Update on Tiny

Sabrina is getting so big and strong! Okay, so she's now dropped to the 1st percentile in weight despite my use of cream, butter, cheese, and other delicious delicious foods, but she's sure growing up! She can now say mama, dada, grandpa, grandma, tickle, kitty, dog, uh-oh, bye bye, hi, more (usually to do with candy--just kidding mom!), and milk. And monkey. And probably some others. I'll keep you updated, because I know you care.

Sabrina is also imitating a lot right now. She will take a stuffed animal and a blanket or towel, usually that she has pulled from the oven door, and lay the animal down on the floor and cover it up with the "blanket." Super cute when she tries to use one of Spencer's (clean) soccer socks as a blanket. She also wants me to pull out the Dance Dance Revolution dance pad so she can "dance" on it.

Sabrina is also loving the whole dressing herself. She has been able to pull off her socks for a while (Oh! she can say sock! and shoe!) but has recently also been able to put them ON. Yes, sometimes she puts both on the same foot and both feet down the same pant leg, but it could be worse. She could be taking her clothes OFF.

She also now has hair long enough to be put up in cute little ponytails. I love the whole fountain look! It does mean when I work on Tuesdays she sometimes looks like a vagrant (let's be honest, dad's are great but don't do hair) because she often wakes up after I leave. Fortunately, the daycare girls love to do baby hair, and she usually comes home NOT looking like a vagrant.

The end. Of the cruise.

After we left Glacier Bay, we booked it down to Ketchikan, a charming Alaskan village where we saw yet more salmon spawning, seals eating the aforementioned salmon before they made it to the river, and, most importantly, took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the town. Oh, and bought some souvenirs, because it was our last stop in Alaska.

Here it is: Ketchikan!


The carriage: Elli's request for the trip along with the train ride, which naturally was honored.



Sabrina in her new Alaska hat.


Sabrina and Spencer: Being cute.


The next day we went to Victoria, BC, Canada. We decided to go out to the Buchard Gardens, which were AMAZING. See? Oh, and Mom bought us all (who managed to stay with her) Italian ice cream. Yum!





We had this really cool van driver that took us there and brought us back to the ship. He was a Latvian Jew who had also lived in...okay, I forget. He told us some jokes, so I told him one about an American Jew who moves to Israel, and drives a camel to work every day. The camel gets stolen, and the police find the owner does not know the camel's height, color, or anything other than the camel is male because every day people say "Hey, look at the big shmuck on the camel! It was a big hit. Anyway, we then got back on the boat and went home! But not before: some rock climbing!




So, to make a long story short (too late!) it was a wonderful, fun, extraordinary trip. Even if I didn't see a bear eating a salmon from a stream. What more would I have to look forward to if I'd seen everything?

Alaska (again. still)

At this rate, I will never get out of Alaska! At any rate, after Skagway we moved on to the northernmost point of our voyage, Glacier Bay! There are apparently a million glaciers and some are advancing, some retreating. But all are calving into the ocean! The most exciting part was seeing huge chunks of ice break away from the glacier and CRASH! into the sea. Like this.

Okay so you can't see the glacier calving, but YOU try taking a picture of something like that! Geez. Anyway, it was super cool. Also, super cold, at least for July. This was the day I was glad for my winter clothes. Also, that Mom and Dad got an upgraded room with a big window, so we could sit inside and enjoy the glaciers.

That night, for Family Cruiseship Night, Mom read us the story of Stickeen, the little dog who explored the glaciers with John Muir. It was very nervewracking. Is Stickeen going to make it up the glacier? Will he fall to his death? Will he get lost and freeze to death? Fortunately, this book was NOT in the horrible, horrible tradition of Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows, and Stickeen lived. Yay! Then each family got a copy of the book of Stickeen. Oh Stickeen, you rascally dog.

Here's a picture of me and Sabrina. Oh, and the glacier too. You can see it was a cold,overcast day, but at least it wasn't foggy! Imagine slogging our way all the way up here (on a cruise ship: I really know what hardship is like) to see...fog. That would be lame.

Huh.

So, Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize for...what was it? Contributing to niceness, or something? Making Europe happy by putting down the US? Something like that? He was nominated two weeks into his Presidency? Huh. Well, I'm sure Alfred Nobel is way excited, up in heaven, that his prize was given to people like Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama. Obama? Not sure.

Honestly, I think even the most rabid supporters of Obama have to be secretly saying, "For what? But, yay!" Bill Clinton, NOT a rabid Obama supporter, must be pissed. I mean, the previous Democratic President to him, Jimmy Carter, gets it. His own Vice President gets it. The next Democratic President now has it too! Where's Bill's? SO not fair. I'm sure we could get a made-up reason for Clinton, since Carter, Gore, and Obama all have made up reasons, too. I mean, don't give the FREAKING NOBEL PEACE PRIZE to people who saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust or a Chinese rights activist, or whoever. Let's make this REALLY POLITICAL, and in fact let's take away ANY qualifications whatsoever, and just award it to the people we like and hope to influence, shall we? Are we waxing sarcastic now? Maybe a little.

Pictures of my Industriousness

I Have Been Informed...that I need more pictures on my blog. There are too many words, here, Mozart. Just cut a few! (Just kidding. I just wanted to work in that quotation from Amadeus.) Anyway, as you faithful readers know, I've been painting my house. I have the front ALMOST done, and I don't think I'm going to finish this year. Well, the world will always have another spring. Here's the unpainted part of my house. Like the peeling paint and gross gray color? Me either.




Here's my newly-painted house. I used stain rather than paint, because the front of the house was practically bare wood. It actually WAS bare wood in some places. This is better, no? I get lots of compliments from my neighbors, who are probably just happy our house isn't pulling down their property value anymore.

Skagway

Last time I posted a picture of me with Sabrina and Spencer at the Mendenhall glacier. Here's another picture of the glacier's lake with icebergs. Also, I'm cuter here.

So, the next day we made it up to Skagway, just a few miles from the Canadian border of Yukon Territory. I'm sure Skagway used to have an economy other than tourism, but I don't think it does now. There is one main drag of "authentic" shops. Mom, Cheri and I walked into the rest of town a little bit, where the people who work in the shops live. It's a beautiful small town where I'm sure everyone pulls together and feels like a real community, especially in the winter. Mom wants to move there, no surprise. Here's a shot of the tourist part.

We saw some local wildlife, too. Okay, we saw salmon and a seal, but whatever. The salmon were spawning, and I guess once they lay their eggs they die, and the baby salmon live on the body of their parents. I mean, I've heard of giving your life for your children, but still. Because the stream the salmon spawn in is now a dock for tour boats, there is a drain the salmon go up. This is a good place for a meal, if you are a seal.


Finally, bowing to Elli's every wish (as is proper), we took a train ride up to White Pass Summit, crossing briefly into Canadian (British Colombian) territory. It was an amazing ride. I think Sabrina was trainsick, because she was not happy. The scenery was amazing, though.




That night we had to book it (I guess) to Glacier Bay, because really, the waves were so high I thought I was going to pop right out of bed. Thank goodness, I didn't have any seasickness. Sabrina had a little bit of a hard night, which is why she slept with us. She only fell out of bed once. I'm not a bad mom.

Juneau: Alaska's Picturesque Capital

So, off we went. Here is a picture of our cruise ship. I'd guess it is bigger than all three of Columbus's ships put together, but HE didn't have to deal with the Northern Latitudes. So there. As you recall from my last post, we are the very bottom set of windows you can see on the boat, which was Deck 4.

Our first stop was Juneau. You can only get there by sea or air because of the Alaskan Mountain Range. They say it would be cheaper to move the capital to Anchorage than keep it in Juneau, but like THAT'S going to happen. It was a beautiful little city, though. Here's Spencer in front of a giant anchor (duh) and another view of the environs.



At every stop you can take "shore excursions." My goal was to see a bear eating spawning salmon. I did not. But we did see the Mendenhall Glacier, "The World's Only Drive Up Glacier." Of course, we didn't actually get on the glacier, but it was amazingly beautiful. See?

We also went whale-watching. We saw a whale who was surfacing, breathing, and diving. Very, very exciting. We watched her for about 15 minutes. We were holding our breath the whole time. Yes, Martha, THERE SHE IS AGAIN!!!! Finally, we left her behind. Not all was lost; we saw NINE whales, one of which decided to put on a show of leaping all the way out of the water repeatedly, and another which showed off her beautiful fluke. Since our camera died right when we saw Exciting Whale, here is the best I can do.

Sorry. Try googleing "whales jumping all the way out of the water" and you'll get a small sense of what we saw. Awesome!

Afterwards, it was back to the ship for a good (ha ha) night's sleep. Tomorrow: Skagway!