seattle

The first part of our big summer vacation was a morning flight to Seattle so we could spend the day sight-seeing and catch our cruise ship there the following morning. I don't know how much cousin Jacob knew about Seattle, but he knew about the Space Needle and definitely wanted to see it. We all bought some really over-priced tickets for the observation deck and waited in line to go up.

We had pretty typical Seattle weather for our day in town. It always looked like it could rain at any moment, but it never did.

Pretty views from up in the Needle, and free telescopes were fun for everyone. We looked into getting a dinner reservation in the revolving restaurant just one floor below the observation deck for that evening, but if the observation deck admission price was a little shocking, the restaurant prices were absolutely insane. We made arrangements to meet John's sister Sue and family downtown instead.
We spent quite a while up high, I mean, given the price of those tickets, we were going to stay. They did serve drinks and snacks up there and you could sit inside and get some shelter from the wind.

Back on the ground walked the surrounding plaza area and the kids posed in front of a colorful wall of a "rock music and movie" museum. We then walked inside the lobby to see what that was about, but it looked touristy and boring. We rode the monorail back downtown instead.

The last place we stopped before dinner was the Pike Street fish market. We wandered through the length of it and I told the kids there would be something cool to see there, but as we passed stall after stall of big smelly fish on ice, they doubted that more and more.

 Finally we reached the famous stall where the guys yell and throw the fish to each other, which I think they agreed was something different and it held their attention for a while but a few minutes after we arrived it was time for this stall and all of Pike's Market to close.

the last night

 One of the ways we spent time on board was in the many different games and games shows put on by the crew. Here Erin has to ask the audience yes/no questions to figure out which Disney character is written behind her.

On our last night and dinner on board we had numerous characters stop at our table, and then the waiter who had been with us every evening made creative hats out of our napkins. I bet Dora never got this treatment on her prvious cruises.

excursions

The ship was massive, did I mention that? John's mom is a veteran cruiser but had never been on a ship this big. There were 2000 guests, and 1000 crew members on board.

 In Skagway we had our first excursion, a railroad ride to take us high up into the mountains. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day which meant the views from up there were just great. Other weeks it rained and was foggy and people couldn't see beyond the trees next to the train, according to some of the staff.

 We briefly crossed into the Yukon of Canada.

In Juneau we took a helicopter to our very highly anticipated dog sledding excursion.

 My first time in a helicopter, such fun. That's the glacier we were headed to in the photo.

 We landed on Mendenhall Glacier and met the dog sledding camp leaders.

 About 100 dogs lived and trained here in summer. Some of these are Iditarod race sled dogs.

 The girls meeting some of our chosen crew. Those dogs were so excited. As the harnesses were fitted to them they jumped up and down and barked with excitement. They love pulling sleds.

 After they all got into place we were off.

 We'd sled for a while with a guide, and then stop to look around and pet the dogs before continuing.

 When we got back to the camp the kids got to meet some pups while we waited for our helicopter to return for us.

 All suited up for the copter ride back to Juneau.

Around town in Ketchikan

The Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC

bergy bits

Nevermind that we were entering Alaskan waters and it was not particularly warm outside, the hot tubs and pools were calling, and what's a vacation without swimming?

Approaching Tracy Arm, Alaska

 Those little pieces of ice near the glacier are called "bergy bits".

Seals on some of the larger chunks.

days at sea

The kids quickly learned the layout of the ship faster than we did and each of them had a room key in their lanyards, so they could come as go as they needed. They loved roaming the ship as a group, playing hide and seek everywhere and exploring. There were designated kid clubs for them to hang out in but they never did too much of that, choosing instead to explore and enjoy not having to be supervised all of the time. It made picture taking challenging because I just couldn't FIND the kids a good portion of the time. 

It didn't take long before we found ourselves among some beautiful scenery, and sometimes as a kid or two ran by I managed a photo of them.

Another advantage to a Disney cruise, characters, all over the place. The girls love meeting characters and through the week they met some every day.

setting sail

At the suggestion of John's cousin's Brian's family, we booked a Disney cruise to Alaska for late July but we'd end the year with Disney fun as well. We launched from Seattle for a 7 days cruise with 3 stops in Alaska and one in British Columbia. Not only was this the kids' first cruise, it was mine as well. Surprisingly, John's mom wanted to come along too. Dora is a really experienced cruiser and I didn't think a Disney ship full of kids would measure up to what she'd done before, but she was interested and it was fun to have Grandma along. An added benefit was that Erin shared a cabin with her and the twins and John and I could then take a standard cabin for 4 instead of needing the required deluxe cabin which could accommodate 5.

All checked in, excited, and ready to board.

A last look at Seattle from the top deck.

Checking out one of the pools.

 As we set sail the crew began a launch party up on deck.

Everyone who was anyone was there.

We set up some ground rules for the kids: they had to stay with a buddy, they had to keep away from the railings, and they were not supposed to run in the hallways and staircases. Of course they prompty abandoned all of these, except that I don't think they every spent much time near the railings. I was so sure we'd have a kid overboard but the railings were pretty high and lined with plexiglass on the inside so that little feet could not climb up on them.