Neato-Ba-Sneato But Boring = Our Life

So I thought that I would give an update on what’s been going on in our lives – besides vacation – but then when I started writing it all down I discovered that we are kind of boring. Still, the blog must go on!

After much fasting and lots of prayers Luke got into graduate school! (Which is a good thing because Luke was going stir-crazy with nothing to keep him occupied other than dealing with the apartment complex.)

He will be earning his MBA in Healthcare Administration. He is pretty excited about the whole thing. This is a great way for him to move towards his ultimate job as a VP of Facilities and Construction at a hospital.

The program is brand-new and is made up of a cohort of 30 students and is only offered once a year. Portland State University and Oregon Health Science University have teamed up together to team-teach (someone in healthcare and someone in business) almost every class.

At the end of September we went to the zoo (yes, again) when my brother Alex and his friends came up for a Portland adventure. We had lots of fun! A new exhibit called Predators of the Serengeti had just opened ten days before, and it was really cool to see the new animals in their brand-new exhibits.

*Luke fed the lorikeets*

*Aslynn rode a hippo*

*And a camel*

In more boring news: I cut my hair. I had pretty much the same hairstyle since my sophomore year of high school – it was time for something different.

*Sad, depressing BEFORE picture (you know, like the ones in the magazines?)*

The stylist put my hair in two ponytails (I’ve got thick hair) and chopped them off; they were both long enough to donate to Locks of Love, so I did just that.

*Happier AFTER picture*

My hair is short enough and light enough now that I can curl it and the curls won’t go completely flat until the next day. I can die happy.

Aslynn is growing like a weed.

*Playing with Grandma. Notice the bear crawl - it is the only way she crawls now.*

*I had to get a picture of her awesome bed-head.*

Today she is exactly nine months old.

*This purple dress used to be mine!*

She can stand up by herself now without holding onto anything. We’re working on walking – the record now stands at three consecutive steps without holding on to mom or dad’s hand. I am hoping that she will be walking by Halloween but we'll see how that goes. She's much too independent to walk when we want her to - she'll do it when it is most beneficial to her wants and needs.

*Standing by herself and reaching for the camera. That's baby talent!*

She eats anything and everything (except garden vegetable baby food - she hates that kind). She expects everyone to share what they are eating with her. She knows that when you share, you take turns. The big person gets a taste then Aslynn gets a taste; if the big person takes two tastes in a row, Z screams bloody murder and hits the big person on the leg to get their attention and remind them to take turns the right way.

*Her first time eating a popsicle and experiencing the coldness. She makes the best faces!*

She LOVES her books! She knows exactly where they are on the shelf and she pulls all of them out and reads them by herself, outloud in her best baby voice complete with gasps and squeals of delight at each turn of the page. Her favorites are her Gossie and Gertie books, Jamberry, Olivia and Mr. Brown Can Moo. Her favorite bedtime story that we try to read every night is Animal Kisses.

A week before we left on the cruise Luke and I were at our wits end; Aslynn had been waking up as many as six times a night! We decided that we were going to be mean and put her on a sleep schedule (because we had just been letting her go to bed whenever she got cranky enough to be put to sleep, which was around 10:30 or 11 p.m.) Her new bedtime would be 9:30 p.m.

*"Haha! You can't kiss me mom!"*

We planned to put her in her bed and let her cry herself to sleep. The first night we tried it, do you know what that little turd did? She went straight to sleep without crying. So much for our mean parent’s reputation!

The schedule’s been going pretty well. She takes her naps at the same times each day and goes to bed on time. She only wakes up once a night (knock on wood) to eat for a whole five minutes and then goes back to sleep. She wakes up in the morning around 7:30 or 8. Life is good and we’re all getting much needed rest.

*Doesn't that look comfortable? NOT!*

Part Five: Going Home & Being Bored, Etc.

Our final stop before heading back to Seattle was in Prince Rupert, British Colombia in Canada. There is no photo evidence of Prince Rupert because, really, it wasn’t even worth getting off the ship to walk around in the drizzling rain to see. There just isn’t much there that is interesting and worthwhile, just lots of gift shops with the same ol' stuff in them that I'd been seeing other gift shops the whole trip – but that’s just my opinion.

*Towel Elephant.*

If I were being really honest with you I would tell you this: Cruises are fun, but if you don’t drink, gamble or have oodles and bunches of money to spend on random stuff that you don’t really need, then there really isn’t much to do on the ship. We were bored for a good part of the time just because there wasn’t a whole lot of exciting activities that we could participate in.

There were some – don’t get me wrong – there just wasn’t a wide variety. We went to the shows that were put on each night by different performers.

We ate at different restaurants (but then again, some of those had a cover charge).

*Aslynn fell asleep one night while we were all at dinner. This was – and still is – the only time that she has ever fallen asleep in a public place. You see, our daughter is very social; she likes to flirt and see what’s going on. I think that she stays awake because she is scared that she is going to miss something important. She must have been REALLY tired to have fallen asleep like this. First she was on the table and then we found a tray that hooked up to the high chair so we moved her there. She slept almost all the way through dinner.*

Luke and Alex went to the arcade (money again…).

We ordered room service and discovered that the best cheesecake to be found on the ship could be delivered to our room. (No money spent!)

We took naps.

We walked around the ship investigating all the interesting rooms and places to hang out.

*On one of the horses in the Carousel Bar and Lounge. She wanted to order a drink – virgin, of course – but something distracted her. Oh yeah, it was ME…because I got the real goods. (Too much? I was going for funny and too much information at the same time and I think it all came out as me trying too hard to make it funny. I’m leaving it though because…)*

We could walk out on the deck or sit on a cushion by a window and look out at the sights of Alaska.

But most of the time we were in our cabin watching the series Bones and different movies on television.

NCL does have good movies to play over and over again, recent ones even. We watched Angels and Demons at least three times – never the whole thing at one time though. We watched the Proposal at least five times – at least twice all the way through. Luke and I were never together at the same time when Star Trek was playing so we didn’t watch that because we wanted to watch it together. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past we saw twice – and I wouldn’t recommend it because it was kind of a let-down considering the good actors who were in it.

When we docked in Seattle and got off the ship it was kind of weird to be living on land again. The next day in sacrament meeting at church Luke randomly commented, “And the ship is a rollin’,” because at times it felt like we were still on the ship.

After we docked, my dad, Alex, Z, Luke and I decided that since we were in Seattle we might as well go to Pike’s Place because Luke and Aslynn had never been there before. It was fun to go to again! Every time I go there I always want to buy one of the GINORMOUS bouquets that they have there because they are so cheap but I never do because I think that the flowers will die before I can get them home.

Moral of this five part story: WE HAD A GREAT TRIP! It was lots of fun! We loved being able to spend time with our family and be able to share all these unique memories with them. THANK YOU mom and dad for inviting us! WE LOVE YOU!

Part Four: Skagway & the Yucon

When we got up to Skagway my parents rented two cars and we all drove up to the Yukon, mainly just to say that we’ve been there.

*Waterfalls.*


*These are the rock men that people build to mark and protect the trails. They are supposed to have arms and legs not just be a huge tower but at the time when Luke was building his, he didn’t know that.*

*Sand dunes in the middle of the Yukon.*

*Emerald Lake.*

*Caribou outside the town of Carcross (a word made of up the word caribou and crossing). Luke jumped out of the truck and chased them to get this picture. There were two of them but the other one was shy.*

*Bove Island.*

*Going in the opposite direction of the Yukon.*

Part Three: Juno & Glaciers

*Waterfall and a lime green Gremlin.*

In Juno Luke, my grandma, Alex, Aslynn and I went up the tram to the top of a Mount Roberts. On the way down our tram conductor was quite chatty and told us how he was married to a Miss Alaska and how their oldest daughter was a Gerber baby model. (I think that he was just feeling threatened by our daughter’s cuteness. ;) ) He also told us about how he often has dinner with the ex-governor Palin. He told us some people are paying $30,000 to have dinner with he; he doesn’t pay a dime because his Miss Alaska wife works for Palin. The climax of his monologue was that Palin wasn’t that impressive and he could do without her.

*View from the tram.*

*Aslynn staying warm.*

Later, my parents rented a huge van and we all went adventuring to Mindenhall Glacier.

*Distant Mindenhall Glacier and a Wal-Mart. Juno just got a Costco, which is very exciting for the locals. The whole city is 15 miles long and very spaced out.*

*Family pictures with no cooperation.*

*Glacier.*

Luke wanted to touch some of the glacial ice floating in the lake. He got his wish after he ran down through mud and muck to a distant bank of the lake and fished some out.

The ice was interesting because it was like a million shattered pieces stuck together. You could hold it in your hand and mold it and move it, but it was still frozen at the same time. It was weird!

My brother, Alex, had a goal to jump into the ocean. In Juno he got the chance.

*He is going to kill me for putting this on here. Muahahaha!*

*Z got tuckered out. Notice her pinky? She’s such a lady.*

In Juno we watched as a middle-aged couple learned a valuable lesson - if you are told that you need to be back on the ship at 3:30 PM because the ship will leave at 4:00 PM, don't show up at 4:00 and then expect to get on the ship because it is already pulling away from the dock. We watched the couple show up late and then sadly wave to the ship as it left them in Juno.

The ship took a jaunt up to Sawyer Glacier after leaving Juno. Luke was upset because the ship had to turn around before we got a good view because there was too much ice.

*The Coast Guard followed beside us as we left Juno. The guy in the front has a big gun. They kept making 180 degree turns while going really fast and the gun guy had to hold on for dear life.*

*Glacier.*


*Glacier.*

*Waterfalls. There are a lot of them in Alaska.*

Part Two: Whale Watching

I was dying to see whales because – HELLO! – we are in ALASKA where there are supposed to be whales aplenty. Last time I was in Alaska I went on a whale watching tour and saw humpback whales; this time I wanted to see orcas.

*Sunset*

If you didn’t know, my dad is like a whale whisperer; he can find whales like nobody’s business. He offered his expertise to find me some orcas and I accepted. My dad, Alex, Luke and I went up on the top deck at the back of the ship (that’s the best place to see whales because the ship’s propellers churn up lots of whale food) where practically no one else was – because it was freezing – and tried to find whales.

*Sunset*

Boy-howdy did he find me orcas! SEVEN of them and one of those was a BABY! I was so pumped! I wanted to savor the experience and keep it to myself so I didn’t take any pictures (aka: I was too excited to take pictures and they were kind of far away for my puny little camera to get a good picture of them).

*Can you believe I used to beat him up? Look at us now! Sibling kindness and getting along-ness.*

After the orcas swam away some humpbacks showed up. They were making bubble nets (if you don't know what that means, Google it) and coming up through the middle to eat. It was cool to see in person, instead of just on the Discovery Channel. There were lots of birds circling around the spot hoping to nab some leftovers.

Luke had the camera at this point because I was a whale-picture-taking-failure. He ran to the front of the ship and then ran all the way back.

Whales are tricky creatures to photograph; that’s why there are no pictures of the amazing diving with fluke (tail) moments - or any good pictures for that matter.

*There's humpbacks out there, I swear. See the water "pfft" things?*