Alaska part 4 (final installment!)

 Our third port was Skagway.  It was  a tiny little town that we were able to walk through in 20 minutes.  However, I did manage to find a coffee shop/deli.  I almost died when I paid $6.50 for a 16oz mocha. I guess that's what they pay when everything has to be shipped into them.  We then spent the rest of the day on the ship waiting until it was time to board the train for our excursion.  We got off the ship in the afternoon again and got a great car on the train that had only about 10 other people in it.  This proved perfect for the girls when they passed out 1/3 of the way into it.

 I was a little bummed that they fell asleep because we paid big bucks for this adventure, BUT it was nice to be able to enjoy the scenery without someone climbing up and down me.....my point and shoot camera didn't capture the magnitude of this excursion.  It was spectacular and SCARY clickety clacking on the narrow tracks with an endless fall on both sides.  I finally chose not to look that closely and kept my eyes focused in the distance.

Dressed up for dinner.  Elizabeth & Danielle

 This is the other artist that was on board.  His name is Dominic Pangborn.  He is an amazing man with a truly inspiring life story.....google him, he is a genius!  On top of all that, he was so great to our girls.  The first night at a cocktail party the girls were tired and not having the time of their lives.  He pulled out a bucket of multi-colored modeling clay, for each of them, that ended up entertaining them all week!  You betcha, I bought one of his pieces of work!  Like I said, genius.  He also happens to be a designer and sells ties and bedding at Macys.

 Our last port was Prince Rupert island in Canada.  The most exciting thing there was a Safeway that had Starbucks inside.  The auctioneer on board told us not to even bother getting off.  "It's not even a real port."  He was pretty much right on.  Apparently, the ship is required to stop in a "foreign" country otherwise at least 80% of the staff on the ship has to be American.  Therefore, Prince Rupert is on the itinerary.

                                                              Yep, this was it....

 When we got back "home" our cabin steward made a monkey for our monkey.  (Ellie is our monkey).

 The last auction.  Marko was explaining each of his 6 pieces of work in his portfolio and what inspired him.

This is Jeff and Machae.  They are from Orange County and they sat with us the first night in Seattle at the welcome dinner.  From then on we hung out with them at all of the "events."  We really clicked with them.  They were hilarious. 
In Seattle at 8pm Friday night we were sitting at the table in the ball room with our 4 year olds waiting anxiously for dinner to start.  Partly because I  was starving, since we eat dinner at 5pm, and partly because I knew the girls weren't going to last much longer before melt downs started.  Jeff walked over and said in a loud voice, "Do you mind if we sit with you?  (There are still 6 spots open)  It's pretty obvious no one else is going to join you!"  I burst out laughing (being the ONLY couple there under 50 and WITH kids).  We soon found out that they left their two sons at home and they love kids.  Machae is a teacher and Jeff confessed to still being a kid himself.  They were great with the girls and so fun to hang out with.   We all agreed that if we get invited back to another VIP cruise we will go together.

It was a great vacation with lots of fun memories!  Is is too soon to be ready for another vacation?  :)

Alaska part 3

JUNEAU

Daddy and his girls

Our second port was Juneau.  We went on an excursion to the Mendenhal glacier.  It was pretty amazing, the weather was gorgeous and we were able to hike the path back to take a closer look.  There was a little beach and we sat and had a snack and took in the view.  There were chunks of broken off glacier floating in the water.  It was just gorgeous, the girls even seemed to enjoy it!

                                                               Dani, Christy and Ellie

The glacier is on the left and a raging waterfall on the right.

 After we left Juneau we headed up to Tracy's arm to take in the view of the glaciers there.

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The girls went to a "glacier party" at the kids camp and were turned into princesses.  Don't they look thrilled?  Can you say OVER TIRED?

We also took the tram 3,000 feet up in Juneau.  I didn't get an actual shot of the tram (Kent did, but the pics. are still on his computer) but this is a sweet shot of the girls looking out.

The best part of the trip for the girls: ICE CREAM!

A view from the tram.

It's happening!

I have to take a break from my Alaska posts, a week worth of pics. is a little much AND

after a year in waiting, it's happening!  My 'couve girls are on the road, heading to MY house!  I am anxiously awaiting  their arrival in 6-7 hours.  They can't get here soon enough!  We are staying at my house for one night, (thanks for the sleepover for my family at your house Sandy), then we rented a house in Cda, for the weekend!  On Sunday morning we are doing a sprint triathlon together.  No one has cooler friends than me!  I love you girls!  We will miss you Amber and Sarah!

I will post some pics from the weekend soon.  These are all from our get together last year!

ALASKA! Part 2 (long)

One of the best parts of vacation was me being able to pack the suitcases and bringing only the cute clothes, that match!  I LOVED seeing my girls dressed nicely instead of in their wild, mis-matched own choosing attire!  Dressed up for the cocktail party and dinner!

 This was our home for a week!  It made me laugh out loud.  Ellie slept on the top bunk, Dani underneath her, Kent in the middle, on the trundle, and me on the other end.  It was nice and cozy.  I did enjoy sleeping with the girls and listening to their sisterly chit chat and routines.  Each night they gave each other kisses, said good night (over and over), checked to make sure each other had the right baby and was happy and content to sleep.  By the time their whole routine was done and over with I was fast asleep, it's quite the process that I never knew existed.

 The other best thing about cruising is kids camp!  The girls LOVED it, they actually asked us to go away when we went to pick them up.  Who wouldn't love face painting, pillow fights, an indoor jungle gym, crafts, pillow fights and watching whales swim alongside the ship?

 While the girls were in kids camp, Kent and I were at art auctions or cocktail parties.  This is an original painting that we bought from one of the artists on board, Marko.  (I realize you can't see the painting, it's a NewYork city scene, that I love.  It's somewhere that I've always wanted to go).  Two artists, Marko and Dominic Pangborn were part of the Parkwest VIP "experience."  We got to hang out and get to know them all week.  It's pretty cool to know the artist behind the paintings and what inspires them.  In some cases, it makes the art work make so much more sense.

 More Kids camp, Blues Clues!

 Towel animal, which the girls loved!

 On a hike in Ketchikan.

                                                       Polar bear hugs and Alaskan hats.

                                                 Kent made a new BFF!   :)

                                                     

                       We saw Santa in Ketchikan.  The girls actually talked to him and gave him hugs.  Apparently it was all ok because he didn't have gloves on......I guess gloves are scary and painful???

ALASKA! Part 1

We arrived in Seattle on Friday night.  Parkwest put us up in a The Renaissance Hotel.  It was the first hotel the girls have stayed in since they were infants.  Parkwest had a fancy dinner and the girls got to dress up.  They did a great job, considering dinner wasn't served until 8 (their bed time). 

Saturday we couldn't get on the ship until noon, and we didn't have to be with Parkwest, so we got to be tourists in Seattle.  We had a great time walking around downtown.  Of course we hit Pike's Place Market and Starbucks!

 Another must  have, the mini fried donuts!  We got some of each kind, the girls were pretty impressed!

The view of our ship from downtown.  Bonus, it was SUNNY and in the 70s in Seattle!

 The first stop was the pool once we got on the ship.  Ellie and Dani were in heaven. 

 The ship could have stayed in port for the week and they would have been happy just to swim (and eat ice cream of course).

Days 3-7 will follow soon......

New paint

We finshed our accent wall a couple of weeks ago...

                                                                        Before

                                                 After....still don't have pics. up, maybe tonight?

I LOVE it, I am really happy with how much it adds to our rooms.  Now we have to tackle all the other walls.  Maybe in the next few months I'll have pics. for that!

Update!

The boys lasted until 3:20 am.  That is when Kent crawled into bed.  I guess Brayden got too cold.  They probably got a total of 5 hours of sleep.  Apparently this adventure is never happening again.  :)  This mini camp out may have put our family back another few years before we attempt real camping!  Bummer, I really want to do a fun, lake, boat (who has one?) camp out....

Onto other exciting things in the Phillips fam: 

1.  Functioning on very little sleep, Kent, with Kelly's help, is putting up the railing for the deck!

2.  We bought 3 gallons of paint last night!  These bare, dry walls are going to be seeing some color!  Yes, I know it will take way more than 3 gallons to do our whole upstairs and two bathrooms, but we of course have to make sure we like the colors!  Any idea on what color we are going to do our accent wall???  I had friends over this last week while Kent was out of town and got different opinions and thoughts (because I am HORRIBLE at picking out paint).  We reached a consensus and Kent vetoed it first thing.  Not a shocker.  I compromised, we are doing "Haze", through most of the upstairs (brownish/tan) and "Lost Atlantis" on the accent wall that spreads from the kitchen to living room.  I think we may also do our bathroom with this.  It's a dark blue/grey.  Surprise!  Kent has a minor obsession with blue, which I have learned to love....I guess it could be worse.  I think this color will be fantastic!

3.  We are also actively talking about carpet and flooring for the kitchen and dining room!  YAY!  It needs to be replaced so bad.  It has taken its toll over the last 8 years and three growing children. The replacement will be a ways down the road, until we figure out our budget, but it may happen sooner rather than later!

This means I will be able to check off quite a few things on my 40 before 40 list!  I can't wait!

Another thing that will be checked off within a week is an Alaska cruise!  This has been kept somewhat under wraps because it is all kind of crazy!  When we returned from our last cruise in May there was a message on our answering machine offering us a free cruise.  I  paid no attention to  it, I had a million things going on.....when  I went to delete messages a few weeks later, I actually listened to it.  I called the lady to get more info. and low and behold it wasn't a sham (as far as we know).  They are paying for a cruise for two to Alaska, from Seattle, with a balcony room and gratuities included.  WHAT???  It was too hard to pass up, especially since we don't have to pay airfare, just drive across the state.  We went around and around in circles trying to figure out how we could ALL go.  The best they could do was an outside room for 4 people.  This means we are taking the girls, Brayden has been on two cruises with us, so the girls will be trekking to Alaska with us.  Brayden gets to spend a week with my parents all by himself!  He is super excited and realizes that it's the girls' turn.  It still breaks my heart, but it will be special time for everyone!

This is all happening in less than a week.  We drive to Seattle on the 8th and cruise from the 9th-16th.  This happens to be the week before my sprint tri.  Do you think I might be sabotaging myself??? Oh well, couldn't pass it up. I'm sure I will be training hard on the ship, maybe I can climb a few glaciers in Alaska!  :)

Camp Out!

It's 8:15 and the boys are in the backyard camping out.  Brayden is soo excited, he has been waiting forever to do this!  I snapped their pics. said, "Good luck!" and headed inside.  Kent yelled, "It's pretty bright out here."  Umm, yeah, only two more hours until it's dark.  I am heading to my bedroom and snuggling in to read a book!  I will report back and let you know how the night went.....this may be the only camping experience of the Summer.  But maybe I will try it with the girls when I feel rested and up to the challenge.  Speaking of rested, Kent flew in from NC this morning and was home by 10:30 am.  Does that mean he got up at midnight our time?  I was afraid to ask.  Hopefully he sleeps well tonight, it could be a LONG 3 day weekend.

Happy 4th of July!  Enjoy your weekend!