival was not near as impressive...and it was more expensive! I'm sure that there are fewer carnivals to choose from...it can't be cheap to drive all around and maintain equipment.

The kids still had a great time! They especially liked sleeping in Grandpa and Grandma Farm's new camper!! I didn't get a picture of them actually in the camper...but I did snap a quick shot of the camper itself!

The other big news of that weekend....Elianna is now riding a 2-wheeler!! :-) We think once Jake started riding her 2 wheeler, she couldn't let a 4 year old show her up! She can be very tentative and gets scared pretty quickly. We think she was scared of falling, so she wouldn't even try. Daddy and Tante Leesha helped her learn! And now, she's a maniac around the neighborhood!! It will sure make taking walks as a family more fun. Otherwise we had to push her up the many hills (or carry/push her trike when she got sick of it and she walked!).