Alaska Top Ten

I's time for my Alaska update--and I've decided to do it in top ten format. There were a lot more than 10 things that I loved, so I've tried to include little mentions....

10. The Promenade: Deck 3 was the one that went all the way around the ship. And I loved it b/c it was kinda old school so it reminded me of the Titanic (one of my all time fave movies). Almost every day, I went for a walk and enjoyed the weather & scenery. Plus, it was cool b/c w/the rocking of the boat, there was an automatic uphill/downhill which provided a great workout!

This is what it looked like just walking through the doors onto the deck...

9. The Food: I wasn't expecting the food to be awesome--but there were some really delicious things!! Breakfast was my fave meal so I snapped a picture...look at all of Jeff's cereal boxes!

I call this picture "ugly t-shirt day." Jeff said he got this t-shirt at a garage sale like 5 years ago for 50 cents!!!! hahaha and I am still perplexed that he just up and decided that this would be one of the few shirts he would bring on vacation! This is also one of the 2 pictures I have of Kyle so I had to get him in here somehow...

This was my b-day lunch. Delicious Burger and fries and WOW the best mojito ever!!

Pop's fruit.....I like taking pictures of other people's food too.

This was the best thing I ate on the whole cruise: cold cherry soup!

8. Naps: This was such a relaxing cruise--we had lots of times for afternoon naps! Plus there were lots of awesome movies playing (Juno, Top Gun, Gone w/the Wind, Forrest Gump). I loved sharing a cabin w/Lindsey! And we were both sick and taking seasickness drugs together--which allowed for even more naps!

The first morning, Lance showed up and handed off the Chub so we snuggled with him before breakfast.


7. The Ship: We sailed on the MS Oosterdam, Holland America line. I've been on a cruise before, on a scary Spanish cruise ship through the Mediterranean. This was such a different experience!!!

Waving goodbye to our fans as we set sail....

One of my fave parts of the ship--just some random seats in one of the hallways...the ship was like a really classy version of Vegas--they didn't miss a detail!
This was truly my favorite thing about the ship--Northern Lights--the dance club! If you can't tell, the fabric on the seats is covered in glitter!!

6. Chubs: He's pretty much the perfect baby! He didn't even cry once!!! Even in the pouring rain when we wrapped the stroller in a poncho--I would peek in and he would STILL be smiling!
This moment made me laugh b/c he barely sits up by himself--but here his just thinking he's one of the big people...

The stroller poncho--see! Totally smiling!
This is prob my fave pic of him of all time...even though it doesn't quite capture how beautiful he is in real life. :)

5. My Birthday: On Tuesday, May 13, I turned 29! It was a nice, relaxing, happy day. All the girls went to the spa for some treatments--which were amazing!

This is my birthday lunch. Me in all my 29 glory!

And then for dinner, my fam presented me w/a cake, or actually the waiters did. Then they sang happy birthday in like 3 languages. And then I was given this amazing birthday hat! :)

4. Night life: Being a complete night owl, I've always felt like around 10pm is when the magic begins to happen....and there was no exception on the ship! We played card games, ping pong, did puzzles, and hit the dance club till the wee hours of the morning! Hill talks a little more about this on her blog so check it out of you wanna....

L & A in Northern Lights the last night....we stayed up til like 2:30 b/c we just didn't want it all to end! :)

3. Formal nights: I love dressing up! So every night for dinner it was time to dress up! But there were 2 nights in particular where we were all dressed to the nines. This is the first night--no in-laws here b/c they either didn't bring appropriate attire and were turned away at the door, or were just to sick to attend.

The original 7 plus Chubs...

5 siblings--youngest to oldest from left to right (Lindsey, Ally, Jeff, moi & Hill). This is prob my fave pic from the trip. We don't really have a pic like this as adults--probably b/c we've never all been there for any of the weddings.

Then these last 3 are formal night #2....

Lance did decide to show up for formal night #2--after it was all over. And he brought his best friend. I told him I am going to take pictures of him now whenever he has his computer out in weird places...

2. The Weather: Hill summed it all up when she said, as we were landing in Seattle, "Can you imagine how amazing it would be to live in a city w/cloud cover 100% of the time!?" Almost all of us were ecstatic to experience the Alaska cold! It was rainy and beautiful and chilly and I LOVED IT! It was great to escape the desert for a week!

Juneau weather....completely poured rain the entire time!
The Hubbard Glacier--biggest in the world. Actually this first pic isn't--but the next pic is. This was a SERIOUS Titanic moment. Not only were there huge floating pieces of ice, but the ship stopped so we could view it and it was super eerie and quiet. Amazing!

This one is the weather in Sitka: also complete downnpour the whole time! :)
Ketchikan weather: cloudy and cold...

1. Family time: Cheesy maybe for this to be my #1, but still true. This would've been such a boring cruise if I had not been w/the people I love most! The cruise was a perfect medium for our vacations so I hope we do them lots in the future!

Family time in Juneau...

Family time in Sitka...

Family time during a special dessert bar...

Family time in Ketchikan (with a random stranger)...

Family time in Seattle on the Underground tour...

I should also mention that Alaska was my 44th state to visit. I only have the Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin & Arkansas left. :) (And I'm not sure if I need to go to the others--obviously there's a reason I haven't been to them yet, right?)

Thanks for reading this longest top ten of all time! The trip was amazing and I'm so glad I got to go!!!