Juneau, Alaska

At our Juneau stop (day 4) most of our group of 36 went on a river rafting excursion. It was a lot of fun. We went through a few rapids which was new to me and exciting! My first time river rafting. It started with a float by Mendenhall Glacier, then a 2 hour river raft. The sun poked out a little towards the end of the adventure. We saw a bunch of bald eagles on this excursion also, which was really exciting for all of us. The fresh air up in Alaska is so wonderful. I have never experienced anything like this before. I hope to go back again!!!

Here is our group going to the excursion (about 20 minutes from the ship):


Mendenhall Glacier









Chuck Norris' Summer Home

Ketchikan, Alaska

In Ketchikan, Alaska...the boys took an excursion called on the "Aleutian Ballad" featured on the "Deadliest Catch" TV show.





Paris and I went on a "Horse Drawn Trolley" tour of Ketchikan in the pouring rain. Leah, Kenzie, Logan and Brecken were with us. My boys were on a "Deadliest Catch" boat excursion and their hubby's were fly fishing. The wind broke my umbrella and it was 52 degrees....inside the trolley was ok, but once outside we were miserable. It was still gorgeous there. GREEN and so full of life! But we did here the cost of living is really high in Alaska, especially Ketchikan.

A Time to Spa

Many family members spent every day in the spa and salon being pampered :) I only went twice, but of course when I did go I brought my camera! Any time we could not find a family member we'd go look in the spa, and yes they were there!! The "Barong Spa" rocked!!

Destination: Seattle

Once we landed in Seattle our chartered bus was there for our family of 20 that flew together. We made a pit stop for the 16 that arrived a day earlier and off we went to the Pier!





View from our ship's stateroom (the space needle, how cool!!)



Girls with uncle Barry on the ship!

Our Bon Voyage Party

The Wednesday before the Alaska cruise we had a BON VOYAGE party at my grandparents :) Almost all 36 of us attended...our 2nd annual BON VOYAGE party!

I Love Family Cruising!!!!

Alaska 2008



Dress Up Night:


White Hot Night:





Glacier Cruising (see in the background between the mountains?):



This photo was taken one evening with the kids in the 2-5 year old kids program. 5 of the 13 kids in the picture are part of our group of 36 family members, they are cousins :)

Back in Arizona!

I just got back this evening from our Alaskan cruise and boy was it fun!! 36 of us :) I have TONS of pictures and video! We stopped in Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau and Prince Rupert Canada. The cruise was R/T from Seattle. Really a great "memory building" trip. Just wish my brother's family, my father and my little sister would have been able to make it. That would have brought our count to 43 passengers!! Oh well...it was still a fun trip had by all. Lots of clouds, cold weather and rain, with only 2 days of sun (which was just fine with us, we were in heaven!)!! Also it was really weird to have the sun go down at 10:30pm and up at 4:30am every day!!! This was our first time up to Alaska (but a lot of my family members have been there before) and I just LOVE IT!!!! And cruising is the way to see more, without flying and needing a hotel, and all that.

I'll upload photos tonight after I catch up on Big Brother DVR :) Can't wait to sleep in my comfy bed!!!! I will miss the room service, twice daily room cleaning/turn down service, not cooking for a week and having a spa down the hall from my balcony suite!!! Oh and the mint on my pillow nightly.... ha ha!