Then by complete surprise in November my grandma actually passed away. We decided it was still an amazing opportunity for all of us to get together and kind of commemorate her. Also along the way we decided to have another little one...and babies under 6 months are not allowed on the boat :( So for quite awhile it looked like we weren't going to be able to go.
Well April rolled around, and Ezra was born. I found out I wasn't going to be able to nurse again, so I reluctantly decided it would be okay to leave him. We were so so SO grateful that Barry's parents agreed to watch the kids for the week. And in August we were on our way!
We drove to Boise and flew from there to Seattle to catch the cruise ship.
Here we are leaving seattle...I guess I'm going for the wind blown look. I didn't think I would have much of a problem with sea-sickness, but it took me a couple of days to get my sea legs. For the first little bit I couldn't even look out the window.
The fam on one of the formal nights. And yes it's true...there is just too much food on cruise ships. Sometimes it feels like all you do is eat eat eat. But I'm not complaining. Just plan on gaining a few pounds before you go.
Our first stop was in Juneau. This was definitely not one of those lay out and sun-bathe kind of cruises. Alaska was a little brisk but definitely beautiful. In Juneau we went Kayaking with a few of my other cousins. It had been raining earlier, but luckily it was nice the whole time we were out in the kayaks. I think the sun even came out for a little bit. It felt good to get off the boat and do a little exercise.
This is the Mendenhall glacier. This is as close as we got to this glacier, but we were able to get right up to some other ones later in the week at Glacier Bay.
At chocolate seduction enjoying hot chocolate.
Like I said before easy to eat 24/7.
We also stopped in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria.
I don't have any pictures from Sitka or Ketchikan...but we did go snorkeling in Ketchikan. I mean c'mon how many people can say they've gone snorkeling in Alaska?! With the wetsuits we stayed pretty warm. My mom snapped a few pics but I have yet to see them. We got to see and hold several different starfish and saw lot of little jellyfish. The highlight of our explorations was a wolf-eel. They even fed it for us to see.
The wetsuits were crazy to get on and off! For a little while I thought I would be wearing mine home with me.
This is the Craigdorroch Castle in Victoria.
In Canada we had to get some poutine (basically cheese fries but canadian style). This is a picture of a restaurant called The Pink Bicycle. Good story there...but I'll save that for another day.
While on the boat we had a Milligan Family Olympics. Barry was super proud of his 3 medals. Good thing we didn't have to pay taxes on those. There were 2 basketball events, ping-pong, Uno and Rook.
Pictures taken courtesy of my cousin Marc!
It was so awesome to see all of my cousins. I don't know if we'll ever have another opportunity like this again. We're so grateful for Grandma providing this experience for all of us! I love her and wished she could have been there too!
Other highlights from the cruise ship
*spa (the 'exclusive' spa passes we bought before we even got on the ship--I am rolling my eyes as I type this--good story here as well)
*dessert extravaganza
*mocktails
*games with the family
*the marriage game
*the pinnacle grill (had amazing food)
*sacrament mtg/testimony mtg with extended family
*awesome tourist shirts we brought home
*magic show
*late-night room service/breakfast in bed ...totally free! Not the best food but hey it's food brought to your room for free!
We had so much fun, but it's always good to come home! I think a week of being totally pampered and catered to is plenty. I was starting to feel just a little too lazy and my pants were getting a little too tight. And we were super excited to see the kiddos. Although we did decide we definitely want to go on another cruise in our lifetime...maybe some place a little warmer next though!
Man it looks like a lot of fun. Wish we could go there. Glad u had fun.
ReplyDelete