Alaska Vacation: the cruise ship

This past week, we took an Alaskan cruise vacation with Alan's folks and my folks.  All in all, I think it was a successful trip.  Prepare yourself for approximately 43 blog posts about the week.

First up, our ship.  We were on Holland America's Oosterdam ship, one in their line of "dam" ships.  Which makes me giggle.

This is the ship in port:

Our room:

A little couch-turned-bed for Cooper:

Our desk/crap collector:

Bathroom:

The hallway down to our room.  For the first several days, we looked for the balloons so we would know where to go.  We were on Deck 1 (of 10) in room 1007:

And two of my favorite parts about the ship.  The bell at the front (bow? port?  I don't know....):

And the rugs in all the elevators which kindly reminded us which day it was:

Catching up

One of Cooper's latest projects from school:

"Why doo I not hav a dog?"  Oof.  Let's talk about that later.  Like in 5-10 years.

Coop had his six-month check-up with the dentist.

He did a nice job sitting through the cleaning and x-rays.  Though Dr. Chris did tell us to go ahead and start saving for braces.  Greeeeaaaat.

Grandpa Cecil gave Cooper $20 for fireworks.  And we spent every last cent of it.

We had an ok time with the fireworks, except Cooper always forgets that he doesn't like loud noises.  So he spent part of the time in the house or with his ears covered.  He prefers smoke bombs and snakes (those ucky black tablets that you lights on fire to make them "grow").

Reading at the library:

Grandma Joan sent me a pineapple corer/slicer thing for my birthday.  This particular pineapple was a little mushy, so it didn't work perfectly, but Cooper loved drinking the pineapple juice straight from the fruit.

Trip to Lyons

Coop and I spent a couple of days last week in Lyons.  That week, every day set a record high temperature.  But Grandma Joan had thought of lots of things to do so we didn't die in the 105 degree heat.

First up, Grandma's neighbor has a trampoline in his shaded back yard.  We went there early one morning, and it wasn't too bad, temp wise.

They also had a sand pit to dig in:

Coop helped Grandma Joan make Meals on Wheels deliveries.  He got to carry the small bag of food, and he was in charge of ringing the doorbell.

We ate lunch at El Dee Grande.  Coop mostly like chips (and salt!) but he also ate most of my taco burger.

We went to the nursing home in town, which hosts an ice cream social on Friday afternoons.  Coop liked looking at their giant cage of birds:

He also collected a bunch of roly polys, both from Grandma's basement and from her yard.  He talked me into letting him take them home, so he poked holes in a box so they could breathe on the drive home.

 (They're all long dead.)


We sharpened pencils in the attendance pads at church.  (Coop tired quickly of this, so Mom and I finished the job while he explored the church balcony.)

Finally, Coop was entralled with this old school building that was damaged in the June tornado.  We drove by it multiple times.

Recent random photos

Coop's medal from his t-ball season:   

With his good friend (and fellow trouble-maker) Madeline at a Raintree sleepover:

Apparently, Miss Ann taught Cooper how to tie a shoe.  Crazy! 

Enthusiastically holding a bunny at the pet store:

With Zachary and Parker, pinning Michael to the floor:

Camping Trip

Alan and Cooper headed to the state lake tor an overnight camping trip last weekend.  Stanley (the vehicle) loaded up and ready to go:

What do you wear camping?  A witch costume, naturally.

Tent set up, fire started:

Coop spent much of the time walking around in his witch costume talking with the other campers:

Chair parked at water's edge:

The "treasures" Cooper came home with:

Projects

Coop made this adorable snowman paperdoll set with a choice of three outfits, each with matching hat: 

We found this fabulous bag of Halloween crap decorative items.  My favorite were the googly eye glasses:

Grandma Joan brought us this clock that runs on fruit.  So does Cooper, apparently:

We found a paint-your-own-T-Rex kit at a garage sale:

Turned out pretty well:

Coop's T-Rex impersonation:

College Friends (mine, not Cooper's)

My friend Thomas and his family were in Kansas recently for a wedding, so we reunited (most of) the college gang, though our parties are much different now with kiddos.

Thomas wrestling with four of the boys:



Coop and Parker in a serious game of Connect Four:

Thomas's wife Colleen and their two boys Matthew and Christopher:

Adorable "sushi" cupcakes that Karen made, complete with green felt wrapped around them ala seaweed!

Karen and her daughter Zooey:

Zooey handing out hugs as they left:

Start of Summer

We spent one Saturday up at Crown Center in Kansas City.  Cooper loves eating at Fritz's, where your food arrives by electric train car.

And we visited the new KC Aquarium, which was lovely, I thought.

Jellyfish:

Talking to a manta:

Coop's been excited about catching bugs in the yard.  We picked up a "bug barn" at a garage sale so he has a home for his critters now.  Before that, his pet roly poly lived in a tupperware container, but died after a day or two.  This was the grave stone Coop made for him.

(I haven't actually checked, but I'm guessing that yes, the dead roly poly is under that cup.)


And we picked up an Operation game, now updated for the 21st Century to include things like a cell phone and a fart bubble.  Alas, no wishbone or funny bone anymore.