So I realize we've been home for over 2 months now, and I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from our vacation. A combination of my normal blogging time being Melanie's nap time (and more recently, my nap time) and the fact that she somehow removed the "period" key from the computer keyboard have both contributed to my lack of motivation to blog. It wasn't until this evening, spending time waiting for Matt to call me from California that I decided to finally get around to doing it. So I posted all the pictures using the "main" computer and am now typing on the laptop, since having to use the tweezers whenever I want to end a sentence would more than likely get on my nerves using the other computer and all the pictures were already loaded on the other computer.
I broke the pictures down into two slide shows for your viewing enjoyment. The first includes pictures of the family enjoying our vacation. Somehow Matt's mom managed to avoid being in the pictures, but I guarantee she was there with us the whole time.
Just a brief summary of the events from Alaska:
-Matt and John both played in a couple Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, John won the first one, Matt took second in the one held the following day (or vice versa on their winnings, I can't really remember now - I've slept a lot since then - I just know they both won some money)
-We saw both the Hubbard and the Mendenhall Glaciers. Hubbard we saw from the boat, and the water was especially icy that day, so we were still about 5 miles away when the captain decided to turn around since it would have taken too long to get up close and would have thrown the entire schedule off. For the Mendenhall Glacier Matt, Gordon, Melanie and I went on a walking photo tour that ended with a boat ride where Matt got the nice shots of the eagles and the whale tale, as well as the pictures of the seals. This is also where a lot of the scenery pictures came from.
-As a family we went on a wildlife photo safari (along with about 50 other people). We were lucky enough to have some excellent whale watching opportunities, with a very playful whale that breached (jumped out of the water) quite a few times and just hung out playing for us. We also saw some more bald eagles, as well as the raft (group) of sea otters that are pictured in the slide show.
-Matt, John, Katie and Gordon went salmon fishing in our final port in Alaska, and they each caught at least one fish and had a good time. Matt's foot is in the picture of the fish for a size reference - leave it to him to think of that! Stacey, Melanie and I stayed on dry land and ran around shopping instead.
-We went to the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada as a family, which were quite lovely. We kinda had to hurry though, since we docked at 7 pm and it was dark by around 10, so I'm sure we would have enjoyed the gardens more if we had had more time with better light. There was an outdoor concert going on while we were there, and Melanie enjoyed sitting on a bench and swaying to the jazzy music they were playing (quite a few Michael Buble' covers)
-There were crazy amounts of food! Dinner every night was 5 courses, which I normally only ordered 2-3 of since quite a few of the dishes were too adventurous for my 1st trimester stomach to try. Melanie really enjoyed the bread they brought at the beginning of the meal, and would often eat the middle out and leave the crust behind (as is pictured). She also got to try "cleansing her pallet" with sorbet between courses - we all had a cranberry-ginger sorbet, but they brought Melanie a plain one so she could be in on the fun!
-Melanie got lots of quality family time. We were normally back on the boat by 1-3pm, so there was time for a nap before dinner. Matt took full advantage of asking his family to watch Melanie so I could rest. She had a blast playing on their beds and running up and down the halls with them, and the stairs were a particular favorite. She definitely had a rude awakening when we got back to Kansas and she just had boring old mom to entertain her all day!
So that pretty well sums up our vacation. Sorry for the delay in getting it posted. Maybe if you're lucky it won't be 2 months before I post again!
I broke the pictures down into two slide shows for your viewing enjoyment. The first includes pictures of the family enjoying our vacation. Somehow Matt's mom managed to avoid being in the pictures, but I guarantee she was there with us the whole time.
Just a brief summary of the events from Alaska:
-Matt and John both played in a couple Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, John won the first one, Matt took second in the one held the following day (or vice versa on their winnings, I can't really remember now - I've slept a lot since then - I just know they both won some money)
-We saw both the Hubbard and the Mendenhall Glaciers. Hubbard we saw from the boat, and the water was especially icy that day, so we were still about 5 miles away when the captain decided to turn around since it would have taken too long to get up close and would have thrown the entire schedule off. For the Mendenhall Glacier Matt, Gordon, Melanie and I went on a walking photo tour that ended with a boat ride where Matt got the nice shots of the eagles and the whale tale, as well as the pictures of the seals. This is also where a lot of the scenery pictures came from.
-As a family we went on a wildlife photo safari (along with about 50 other people). We were lucky enough to have some excellent whale watching opportunities, with a very playful whale that breached (jumped out of the water) quite a few times and just hung out playing for us. We also saw some more bald eagles, as well as the raft (group) of sea otters that are pictured in the slide show.
-Matt, John, Katie and Gordon went salmon fishing in our final port in Alaska, and they each caught at least one fish and had a good time. Matt's foot is in the picture of the fish for a size reference - leave it to him to think of that! Stacey, Melanie and I stayed on dry land and ran around shopping instead.
-We went to the Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada as a family, which were quite lovely. We kinda had to hurry though, since we docked at 7 pm and it was dark by around 10, so I'm sure we would have enjoyed the gardens more if we had had more time with better light. There was an outdoor concert going on while we were there, and Melanie enjoyed sitting on a bench and swaying to the jazzy music they were playing (quite a few Michael Buble' covers)
-There were crazy amounts of food! Dinner every night was 5 courses, which I normally only ordered 2-3 of since quite a few of the dishes were too adventurous for my 1st trimester stomach to try. Melanie really enjoyed the bread they brought at the beginning of the meal, and would often eat the middle out and leave the crust behind (as is pictured). She also got to try "cleansing her pallet" with sorbet between courses - we all had a cranberry-ginger sorbet, but they brought Melanie a plain one so she could be in on the fun!
-Melanie got lots of quality family time. We were normally back on the boat by 1-3pm, so there was time for a nap before dinner. Matt took full advantage of asking his family to watch Melanie so I could rest. She had a blast playing on their beds and running up and down the halls with them, and the stairs were a particular favorite. She definitely had a rude awakening when we got back to Kansas and she just had boring old mom to entertain her all day!
So that pretty well sums up our vacation. Sorry for the delay in getting it posted. Maybe if you're lucky it won't be 2 months before I post again!
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