Alaska Bound - Takeoff!!!!!

Let the cruise begin!! Before boarding the Rotterdam, we had several checkpoints where we had to show our paperwork, go through security (very similar to the airport) and get our key cards which is what we will use all week! The procedure went quite fast and before we knew it, it was time to actually board the cruise ship!

It looked just HUGE sitting there – it WAS huge! Neither one of us had ever been close to a cruise ship before and we were just amazed at the size! Lunch was being served on the Lido deck but we chose to check out our stateroom first! And all I kept saying to Glenn was: Oh my – Oh my!! It was all so much more than what I expected!

We walked into our room which was actually a little bigger than I thought it would be (but don’t get me wrong here, the rooms ARE pretty small) but of course the balcony made it seem much larger! Anyway, there on our little table is a darling arrangement of flowers and 2 wrapped gifts! PRESENTS!! I opened up the card and it was from Laurie, our travel agent – wishing us a Happy Anniversary and a great time on our cruise!! HOW SWEET!! The flowers were just beautiful!! She also had gotten each of us a coffee mug with a picture and name of our ship on it! How fun to have something like that waiting for us when we arrived!!

Our luggage was actually outside our door within a few minutes so I quickly unpacked and before we knew it, we were exploring the ship! Good thing we had a pocket map to find our way around as these ships are HUGE!!

We did find where they were serving lunch and ate a little bit (actually Glenn ate part of a meal and I opted for mousse with fresh berries) and then it was more exploring before ending up on the upper deck to get a drink and prepare for take-off! The weather was gorgeous and we just sat up on that deck and hung out until the ship went out to sea!

They were having a safety lesson at 3:30 which is actually mandatory so we found our lifeboat place and listened to the training in case of a disaster – I REALLY felt like I was on the Titanic then!

We explored a LOT – but still seemed to get turned around all the time – I guess time will tell if I figure out this boat from front to back!

I did forget to mention earlier that before we left, I got a prescription for a patch to wear for motion sickness – my nurse friend had told me I should really wear one since I’m SO prone to seasickness and boy am I glad I did! I’m amazed at how much the ship does rock at times – luckily, it’s not making me sick at ALL, thanks to that cute little band-aid behind my ear!

We sat on the balcony for a while – read all the info in our room so I could really be informed on everything – checked out the internet café where most of us will be spending our hard earned money as there is NO FREE internet on the ship – would you believe about .55 per minute and that’s IF you buy your time ahead of time???? WOW – guess I won’t be sending too many emails!! But also from our travel agent was a book of coupons to use on the ship and one of them is for so many minutes of free internet – I’ll DEFINITELY be using that coupon!!

We had opted for “open dining” on the cruise which basically means we do NOT have a set time to eat dinner – you can make reservations if you would like to but otherwise, you just show up and may have to wait a few minutes! Dinner was great –I chose a fresh fruit medley for my appetizer which was papaya, melons, mango and strawberries, drizzled with a cream sauce and a hint of mint! Soup was a corn/cheddar/crab chowder and my main dish was a parmesan crusted chicken with veggies and potatos – very good!! Our waiter brought us a dessert menu so we were ready to give our order when he came back and said he had a note that we were celebrating our anniversary and he would be giving us a cake to eat! So he brought this cute little cake (not really little though as we couldn’t eat it all) with an edible “Happy Anniversary” sign, stuck a candle in it and 3 of them sang us Happy Anniversary in their native language, Indonesian!! Of course, we couldn’t understand a word of it but it was sure a cute song! After that, the violin player from the dining hall above us, played a tune just for us too!!

We ended up going to the production of “Nothin’s Gonna Stop Us Now” – singers and dancers – Glenn didn’t enjoy it as much as I did though!

Of course the bed turn down was completed when we got back to our room with chocolates waiting for us – a perfect end to a perfect day!! Now if only the boat would quit rocking enough so I can fall asleep!!

Could It Be - There's No Internet At Sea????

Before I blog about our first full day of the cruise, I need to tell you about yesterday’s blog – since the internet is SO expensive to use on the cruise ship, I opted to write it out in WORD and then paste it into my blog! Easier said than done!! I tried every which way to do it but just couldn’t get it to paste! I finally tracked down the computer expert onboard (who is usually hanging out in the library) and asked him to help me! He had a hard time figuring it out too so I didn’t feel so bad then!! BUT each pic has to be downloaded all by itself and that is frustrating waiting for that to happen and knowing that the dollar signs are just ticking by as I wait!!
Then I tried to move my paragraphs around the pics and that proved to not be an easy process either!! So forgive me as all of my pics will either be at the bottom of the blog or the top!! Where’s my tech person when I need one????

Seattle Bound

The day had finally arrived – we were off to Seattle to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary aboard the Rotterdam Ship for a 7 day Alaskan cruise! I could hardly wait!

But first things first – a flight to Seattle! Aboard none other than Alaska Airlines! I even packed well as both suitcases that we checked were way below the allotted weight limit – I was sweating it as there were no t-shirts or tank tops to pack this time – it was long pants, sweaters and jackets!

Jaime dropped us off at the airport and after grabbing our usual cup of Caribou Coffee, we were Seattle bound! One of my good friends, Carrie, who had moved to Tacoma/Seattle last fall was waiting at the airport to pick us up and we headed over to her apartment which is only a block away from the bay – amazing views!

Even though we arrived at 7:00 Seattle time, there was plenty of daylight left so we drove along the bay water and both Glenn and I couldn’t believe all the trees and vegetation - it was gorgeous! Dinner was at Steamers, a great little seafood place where we gorged ourselves on fish, chowder and fries! Being as how it was 9:00 Colorado time, we were starved!

We headed to Carrie’s apartment after dinner and made ourselves at home in her cute little apartment which is in a historical building – very unique! She spent the night with a friend so we had the place to ourselves!

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear and we were up early to explore Seattle before we got on the cruise ship! Our first stop was the Rhondendron Garden – these beautiful bushes were in bloom all over town in shades of pinks, reds and white!

We drove along the waterfront again which is actually called Puget Sound and walked out on the dock so Glenn could pretend he was fishing! The Seattle skyline was amazing! Oh, and did I forget to mention Mt. Rainier in the distance! It was amazing on Friday night when we flew in and I should have taken a pic that evening before it got dark as it was hazy out on Saturday! The coffee stop was at a place called Tully’s which is a franchise – excellent coffee – and it was there that we mapped our way to the cruise ship port dock.

We ate lunch outside at Salty’s, a fish’n chips place, and enjoyed watching the boats in the harbor! It was just a glorious day – and perfect in every sense until I sat on my sunglasses which promptly snapped them in two! Good thing there was a Walgreen’s close by so I could buy another pair!
Before we knew it, we were at the docking spot for our cruise and said our good-byes to Carrie for a week! FINALLY, it was time to board the cruise ship!!

This 'N That

When I'm scrapbooking and I have a few random pictures that don't go with anything, I do a page called This 'N That - so these few random items don't go with anything so they are going on a This 'N That page!!

Saturday - Why do I tend to take my DAY OFF to go to Colorado Springs to shop when I DESPISE shopping (most of the time) and HATE dealing with traffic and crowds!! Beats me - but that's what I did last Saturday and by the time I got home, I was one crabby woman!! The main purpose of the trip was to get Kylan his birthday present (which will be celebrated the evening we fly back from our trip) and after looking all over, I did NOT, repeat NOT find what I was supposed to get him. So I ended up buying him something else which I know he'll love - but it was maddening not being able to find what I wanted! The only redeeming part of the day was that I had loaded up all of my books and went to my used book store - I could have spent hours in there (but I didn't have hours) so I picked out about 40 books which always excites me!

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What IS it with this weather? After mid-April teased us with all this warm weather, it's been downhill ever since - wind, snow, sleet, and cold weather - it's hard to believe it's already mid-May and I have NOT started walking outside in the mornings yet!

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I am SUPER excited about our upcoming cruise to Alaska - in fact we fly out tomorrow to Seattle and my good friend Carrie who moved to Seattle last summer, will pick us up at the airport, show us around Seattle that evening and the next morning and then take us to the cruise ship pier for our trip! I'm taking the laptop and my goal is to blog daily (vs. writing in a journal) about the trip!! The exciting news is that Jessi showed me how to download pics off my camera right onto my laptop so I may even post pictures with the blog!!

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Packing - this has to be the worst part of the vacation! It's just hard for me to decide what to take and since this vacation is a "new" type for both of us (we've NEVER been on a cruise and we've NEVER been to Alaska) it was a challenge for me to decide what to pack! I FINALLY have all the clothes ready to pack in the suitcase and the bad news is we'll have to take the LARGE suitcase along with a smaller one! We usually try to pack pretty light when we travel but packing for Mexico is a whole lot different than packing for Alaska!! Somehow, all the jeans, sweaters, shoes and evening clothes take up a lot more room!!

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So as of 4:30 today, I'll officially be on VACATION!!! Glenn will still have to work 1/2 day tomorrow while I do the packing but he's OK with that! Bon Voyage!!

Mom's Day - 2010

Such a special day for all us moms!! But nothing is as special as spending that special day with one of your daughters and her family! I was disappointed not seeing Jill or Jaime on Sunday but they were both down the weekend before to spend time with me!

Because Kenzie had been sick, we weren't sure they would get to come but she rallied and they drove down on Sunday morning!! We had a jam packed day that included church, hot-tubbing for the little ones (and Jessi) in the afternoon, looking at scrapbooks, a walk, strawberry dacquiris, glazed donuts, AND a gift - after all it was Mother's Day!!! All 3 girls went together and ordered me the SECOND edition of "Rollin With The Flow" - a hardback book of my blogs written between March 09 and March 2010!! I LOVE IT!! The cover is done in a beautiful blue with a picture of the beach from our trip last fall!! THANKS so much girls - you're all the best!!

Glenn pulled the ATV out from under its cover and gave Evan a ride - I don't think I've ever seen such a wide smile from Evan!!! He was SO excited to go for a ride!! Of course Kenzie got her nose bent out of shape as she wanted to ride too but seemed happy just to sit on the ATV with Papa! Evan fixing Papa's tires!!

Jessi and Kenzie who couldn't wait to get in the hot tub!!

Kenzie and her beads strolling her baby on the deck!

Evan just loving the hot tub!!My special book!!

What a great weekend with the Keppys'!! Now don't forget to come back!

PS - I DID forget to mention that Kenzie SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT at our place!!! It was so nice to not hear a peep out of either child during the night!! HOORAY!!!

Cripple Creek Mine Tour

One of my good friend's husband offered us a private tour of the Cripple Creek Gold Mine on the day they would be pouring "gold". Monday was that day!

2 carloads of us ventured over to Victor/Cripple Creek for the tour on Monday, slipping and sliding our way over there as it had snowed the night before - for those of you that have been to Cripple Creek, you'll know it's an extremely curvey road alongside of a mountain! But we made it safe and sound and soon Larry picked us up in a van for our tour!

Our first stop was the machinery shop - WOW - the size of these machines are amazing! For the large ones (pictured below - and note the trucks are so large I couldn't even get an entire one in the picture!), cost is 3.4 million per truck! They each hold approximately 240 tons of crushed rock!
Take a guess at how much each of these tires would cost if you needed to replace it - hopefully you guessed around $30,000 per tire! We felt pretty small next to them! Guess you wouldn't want to get in their way! We also got to climb ladders to get to the top of the truck - yes, it's pretty high up!

Our tour continued at the crushing plant! Each of the large trucks dumps their tons and tons of rock into this huge pit and a crusher crushes them into smaller pieces and then they go through a couple more crushing procedures - it was all totally amazing to watch the procedure!

Larry gave us all kinds of facts and figures (which of course I can't seem to remember) and our final stop was the actual place where they pour the gold into "buttons" as they're called! The heat from the kiln was pretty darn hot and it was exciting to watch the gold pour into the bucket - they cooled it off and before we knew it, the gold "button" was sitting on the table!

We each got our turn to pick it up - all $650,000 worth of it - but because it weighed a little over 42 pounds, some of us with no arm muscles had a hard time picking it up!!

All in all, it was a fantastic tour and I learned a LOT about the process of mining gold!

It's May!

Happy May!! Seems like the months are just flying by! Isn't it WONDERFUL how long the sun is staying up? I sure seem to accomplish a lot more this time of the year than in the dead of winter!

We had company for the weekend! Jaime, Rayna and Kylan came from Denver and Jill and Aleah headed down from Ft. Collins! The weather didn't cooperate a lot this weekend as it snowed off and on most of the weekend but the mornings were sunny!

Little Aleah is at such a fun age - she just learned how to crawl and got her first tooth the day before they arrived! She's an extremely laid back baby and is content to just sit and watch you! Aleah also is a great sleeper - not a peep out of her during the night!

I had computer projects for Jill and she didn't disappoint me! I FINALLY now have my digital photo frame set up and I found the perfect spot for it - on the shelf in front of my kitchen sink - after all, where do we women spend most of our time????


Jaime, Jill and I hit the hot tub late Friday night - it was a gorgeous night out and we're always amazed at the thousands of stars in the sky! Of course Rayna was left out that night so I told her she could get in the next day with me - unfortunately I was fighting a headache all day long so just didn't feel like getting in but told Rayna she could get in and I would watch her - it didn't take long for Kylan to come out and decide he wanted in also!!

I had bought a cute fishing pole for the boys to use when they come down so got it out and Kylan and Rayna had a ball with it!! They loved being in the water, except when the jets came on to heat and Kylan couldn't crawl out of that tub fast enough - it was hilarious!

Papa took Rayna and Kylan to the other property on Sunday morning and then to the playpark - which meant us 3 girls and Aleah could head out for coffee - yum!! Glenn also helped Rayna make some pine cone suet and peanut butter bird feeders and hung them from the trees!

It was a fun weekend for all of us - and hopefully the next time they come down, Glenn will have the fort done so they can play in it!