Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a good visit with mom and Haydn for Thanksgiving! We went down to Lesa and Colin's for the actual holiday, and back and forth to each other's houses several times during the week. It went by very quickly. We didn't do much besides let the boys play, eat, and a little holiday shopping.

I didn't take many pictures, although we did do a couple photos of Haydn and Jack in their holiday finest. Haydn doesn't love getting her picture taken.

Over the weekend, we put up all our Christmas decorations. I did inside Friday and finished up outside today. Jack was a big helper.  The pictures of outside lights didn't come out very well, but at least they are up.

Fall Fun

Well, the costume is ready to go. I think it turned out pretty well...I'll make you wait until Halloween to actually see him in it :)

 On Saturday, it rained all day. We tried to go and do a little shopping but had to have our umbrellas and coats ready to go from store to store. Sunday, on the other hand, was just beautiful so we went to the Farm at Swan's Trail, which has a pumpkin patch, slides and bouncy things, hay mazes, slides, a petting zoo, food, and all sorts of fun. We liked the hay slides sitting on the burlap bags.

 Jack really liked jumping into the hay pits. My knees didn't appreciate it nearly as well.

 There was another fun slide in the hay maze barn.

 They also had a big corn bin the kids could jump around in. We were picking corn out of his clothes... and ears...and pockets...and hood all day long.

 He had to do the slide a few times...

 The cow swings were fun too...

 But his favorite was the giant bouncy "pillow."

 They also had a fun cow train.

 And, we had to buy another pumpkin even though we already bought 4 of 5 of them.  Jack took forever to pick out the perfect one. He wanted a small one he could carry.

Fun at the Evergreen State Fair

Last weekend, we visited the fair. Jack had a great time. They were choosing kids from the audience to wave the flags at the animal races, and Jack really wanted to be picked. He was getting really upset that he wasn't picked the first 8 times, and I was afraid we were heading for a meltdown, but lucky for mom and dad, he was chosen in the last round. He did a great job!

 We wandered around looking at all the fun things and wandering through the hay maze. Jack liked the carnival games (mom and dad didn't like the prices!), and he and mommy also went on the Tilt-a-whirl, the only ride he was tall enough for. Mom does not like rides at all. Jack liked it at first, but he was ready to get off long before it finished.

 Jack's two highlights of the day were the petting zoo and the car races. It's a fun petting zoo, with not only the usual goats, pigs, and sheep, but also alpacas, deer, wallaby, and cows too.

 This guy was fun, and they were all hungry!

 We didn't really go to any races. We just went to the track while the cars were doing some practice laps, but Jack didn't recognize this. He thought it was the most exciting thing all day. There were race cars and they were going fast! That's all he cared about. Mom and dad wished we had earplugs because they were sooo loud!

Alaska Cruisin'

We had a great time on our cruise overall. We've decided cruising may not be our new favorite way to vacation, but it was fun and Jack enjoyed it a lot. We arrived on board the Norweigian Jewel last Saturday.

 

 Jack did not enjoy the required safety briefing and fell asleep on daddy.

 However, as soon as that was over, he regained his excitement!

 The only day it was warm enough to swim in the pool was the first day while waiting to depart Seattle. Jack really liked the water slide (Mommy and Daddy both went on it too, but it was a bit slow!).

 On Monday, we arrived in Ketchikan, where it was a very rainy day. We had tickets to do a SeaCycle excursion, so off we went in the rain.

 The pictures aren't great, but the whole time I was very nervous I was going to drop my phone in the water! Luckily, they had hats and rain pants for us to help keep dry.

 Jack was a little nervous and scared about this in the beginning, and he didn't like all the gear he had to wear, but he was a brave boy!

 The Seacycle had a seat in the back and was perfect for three!

 We saw lots of animals, including eagles, a seal, jellyfish, star fish, and lots of birds.

 Selfie in the rain!

 Jack thought it was cool but didn't want to touch it!

 After our SeaCycle tour, we walked around town a little bit, saw the salmon coming up the creek,and did a little shopping.

 On board the ship, Jack got to meet Dora and Diego (he was excited!) and give them High Fives and hugs!

 One of Jack's favorite things on board was actually the shows at night. They had two showings, 7:15 and 9:15. It was nice that they had an early show for families. We attended every show except the Magician (there was a parental advisory on that one). Jack especially loved the acrobatics and dancing.

On Tuesday, we stopped in Juneau. It was a short stop and we didn't have an excursion booked, so we walked around town and then rode the Mt. Roberts tram to the top and hiked around a bit. 

That evening, we went to see a glacier. We ended up visiting the Dawes glacier in Endicott arm instead of the one we were originally scheduled to see. We aren't sure why the change was made, but it was cool.

 There were lots of ice chunks floating around:

Including a couple with seals on them:

 Jack liked using the "nonculars."

We weren't able to get super close in our huge cruise ship, but this smaller tour boat gives you a sense of size:

In Skagway, we did a walking tour of the historic parts of town, lead by the park service. 

 And then Jack played at the park before we headed back to the ship early.

Jack liked the towel animals each night.

And, he also got to do some fun crafts and go to a dance party with the Nicktoons:

 This was his favorite towel animal, hanging from the ceiling one night:

 He liked the cheesy mozzarella sticks.

 Mom and Dad liked the cocktails.

 Every time we sat down for dinner, he'd be out of his chair sitting right in the window wells so he could look outside.

We saw lots of dolphins, but didn't get any good pictures of them. Mike saw a Humpback whale, but Jack and I missed it.

Several times, we also dropped Jack off to play at the Kid's Club. One time, they returned not Jack but Batman to us afterwards:

 It was pretty most of the time, even if cool and overcast.

One day, Thursday, it was stormy and the boat was rocking quite a bit. Mike and I were both feeling it. Otherwise, the weather was a little cold, but not too bad.

 On our last night, we stopped in Victoria. We got off the boat just after 5pm and took a taxi downtown, intending to see the sights and get some dinner off the boat. It was a beautiful day in Victoria. However, Jack was struggling and melted down not long after we arrived. He was tired and had missed his nap, so we ended up walking around the harbor, about 40 minutes back to the boat. We got back early and ended up having dinner on the ship and going to bed early. Oh well...luckily we live pretty close to here, so maybe we can do a weekend away some time.

Then, Saturday morning we got off the boat, Lesa picked us up, we went home and did cleanup and errands for a few hours, and then dropped Jack back at Lesa's house and went to a wedding. Whew!