Bloggings, Travel

First Day At Sea

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Today we gained another hour to be on Alaska time. I was up super early but Lucas slept until almost 6 local time. I had ordered coffee, tea, and apple juice the night before so that was fun to have on our balcony.

Then we met up with my parents and Estelle for breakfast in the buffet. Lucas ate 3 hard hard-boiled egg whites, along with other things. After breakfast we walked around. Lucas and I looked at the mini golf. It was a very small area. We also tried to find whales.

Around 9 am Lucas decided to try the kids club. He went right in. They gave me a pager to contact me if needed. While he was there, Don and I sat at the back of the ship for a bit. Then we met up with the family. We saw an orca pod. Then it started to rain so we went back to our room to get rain jackets.

Next, we went up to deck 17, everyone was there except Estelle. Right when I got up there, we could see a humpback whale.

I picked up Lucas around 11. He said he had fun. They did some crafts and had a dance party. He also mentioned he saw some whales. We got some pizza for lunch. It was really good. Princess does have great pizza!

After lunch Lucas and I went to the pool. It was about 60 degrees outside, but the pools were heated. It felt ok, but the hot tubs were better. Once Don came, I met my dad and sister in one of the hot tubs. Eventually Lucas and Don joined us also.

After the pool I got cleaned up and met my mom and sister for high tea. It was nice to hang out with just them. We had some good conversations and good tea.

We had dinner in the dining room again. Lucas had a cheeseburger, fries, and veggies. He also ordered the Baked Alaska for dessert even though it wasn’t on the menu. I had a Caesar salad and halibut, Don had beef. After dinner the chef came over and talked to us because somehow he found out he is from the same village in the Philippines as Estelle. He told us to meet here at 10 am Friday for a tour of the kitchen. He is also making us Filipino dishes to go with our dinners every night. He also asked if we were celebrating anything on this cruise and it looks like he wants to make a celebration for us on Friday. We told him it was just a family trip but he kept asking, so we mentioned there are a lot of summer birthdays in the family and our wedding anniversary is coming up.

After dinner we went to the rock opera show. Kelsey asked if I wanted to have some wine after Adeline was asleep, so I skipped out on the show and met her down at my room. Shortly after Don and Lucas were back. He said he was tired. My parents and Estelle watched the rest of the show.

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Heading to Alaska

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Today we woke up around 6:45 and we packed to get ready to leave on the Princess Discovery.

We had breakfast again downstairs at the market. We also had some cherries that Don and his mom had brought back from when they visited with family yesterday. They also brought back some cheesecake, so we all worked on finishing that.

Then we made our way to the port. We had to take 3 different ubers. Getting through security was not too bad. Once inside we went to deck 5 to get some sandwiches. Then we went up to deck 17 so Lucas could check out the kid’s club. After that we met up with Estelle and found our muster stations.

Finally, around 2 we made it to the pool. The pool was nice and warm. It wasn’t crowded at all. My parents met up with us and then Kelsey for a bit. Then we came back to our balcony to see the ship take off. Lucas put on a movie and relaxed.

Before dinner Don met with his mom and Lucas and I hung out. We got ice cream cones and put magnets on our doors. We wanted to surprise our family with the Alaska themed magnets I got for everyone.

We ate dinner in the Juneau Dining Room. Lucas had chicken noodle soup, Mac and cheese and fries. Don had French onion soup and salmon. I had potato soup and cod. For dessert, most of us had cheesecake. Lucas had Baked Alaska.

After dinner we went with Estelle to the comedy/magic show. It was OK. After the show we got in an elevator with just one other man and Lucas said “this elevator is nice, it’s not busy at all, usually I am just stuck in the corner” 😂

Then we came back to the room, and we saw at least one whale /orca from our balcony! It was so beautiful outside. The views are already incredible on this cruise.

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The Space Needle & Chihuly Garden and Glass

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I slept so good last night, but Lucas was up at 4:40. No surprise since that’s 6:40 Chicago time. He has a strong internal clock. Don’s mom was up at this time putting curlers in her hair. I was not thrilled.

We got breakfast downstairs at the hotel. It was ok. Then everyone hung out in our room for awhile before we took the monorail to the space needle. The space needle was pretty awesome. The views were great. We saw the revolving glass floor. Lucas really liked that.

Then we walked thru the Chihuly Garden and Glass. The glass was super pretty and incredible. After that we went to the Seattle Bites Festival. There were a bunch of food vendors. Lucas and Don had a corn dog. Estelle and I had chicken sandwiches. My parents found a cool event center that had restaurants. We all met up there.

Then Don and Estelle went back to the hotel and we went to check out the park with my parents. Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline went for a walk to try to get a nap for Adeline. There was a huge climbing thing with a couple slides. Then there was this activity where kids got in blown up balls and out in this little pool to play like bumper cars kind of. They looked like hamsters rolling around. Lucas wanted to do it but right when the guy filled up the ball he wanted to get out. So he gave us a voucher to do the trampoline thing. Lucas really liked that. Lucas was very tired, so we took the monorail back. My parents went to the Pike Place Market. Lucas and I relaxed in the room. Don and Estelle were picked up by one of their relatives. They went to look at some sights at a park outside the city. Then they went to dinner at a casino.

Lucas ended up taking a nap and he did not want to get up. I made him get up around 5, otherwise he would have just kept sleeping! But we can’t have him waking up at 4:30 again!

We decided to order some pizzas and we ate them in Kelsey and Jared’s room with mom and dad. After that Lucas and I came back to our room. He watched the Halloween Curious George movie. Then he read a few books before bed. He’s getting so good at sounding out words! It’s 8:30 and he just fell asleep. Here’s to sleeping in a bit more tomorrow!

Bloggings, Travel

On Our Way To Seattle

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We woke up around 5 am for the trip we have been waiting for, the Alaskan Cruise. I drove my parent’s car to the airport. It wasn’t too bad, even though their new jeep is huge. Our usual exit for the Kennedy was closed so we had to use a different route.

Getting thru security was fast and we got breakfast at the food court. We made our way to the gate and got a good spot where we could watch planes. Our flight was on time, and we were ready for a good trip.

Kelsey and Jared’s flight was delayed by 2 hours. They made it to Seattle a little before us.

Seattle Airport was a little crazy with construction. We got a taxi van to our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. We are on the 30th floor with a very nice view of Pike Place Market, the water, and the Ferris wheel.

Once we got settled in, we went to get some lunch. We settled on Yard House. It was OK. We met up with Kelsey, Jared and Adeline in Pike Place Market. The market was pretty cool. We saw the first Starbucks and walked around. Lucas was extremely tired with no nap and the 2 hour time gain. With traveling we were all a bit tired so we went back to our rooms.

We relaxed and Don’s mom got here around 6:30. Her and Don went out while Lucas and I stayed in and went to the Market on the 2nd floor. Lucas got some Mac and cheese and I got chicken fingers. We had a nice little dinner at our table overlooking the city. Then we read some books and Lucas fell asleep at 8.

Bloggings, Family, Travel

Last Day in Mexico

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We woke up around 7 this morning and finished last minute packing. Then we went to the Italian restaurant for the breakfast buffet again. It was good and so much better than the other buffet.

After breakfast Lucas and I walked around with my parents. We walked to the marina, and we looked at the iguanas and the dolphins. It was crazy windy!

It was about 9:20 and we decided to go back to the rooms to get our bags and check out. Don, Lucas, and I loaded into the elevator with our bags. We thought we had pressed down but the elevator went up to 5. When it opened a family with a stroller was there, but they couldn’t fit on. When the doors closed the elevator dropped a bit and then it stopped and said, “out of service”. Lucas was immediately scared. I immediately panicked. The elevator was super small and hot. I pressed the alarm button over and over. I had no cell or wifi service. Don was able to call the front desk, and they said they would send someone. It seemed like forever, but it was probably under 10 minutes. Lucas and I were laying on the alarm button. We heard some workers outside and they opened the door. The elevator was stuck below the 5th floor but above the 4th floor. I lifted Lucas out and some bags. Then I got out and finally Don. We had to carry our bags down from the 5th floor. What a way to end the trip!

When we got to the lobby we checked out. Check out was way faster than checking in. Then I went straight to the bar to get a beer. I was going to take advantage of the all inclusive until the last minute, especially after the elevator situation.

Our airport transfer from USA Transfers was 10 minutes early, which was nice. They were great. Getting thru security wasn’t that bad in the Cancun airport but it was super crowded and there’s nowhere to sit really unless you get lucky.

Now we are on our flight home and the pilot said it will be a smooth flight for the first couple hours then it will be turbulent so I’m a little nervous. Lucas was asleep before the flight even took off. He slept for almost 2 hours.

The flight was fine. The turbulence wasn’t bad at all. We got back around 8 pm, had some Jimmy John’s and got ready for bed. While falling asleep Lucas asked me, “how much longer until our next vacation?”

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