The Long Journey

We are headed to Vancouver, BC for ski week and the journey from Alameda to Surrey took a lot longer than it should have. It started with 8:30am bus ride to the airport. Peanut drew a map for us.

Once we arrived at the airport, we received a text update that our flight was an hour delayed. That one hour quickly turned into 3 hours so we had a lot of time to kill. The kids were really good about the wait and figured out ways to entertain themselves.

This is Peanut asking when we could get on the plane.

They especially enjoyed the airport store that had a bunch of Paw Patrol pups, including a brand-new Rubble.

When we finally boarded our plane and took off at 2pm, the flight was short enough for a few cartoons and a snack (2.5 hours).

We finally landed in Seattle around 4-something and were so relieved to be closer to our destination.

The next part of our journey was a bus ride to the rental car area. Getting the car was not problem but when we got in, the car wouldn’t start. Turned out it was a brand new car that had come off the truck and was not drivable yet. It even had the clear stickers covering the A-frame and dash. The rental car guys had to look up on YouTube how to install the fuses and change it from shipping mode to driving mode.

Our drive to Surrey took about 2.5 more hours and we got to the US-Canada border around 8pm. The drive to Surrey from there was quick and we arrived at Auntie Amy’s house around 8:30pm. That made our journey a total of 12 hours long!! Crazy.

The whole family was there waiting for us and we arrived in time to have birthday cake for Uncle Jay’s birthday.

The kids were up late and had a blast playing together. I love how they can pick up from where they left off last summer.

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Alaska Cruise: Day 8

It’s Day Eight of our Alaska Cruise: Seattle

We woke up this morning back in Seattle. The ship docked at 7am and we were off the ship by 9.

Our driver dropped us off at Pike Place and we did some exploring this morning before our afternoon flight home.

When in Seattle, you gotta have some oysters on a half shell!

We also had some famous chowder (tried 4 kinds today!)

We found the the original Starbucks and the kids were not impressed.

The kids got some time to run around and play at the park and then we found a restaurant nearby for lunch and bathroom breaks.

The kids loved drawing on the butcher paper table covers.

Janie drew a rocket ship.

This is Peanut’s version.

Then it was off the the airport, back on the plane, and home again. What a fun trip! It’s always so nice to be with the family for an extended period of time and we saw so many new things along the way.

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Alaska Cruise: Day 1

It’s Day One of our Alaska Cruise: Oakland > Seattle > Holland America Cruise Terminal

Today we got up super early to catch our 7:10am flight from OAK > SEA (Seattle/Tacoma). The morning was a little wild with us being unable to find an Uber or Lyft driving to pick us up at 5:30 in the morning so Dada dropped us off with the van, we checked in our bags and got through security, and met Dada at the gate once he drove back home to catch a ride back to the airport.

These kids are seasoned travelers and did great on the short flight up.

Once we arrived in Seattle, we waited around for the rest of the family to arrive and met up with them at the rideshare station.

At the cruise terminal, all of the staff were really friendly and helpful.

Before boarding the ship, we stopped for a family photo with the bear. Yes, we bought the souvenir photo.

Once on board, we had lunch and unpacked in our stateroom. The kids really liked the ledge by our window.

Then we took a walk around the ship to explore the different levels and common areas.

We especially like the Observation Deck at the front of the ship.

For dinner, we celebrated Father’s Day in the Dining Room.

We were well on our way to Alaska and enjoying our first evening on the ship together.

 

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