Alaska: Days 8 and 9

Cruising International Waters

We spent a day at sea as we cruised toward Canada. It was a nice, relaxing break from the excitement and adventure of our excursions. We exercised, hung out, enjoyed the scenery, played scrabble, bingo, and lazy game such as darts, top toss, and bocce ball.

Mom and Dad got up around 4:30am and watched the sun rise. I can't imagine getting up that early but it was beautiful!!!

Jpop, Lilly, and the Captain

Me and my infamous grey sweater. I love this sweater and it was the best deal ever if you take into account price per wear. We had to document that it made it all the way to Alaska.

In the evenings on the ship they had shows, dancing, music, and the casino was open. We of course enjoyed it all. Some of the shows were a little corny, but some were awesome! Our favorite was the show the last night put on by all the crew: housekeeping, deckhands, chefs, waitstaff, laundry, bar staff, etc. They did so great and they worked so hard the entire week. And bonus was they loved on Lilly! Everywhere we went they all stopped to say hi to her. You would have thought she was royalty or something. We so very much appreciate them! I must say it was odd once we got home and didn't see the same familiar faces we had seen everyday for a week. We miss them! 

Lilly enjoying the show. She loved the lights and the costumes... even if you can't really tell from the pictures. :)

Vancouver, Canada

Once we arrived in Vancouver we disembarked and headed to the airport. The only photos I have are from inside the cab. From what we could tell it seemed like most big cities... tall buildings, advertising, and lots of stores/chains. We will have to make the trip to experience Canada another time. 

Leaving Alaska

Although the flight home was almost half the flight time as going, it seemed to be a more difficult flight for Lilly. I think she was just exhausted and wouldn't fall asleep. She finally conked for about 45 minutes. When we got home for four days she slept for 14 hours straight every night and took two 2 hour naps during the day. She was pooped, but after that she was back to normal in no time. 

Thanks mom and dad for an incredible and memorable family vacation. We had a blast and are so thankful for the opportunity to hang out with you guys and experience that part of the world. If you have never been to Alaska, put it on your bucket list! It is awesome!!!

Alaska: Day 7

Ketchikan, AK

I loved Ketchikan! It was one of the neatest towns we visited in my opinion and I definitely could have stayed there longer exploring. In Ketchikan we were set up to do our one excursion with the entire family. We went on a float plane to go Bear Viewing at The Prince of Wales. So...

we loaded the float plane...

jere kept his hands over lilly's ears while we were flying. it was so loud and they didn't have a headset her size. :) she did great though! the pilot said that most kiddos fall asleep because of the hum of the engine, but not lilly. she wasn't going to miss seeing a bear!

The float plane experience was so cool! It was so weird taking off and landing on water. You also fly much lower so you can see things better, almost as if you are just hovering above everything.

We were all looking for bears as we were flying and then all of a sudden we saw one! The pilot said he was going to circle back and see if he was still there. I thought he would just fly back by... but nope! He landed right on the water next to the bear. The bear just looked at us...

The pilot jumped onto the float and started paddling closer...

We got a better look...

And then he climbed up a log and back into the woods. It was AWESOME!

We took off again and headed for a different destination. When we arrived we got out and explored!

Can you spy the eagle?

So stinkin precious!

The Prince of Wales was so serene and surreal. It was the closest I have ever been to God's untouched creation: beautiful, majestic, and breathtaking!

The guys went exploring in these woods. Literally if you look at the picture above. Those are the woods they entered in and this is what it looked like on the inside. These were taken with Jere's iPhone because I was too freaked of running into a bear. It is unbelievable. It looks like it is straight out of Lord of the Rings or something.

It looks amazing in the above picture, but now look below and find Cace. This gives you a perspective of the scale of this forest! They said there were bear droppings everywhere!

Family photo

Another eagle... they were everywhere!

We headed to one other spot and we all got out on the floats to look as the pilot paddled around. We didn't see any other bears, but it was amazing! If we hadn't seen any bears it still would have been worth the experience of seeing God's creation.

i loved this little tree growing in the midst of the water.

After our excursion we headed back to town to explore. 

We ate at this amazing fish house. Their halibut tacos and salmon chowder were delicious! 

(and I don't even like fish!)

We saw totem poles...

This was a cute area on a river with all different shops.

There were lots of salmon in the stream.

 Then we headed back and boarded the ship.

That night mom and dad offered to keep Lilly so we could go on a romantic date night. Before dinner we went to the back of the boat and had a mini photo shoot with Mel and Cace.

me and my hubs! love love love him!!!

cace and meli

the four of us

sisters... in our matching dresses :)

you can't put the two of us together long before we get goofy...

love her, xoxo

dad and mom

aren't they the cutest?!

enjoying the sunset!

And boy was it a pretty one! It was the most beautiful one of the entire trip! The sun rose around 4am and started setting about 10:30pm. It took a little bit to adjust!

*next stop: cruising international waters and arriving at vancouver, canada*