Since I haven't been as bloggy as I should, I'm not going to try to go day by day over the last few few weeks. Instead, we'll hit the highlights!
At the end of July, I went to a writing conference in San Francisco and Kenny and Grant came to keep me company. We stayed at Big James's house and got to visit with Jamesie, who we had really missed! It was fun although I didn't like to be in workshops all day. But I got lots of free books, including my new favorite one, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Great read.
A few days after we got back from that, it was time to turn around and begin our Alaskan cruise adventure. (See Kenny's pictures, below). We had such an awesome time. We flew into Anchorage and took a day to enjoy the city and took in a neat exhibit at the museum about one of the native Alaskan tribes. Then we drove the next day (via stretch Hummer limo), to our departure port. We stopped at a wild animal preserve along the way and saw moose, a gorgeous bald eagle, musk oxen and some other cool stuff.
The cruise was so much fun. We had a babysitter with us so Kenny and I were able to leave Grant and enjoy some activities. I didn't realize how many things we would have to choose from on days we didn't pull into port. We played in trivia contests (even won one!), saw comedians, huge dance productions, took a ballroom dance class, listened to fascinating lectures from an Alaskan naturalist who was on board, and ate ourselves silly at the 24 hour buffet and at the elegant dinners at night.
Rather than try to tell you every single thing we did, I'll just list my top ten favorite parts of the cruise:
1. Watching baby Grant dance all the way through the evening performances (he loves music!)
2. Hanging out with all of Kenny's family
3. The beautiful scenery passing by
4. Seeing a bunch of whales right off the side of the ship
5. Glacier Bay and the amazing Marjorie glacier
6. Taking an excursion the Mendenhall glacier and wandering through the national park there
7. Shopping and checking out the little towns along the way (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan)
8. Getting a massage at the spa
9. Dressing up for fancy dinner
10. Watching Kenny perform in the karaoke contest
After the cruise ended, we had a crazy day trying to get James down to Seattle to make a flight back to his dad. Ultimately, we couldn't get there in time, so he got to go on a ferry with us to our friend's home in Whidbey Island, Washington. So awesome. They have this great, comfortable old house right on the Puget Sound. It was so pretty at night with a full moon shining. James got to see a crab trap and a real live crab. After we finally got him on a plane the next day, Kenny and spent a few more days relaxing, playing cards, and watching the Olympics with his parents and Pat and John.
We got back last week on Wednesday and quickly reacclimated ourselves to the beautiful Huntington Beach weather. Kenny went back to work and then Saturday, James came back from his dad's house to live with us again. Yay! He's healthy, happy, and has a great attitude. He was eager to get to his Legos again. We had a big celebration and went bowling, had his favorite poppy seed chicken casserole for dinner, and watched Goonies as a family.
It was a great two weeks, but we're glad to be home!