Well, We just got back from doing weeks of traveling so I'm going to highlight our trip while it's fresh in my mind and then I will re-visit about a month ago. Brycen's 1st birthday and such so stay posted!
Anyways, about three months ago, we booked an Alaskan cruise with my parents. One good thing (maybe only thing) about our current economy, you can get cruises for pretty cheap (at least compared to a few years ago when I went on my first cruise to the Caribbean). My mom found some really good deals for May and with a combination of always wanting to go to Alaska (neither Bryce or I had been), celebrating Brycen and my birthday, celebrating Bryce finishing his first year of grad school, getting an unexpected, wonderful tax refund for having a baby in the last year, late celebration of both of us graduating last year....(any excuse we could think of really) we decided to treat ourselves to a vacation.
The cruise was set to leave and return to Seattle and since mostly all of Bryce's family is in Oregon, we decided that while we were going in that direction, might as well, pay them a visit. We flew into Portland and stayed for just a few days. Brycen, of course, is quite the well experienced plane traveler now and did just fine, melting the hearts of all those that sat around us with his smile and laugh.
In Oregon, we were able to see lots of family and Brycen was able to meet his newest cousins, born in March and April. As gifts to Bryce's three siblings that had babies in the last year, we bought matching outfits for all the babies. And of course, nobody could stop talking about how big Brycen is and how he is bigger than his cousin more than double his age (she turned 2 in March).
Matching baby picture with the grandparents! Brycen was a complete tease and kept closing his eyes...(the baby to the right of Brycen is only 2.5 months younger..)
but we did get one!
Brycen loved playing outside with his cousins....
and the bubbles...
he also had quite the fascination with the rocks...
Also while in Oregon, I got to drive the Bobcat for the first time. Since Bryce's parents own a tree farm, my assignment was to fetch a tree for a customer.
And one of our sister-in-laws teaches a Pilates class twice a week and so as a girls night out, all the women attended the class while the men stayed home with the kids. It was quite nice.
Even though the visit was short (alittle over two days), it was well worth it to see everyone.
On Friday morning, May 14th, we rented a car to drive up to Seattle and picked up my parents at the airport along the way. My mom brought some birthday presents for Brycen and I since our birthdays were the week before and we got to open them as we made our way into downtown Seattle.
Since we still had a few hours before the boat was set to leave, we walked around Seattle a bit. It was a beautiful, sunny day and that city is gorgeous! Bryce then dropped us off at the pier and went to return the rental car while we worked on getting checked in. The rental place was supposed to have a policy where they could drop him back off at the pier but come to find out, this certain location didn't and instead gave Bryce a $8 discount to catch a cab. Bryce was unsuccessful in catching a cab though (they all happened to disappear when needed most) and ended up having to run back. He thought it was a 2 mile distance...but after arriving an hour and half later...sweating from head to toe in jeans...he replied, "that was a long 2 miles"...since then we discovered he ran around 3-4 miles.
On the boat about to take off...beautiful Seattle behind us...
Poor Brycen was exhausted (3 hour time change) and was asleep in the stroller
We cruised with Holland America and chose a smaller ship (so there would be less people) and loved it. Almost all of the employees were from Indonesia or somewhere close to it and were incredibly nice and adored Brycen. By talking with them, we found out that they work for about 10months-a year at a time and then go home for a few months and do it all over again. Aot of them are married with young kids a home so they loved seeing and interacting with Brycen. Since it seems like for the most part, alot of the people that cruise are old people, we also got lots of comments like, "He looks just like my grandson...or daughter...". Brycen became very popular and people would pass us and say, "there's that red-headed boy", or "there's Mr. Handsome that everyone talks about", etc. I rarely passed anyone that didn't comment/play/or talk with/about Brycen.
"I'm cute and I know it"
We had a inside cabin that meant we are cheap and without a window. haha.
But it worked out quite nicely because when it came to naptime and bedtime for Brycen, the room could become pitch black and Brycen fell asleep in no time. I think he also really enjoyed the constant rocking of the ship. My parents had a window though so since someone always had to be in the room while Brycen slept, if I wanted a view, I was always able to take him to their room to sleep. But also, since my Mom had a window and is weird and her body wakes up to the sun, she didn't sleep much of the cruise because Alaska around this time of the year only has about 4 hours of darkness at night.
Lots of light this time of the year!
The wonderful thing about a cruise is I feel like it is a true vacation. There is no constant need to unpack and repack as you might often do hotel or location hopping like on other vacations, you can just unpack for the week and they provide you with the rest. The boat is the transportation, they cook plenty for you, and your room is cleaned twice a day! They come and make the bed in the morning and clean everything and then while we are at dinner, they come back, turn the bed down, clean everything again, leave a towel animal and chocolate on the bed.
My parents' cute doggie...
Our monkey..
and elephant..
and pig..I think...
I was caught eating one of chocolates...so good!
All you do is eat and be entertained. You can even have food brought to your room all day if you chose to ..at no added cost, not even tipping. There is just a flat tipping rate of $11 a day/per person that is automatically charged (and can be removed if requested), which is really not bad for all three meals (or 8, if you're like me and eat constantly :)) and the wonderful room service, shows, activities, etc. No wonderful the average cruiser gains 7-14 pounds. haha. Luckily, Bryce nor I gained anything (Bryce actually lost 7 pounds). Another plus about being cheap and on the deck 2, all the food is on deck 8 and so you can get quite the work-out going up and down the stairs, especially holding a 30 pound child :). Elevators were provided but monopolized by the older people and it was faster taking the stairs.
The food was amazing and there was always something available.
Look at those swans! Quite the dessert!
You could either do casual or formal dining in which we did a mix of the two, and the ice cream was opened from lunch to midnight.
Formal dining pictures
...look at that view!
Ice sculpture!
Brycen and Grandpa...notice the salt and pepper shakers...Brycen needed constant entertainment to be able to sit still at dinner while we waited for our food..
"Can I take your picture now?"-Brycen
So, for my dad and I...that was REALLY good news...nothing like having ice cream 3-4....5...6 times a day :) The ice cream lady (one of our dear, favorite employees, she was such a doll!) knew my dad by name by the 2nd day, and mine by the 5th. If we were ever looking for my dad (no cell phone service, we didn't have walkie-talkies...looking for my dad was a daily event...if you didn't talk about where to meet, you could literally go all day without finding them), I would always ask the ice cream lady (Elly) if she had seen him recently. Haha.
Elly!!
My dad...quite a common sight :)
The weather was gorgeous! We were told that May would/could be cold and rainy for Alaska but every day at port, it was sunny and warm! My family credits me because : (quick explanation: Bryce is from Oregon (rains 90% of the year, and he wants to end up there permantly but I don't because I hate that much rain, yet, every time we visit, we have nothing but sun.) So...I apparently, bring the sun, the day before we arrived and the day after we left (in both Seattle, Oregon ,and Alaska), it rained :)
Either way, it was wonderful! Our first port stop was Juneau, the capital of Alaska.
Getting off the ship for the first time
A small, beautiful little city. Since it was Sunday, we didn't purchase any of the extra excursions and instead, just walked around the city. We ended up talking to a very nice resident about Alaska and what it's like year around and then we did a two hour hike...there is lots of hiking that can be done anywhere in Alaska!
Beautiful view on our hike
And it is beautiful, so green! Brycen fell asleep on the way to the hike though...all uphill....and since he really needed a good nap and he wakes up if we transfer arms, I carried him. He's 30 pounds but 30 pounds active weight and 30 pounds dead weight are too entirely different things and let's just say...I got a good work-out and was sweating bullets before we even began the official hike. Luckily, Brycen didn't sleep for too long and was active and happy the rest of the hike. The hike was titled a "difficult-hard" one. Which meant that it did not have a definite path..often ended up in mud..very slippery in some areas...major incline and would not have been stroller suitable so we all took turns carrying Brycen. It was truly a magnificent hike and we all loved it but were so tired by the end.
Heading back to the ship...
Our other ports were Ketchikan and Sitka (yes, where the movie, "The Proposal" was staged). They were both very historical, beautiful and a lot of fun to walk around. Juneau was by far my favorite though.
Ketchikan
Brycen L-O-V-E-D this thing and was heart-broken when we dragged him away..
It did drizzle for about 10 minutes..a refreshment...and a reminder to be thankful for the sun :)
Beautiful tree!
Sitka! This is where Alaska officially became a state.
You have to be flexible while traveling with Brycen...he has his own schedule..
Brycen wanted to pick the flowers (dandelions are his newest interest)..
We also spend a day cruising through Glacier Bay National Park which was sooo beautiful! and got to see a glacier up close which was awesome. They had park rangers that came aboard (as the ship is moving, a small boat latches on and they climb up a ladder...pretty cool to see actually) and they gave us a "tour" as we cruised through it...told us what to look for. I saw a whale!
Park Rangers..
Beauty...
Glacier!
Evidence to show Brycen when he's older of what he chose to sleep through :)
So precious though.
Playing out on the back deck after his nap..
Love him...and the view!
While we were crusing at sea, they always had lots of activities to do. There were shows, comedians, classes-fitness, cooking,dance etc.; games, movies..the list is endless. The evening shows (singing and dancing) were always well done and definitely my favorite. They also had two pools and two hot tubs. One pool and the two hot tubs were under a retractable roof which was wonderful when the weather was beautiful (at port) and then horrible (at sea, we had some serious storms...) The other pool was out on the back deck. These pools were heated very nicely..even for my taste :)
We LOVED the cruise and I kinda wanna live in Alaska some day (even with all it's "rain") :) It was wonderful being with my parents and they were very kind and were often our on-site babysitters and Brycen loved getting to know them better. The views were gorgeous always, at sea, at port...and I loved being out on the water....walking around on the decks, looking at and spotting wildlife...etc..
And we can definitely see ourselves going on another cruise sometime, but probably without kids. Even though Brycen is the best traveler we could ask for, he really wasn't interested in sitting still during the shows and his required naptime and 10-12 hours of sleep at night really limited us at times as one person was always either in the room with him or outside the show keeping him entertained. However, that is one of the reasons why we decided to do the cruise when we did because Brycen was pretty much free (airfare and cruise) and it gave us a chance to see if cruising would be something we would want to bring the whole family along later in life or go alone. Going alone just as a couple would be awesome and much more flexible, but either way, quite the vacation.
Oh yeah, our last port was supposed to be at Victoria, Canada for the evening which I was really excited about since I have never been to Canada and heard that Victoria especially is beautiful but with the severe storm we had at sea the last day, it put us behind schedule and we didn't get there until 10pm. Brycen had already fallen asleep for the night and since we docked a bit from the city (not much to see), Bryce and I walked off so that we could say that we have been to Canada and then walked back on.
We pulled in Seattle a week later and walked around the city a bit more before we dropped my parents back off at the airport and we settled into our hotel for the night to fly out the next morning for the East Coast! Stay tuned as our journey takes us from Seattle to D.C.
