For Christmas this year my parents so generously gave each of their children and their spouses a cruise through the inner passage of Alaska. The date was set for July 31-August 7 and we have been looking forward to it ever since. Melissa (my fabulous niece) took on the challenge of babysitting my little ones and she did a marvelous, marvelous job. Not one single glitch with taking care of a diabetic child-you go girl. My kids hardly missed me. It was so much fun to get together with all my brothers and sisters and actually spend time chatting and hanging out without a child always "needing" something. The food on demand was a dream come true and is still something I wish for on a daily basis. Oh, and if any of you were wondering about my pregnancy dilemma...there was no dilemma! I was so worried about not making it on the ship, I almost made myself sick, but no one said a single word to me. What a waste of worry. I guess all the fanfare is just to scare everyone away. 24 weeks shmeeks. I look it right! Not even.
Our itinerary included a stop in Junea, and Skagway, a jaunt up Tracy Arms fjord to see Sawyer glacier, some great whale watching, and a stop in Ketchikan. We were suppose to stop in Victoria for a 4 hour stint, but due to high winds we were marooned in the harbor-bummer. Oh well the company and the rest of the trip made it no big deal.
Now for the pictures! Hopefully not to boring and pretty self explanatory. Enjoy.
In front of the back of our "Golden Princess"
The tram we rode in Junea with our Cruise ship below
View of Junea from the top of the tram
This is as close as we could get to Mendenhall glacier and the raging waterfall
Mendenhall glacier in the back
One of the nights we braved the cold to watch a movie under the stars...I actually bailed in the end because the chair was too hard for me and I was freezing! I blame my whimpiness on pregnancy.
View from the train ride we took in Skagway
Our train in Skagway 
As we were leaving Skagway we were treated to a beautiful sunset a hanging glacier and a drag race down the fjord with another cruise ship...how cool is that? 
Just taking it all in
Most of the gang checking out the unforgettable scenery
My sisters and me spending time together-whale watching
Tracy Arm Fjord and Sawyer glacier-because of fires in the Yukon, the air was a bit hazy, but the weather was great otherwise. I thought the little chunks of icebergs were so cool.
It was a little bit chilly and early this fine morning, but we wandered the decks for hours watching the fjord go by. We even did a little sunbathing, Alaskan style
Check out that great looking family
One of our formal dinners-hours of eating without needy children...Bliss
My lumberjack friend.He made this cute chair in the lumberjack show and after wards I talked him into giving it to my future little one. The show was really fun
This is what we spent a lot of time doing in Ketchikan-looking over bridges and the waters edge at the trillions of Salmon spawning. You could almost walk across the river on their backs. It was rather intriguing 
One last look at Ketchikan-BREATHTAKING
This is our picture of Victoria. We were standing here watching the little rescue boat head in for paperwork or something, and we were wishing we could sneak on. Oh well, incentive for us to take a road trip with the kids for sure
All the siblings saying our good byes. I can't believe it is over. It went by so so quickly and we had so much fun. Thanks so much to Mom and Dad for the awesome trip that we will never ever forget. We are so lucky to have such a great family
Home to my cute little ones! They proudly wore their Alaskan t-shirts and puppets for me and they were very excited to tell me about their adventures with Melissa! Hey Josie...Cow's Love?? Cookies!!!
