Alaska V: Thursday and Friday

Our last day of the cruise was at sea, so we played on the boat.

We couldn't take Jonah in the water (and were afraid to take him to childcare because if he had another bad diaper we'd be quarantined another 24 hours), but they splashed a little and loved it.

We did do some mini golfing. Amazing backdrop!

Little cheaters.

Cutest golfer.

Stroke 100.

John's purple ball is mid hop.

Giving his ball a little love tap.

We looked at the professional pictures taken of us during the week and Jonah was so excited to find "Bampa!" He did look a lot like Alan.

Jonah brought a dessert for Scott.

Our sweet tablemate couple from Pennsylvania. Nick and his wife . . . we couldn't remember her name and it was too awkward to ask when they remembered all of ours, so we refer to her as Pam.

Scott's favorite part of the cruise (and the part he talks about when we ask what he liked best) was running around the helicopter pad. We took lots of walks around the outside of the boat to enjoy the scenery and let the kids loose.

 Playing tunnel.

 Shuffleboard. It was tricky with our helpers, but we managed to get a few games in.

As we left the boat the next morning, we saw all of the fruit being loaded. I'm guessing about 10% of it was needed just for Jonah.

Someone in the Vancouver office helped us to the front of the line because we had little kids with us. They really don't see a lot of children come through and it had some perks.

We walked along the seawall and saw seaplanes taking off.

It was a much warmer day than we anticipated and the walk to Stanley Park was a lot longer, but we made it and it was beautiful. 

The boys found sticks and rocks to throw in water. And yes, Jonah's wearing the same clothes (pajamas) as the day before because he went through outfits a lot faster than I'd planned since he was sick so long.

We went to a park and rested while the boys played.

After walking several hundred feet past this dragon, Scott had a meltdown about not taking a picture with it, so we went back and took one. He loves the picture and asks to see it sometimes. 

We read about totem poles, lighthouses and beaches in the park and went to check them out. 

This is the lighthouse. It's so cute, but not at all what I was expecting!

By the time we got to the totem poles, Jonah was asleep and Scott wanted to be carried so he could sleep. 

We walked into town and had a delicious pizza, then headed to the airport. The "choo choo" we took there was probably their favorite part. 

We arrived at the airport way earlier than planned and were glad because the security there had one of the least efficient systems and rudest employees. At our gate they had a big playground for kids and Disney character collections on display.

Jonah said, "Mickey! One, two, three, five, eight, nine, ten Mickeys!" 

Our flight home was delayed because of fog (the risk of SFO), but we had some surprisingly inexpensive and tasty dinner at the airport. Alan picked us up and we arrived home after a long day by boat, feet, train, airplane and car. We loved seeing Alaska, but are ready to stick to local vacations for a little while.

Alaska IV: Wednesday

On Wednesday, we went to Ketchikan. Jonah and John tried the reindeer sausage and both liked it.

We took a walk through the town and found the creek.

Jonah's tired, glaring eyes look demonic here, but he was actually happy. Especially if he got a shoulder ride.

We went through Creek Street (which used to be a red light district, where more men than fish went upstream to spawn.)

We took the back road, Married Man's Trail, to the salmon run. We'd love to come back and see it when the salmon are running.

Scott loved watching the water.

Jonah loved Scott.

We rode the funicular up to a lodge.

Scott found some flowers up there.

Most of the totem poles were newer, not "authentic," but still cool to see.

Hard to tell if this was Hawaii or Alaska. We had more rain on our Hawaii trip, actually. It was cooler here and no humidity--such perfect weather. If not for the darkness all winter, I'd totally live in Alaska.

Scott climbed up and asked me to take his picture with the rocks.

And again. I think he was getting the hang of vacation pictures.

John consulted the map while I photographed Scott.

We walked down the hill and found a few bridges to cross for fun.

Scott wanted to go fishing with the guys we saw down in the water.

Little nugget.

We toured the Totem Heritage Center which I found disappointing, but I'm glad we went so we weren't disappointed thinking we'd missed something cool. Most of the totem poles were moved to another city I think in the 70's and this place was small and not interactive at all. 

I ended up taking Mr. Jonah needsanap crankerpants for a walk outside while the big boys saw the rest of the museum.

We found a little park and waited for the next bus there so the boys could play.

We went back and ate lunch and napped on the boat, then moseyed around downtown some more before the ship left.

Alaska III: Tuesday

After a few hours off the boat on Monday, Jonah wouldn't eat lunch and then had another unpleasant diaper. I took him down to see the nurse, who gave us an electrolyte drink and isolated him to the room for 24 hours.

John took Scott around to keep him from going crazy and Jonah was not happy. When he was sick and sleepy over the weekend, being in the room wasn't so bad, but after a nap he was acting normally other than going stir crazy.

Long story short, on Tuesday the new nurse wanted him to stay in the room another day even though he hadn't had any symptoms and eventually I fought our way out of there.

The sun was so bright after Jonah and I spent 24 hours in a dark room.

Scott was so happy to be out and running around again.

Jonah wanted to be carried, partially because he always likes John's shoulders, but he was probably also low on energy because he'd been eating only bananas, crackers and rice for several days now.

The port was called Icy Strait Point. By the time Jonah was cleared by the doctor it was afternoon, but we took advantage of the little time we had by walking the trail through the beautiful woods.

We took the main path to the beach.

I set the timer and took our first healthy-looking family picture on the trip.

Scott found a hole.

We crossed the rocks

to the ocean.

Jonah found a boat.

Scott found mussels

and seashells.

John found eagles.

The whole place was gorgeous and I'm glad I was insistent about letting us off the ship because an hour later we would have missed the whole stop.

We saw totem poles

and toured the salmon cannery museum.

Then we waited in a long line to take a tender back to the cruise boat. 

I took Scott down to throw some more rocks while John and Jonah held our place in line.

He threw dozens of them before saying, "ok, now it's Jonah's turn!" 

He started walking back up to the pier to trade his brother places.

I stopped him for a picture first.

Such a cute cheese.

Jonah was not interested in playing, so we waited together and took the tender back. The boys both liked the "little boat."

We went back and played in the kids room where they had lots of kids books. Once again we were the only ones there.

That night we dressed up for the formal dinner.

Our tablemates loved the kids and encouraged us to bring them with us. I asked Scott his preference and he wanted to eat with us, so we decided to try it out and drop them off if they became rowdy.

The server brought them fruit, chips with guacamole, bread, and water as soon as we arrived.

Even in his matching hat and bowtie, the server called Jonah "Scott's little sister."

Jonah didn't make it very long before we took him to childcare.

They made chef hats.

He loved playing with the toys and caregivers, but was also excited about being picked up after babysitting.

Our server had Jonah's dinner sent to the room for "her" to finish later.

He mostly only wanted fruit. Shocker.