(This pic is of the Norweigen Pearl docked in Skagway not Seattle) Going through customs and getting on board ran so smoothly I was amazed. Boy they have the system down to a science! We all gathered around the main lobby of the ship, looked at the HUGE screen (where Ryan was looking forward to playing the WII) and of course they were serving food at the buffett. So we headed to the buffett.
Filled the little ones up with food and then wandered around the ship. Of course we got seperated....Huhoney and I had little Lauren and Mike and Camille ended up with the boys around the pool deck where they had a welcome of some sorts and we missed the whole hoop-la of the conga around the pool. Mike said the kids loved it. Music was loud, people were already in the party mode. We saw them down below as we were somewhere on top...and waved our arms to get their attention. We were finally able to go to our rooms, luggage had arrived...Huhoney was totally unpacked and settled in within 30 minutes! I didn't get to mine until much later in the day.
Of course there is the "MUST" put on your life jacket orientation. Which is a total joke. Everyone gathering in their respective stations in the dining room. Why were we the first to get there? We ended up having to try and entertain the little ones who were wanting to just GET OUT and ABOUT of the formal dining area!
Anyway, we got through that and Camille and I took the 3 little ones to the Childrens Room. Throughout the entire cruise you could drop off your children at this center for someone else to entertain. Well that actually only happend a couple of times. The kids really didn't like it much. I didn't like it much. I was always too worried that they were not happy so I checked on them many times. If they saw me, they wanted OUT! I guess some kids loved it....ours were not to particularly impressed.
The view at sea was beautiful. I love this pic of Huhoney and Owen looking out at sea at the very back of the ship (aft)(ship terms) and the one of Lauren and of the trail at 35 knots(how ever many miles per hour that means!)
LOL Our first port stop the next day was Juneau. We shopped of course...and our first shore excursion was the Mendenhall Glacier. The first pic is of the Glacier itself, the second of a waterfall right next to it, it sounded like thunder, there was SOOOO much water it was incredible. It was beautiful, breath taking and I wish that we could have spent more time there before having to get on the bus and go to our cook out. We had some delicious outdoor BBQed Salmon with all the trimmings. Of course little Lauren had a difficult time keeping her 2 1/2 yr old peepers open. This happened quite regularly every day during our shore excursions. We took a walk up a path...
Ryan did a little gold panning....
ate some yummy marshmellows before heading back to the ship. Not too sure what order these pics below will come out in but I am sure you can sort them out...:^) I have tried to keep them in order but I am not a super star at this blogger picture thing yet.
The walk to the waterfall itself was about a mile away and we didn't have time. This far away picture does not do the waterfall justice! 
It was a GREAT DAY!
