Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas. Scott was up at 4:30 this morning becuase of a little kitty trying to break into the box of catnip (thanks for that present Uncle Robbie). The kids were up at 630 and the present opening commenced. Luke opened his new Playmobile snowplow first and he could care less about opening any more presents. Katie got an easle and a big bucket of art supplies and Emily (her american girl doll) got quite a few new outfits.

We had a great relaxing day. Scott and I cooked a prime rib, cake, 7-layer salad, and asparagus to take to the fire station for dinner. All-in-all it was a great day.

Maybe tomorrow I will start on our "after Christmas/New Year's" letter and hopefully get those mailed out soon.

Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Towel animals!

Towel animals are fun. I attended a demonstration on how the stewards make the animals. It was great to see them made, but would have been even better to make them...

Peacock


Monkey

Lobster

Elephant

Dog


??? not sure ?? Turtle maybe

Stingray

Day 10

September 5 & 6

Quebec City, Quebec

We have reached the end of the cruise. We will spend the day and night in Quebec City before we disembark tomorrow morning. We could tell that they are already getting ready for the passenger change. We have received our luggage tags and attended the disembarkation talk. We have to have our luggage in the hall by midnight tonight and they warned us to remember clothing for tomorrow including shoes. There have been many people who have left the ship with out shoes because they packed them all.

We were in one of the last groups to leave the ship and while sitting in our room until 10 am we had the stewards come in and scrub the bathroom and other stewards drop off wine for the next passengers in our room. It was very obvious that they were done with us and ready to get the next set of paying customers.

We are staying in a "Castle" tonight. I will post pictures as soon as Scott gets the pictures transferred off his camera. We also got upgraded so we got to hand out in the lounge of the gold floor while waiting for our room to be ready. Our room is huge! What a treat. We are headed to the train station in the morning and headed to Montreal, the first step on the way home.

Day 9

September 4, 2009

Saguenay, Quebec

We were the first cruise ship of the year to arrive in Saguenay. We took the Craftsman Road tour. We visited a sheep farm and learned how they made cheese. The sheep were very cute. We also saw lots of cows! Next we visited a soap shop, we were supposed to learn how they use essential oils to make soap... Well...it was deffinately an X-rated demonstration and the guy could write all of those "enlargement" emails we all love to get. The final stop was at a glass blowing workshop. We watched the artist make a blueberry lamp. It was very impressive. All in all, we could tell that we were the first tours of the year and that we had entered a French speaking province. English is very definatly a 2nd language.

The best part of the day was the departure from the city. We were the first cruise ship to use their new port building so there was a huge community turn-out and ceremonies all day. A ocean tugboat lead us out of the harbor with it's fire monitors shooting water.

This tug lead us out of the harbor into the Saguenay fjords.

These sheep were very cute!

Day 8

September 3, 2009

Day at sea.

Today we slept in...I think we were up by 7:00. We had planned to attend a cooking show but when we got there the line was out the door. We headed up to the crows net to get my daily sudoku puzzle and found that there was also no seating available. So, I rented a couple of videos and we spent the day in our room watching movies and relaxing.

Day 7

September 2, 2009

Charlottetown, PEI

Today is the day, the reason for taking this cruise. Our tour: Ultimate Anne of Green Gables. We boarded the bus and headed to our first stop: Silver Bush, the homestead of her cousins the Campbells. This family still owns and maintains the site as a museum and gift shop. Lucy Maud was married in this home and based her “Pat Books” on this site. This was also the site of “The Lake of Shinning Water”; in the books this is the lake that separates the Cuthberts from the Barrys (Diana’s family). I bought some souvenirs, of course, and we took a short horse and carriage ride. Next stop is Green Gables.

Lucy Maud never lived in the house that GG is based on, her grandparents (who raised her), lived across the woods from the GG homestead. The site has been transformed into the GG described in LM’s books. Complete with the haunted woods, lover’s lane, Matthews barn, and Marilla’s sewing room. The grounds were even more beautiful than I expected and there was an energy about the place that was bringing it alive. The only thing that would have made the visit better would have been more time to just lounge around and maybe read one of the books while sitting in the front lawn.

We got back to the ship and played Skip-Bo on the Lido deck (I have yet to win at this game). Dinner was in the Lido buffet and then it was off to the show. Tonight was a magic/comedy show and it was really good. Two kids from the Hal’s kid club helped with one of the tricks.

These red cliffs greeted us as we sailed into Charlottetown.

When the minerals in the soil come in contact with the air they oxidize and turn red.

Green Gables

Day 6

September 1, 2009

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Since Sydney is on the same latitude as France it was a major port of immigration from France, UK, and Ireland. We were greeted at the dock by a 3 story tall fiddle and Celtic music. We boarded our tour bus and headed off to Fort Louisburg.

After a 45 minutes drive we arrived at the very far end of the fort and were transported into the late 1700’s. Before we got off the bus we were warned that we had to talk/barter/bribe our way past the French soldier at the gate of the fort since France is at war with Britain. She also warned that anyone wearing Red (color of British soldier’s clothing) might not get in. Well, a guy in our group stepped up and said that he was a rum runner would be willing to share some of what he brought with the soldier if he would let up in. That worked and we got inside. The fort was rebuilt in the 1960s but only a ¼ of it. The houses were all brick and lined up in front of the “Kings house” or the main fortress. This is where the governor and his servants lived.

One thing that was interesting was the social hierarchy of the fort. The lowest class was the soldiers, most of whom came from France to escape a life in prison. The next step up was the servants who came over with the families they worked for.

I was walking through the courtyard of the Governor’s house. I was hanging out watching them, the pig, and the chickens. At this same time the soldiers were giving a presentation of how the guns fired and right after the shot rang out the turkeys start gobbling up a storm and staring at the sky…probably waiting for the sky to fall…it was one of the funnies things I have seen in a long time.

We walked around the fort for about 1½ hours then headed back to the ship.

Path to the Govenor's house.

Main street.

These cannons were 2 of ~20 that lined the walls of the Govenor's compound.

Day 5

August 31, 2009

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

We didn’t plan a tour today but knew that we wanted to see the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. So, off we went this morning for a 10-15 minute walk along the water front to the museum. It was very cool. There was a lot of old fishing relics and there were wonderful exhibits on both the Titanic and the 1916 Halifax explosion. Also at the museum was the set and models used in the “Theodore the tugboat” television show that was filmed in Halifax from 1993-2001 and aired on PBS. Scott enjoyed this show and there was a boat named Emily so I got a kick out of watching it occasionally also.

After the museum we continued down the water front and saw a life size replica of Theodore that was built as an educational tool for kids and also as a tourist trap, they sell harbor tours during the summer months. We had lunch at a wonderful little pub.

On our way back to the boat we stopped at the HMCS Sackville a retired navy “corvettes” that fought in the battle of the Atlantic. They were mainly used for submarine patrols. They have done a wonderful job turning it into a museum with wonderful talking exhibits at different areas of the boat. I think we both really enjoyed this stop.

We are going to watch the new Star Trek movie this afternoon in the screening room and also have a reservation for a couples massage this evening after dinner.

This is the life size version of Theodore the Tugboat.

Too bad they didn't make a lifesize version of Emily as well.

This is the CSS Sackville we toured.

Day 4

August 30, 2009

Bar Harbor, Maine

We decided to get off the boat today, especially since the weather has much improved. Bar Harbor is a very cute little town that reminds me of home. The waterfront is very tourist oriented and most of the shops had “locally owned” signs in the windows. We wandered around and did some shopping and had lunch. I am still amazed by the number of lobster pot buoys that are afloat in the harbor. They are little white floats with a colored strip on as identification; nothing like our bright orange buoy balls. We boarded the boat and had dinner in the main dining room.

The harbor was full of these lobster boats and lobster pot buoys.

This is looking up the main street.

We just happened to wander by the fire station, so of course Scott had to take a picture.

Notice how skinny the doors are, it looked like the trucks could bairly fit in.

Day 3

August 29, 2009

Boston, MA

IT WAS WET!! Tropical storm Danny caught up with us overnight and it was pouring down rain in Boston. We were signed up for the Freedom Trail tour. I remembered this tour from my trip in high school. It was great then, probably because it was not pouring down rain. This time, the tour was still good, but we ended up cutting out early to stay at Fanuial Hall instead of continuing on to see Paul Reveres house the and Old North Church. We had a really good lunch of clam chowda (no, I didn’t forget the “r”) and lobster rolls. Then it was off the New England Aquarium. They have a great penguin display as you enter the building and a very cool tank that you spiral up. There were very cute puffer fish and tiger sharks. After the aquarium we caught the shuttle back to the boat and proceeded to dry out. We had dinenr at the Italian specialty restaurant. I had the lasagna and scott had veal milanase. Both were very good. The sea state was very bad last night. No one was allowed out on deck and they even locked out verandah door. The spray from the waves reached our deck…we are on deck 5!

Did I mention that it was wet?

This clock tower was across the street from the aquarium

the clouds were really low this day.

This is a statue of Benjamin Franklin in front of the old court house.

Cruise Day 2

August 28, 2009

Newport, RI

We woke this morning to the coast of Rhode Island as we neared Newport. We sat on the verandah and commented about the “houses” that are on the coast. When I say house I really mean mansion…HUGE mansions. We also saw a couple lobster boats out pulling pots early this morning. Before lunch we sat on our balcony and watched all of the boats. There is a sailing class out front of the boat. It reminded me of a bunch of little kids, everyone was trying to make a turn around a bouy and it was just wonderful confusion. It was very fun to watch. I then visited the spa and had my nails done. Then it was off to the Asian specialty restaurant on board. Very good food! We are going to be visiting that restaurant again. The sea state was starting to increase while we were eating dinner. The weird thing was that we had 5-6 foot seas and I could hardly feel the boat rocking at all. Very different from being in the same seas on any of the work boats…the best part was that I was not trying to analyze stomach contents of a salmon while in the seas. We watched some t.v. then it was off to bed to get ready for our first shore excursion in Boston.

These are 2 of the largest houses that we saw on the way into Newport, RI.

This is the Coast Guard boat that escourted up in Newport.

Notice the guy arming the machine gun at the front of the boat.

Day 1 of Cruise

Wednesday August 26, 2009

We left Seattle bright and early this morning and flew to Minnesota. We switched planes and flew into New York. It was very cool to fly over the New York sky line. I was really surprised with how much farm land I saw as we approached New York. Then we got to the houses…and more houses…and even more houses. Then there was the Statue of Liberty. I am really excited to see it up close tomorrow and we leave on the cruise ship. We got a taxi at the airport and 30 minutes later we were at our hotel, smack dab in the middle of Time Square. On the way to the hotel we drove by the American Girl Place. I would love to take Katie there someday but this is not a place that I would want either of the kids in, they would hit sensory overload before we got out of the car. We got our bags to our room and went out to find dinner. On the way to dinner we went to the M&M store and the Hershey Factory. We saw a police man on a horse. We had dinner at Olive Garden, Yummy. We also stopped at Junior’s for Cheesecake. I saw him when he was on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown. Scott is not taking pictures of Time Square throughout hotel window while I am in bed getting ready to try and acclimate to the time change. It is 630 pm Juneau time and we really need to go to sleep. I was apprehensive about New York when we were flying in but Time Square is so geared tourists that it reminds me some of Vegas. We get to board the ship tomorrow!!!!!! I have been waiting for this for a long time. I really hope that it ends up being all that I hope it will.

Thursday August 27, 2009

We boarded the boat at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, had a little lunch, and found a spot on the deck to lounge until our room was ready. We toured the spa and the culinary art center. I am getting my nails done today and we are both going to take a cooking class on day 4. Finally it was time to cast off…while leaving New York we sailed past the Statue of Liberty. I would like to come back and visit the statue up close and also tour Ellis Island. Then it was time for dinner. We decided to try the main dining room. We both had French onion soup and caesar salads with apple streusel for dessert. We had a wonderful table, we were next to the window at the back of the boat and watched the sun set. We were both feeling the results of the time change and getting up so early in the morning so we turned in early.

Statue of Liberty

Em on the ship with the New York skyline in the background.

Scott on our stateroom balcony.

July Research Survey

I was on the F/V Chellissa during the last 2 weeks of July. I was collecting juvenile salmon and plankton samples. Here are some of the pictures from the trip...

This was the crew for the 2nd leg (Icy Strait) of the trip.

Molly, Joe, Emily, & Libby

This is me processing an adult pink salmon.

We "sample" (take out) their stomachs to see what they have been eating

This basket is the size of a normal laundry basket
and was 3/4 full of juveniles salmon...this is a BIG catch!
Next step is to sort them by species, measure their length and freeze them.

This is the crew (minus Joe...behind the camera) for the first leg of the trip

(Molly, Emily, and Alice). We are measuring fish on the electronic measuring board.

We catch a lot of jellyfish in the trawl net with the fish. We sort them by genus and toss them overboard. This is a really big Cyanea, the type that sting!

First Camping Trip

We took the kids camping for the first time. We ended up at Eagle Beach campground after looking at a couple other sites out the road. First on the agenda: tent...after bug spray of course.

We had tin foil dinners (meat & veggies wrapped in foil then cooked over coals) then went for a walk. It was a really nice night...UNTIL...the mosquitoes decided that I was dinner. I was in the tent by 8:15 and were asleep by 8:45. In the morning the mosquitoes were not much better. Luke was the only one that really didn't seem to be bothered by the bugs. We were packed up by 8:30. Notes for next time: No bugs or pick a spot that has a breeze.

July 4th

Katie, Luke, and I rode with Scott on the firetruck again in the 4th of July parade. The kids sat in one of the jump seats and handed me candy to throw to parade on-lookers. We could not have asked for better weather...except in my Juneau-ite mentality...it was TOO HOT! But at least it wasn't raining. Here are a few pictures of the fire crew waiting for the parade to start.

3rd of July activities

In a lightbulb moment...Mel and I decided that we should stay at on the of the downtown hotels the night of July 3rd and not have to drive downtown and back twice in 8 hours. We are so smart sometimes. We took the kids to dinner at the hanger then stayed at the Juneau Hotel. The weather was perfect for fireworks viewing even if the hotel parking lot was not. I ended up watching the fireworks on t.v. since 3 of the 4 kids would/could not wake up. It was a great outing with the kids!

Playing tourist

Katie has been asking to go up the tram lately, so it seemed like a great activity to do while Dad is out of town (he has no desire to go). Grandma Marsha and Grandpa Jim are in town for Katie's Fine Arts Camp recital so they and Grandma Carol joined in the fun. We walked around a bit but it was getting close to nap time for the kids and Grandpa so we headed down after about an hour.

Finally...

I have started a blog site. It all started with a phone call from Mel on Tuesday evening... "Hey, do you have any leave?"... and the rest is history. Hee Hee
So I mainly wanted a blog site so I could e-mail about the cruise that Scott and I are taking in August. But who knows, this may turn into more. We will see.