Sitka, Alaska

 Sitka is probably our favorite little town to stop at. We enjoy walking the streets and looking at the old churchs, schools and buildings. Not to mention it is surrounded by beauty!

 We always see Eagles in Sitka but to see two together was neat!

Jason taking in the sites as we approached Sitka.

The cruise ship anchors out in the water....

So we ride a boat into shore...it's call tendering. See how little the boat looks hanging on the side of the ship.  It holds about 100 people.

Cody absolutely LOVED riding this boat back and forth to the ship.

Hubbard Glacier - Wrangell St. Elias National Park

We cruised into the Hubbard Glacier and Wrangell St. Elias National Park!  This is always such a neat experience as the ship goes really slow and we start to see the ice chunks in the water and then this huge glacier comes in to sight.  It is breath taking!  

Just a few facts:
The Hubbard Glacier is one of the largest and most active tidewater glaciers in North America.

Mt. St. Elias, at 18,008 feet, is the second highest peak in the United States.

Mt. Wrangell, at 14,163 feet, is one of the largest active volcanoes in North America.

This is how Cody watched for the glacier.  He kept saying "ice" when he'd see it.  My friend Teri was on the balcony next to us and kept singing "ice, ice, baby...too cold, too cold" to Cody and dancing.  He loved it and would repeat it and keep asking her to sing it "more".

And when he got bored with looking at the ice he'd play with his cars/trains.

The glaciers will calve off and fall into the water.  There is a load roaring sound as it breaks off and falls into the water and the whole ship will gasp and point when it happens. It's quite an experience.   

And it's always fun to see ocean creatures like this seal.

Another fun fact is one of Cody's middle names is Elias named after this mountain!

Juneau, Alaska - Mendenhall Glacier

After a full day of sailing it is always fun to dock!  Our first stop was Juneau!

Cody was definately excited to be off the ship and have freedom to run around!

We wanted to take a bus to see the Mendenhall Glacier but there was a 45 minute wait.  Here we are deciding if we really wanted to wait or if we should we go to plan B. 

After all...keeping Cody happy while waiting proved to be tricky...he wanted to be on the move and not wait around! 

But a sucker bought us a little time! The bus finally came and Cody loved riding it!

And it was well worth the wait! This glacier was beautiful!

And there were lots of places for Cody to climb!

Thankfully Daddy was willing to help him accomplish these steep steps!

The Glaciers are amazingly blue!

The chunks of ice floating in the water are incredible.

Too bad Cody isn't afraid of bears! He pointed out his eyes, ears, teeth, tongue and nose.

After enjoying our time at the glacier and visitor center we headed back into Juneau and took a walk around the town and did a little shopping.  It was a rainy day but still beautiful!

Alaska - Scenic Sailing Day

Holland America: Westerdam was our home for the week!

Jason and Randy taking in the scenic sailing!

 This is how Cody enjoyed sailing! Our balcony was perfect for him to play. Our room was next door to Jason's parent's room.  We had an adjoining door inside and opened our balcony to make one big area for us to enjoy all together. Cody would bring his cars out and push them up and down the edge.

 Cody had his own paparazzi traveling with us and his grandparents!  And thanks to them I was able to get some good pictures of this years trip!

Alaska Cruise - Plane Ride and Seattle

Over the 4th of July holiday we traveled with Insight for Living on an Alaska Cruise! It is a working cruise and a privilege to get invited year after year. This was our 5th time to go to Alaska but our 1st time to take Cody!  Jason's parent's joined us as well this year!  We go on the cruise to do youth ministry for families that travel to attend the conference!  It is a blast and we truly enjoy getting to see this part of the world.  It's absolutely beautfiul!  The adventure started at the airport! Cody loved getting to see the airplanes and we made sure to have time to ride the train just for fun!  His eyes were big and his smile was huge as he took it all in! He definately knew he was on an airplane and so excited!

Escalators are another thing that brings Cody a lot of joy!

 We arrived in Seattle excited but exhausted! Since we were all 3 in the same room this is how Cody went to bed each night...watching a video on the iPad, drinking milk and of course, the paci! This totally relaxed him and once he started to doze off we would put him in his pack and play.  It worked great and he slept well!

The next morning we woke up and Grandma and Grandpa were there!  They drove from Oregon and got there after we went to bed so it was fun to wake up and get to see them. Cody warmed up to them very quickly and started showing off right away! We set out to enjoy our day in Seattle! First off, Pike Place Public Market. There is a lot to see and take in there and it also a tradition to go and visit the original Starbucks and first REI!

Bryant, my boss, took this picture of Mt. Rainier from the airplane!  Mt. Rainier is always a scenic view while in Seattle!

We love the days we spend in Seattle before the cruise!  It's one of our favorite cities!

"It's too hot, Mommy!"

Cody has been saying "it's too hot, Mommy" every time we go outside but especially when we get in the car! I agree!  It is 108 degrees! When I put him in his carseat he tells me to "blow on it" because it's too hot. I blow on his food to cool it down so why not blow on the carseat! Smart Boy!  We were running errands and I felt so sorry for him and his little red face that we went through Wendy's and I got him a kid sized frosty.  I cut the straw down to fit the small cut (they gave me a spoon but I wasn't about to let him eat it with a spoon in the car) and he loved every drop of it!!