About Alaska

First I need to say I find it hilarious that Jilian's parents were on the same cruise and I didn't bump into them! Not to say we met everyone on board, but you would have thought... and I mention it to Bill "we sat with them at Tanya's wedding right?" "Yep" "Oh, now that I think about it I think I might have seen them..." I hope they also had a good time.

So yes, things went really well. We didn't go on any excursions - we just didn't think Duncan would be too keen on a 3 hour wild life sightseeing tour, and so we were totally content to wander around the various ports, take in the sights, and relax.

Duncan did so well! We knew he'd do 'good' but he actually lasted through 6 of our 7 2-hour meals at night. One night my Mom and Dad took him - but who can blame a 20 month old kid for getting restless? But otherwise he was totally content to hang out, make friends with all the crew (I'm not kidding...we'd be walking somewhere 'hi Duncan!' from people we didn't even know). He became known as the 'Hi Boy" b/c he said hi to everyone.

The weather was good over all. Juneau it rained, but we're kind of used to that and went on shore a few times during the day. Found a really good used books store there and so I think we all kind of stocked up on some stuff we'd been looking for.

Mom and Dad really got to spend their own time, and we didn't pester them too much - which I wanted to make sure of. However being able to use their room when Duncan went down to sleep made the trip work. We brought the monitor and it worked like a charm. We'd read, play games, just hang out, and so that was our down time too. Mom and Dad actually were at a different seating for dinner than us, but this also worked b/c we could use their room when Duncan went down then. They were however at the same table with the same wait staff, so they would get reports on how Duncan did at dinner that night :) Very sweet, Mom told them it is our anniversary (tomorrow - 8 years!) and so they sang for us and brought us cake to share with the table. That was fun.

And we also have this week off! We might go to the Zoo tomorrow, and on Saturday we're heading down to Jesse and Laura's for the summer BBQ. Unless my sister in law happens to schedule Jeff's 40th birthday party for that day - I've warned Laura we can't skip that if it comes up, so we'll see how it pans out.

I have a pineapple sitting on top of my fridge! Sweet!

Saturday Musings

Duncan slept way better last night. In fact he slept in until 8:30. Threw even us off. But we all felt a million times better today. He is still fighting this thing off, and he's lost his voice, but you could tell he felt better today than before.

Went to Mom and Dad's for brunch (thanks again!). We used to meet at White Spot on Saturday mornings, but Duncan is getting to the age where he's not too content to sit in a high chair at the restaurant for a while, so we decided to bow out of that fot a bit.

Back home - Duncan napped for a few hours and we got some stuff done, although I did not get to the weeding I thought of doing. Oh well. Then we popped out for Alexandra's birthday party for a bit- before Duncan was tired again. I dropped the boys off and went grocery shopping (exciting I know) and Duncan went to bed around 7:30. No milk tonight, so he was really unimpressed but considering it makes him more phlegmy we thought we'd stick with water. He still fell asleep so obviously it is not going to kill him. We've been wanting to make the move towards water at bed anyhow, so maybe this is a good time to start? I was going to wait until after the cruise so he'd go down well at night, but we'll see how it goes.

So Duncan doesn't watch tv - well so far he doesn't. We're kidding ourselves if we think he won't but so far we've just not been watching stuff he's interested in, and quite frankly, he's doing just fine. However reading up on cruising with kids it's been suggested that if there is a show he really likes bring some dvds and a portable dvd player and he can watch it at dinner time so you can still have your nice meal without him getting too antsy. So I'm trying some shows that I don't mind on for size for him. Backyardigans etc... if he finds one or two particularly compelling then maybe we'll let him start watching those and bring some along on the ship. If it doesn't work no problem we'll eat in the casual diner most night and Mom and Dad will be eating in the 2nd seating and have said they will watch him while we got to our meal - like on formal night.

I have an awesome family. I don't talk about my family much. I have 3 older brothers and while they are all just great guys I'm not particularly close to them. This is fine with me it's nothing "contentious" - we're just not all best friend like. But they are still awesome people. Like my brother Tim (1 of 4). On purpose he won a Chicago Bears Jersey so that he could give it to Bill as a birthday gift (Bill loved it!). My brother Sean (3 of 4) lives in Kelowna (which he loves) but housing prices there are just as stupid as they are here, so brother Jeff (2 of 4) is trying to work it out to help Sean buy a place. How awesome is that?! Jeff is just an amazingly generous soul to begin with, but still, he keeps proving it.

And on to Dad. It's Father's Day tomorrow. Happy Father's Day Dads! Let's just say Jeff comes by it honestly as Dad too is a really, really generous soul. I've always been a Daddy's girl - even when I was little I'd ride along with him for the day for work and all and I just loved it. Duncan adores his Opa ("Vah vah") and it is so cute to see the two of them together.

But since we're at it, I can't forget my Mom. Most of you know who know me know Mom and I are pretty darned close. I like this. I like my Mom! (Yes Mom, I know you're reading this, you don't need to blush). I think Mom and I'd be friends even if we weren't related. I love that God has blessed me with the family he has and although I haven't always appreciated them (Mom! Sean's hitting me!) I realize now what a blessing they are.

Good night.