Granddaughter Visit

Grasshopper and July Fly enjoy the shower.

(Yes, I decided to give them nature blog names to go with their cousins.)

Drying off and waiting for PJ's.

Yes, they brushed their teeth. Well, sort of.

They picked out a couple of books from our afternoon library visit.

We're all snuggled up ready to read together.

And what good visit with a grandkid isn't complete unless they bring one of the granddogs. Here's about 8 month old Piper who loves her Granny too.

A great way to spend part of summer vacation from school and work is a visit from some of the granddaughters. Two were dropped off this morning for a couple of days before we meet up with their parents at the lake for the 4th of July. This is their second visit this summer since they came home with us for almost a week after Memorial Day weekend at the lake at the beginning of the summer. I hope that they will have good memories of the time with their Granny as I do of spending weeks in the summer with my Granny. My Granny always seemed so old to me but counting up our ages makes me realize that when she was my age she only had two grandgrandchildren and was only two years older than me now when I was born. She had 11 grandchildren from 4 of her 8 children. I have 6 grandchildren born from 2 of my children. Wonder if I'll catch up? Just kidding!!!

Four of my granddaughters have blog names already. Princess Flower, Butterfly, Lady Bug and Dragonfly. I don't think the two visiting have blog names....I'll have to check or make up some. Ok, I'm going to make up some....hum....MoRo and Dabby Do I think are what they are affectionately called at times. Of course, we could continue the nature theme. How about July Fly and Grasshopper. I'll probably get slammed for this but I'm going along with the bug theme.

Pictures are of July Fly (almost 4) and Grasshopper (almost 2) getting cleaned up this evening after our fun afternoon together and ready to read some of the books we picked out at the library today.

First Port- Ketchikan

Ketchikan was our first stop. The name is based on a Tlinglit word meaning basically, "thundering wings of an eagle". Ketchikan began in 1883 with salmon canneries, lumber and of course gold. Tourism today is a thriving industry. We enjoyed walking the town and investigating the shops. Ketchican gets an average of 150 inches of rain a year but the sun was shining for us most of the day!
Our favorite stop was watching the Lumberjack show.

Alaska or Bust- Home to Vancouver-June 4th

Pack light?? The new airline restrictions fortunately didn't apply to us because our tickets were purchased enough ahead. We were able to check 2 bags each. Going there we had weight to spare but coming home was CLOSE to the 50 pound limit in the big bags. We even had a couple of boxes shipped home. Do we look like tourists?? No, really? We traveled from home to Toronto to Vancouver. We were picked up at the airport in Vancouver and taken to the ship on a tour bus. This is our ship, the Carnival Spirit.

The room was nice. We also had a balcony and big picture window. With friends and inlaws on each side, we had the balcony divider doors opened. It was a great gathering spot to relax and visit and take in the sights.

The port of Vancouver from the ship from our balcony.

Traveling companions to Alaska

The Florida travelers.

The ladies at the pre-cruise party.
The men at the pre-cruise party.

Our land tour group the night before heading home.

Co-worker, tour director, long time friend and husband.

Some of our bestest friends.
Baby it's cold outside and yes, we did go out looking like this....several times.

Donkey Boy!
Donkey Boy w/ Mom.
Donkey Boy tied to Dad so he wouldn't get lost.

Relaxing on the balcony----where is your coat??

Freezing on the balcony....two sisters.
Do you remember the show "F-Troop"?
Indiana Jones??

Papa and PawPaw together.
Three amigos.....or is it Larry, Moe and Curly?
Getting ready to go shopping!!

It's Nana on the balcony.

Our vacation group on the cruise part consisted of 11 cabins and 23 people. Before the cruise the local group got together for a pre-cruise party to get to know each other a little better. Seven of us work together in a local elementary school. Others are related by blood, seven were husbands, a daughter, sisters, some were "in-laws", several close friends and one middle-schooler (aka: Donkey Boy). We met in Vancouver from California, Florida and Georgia.

The land tour group was half the size. Three co-workers, husbands, one Donkey Boy, and two assorted "in-law" couples....let's see, that makes 11 I think. It was a great trip...and amazing. We ate together when we could, toured together when we wanted to and went our separate ways at times. And everyone got along...didn't we??

So, the pictures are of some of our traveling companions.

Alaska Vacation Pictures

I couldn't get over the beautiful colors of everything there. I think it's the long hours of daylight they are having right now and the amount of rain they get. The land along the inside passage is considered a rainforest. Most homes and businesses had beautiful hanging baskets that were covered with trailing petunias and other colorful plants. Of course, the wildflowers and ferns growing naturally were equally beautiful and the dandylions were huge!

Pictures from Alaska

A mountain seen from the train....I think!!
This is the Mendenhall Glacier which we saw
on a side trip out of Juneau.
A bald eagle resting on a rock near Sitka.

Mendenhall Glacier is in the background. See,

we really were there!!

I love this picture off the ship one evening.
Can you see God's hand? See the thumb and
finger?

Home from vacation-Day 3

Today is the third day home from our Alaska vacation. I'm thinking that it's sort of like the third day after surgery...you know everyone says that's the hardest day. Maybe the fact that today is the day I started operating on Eastern Standard time rather than Alaskan time is the cause of my tiredness. Going to bed at 2am and getting up at 11am the next morning is much more fun. After all, in Alaska it would only be 10pm and getting up 7am. But I've got to get back to the real world sometime....and a quick nap after lunch today did help a lot.

I've been working on pictures...hundreds of them. It's hard to believe that we've actually seen these beautiful sights. If you haven't had a chance to go, start planning now. My Mother always wanted to go to Alaska. I'm so sorry that I didn't make a bigger effort to take her. There always seemed to be the raising three sons, work, Dad's illness and when it finally got to the point where we could go...it was too late. Don't wait until it's too late. I thought so much about Mom on this trip. I wore her rings and walked in her Reeboks. I kept asking her if she could see these sights...and you know what I heard back? If you think Alaska is beautiful, you should see what I can see now. So, I think maybe I got to see a little bit of Heaven in Alaska. How much more beautiful are the things our God has planned for us.

Vacation to Alaska- June 4-15, 2008

Hi, We are back from our Alaskan vacation. It was wonderful....a view of some of God's most spectacular gifts of nature to us here in America. We started our trip on June 4th, flying out early in the morning with 12 of the 23 people leaving together. Our plane trip took us to Toronto, Canada where we had to gather our luggage, go through customs and recheck everything before boarding another plane heading to Vancouver. We met up aboard ship with the other other 11...all of us connected somehow either as friends, family or as co-workers. And so the 12 day adventure begins.