While we were away...

Like I've mentioned before, Dave's parents watched our kids while we were in Alaska. They did a great job! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

They worked a little...

making masks...

making candles...

and driving a large boat!

But mostly they played...

...with Stilts,

Evidently everyone watching Taylor on stilts thought she was the instructor. (Sorry about the orientation of the video, I couldn't rotate it for some reason)

with Cousins...

Christiana & Lauren (Christiana is 5 weeks older than Lauren)

...and with Grandpa!

They visited some pretty cool places...

Such as the Children's Museum...

the Carousel...

and Classic Car Show...

We can't forget the train ride up Mount Hood...
I think the kids had almost as much fun as we did!

Once we were all back together again,

we hiked up to a waterfall...

...had a picnic, and swam in a freezing river!

Dave's brothers (Sam & Andy) joined us...

Sam & Dave (they are 19 months apart...Dave's the oldest!)

It was a marvelous vacation!

Ketchikan...August 13, 2009

We arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska at 6:00 a.m. and left at 12:30 p.m. This was one of our funnest days and a little warmer (64 degrees Fahrenheit). We got up super early (5:15 a.m.) to be ready for our Rain Forest Canopy and Zip line excursion!

We took a bus from the port into Ketchikan...

Then, we rode in this beast up the mountain...

Where we got on all this gear...

...So we could do this...

There were 8 dual zip lines adding up to 5,400 feet! We were 150 feet in the air. Dave saw a bear grabbing a salmon out of the stream on one of his "runs".

There were also 3 sky bridges we got to walk across! FUN TIMES!
Dave was really nervous about the sky bridges! He was so funny...it was like watching someone who had been pulled over for drunk driving walk the line! :)

After our zip line adventure was over, we walked around Ketchikan before heading back to the ship. On our stroll, we saw the funniest thing...

These dogs were just hanging out in a second story window...don't ya love the sunglasses? :)

We also watched the salmon jump by the port. Take a look, as it's pretty cool. There were over 2 million salmon there. Too bad we left our fishing poles at home!


That night we went to the Magic of Gaetano show on the ship. He performs in Las Vegas and is an illusionist. It was pretty cool and we thought, "how did he do that?"

Ketchikan was our last stop in Alaska. From there, we set sail to Victoria, Canada. We were supposed to port there from 7:00 p.m. to midnight. We had tickets to the Butchart Gardens which we had heard so much about. About five minutes before we were supposed to get off the ship, the captain came on and said that it was too windy to safely port. So, we didn't get to stop. We were a little disappointed but had a relaxing evening on board. We disembarked at 10:00 a.m. the next day. We took a taxi to the train station where we had a four hour wait until our train back to Dave's parents left. So, we walked around Seattle, had a light lunch, and read our books. After a 5 hour train ride we made it back to Dave's parents but our luggage did not...it had been taken off the train at a previous stop. We got it back the next day around 2:00 p.m. We spent a couple days with his parents before heading home. The kids did great and also had tons of fun with Grandma & Grandpa! The next post will be all about their many adventures!

Thank you so much Dan & Nancy for watching the kids for us! We know they were in great hands.

Tracy Arm...August 12, 2009

This was another full day at sea...although much calmer so no sea sickness! We cruised through the Tracy Arm Fjord. A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock then fills up with sea water. We got up early, worked out, then spent most of the day on deck enjoying the scenery and watching for whales. It was by far the coldest day with a high of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. It is the most beautiful place I've ever been. We were in awe...

(notice the glacier in the background)

Sailing up by the glacier. The ship set a record...it was the closest it had ever gotten to the glacier...

Heart Ice...from the "heart" of the glacier. It is thousands of years old. It is blue because all of the oxygen has been sucked out...

In this picture you can see the carvings on the rocks from the glacier. It moves approximately 1 inch/day....

We spent several hours whale watching and saw over 50 hump back whales.
That evening was the second formal night so we got all dressed up again. We had lobster for dinner. After dinner we went to another show starring the Golden Princess Dancers. We were in bed relatively early because we had to get up super early the following day for our zip line excursion!