Alaska Vacation: Whales

Our first excursion was a whale-watching tour in Juneau on a boat just like this one:

Jon, our naturalist, had lots of good information to share, along with a few funny jokes.  He was good.

You first spot a humpback whale by the blow -- the spray/mist of water from when the whale comes to the surface to breathe:

And then sometimes you can see the whale's back/body, and eventually the whale's tail (called a fluke) as it flips up and dives down below the water.  See it here?  Really tiny in the middle of the photo:

Coop walked around the boat and proudly announced that he had seen 27 whales.  I'm guessing the total number was about 13, but his count went up each time he looked out at the water.  The boat captain was impressed and let Coop come sit with him for a bit:

And then.  AND THEN.  We saw a pod of whales feeding, a process called bubble net feeding.  It's complicated.  Just google it for a description.

But the upshot is that there were about 13-15 whales all in one area.  It's tough to see in the photos, but they're there.

And the boat crew were all really, really pleased.  Apparently it's a rare sight.

As was the weather, by the way.  We only had one day of rain on the whole trip, and the locals were always commenting how lucky we got on the weather.

Alaska Vacation: Juneau

Our first port was Juneau:

We took a bus ride/tour through town to a whale watching excursion (see next post), and then went to the Mendenhall Glacier:

Coop and I spent most of the time climbing this rock hill by the visitor's center:

We finally walked the trail down to the glacier photo op:

Alaska Vacation: Food

The food situation on the cruise was great.  One more formal(ish) dining option, but also a mall food court-like set up with tons of different options for us who wanted to be casual (or who had a 5-year-old to appease).

One evening, there was a BBQ.  Coop dug into the ribs:

We got all gussied up for a "formal" dinner one night:

And by far the biggest hit:  dessert.  Specifically ice cream.  More specifically, chocolate.  With sprinkles:

Coop's had a rough transition back to normal eating.  Our first meal home, he finished his food and then promptly asked for candy.  Um.... no.

Alaska Vacation: On Board

Cooper and I taking a silly picture in the hallway ceiling mirror:



Watching the ocean:

In the hot tub:

(I was a little disappointed -- none of the pools were shallow enough so that Cooper could touch bottom.  So we spent far less time in the pools than I had anticipated.)

Checking out the wake:

Just being cute:

Land ho!

Alan watching the islands in Alaska's inside passageway:

The grandpas entertaining Cooper by seeing if he could catch the dollar.  He did.  And then he spent the rest of the day asking every shop owner (we were on land that day) what he could buy for $1.  Unfortunately, not much.

Mom and I did a 5K walk as part of the Race for the Cure series.  We walked 10 laps around Deck 3.

A towel puppy, courtesy of Heri, our cabin steward:

By the last day, we were climbing the walls of our little room.  Literally.

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: