Just a Mustang Bullitt

Trippin

Kirk had a work/pleasure fishing trip planned for mid-September. I decided to get out of town too and visit my family and friends back in Missouri. I planned to make several stops to allow me to stretch and prevent drowsiness and help the boys not get too cranky. We made it to Indianapolis and went to the Children's Museum there.


After a few minutes of playing we got back in the van and pushed on. I was definitely ready to get out of the car after the 12 hour drive. Bruce had his first lesson on riding his bike from Uncle Dan. It was fantastic and he even got to keep the bike!


I had planned a few projects while visiting with the wonderful R family. We made dishwasher soap (I don't plan to make it again, I'm not impressed with its cleaning ability), fondant (I've never made it before so thanks Lisa for your skilled tutelage), tortillas following this recipe (yummy, but more work than I want to do every time ya know?), and a wreath. We had a great time!
Bruce had so much fun playing with his buddy Tyler!

Pre-School

Bruce started pre-school and is doing great! He loves it. Each week they paint, go to chapel for a bible lesson, they are learning their numbers and letters. I am so impressed with his capacity to adapt and learn. His first day he couldn't write his name on his paper. The teacher wrote on his paper to start practicing that and immediately we went to work on it. He picked it up so quickly.

Brotherly Interactions

Aww, what a cute little scene. My heart softens when I see my boys getting along.

Then there are times when playing turns to rough housing and that turns to angrily pushing.

Nine stitches later...

Boys Love Them Birds

It started when our friend Kevin visited and the boys (Kirk, Kevin, and Bruce) huddled around Kevin's phone to knock down those darn pigs. Then, thanks to a pc app download it is currently on Kirk's computer. Everyone enjoys playing it! I was reading a magazine and saw that it was coming to a board game version. As soon as it came out we got it. I'm amazed that the boys have some amazing skills in launching those angry birds. Henry is saying more words, but his way to communicate that he wants to play Angry Birds sounds more like hocking a loogie, but that's his piggy sound. He asks daily. His progression of loading his bird in the catapult, every time....

Load Bird

Turn, Turn

Turn

Ready to Launch (and does surprisingly well)

Popular exclamations while playing are "Launch It!" and "Go!"

Utah

We took a flight from Seattle to Salt Lake City after getting off the cruise. It was a great opportunity to visit some friends we've been dying to meet! lol One day we went to the Logan Zoo. We visited a few other couples we gamed with, it was fun!


Hanging out with the Satterthwaites was the best. We spent so much time chatting and gaming with them that meeting them didn't uncover anything surprising. Thank goodness for that! One night we went to a brazilian grill. I loved being able to sample so many differently cooked meats.
Before we had to go we walked around Temple Square and made a speedy stop at Sweet's Candy so I could get some chocolate covered cinnamon bears.

Prince Rupert

Here we boarded a 20 person boat and spent several hours searching the area for wildlife. We were rewarded to see a pod of orcas, several seals lounging on some rocks, and a bald eagle. The boys did well considering I didn't bring much for them to do. As we trailed alongside several orcas swimming along the surface a handful more showed up on the opposite side. These were close enough to see the white along their head. Just amazing!

Skagway

In Skagway we boarded a train that took us along the White Pass and Yukon Route. This line was the result of men's need for an easier way to get to the Klondike during the gold rush.

It was eye opening to see the remains of the treacherous trail that wound through the hills. In some parts the path narrowed to just a few feet and was boarded on one side by a hill and dropped hundreds of feet down on the other. All risked for the chance of gold.

The North West Mounted Police were posted at the summit of the pass and required everyone had an adequate year's supply. This meant an actual ton of goods and several trips to move the required amount of supplies through the pass.

Sawyer Glacier

At first I didn't understand the attraction of our surroundings as we sailed to Sawyer glacier, but once I was on deck I was amazed at the waterfalls, iceberg chunks littering the water, and occasional seal sightings! Our ship got as close as we could to the glacier then turned right around. What maneuverability! Did I just spell that correctly the first time?

This little guy appeared very close to our side and tread water on the surface for several seconds before disappearing in the water. Any wildlife sitings brought forth Giddy Ginny. I couldn't help get excited! During the course of our cruise, from our moving ship, I did manage to see a few flukes and dorsal ridges belonging to unknown species of whale. Still fun to see though!

Juneau

Juneau's adventures included a drive through town to the Mendenhall Glacier visitor center though we bypassed the center in favor of walking to Nugget Falls and the glacier. It is an estimated 45 minute walk round trip and we had about 45 minutes there till we were to be whisked to a hatchery tour. Children and our touristy sight seeing ways caused us to be in a rush to get back to our bus, but we made it.

The salmon run at the hatchery was completely filled with fat salmon fighting their way up. We enjoyed touch tanks (sea star, hermit crab, and sea cucumber) and aquarium. Click here for a live view!

After that we were transported to a salmon bake. It was all the fresh grilled salmon we could eat along with a campfire to roast marshmallows and a trail ending at a waterfall and abandoned mine.

Ketchikan

This Alaskan cruise felt different in that the entire cruise up through Alaska was spent with land views. The whole first day at sea we were struggling with Henry's shoes falling off. The velcro kept undoing. Thankfully the first building you come to when disembarking in Ketchikan was a store that sold shoes! Equipped with new shoes we were ready to explore the town.
Henry kept trying to feed this small totem a rock. Below is a picture of the boys and a totem in the visitor's center.
We didn't book any excursions, but knew there was a lumberjack show that we could see if we wanted to. And on getting it recommended to us by the store associate where we bought the shoes we decided to go. It was amazing watching them swing away with their axes so quickly. It was a good show.