We're BACK!

So we just got back from the cruise last night. We flew in to Dallas and are spending a couple days with family in Texas.  I am really glad we opted to do tha because I am absolutely spent from all the traveling and jumping around through time zones. I think I know what jet lag means!

Airplane selfie!

I am not really loving long plane rides!

I don't even know where to begin to describe what a good time we had!  Yes it was Alaska so there was some questionable weather, but it was ALASKA and it was absolutely breathtaking! 

So to begin, here is a little about what we saw:

First the room we had was great!  We opted for an aft balcony room. I would have to say it was a really good idea to have this room.  Our balcony was covered so we could enjoy the sights even when the weather wasn't cooperating!  On the day that the boat went to view the glacier we a little wine n pizza and spent the evening soaking in the beauty of gods creation. 

We also signed up for some amazing excursions.  I ended up enjoying a couple of them more than I even thought I would. 

My very favorite one was whale watching in Juneau.  We booked our tour thru Orka Enterprizes. After doing some research on the net we decided it was the best.  Our captain was really respectful of the whales.   We didn't see any breaching, but we did see several whales.  They were incredible!  It was difficult to put their vast size into perspective unless u see them with your own eyes.   We were looking for one with a specific name and markings. I think her name was Nadia or Natalia or something. We didn't see her, but we did see whales. 

We also got a good view of a glacier. 

I was also surprised to admit that I really enjoyed the lumberjack show even more than I thought I would.  Those guys are really good at what they do & really funny too!

And of course if there was a train to be found we would be riding it!  We traveled the same route that the people took when they were trying to strike it rich in the Klondike gold rush.  

I am sure the train was Johnnie's favorite. It always is!  What I did notice was that there were lots of grown little boys who loved the train too!  

Bridal veil falls

Very narrow foot path along the way. 

Continental divide

So that is a concentration of some of our experiences. I noticed that I have a gillion pictures of the yummy things we ate along the way. Looks like I will have to dedicate another whole entry to the food. Stay tuned!

Smooth Sailing?

We are finally on the big boat!  Even though I was terrified of flying I can happily report that I was well behaved on the ride over. (Shout out to Dr Abshire!  

So far I have no complaints about the flight to ship experience. We did have to walk from one end of SeaTac airport to the other in order to meet with the rest of the folks who were set to sail with.   It might have been nice if, instead of checking our names off a list, they might 

Have had a porter available to take our from the baggage claim carousel instead of making us lug them for about a mile or so.  After being awake since 4:00am and being a ball of anxiety for about5 hours the last thing I wanted to do was run an obstacle course while pulling a 55lb bag. Wheels or no wheels that was tough!

Once we arrives at the port it was really smoothe sailing (Pardon the pun).  The whole registration/boarding process took less than 20 minutes. 

Our room is fabulous!  Getting the aft balcony was definitely the way to go!

 

The view from the deck of our balcony. 

What a sight!

Supper last night was out of this world good. One of the smaller restaurants had prime rib. It was delicious and was so tender it could b cut with a fork. 

Before

After!  Grump ate some of mine too so don't judge just because my plate is empty!  I did get to stop by Carlo's bakery for a late night pastry fix. I donteven feel that guilty bout it because grump helped me to eat a bunch of that too. And the best part is the bake shop is open 24/7 and there are a whole lot of other things to try.  Sorry no photo of the pastry cause we scarfed it down pretty quick,

Breakfast this morning was great but I did learn that I don't like smoked salmon in my eggs Benedict. Our waiter was named Marty n he was super nice!  Grump enjoyed his omelet and tasted my salmon and he didn't like the salmon either. 

After breakfast we walked most of the ship. It's pretty much rolling today.  Thankfully my dots are working. Unfortunately Grump has not found his sea legs yet. I applied one of my dots behind his ear n he is reporting no symptoms of nausea. He did, however, sleep all the way through the glacier presentation.  

Waiting for the next little presentation it feels like swinging in a Hammock, Grump is sound asleep and the boat is rocking to the point that I can hear people squealing "Weeeee" just like that talking pig on tv that sells the auto insurance.  I am so thankful for scopolamine patches!

More to come!

One Down One To Go!

Vacation week is finally HERE!!!!! I am so excited!!!  My bags are packed and all I have to do is wait until Friday morning!!!  The wait is KILLING ME!!!

So, we had a little pre-vacay vacation last weekend.  We went to South Louisiana with another couple to camp for a four ay weekend.  We really had a blast!  I believe I can honestly say that there is nothing that I dislike about South Louisiana!  I know I have blogged about this before, but there is something about all the geographical area south of Alexandria that just feels like coming home.  The land gets flatter.  The soil gets darker and the mud starts to look like Gumbo!  The air feels heavier and I feel like I am being greeted by a dear old friend!

We stayed at a place called Cajun Palms RV Resort.  It was super nice!  There was a pool with a huge kiddie area and even an area roped off that was for adults only.  There was a swim up bar and the service was GREAT! 

A big storm blew through on Friday and it got pretty exciting in the campground.  We didn't lose an awning, but we did watch one blow away.  Luckily it only lasted a little while and then it was gone.  We weren't gonna let stop our adventure and as soon as the storm broke we took off!

We rode down the levee in Henderson, Louisiana and took our friends to several little places that we knew of on the basin.  They had no lights or electricity, but they were still open for business and very hospitable.  The last stop on the tour was a restaurant called Pat's Fisherman's Wharf.  I don't know if I have blogged about this place before, but if I didn't I sure should have!!!

This place has been open since the 1950's.  I can remember going there when I was a kid in the 70's or 80's and I can say that as of 2014 not much has changed!  Even one of the waitresses had been there for 40-something years.  She was there the last time we were there and she was there again this past Friday.  The food was as fabulous as I expected it to be!  It's good to know that there are still some places where nothing changes!

Saturday morning was the BEST!  We took our friends to a place called Café Des Ami in down town Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.  We got there about 7:40am and were just in time to stand in a little line for the Zydeco Breakfast.  We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast while watching folks dance to a really great live Zydeco band.  The dance floor stayed full all morning.  This was something that Johnnie and I had come to the last time we were in South Louisiana, but due to an ice storm we didn't get the live music.  All we got was the breakfast (which was still pretty yummy!)

After breakfast we were looking for more to do.  We saw the sign for Evangeline-Longfellow historic site.  The beauty in this place was absolutely breathtaking.  We got to see a 200 year old creole style home and then just a short distance away there was an old Acadian cabin.  Johnnie and I loved everything about that place.  We are such history nerds!

We found another really great restaurant in down town Breaux Bridge and that's where we had our supper.  Everyone else had burgers since that was the main thing on the menu.  I had to take advantage of one more opportunity to eat seafood and so I had a crab burger.  Everyone said that their meal was delicious.  With that I will give Angelle's Restaurant on Bridge Street 2 thumbs up!

Cajun Palms had a live Zydedco band Saturday night.  They were fabulous and it was so fun to watch the people dance.  I think that is one of the things I miss most about South Louisiana.  Family is EVERTHING!  Everyone from the oldest to the youngest were all dancing and having a ball!

So Sunday was come home day.  Usually I'd be sad about it but this time I had too much on my mind.  I still have 2 days of ESYS (Summer classes) and then we are OFF TO DALLAS for the first leg of our trip to Alaska!!!  I am all packed and ready to go.  Now I just have to wait 3 days and the suspense is killing me!!!

We well celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary on a slow boat to Alaska!  Stay Tuned!

The-Minivan-Tales: Cats out of the Bag...

The-Minivan-Tales: Cats out of the Bag...

Shame ON ME!!!

Happy Summer Y'all!!!!

So, I am sitting here enjoying a lazy Sunday and decide that I will go check out some blogs.  I always go to my daughter's blog Becauseofbeckham+Blogger  first because that is always the one that I want to read first and I notice that she has not blogged since April 20!  I think..... "Shame on her cause I know that there have been lots of things going on since then".  Then I take a peek at my own blog and it seems that I have not written a word since April 18.  Oops!  Shame on me too!!

Anyway, I have no excuses... well I have some, but they are not very good so I will just say "sorry" and move on!

I made a conscious decision before the end of 2013 that I would work on repairing some of the frayed edges within my own family.  I think it's safe to say that I have done well with that resolution.  I can happily report that even though summer vacation is only beginning Johnnie and I have had countless opportunities to spend some quality time with family from all over the place.

Daddy's 75th birthday was really nice.  The weather was perfect and it was a great day to be with family and friends.  I think everyone had a nice time.  I know we sure did!

Next up was a much welcomed visit from our family from Texas.  That was really special since we'd been trying to get them to come and see us since we first moved here!  Again, the weather was fabulous and we got to have some fun on the boat and even a crawfish boil!  Johnnie and I had been saying that we  thought that our new outdoor entertainment space would be the perfect place for a party and boy was it! 

We also got to participate in a real first for Johnnie (AKA Papa).  He went to his first dance recital.  That was a blast!!!  Our Laci-Beth was FABULOUS!!!!!  Perhaps she got her dancing skills from Papa, Hmmmm?

We also got to be the location for our sweet Baylee's birthday party!  She wanted to swim and ride in the boat and that's exactly what she got! I am so glad that we are finally at the point in our renovation that we can have company come over and enjoy our place.  We absolutely love living here and are so thankful that our friends and family can enjoy the lake with us!!

We had plans to have another couple over this weekend, but the weather didn't want to cooperate.  The good news is that we didn't actually cancel, just put it off for a little bit.  Hopefully the weather will stabilize a little bit and we can try again in July!  This also gave us a little chance to catch our breath until the next round of celebrations.

And there's still a bunch of fun to be had!

Next weekend I will get to go and spend some more quality family time.  A couple of cousins and I have been planning a girl's get together at my aunt and uncle's camp.  I was already looking forward to seeing everyone and getting to have a little girl time, but we are getting an added bonus!  My grandfather's sister is coming from Florida and I think she is bringing her daughter with her!  I don't think I've seen them in about 5 years or more.  I am really looking forward to a low key, relaxing weekend with the girls!!!

Summer school will kick off in a couple of weeks as well.  I'm teaching summer classes for some of my little ones.  I am blessed to be working with some great ladies and looking forward to seeing some of the little ones during the summer.  It's only 2 1/2 days a week so it won't even really feel like work!

Johnnie and I also have a few trips planned for the summer.  First a little weekend in Lafayette with some good friends.  Good food, drinks and a little scooter riding and swimming are gonna be some GREAT summer fun!

I am still on the countdown til our 10th anniversary.  Only 19 days until our BIG summer trip!  A drive to Dallas, flight to Seattle and then an 8 day cruise to ALASKA!!!  I am so excited about this trip I can hardly stand it!  I know I was excited about last years vacation up the east coast but this year I am even MORE excited!  I didn't think that was even possible!  I can't wait to post photos.  I probably won't blog along the way because I plan on being really busy enjoying the sights, activities and our anniversary, but I will definitely share the experience when I get back!