SISTER OF MINE

I have a sister. I can't say that I really had one until we were both older, were married and started having children. I was 8 years old when she was born and with 6 other siblings in the house I think I didn't want to be bothered with her. (I was a spoiled brat) I was married and started my family before she old enough to babysit for me! Well anyway, I LOVE MY BABY SISTER. She is the most talented and remarkable sister ever! Although we live on opposite poles of the state we do talk often and share lot's of fun sister things.....I just have to boast about her. She works 8 hours a day from her home office and besides that she has so many projects going on it amazes me. I love to crochet, but next to my sister.....LOL....I am totally an amateur! Pleeze check out her web site. She just got it up and running and is so excited about it! Honestly her little granddaughter is the luckiest little girl. I hope she understands and appreciates her when she is old enough to understand the love and time my sister has put into making such beautiful treasures of rememberance. I am sure she will. ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS please check her web page out and if you know of anyone that could benefit from her talent, and appreciate the love and work that goes into her world....I would be grateful! Pass the word along will you! ENTER HER CONTEST! www.alldolledup-dollclothes.com and when you are done there check out the other project that she has started, remember the little dollies called Kelly dolls(?)well I remember the Kiddles....

This is not a paid advertisment, nor did my sister promise me that I would win her contest or even take me to lunch next time I am in town. LOL, It is because I LOVE YOU TERRIE!

DAY AT SEA-THE NORWEGIAN PEARL

(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!

THE START...

Well, this was a first ride in an airplane for the 3 little ones. They were all so good and Owen loved the "BLAST OF". It was an early rise for little Lala (Lauren) so she took a nap for about an hour. The trip to Seattle was about 2 hours long. Each seat had a little tv screen in front of it so our special Ryan was thrilled to watch cartoons! I was just so excited to see the excitement on the little ones faces and I was 2 rows back so I had to hand the camera to my son to take a few shots! The plane trip was very bumpy so we had to stay buckled into our seats the whole way!
I can't believe I didn't take pics of all the luggage! It was hilarious to say the least. Camille was prepared and had special straps to keep track of the children. Ryan has a tendancy to just run off so this worked well.

Seattle was a fun place to visit. Huhoney and I went there for our 20th anniversary. We left the airport and went to our downtown hotel which was walking distance (downhill) to the waterfront and all the shops.
They were crazy and a lot of fun to visit. Wall to wall people on a Friday afternoon. I could not get over the price of the bouquet of flowers in the flower shops that lined one side of the outside mall....
$15 for a HUGE fresh cut bouquet and $10 for a HUGE bouquet. If I were living there I would be makeing a stop once a week maybe twice a week for a beautiful arrangement! Of couse school is out and everyone is on vacation! There is such an abundance of colorful shops and people to boot! The fish shops were amazing and our mouths started to water just thinking of what we could eat for lunch or ship home!

There is a certain energy that this city has that you feel in your bones. Excitement and hustle-bustle. You really have to like it to enjoy it. Not everyone is cut out for it!

Believe me the 3 $10 strollers Mike ran to Wal-mart for the night before the trip got used to death. The rubber on the tires on this trip actually got worn down! LOL. We had 2 days in Seattle to see sights and enjoy it's old town flare so we ran, ran, ran, and dropped in the evening.

The Seattle Aquarium was a great place to visit. The children had a great time and loved all the fish. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon for a couple of hours.


My feet and legs were longing for a hot bath after a day of walking and walking and there was NO way I was going to walk UP HILL 6 plus blocks to our hotel......get me on the local transit PLEEZE. Oh...Ryan was obsessed with the escalator. If that is where we spent the next 10 days, he would have been a happy camper. Everyone took turns going up and down the hotel escalator with him. Probably.....100 times.....(not kidding folks!)

The next day to underground city of Seattle was NOT a fun place for the little ones. It was boreing. Very interesting for the big people but not for the little ones. Off to the Aerospace Museum.

It was amazing and we didn't even get through the whole thing even after almost 3 hours! After the adventure there we took the transit downtown and transfered to another transit (underground) the kids loved it.. downtown, to the city and the Space Needle. Twenty years ago, the Space Needle http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/space_needle06.asp was surrounded by a beautiful park where you could just walk and relax. Now it is an amusement park where you can't walk and relax. Just spend a lot of money! Mike took the trip to the top of the Needle and loved it. Camille isn't much on heights so she opted to stay below and just watch what was going on around us. She is more into shopping. hehehehe here are a few extra pics of Seattle's visit.

Lauren had just about enough fun for one day!


Above city tram ride to and from the Sky Needle to the center of town

Well this pretty much made my day! Apples dipped in carmel covered with chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate! 10 lbs right there on the ole hips!

Well that pretty much took up our weekend in Seattle. The next day was boarding the Norweigen Pearl to Alaska........(tomorrow)

MELLOW MONDAY and some thoughts

THANKS SO MUCH for all the well wishes from all my blogger friends! Well the bug did get the best of me but I suffered through it like a big girl...sometimes you just have to do that ya know and on "Father's Day" I had a full appetite again (Phew thank goodness) and enjoyed Huhoney's delicious BBQ chicken, watermelon, SWEET corn on the cob, a yummy yummy salad, sliced zuchinni from the garden (yep folks, we are in the zuchinni!) and Brad made a delicious cake for dessert. The kids came over (when I mean kids, I mean Brad, Tera, their children Kyler and Kolytn) to swim and have dinner. It was a nice afternoon. I have a little tribute to my HUHONEY. Please bare with me on this one, he very seldom reads my blog, but I am going to ask him to this time. I was too under the covers to do this sooner and before "Father's Day". One day....I will post my Alaskan trip I promise LOL!


My Children’s Father

To be a father is not something to be taken lightly; You have never taken it lightly.
I have watched you grow as a father; From the moment you took our tiny daughter into your massive arms and tenderly snuggled her and smothered her with kisses, I knew from that moment on that you would protect her as best as you could from the harsh realities of the world and be an adoring father to her.

I watched you take our first son onto your knee and tell him stories of adventure, we wonder where in the world he got his storytelling ability and now I know the truth! I watched you with much patience, bait a worm on his first fishing pole, coach his football team, support him on his mission, and embrace him with so much pride as he became a new father.

I always smiled at the way you encouraged our third child in sports and also coached him in soccer and told him he could achieve anything in life if he put his mind to it; how true to your word it became as I watched you wrap your strong arms around him, a young man who had to learn the hard way what this world was all about and teach him how to walk again tall and upright and become strong again like he was before his accident; all these things are only a few glimpses of what you are as a father.

The ability to laugh at yourself and teach our children to do the same. The courage to stand up for what you believe is right, and teaches them to do the same. Allowing yourself to cry and teaching them to do the same. Showing them how to love . . . and not to be ashamed to do so, these are only a few attributes you have given our children as their father.

I am so grateful to our Father in Heaven for giving me the privilege of having you as our children’s father. Nothing has given me more joy in this world than watching you give of your self with no restraints as a father, because that is who you are, tender, loving, forgiving, unselfish.
I love you.

Thank you for being the father of our children.

Linda