She had a great birthday. The weekend before, both Grandmas and Grandpas and Aunt Emily came for a birthday party.  I asked her what color or theme she wanted for her party and she said that she wanted balloons, so we had a lot of balloons.

Zoe loves birthdays so much because she loves to be the center of attention. It makes her so happy. She got great presents, including a princess nightgown, games, my little ponies, and a microphone and lego rockband (which she calls bandaid).

For Zoe’s actual birthday, I had planned to have a friend birthday party.  When I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday though, she said she wanted to go to Katy’s house to play. So that’s what we did. Katy’s mom, Joy, had a great little party for her at their house, full of home-made pizza, purple cupcakes with pink frosting, and more balloons. She had a blast.

It is so hard to believe that my baby girl is now 3 years old. She is growing up so much. She is so tall and little girlish. I have had to start buying her pants in the little girl’s department to get them long enough. She has so much personality. She loves to sing and dance. She loves people and will talk to and climb all over, anyone who will pay attention to her. She makes our lives so much fun and interesting. I can’t even imagine life without her.

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Robby took swimming lessons in the beginning of the summer. He did great. He is almost good enough now that I will let him stop taking lessons. I will probably just put him in lessons one more time.

We spent a lot of time at the waterpark over the summer.  By the end of the summer, I decided Zoe needed to be in swimming lessons. She was just so fearless in the water that I was afraid she was going to drown. I put her in swimming lessons and she did great. She has now taken two sets of lessons and she is swimming well enough that she can jump off the side in the deep end and get herself back to the side.

We also went swimming for playgroup, a couple of times this summer.  Those were probably my kids favorite times at playgroup. We went to a pool at one of the lady’s houses. It was a great pool with a diving board and a slide.

The slide was really fast and fun.

When Zoe saw Robby jumping off the diving board, she wanted to do it to.

She looks so little, climbing onto the diving board.

Fourth of July

Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson and Emily came to our house for the weekend of the 4th of July. On Emily’s birthday, July 3, we all went over to Kirk’s parents house. Their neighborhood has a big fireworks party ever year. Everyone pools their fireworks so they have a big fireworks show.  It was a lot of fun.  After the fireworks were over, we all went inside and had birthday cake.

Scouts

In July, Robby was able to go to his second cub-scout day camp. They needed drivers, so I got to go with him.  He loves scout camp and I love getting to watch him. I am always impressed with how good of a kid he is.

In July, he also had his Rain gutter Regatta. He did great. He came in second, and actually didn’t lose any races, except for the last one. He was a good sport and had lots of fun.

In August, Robby earned his Bear and his Religious Knot. He works so hard at scouts. We are very proud of him.

24th of July

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to go to Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson’s for the 24th of July. The town has a parade and a BBQ.

Splash Pad

For playgroup one day, we went to the Splash Pad.  The kids had a great time playing and splashing in the water.

Salem Pond

On another playgroup day, we went to Salem Pond. We have been there many times and played at the park, but we have never really played in the sand and the water before. I wasn’t really prepared for the kids to get sandy and wet, but they did anyway. Zoe was wading in the water. I told her to not get her clothes wet. About two seconds later she was soaked from head to toe. Robby liked playing in the sand and building sand castles. He was a little frustrated that the little kids kept knocking his sand castles down though, so a couple weeks later, the three of us went back and played again, with mom much more prepared this time.

Hiking to the Grotto

One evening, towards the end of the summer, we went as a family and hiked to the Grotto. It is such a great hike. We love to do it every year because it is easy enough for Zoe, but still lots of fun. We went kind of late, so it was really cold. Zoe was not too happy about the cold water, but still had fun throwing rocks in the water. It rained on us on our way back to the car, but we still had a good time.

We went to Alaska on the Norwegian Star, and I thought the ship was great.  I had always heard horror stories of cruise ships and their strict schedules, dress codes, and assigned seating, so I was glad we went on a cruise without all of that stuff.  We were able to eat whenever and where ever we wanted, never wear anything other than jeans, and set by ourselves at mealtimes.  It was lots of fun.

The ship was huge.  These pictures were of the lobby.  Zoe didn’t even believe us for most of the trip that we were on a ship. She kept asking when we would get to ride on the boat. I think she thought we were just in a hotel.

Alaska was a great cruise because there was very little sailing in the open ocean.  Most of the time, we could see land out of both sides of the ship.  That was nice because it provided for interesting and varied scenery, but mostly because it meant that there were little to no waves, which means no sea sickness. We were only in open water one day, on the way home, and I was miserably sick. I had no idea I would get so sea sick. Everyone else was fine though, so it wasn’t too bad.

The highlight of the cruise for Zoe was Kid’s Club.  They had a great program where you could drop your kids off, almost anytime, to hang out and play with other kids. They divided the kids up by age.  They had great counselors and a lot of fun activities. Robby didn’t love Kid’s Club. He went sometimes, but then a lot of times he just decided to hang out with us. He just isn’t a big fan of hanging out with people he doesn’t know well.  Zoe thought it was wonderful though. We would always have to fight her to get her to leave Kid’s Club to go with us to get meals or to go to bed. She wanted to be there all the time.

This was one of Zoe’s friends from Kid’s Club.

This was Zoe’s favorite counselor. They hit it off from the moment we got on the ship.

The food on the ship was pretty good.  The buffet wasn’t great. We ate there for breakfast, most of the time, just because it was fast and easy (and there were yummy croissants). For the other meals though, the buffet food wasn’t very good.  Most of the food at the restaurants though, was really tasty.  That was Robby’s favorite part of the cruise.  He always ordered off the adult menu because he thought the kid’s menu was boring. He loved being able to get an appetizer, meal, and a dessert and that no one ever told him that he couldn’t order something because it was too expensive.  He was willing to try almsot anything.  I loved watching him eat lobster, asparagus, and all sorts of other tasty things.  His favorite thing was the warm apple bread pudding and the creme brûlée, but he liked the lobster a lot too.

The service on the ship was great. The workers were always super friendly and helpful. I think, by the time we got off the ship, Zoe was friends with just about every person that worked on the ship.

Our room was tiny, but big enough. They made really good use of the space, so there was plenty of room for all of our stuff.

Here is our room from the doorway.  That is about all there was to it.

Here are the beds.  There were two twin beds that pushed together for Kirk and I.  Zoe slept on a trundle bed thing and Robby slept on the top bunk. It worked great.

The bathroom reminded me of a bathroom in a really nice RV.  It was really small, but nice.

All in all, the cruise was a great experience. I am so glad we got to go and see a place we would have never seen otherwise. It was fun and I hope we go on another one soon.

Prince Rupert was definitely not the most exciting place. It was really small and there was not a lot to see.  However, we did not see nicer people anywhere else on the cruise.  We were the only cruise ship to dock there. Usually at most ports there were 4 or 5 cruise ships, but for the Canada stop, each ship stops at different times and in different cities. When we got off the ship in Prince Rupert it felt like the people were genuinely happy to see us. There were people standing on the port who were not there to sell anything (like they had been at every other port), but just welcoming us and answering any questions. They would point us in the direction of things to do in town, many of them free. It really felt like we were being welcomed into the community.

We ended up going to a small park and just letting Zoe run around and play for a while. She had a good time.

We only stayed of the ship for about an hour because we really couldn’t find anything to do, but it was still a fun hour.

This lighthouse wasn’t really at Prince Rupert, but was somewhere along the way.

This is Prince Rupert.

My two boys, watching the ship dock.

There was a park that overlooked the cruise dock. When we pulled into the dock there were a bunch of people watching us come in. After we played at the park we took some pictures of us and the cruise ship.

Zoe hanging out by the park, with her face painted from Kid’s Club.

This picture isn’t Prince Rupert either, but was taken that night, after we left. It was the only sunset picture I took on the ship. We were always in bed long before the sunset came.

Prince Rupert definitely wasn’t our favorite stop and was not very exciting, but it was still a nice place.

For our shore excursion, we first took a bus up the White Pass and Yukon Highways. We learned a lot about the miners who originally took that route. They were heading up into the Yukon for gold. I can’t even imagine trying to get over those mountains on foot or with animals. They were not allowed to come into Canada unless they had a year’s supply of food and other supplies, so they had to make multiple trips to get all their supplies there.

We saw a lot of beautiful scenery. A lot of it looked quite a bit like what you would see in Utah, but a little more rugged and with different trees and plants.

The land was really rugged and there were a lot of small lakes. They said that a lot of the miners would actually travel during the winter, even though the temperatures were well below zero, just because it was all frozen over and easier to travel.

We saw quite a few bears while we were on the bus. They were just walking along the side of the road. It was kind of hard to get a good picture from the bus.

The bus tour took us into Canada. We even had to stop and get our passports checked, which was exciting for those of us who hadn’t used our passports before.

After a couple of hours on the bus, we stopped and had lunch. We went to place where they have a dog sled team that they train for the Iditarod. It was very touristy, but was still fun. They had one area where they had a couple of the nicer sled dogs and some new puppies. You could pet them and feed them. Zoe was in heaven. It was probably her favorite part of the whole cruise.

They were beautiful dogs.

Zoe was not at all intimidated by the dogs.

We then went to Emerald Lake. It was beautiful.

We saw another bear on the shore of the lake.

I wasn’t sure how the kids would like the tour, but Robby found it all fascinating.

After the bus tour, we took the White Pass Railway back to Skagway. It was fun to ride on the train. We basically went back the way we had come but it was neat to see all the scenery from a different perspective.

Our tour took longer than it was supposed to, so the cruise ship was waiting on us when we got back. We took off as soon as we were on the ship.

It was a very long, full day, but we were able to see a lot of things and had a good time.

Tracy Arm Fjord is a thin waterway, about 30 miles long, that ends with a large glacier, Sawyer Glacier. It was the most scenic area we saw while on the cruise ship. It was amazing.

If you ever get the chance to go on a cruise, especially to Alaska, and you can afford it, I would suggest splurging on a room with a balcony. We didn’t get a balcony room, but Kirk’s parents did. When we went into the fjord, Kirk and I spent a little time out on the deck. It was really windy and cold though, and there were so many people, trying to see the scenery. So, instead, we went and hung out on Kirk’s parents balcony. It was sheltered from the wind, so it wasn’t nearly as cold. There was more than enough room for us, and we got some amazing views.

We sailed through the fjord towards the glacier for a couple of hours.

We saw this little guy next to the ship. I think he is a sea lion, but I could be wrong.

There were amazing icebergs that had broken off the glacier all through the 30 mile fjord. They were so pretty. Each piece of ice was so unique in color and shape. They were incredibly blue. The closer we got to the glacier, the more ice we saw.

The scenery was pretty breathtaking as well. There were such rugged mountains contrasting with incredibly green trees.

You could see where the water, snow and ice from the snow and glacier runoff had carved paths into the mountains.

There were probably hundreds of runoff waterfalls.

Robby really liked seeing all the ice and scenery. Zoe was at kid’s club most of the time.

Our first view of the glacier.

Our taxi driver in Juneau had told us that the cruise ships didn’t get close enough to the glaciers to see anything, so we were surprised by how close we got. The captain turned the ship so that each side got a few minutes to just look at the glacier.

It was beautiful.

We did go and get Zoe from kid’s club so that she could see the glacier, but she wasn’t interested. She wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to take a picture, preferring to explore grandma and grandpa’s room instead.

One final look before we sailed back through the fjord.

The glacier was one of my favorite things that we saw on the cruise. It was amazing. You really can’t capture it in a picture, it is so different to see it in person. The size (and it was only a little piece of it that we saw), the color, the crazy amount of ice it had shed into the ocean miles and miles away, was all pretty cool. We didn’t see it calving, which would have been awesome, but it was still a stunning site that we will never forget.

My favorite thing to do on the ship was to go out on the deck. I loved feeling the wind, looking out over the ocean. It started to get really cold and rainy at this point though, so we weren’t able to spend much time on deck.

I thought this little island looked kind of interesting. Again, see how close together the trees are.

This mist was really cool. This picture doesn’t do it justice. The mist rolling over the hills was just amazing.

We didn’t have any shore excursions planned in Juneau. We knew that in Juneau, we wanted to go to Mendenhall Glacier (one of the only drive-to glaciers there are) and maybe on a tram ride that allows you to look out over all of Juneau. We knew that we could do all of those things on our own.

When we got to Juneau, it was raining. We took a taxi out to the glacier, and by the time we got there, it was pouring. We were soaked. We could barely even see the glacier and were pretty miserable in the rain.

The glacier was pretty amazing, even in the rain. You can hike and get pretty close to it, but that didn’t sound like a very fun idea in the rain.

I love how blue the ice is.

I couldn’t keep my camera lens dry, so it was really hard to take pictures, but here are the boys, trying to make the best of the rain.

When we walked back to the taxi, it was still pouring, but the fog had cleared a little, so I got a couple clearer pictures of the glacier.

Back at town, I ran into my BFF Sarah Palin

This is the tram we were going to ride on. We decided that since we couldn’t see much of the tram because of the fog, we wouldn’t be able to see much from the tram, so we didn’t go on it.

Here is a picture of Juneau while we were floating away. You can see how many cruise ships were there. It was crazy.

Even with all the rain, Juneau was still fun. I loved seeing the glacier. Juneau wasn’t as picturesque as Ketchikan, but it was still very pretty and a neat place to visit.

Ketchikan is a rain forest. They get close to 140 inches of rain every year. It rained on us a tiny bit while we were there, but not enough to even get wet. All that rain means that everything is incredibly green and beautiful. Another interesting thing about Ketchikan is that it is on an island that is mostly solid granite. Our tour guide said that in most areas there is only a couple of inches of top soil. Because of this, most of the houses in Ketchikan are built right into the side of the mountain.

I loved the moss growing on the top of this building, and you can see how it is built right into the mountain.  Alot of the houses in Ketchikan were very colorful. I loved that.

The first thing we did in Ketchikan was go on a Duck Tour. It was not the most exciting thing, but we got to see and learn a lot about the city, so I really enjoyed it.

The kid’s got duck whistles that kept them entertained.

Kirk didn’t get a duck whistle, but still had a good time.

The tour took us around the city and then into the water.

It was fun to look at all the boats. Fishing and tourism are the two main industries there, so there are a lot of boats. People also use boats just to get around. There is another island right across the water from Ketchikan and many of the kids on that island go to school in Ketchikan. Our guide was telling us how the mom’s will “boatpool” there kids to school every day, sometimes in terrible weather and huge waves. It is such an interesting way of life.

The salmon weren’t spawning yet when we were there, so we didn’t see any salmon or bears, but we did see a lot of bald eagles.

This one is an immature bald eagle.

There are also a lot of float planes there. Everything they need has to be either boated or flown in.

After the tour, we went to the Lumberjack Show. It was cheesy and very touristy, but was still really entertaining.

After that, we had a little bit of time to wander around the city. But, by then the kid’s were tired, so before long we headed back to the boat.

One thing that Ketchikan is known for is having the largest collection of standing totems in the world. We actually didn’t have time to go to any of the areas that have a lot of totems, but we did see a few in town, like this eagle totem.

Another interesting tidbit about the town. Because it is built on rock, a lot of the houses are not accessible by roads. Instead, the city builds staircases to give access to the homes. The staircases are actually considered roads. If you look closely at this picture (click on it to make it bigger) you can see the street sign on the staircases. The city maintains the staircases and keeps them free from snow and debris.

I took this picture as we were leaving Ketchikan. I was amazed at how steep that road is.

It was a little sad to say goodbye to Ketchikan. All in all, we had a great day in a really wonderful city.

Our cruise left from Seattle, so, bright and early Saturday morning (about 5:30), we headed to the airport. We had a great flight. Zoe was really excited to go on the airplane, but about 5 minutes after take-off she was ready to be done. She did really well though.

We didn’t get to do anything in Seattle, we just hopped on a shuttle that took us strait to the port. Once we got there, we were actually able to get on the ship in not too much time. We grabbled some lunch at the buffet and then spent some time exploring the ship.

I took lots of pictures as we sailed away.

My family really was happy, they just had the sun in their eyes. Speaking of sun, see those blue skies. You aren’t going to see many more of those in these cruise pictures.

The Seattle skyline. It truly is a beautiful city.

Rob hanging out on the ship. Let me tell you about those glass panels. They are all over the deck of the ship. I had never been on a cruise and I thought they were the stupidest thing ever (they made it really hard to get good pictures), until we actually started moving. Once I realized how windy it was on the boat when it was moving and how great of a job those glass panels did at blocking said wind, I was able to forgive them for ruining a few pictures.

Zoe on the ship. It took a couple of days before I was even able to convince Zoe that we were on a boat. She had been so excited to go on the boat, but it was so big when we boarded that she couldn’t really tell that it was a boat. Inside, it seemed like just another building. She kept looking out at the ocean and all the other boats in the water and asking me when we were going to go on a boat.

We spent the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday at sea. This was the view from the deck or out the windows most of the time. We could see land on both sides of the ship.  It was always cloudy and a little foggy. The seas were almost always glassy. It was really pretty, but really hard to get good pictures.

It was amazing how green everything was.

Zoe on day two. They painted her face at kid’s club. She was a cat. She thought it was wonderful. Just a side note, by this point in the cruise, it felt like every crew member already knew Zoe’s name. Everywhere we went, all we heard was “Zoe, how are you?”  That girl truly has a gift with people.

Robby on the ship.

More view from the ship. One thing that amazed us a lot about the landscape was how close the trees grow together. They are packed in there as tight as they can be.

Zoe and Grandpa playing on some of the kid’s stuff out on deck.

This thing was actually the top of a slide in the kid’s pool. We never actually used the pool (brrr!), although Zoe asked several times.

Robby playing shuffle-board. I find it funny that shuffle-board seems to only be played on cruise ships. Turns out, Robby is a pretty good shuffle-board player.

This picture is really blurry, but I had to post it anyway because I love the look on Zoe’s face. She thought shuffle-board was a great fun. Turns out, Kirk is not a very good shuffle-board player, when he is trying to hold a three-year old helper at the same time.