Bon Voyage Ballard Alaska Cruise August 2011

Day One (Seattle) 

We set sail on Sunday, August 14th from Piere 93 in Seattle, WA (yes a very long flight and drive for us…hah, hah).  O.K., actually, we the “Seattle” Ballards had a very short drive to the Pier, but the Utah Ballards, they had a long drive up from Utah. We were so excited to see and be with them.

Day Two (At Sea)

After eating breakfast, of course we headed up to the pool on the back of the deck for a long awaited day in the sun.  The kids were so excited to swim in an outdoor swimming pool with their cousins and Dad Brian and Dad Scott are always good sports with the kids in the pool.

What would a “Vacation” be without a little nap and relaxing time? Like Father Like Son…Go Spencer!

Kelsey was enjoying some sun out on the balcony from our stateroom.  How fun it was to have a balcony on this cruise, thanks Grandma and Grandpa, we loved it!

After some fun in the sun, you guessed it, it was time to get all dressed up and eat some more.  It was our first formal night (Brian’s favorite night of the trip…not so much).  Everyone looked amazing and it was fun to get a few group shots.  I do believe these are the cutest grandkids around and they have some awesome grandparents to thank for bringing them on such an amazing vacation! 

A surprise was delivered to our table tonight and was complete with 3 chocolate desserts with three candles.  Dad and Mom Ballard were celebrating their anniversary, Dad’s retirement, and Dad’s birthday all within months of each other and this cruise pretty much summed up the year for them……Love you both!

After dinner, Spencer soon learned that bed-time can be a very fun thing.  The cabin steward, Phillip learned very quickly that Spencer loves chocolate and started leaving more than just a piece of chocolate on Spencer’s pillow.  He started leaving 3 pieces plus a chocolate chip cookie each night.  Spencer was in HEAVEN!  You can also see the first towel animal that Spencer had waiting for him on his bed, it was a little mouse.

Kids Club was Kelsey’s favorite part of the whole trip.  She and Chandler had a super time playing games, doing crafts, Karaoke, and so much more.  We even had a hard time getting her to go eat dinner, she would rather play in Kids Club until 10:00 p.m. and then go up to the buffet for dinner.  CRAZY GIRL

Kelsey and Chandler finally made it back to their room (they slept with grandma and grandpa most nights) to see their towel animal, a monkey complete with chocolate eyes. They were so excited about this!

Day Three (Ketchikan)

We started the morning off with breakfast in the dining room with two of the most adorable and fun wait staff that we encountered over the entire trip.  They were a husband and wife team and boy were they both efficient and entertaining!  They even cut up Kelsey’s pancakes so that I could just eat my meal while it was still hot.  Spencer even got a root beer for breakfast free of charge and she got a kiss when breakfast was all through just to thank her for sneaking it on the order.

Spencer buttering up the cabin steward and thanking him for the previous nights chocolates!

Blight State Park (Totem Pole Park) It was a cold and rainy Alaska morning in Ketchikan, and Spencer was fortunate to wear mommy’s gloves, he loved it!  This was Kelsey’s favorite port and she was really into learning all about the history of the totem poles and purchasing the first of many stuffed animals (one from every port).

The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show

We thoroughly enjoyed the lumberjack show and it brought back a lot of memories from college for Brian and I.  Brian and I use to love doing the two man cross-cut saw event and Brian had the opportunity to travel and compete on the USU Logging Sports Team.  It was fun to share in some of these events with the kids.

About 3/4 of the way through the show, one of the guys tried to carve an animal, well, it was supposed to be a bunny, but really it ended up being a chair carved out of wood.  Spencer got called out of the audience to go down and sit on that chair.  Thank goodness for cousin Lindsey to take him down.  Spencer was a champ, answered all their questions in front of the crowd (not his normal) and was pretty darn cute.  They asked him, “What is your name”…”How old are you”…”Where are you from”…and then they asked him to wave to the crowd and last but not least, stick out your tongue and he did it all, a total crack up.  They then gave him the chair to take home.  As the guy hauled it up the stairs to give to Brian, they asked the audience to give this young man’s dad a big round of applause for carrying this thing all the way back to the ship and packing it home…..Well, let’s just say, it didn’t make it on the ship…end of story!

Leaving Ketchikan, I soon realized that a lot of Alaskan travel occurs on float planes. They were constantly taking off and landing at every port we stopped at.

With Kids Club not opening up until 6:00 and our dinner time at 5:30, we got pretty creative in how to entertain the kids for 30 minutes before taking them up to “class” while we enjoyed a peaceful dinner.  Spencer loved being a dog and licking ice-cream (not the best of table manners for the dinning room) and Kelsey always enjoyed a chocolate chip cookie.

Well, here it is, Spencer’s nightly chocolate fix, just waiting for him…

Day 4 (Tracy Arm and Juneau)

We woke up pretty early on day 4 to begin viewing the scenic portion of the trip up Tracy Arm.  What an unbelievable adventure it was to take in all the Alaskan scenery our eyes could stand.  We had the perfect view from our cabin balcony and were grateful for our warm jackets, gloves, and newly acquired Alaskan hats (thanks Brian, a great purchase).  We couldn’t believe how close the shore was and really were amazed that a cruise ship could navigate what appeared to be a narrow canal.  The blue colored glacial ice was simply beautiful and amazing and the glacier at the top of the canal was a special treat. The kids enjoyed imagining animals and objects out of the different shaped ice.   We only wished that we could have stayed and viewed the glacier a bit longer.

Tracy Arm

Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau

Personally, for me, this was my highlight of the trip.  This has been on my bucket list for many years, and I could have spent hours here hiking around and taking photos.

 

Spencer age 3 couldn’t appreciate the magnificent glacier before his eyes, but sure enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and stomping in the mud!

Kelsey certainly was of age to appreciate the glacier, but still would have rather been a mountain goat and climbed rocks!

Day 5 Skagway

A special treat for us on day 5 was a trip into town for a zip-line adventure.  Spencer was too young for this shore excursion and Grandma and Grandpa stayed onboard with him while all of us enjoyed a day out.  We thank them and thank them again, what a treat!  Skagway was another one of our favorite ports, we really enjoyed the small town, the shops, and the friendly folks. I was happy that I got my Alaska Ulu knife and yes, Kelsey managed to get yet another stuffed animal.

I couldn’t help but snap a picture of the posted sign in the local restroom, it kind of cracked me up, I thought it was only in Europe that they charged for use of the restroom.

Spencer enjoyed Kids Club too, better known as “Class” to him. Tonight they made a “Space Guy”….but it looked a little bit more like a gingerbread man…lol    He loved Miss Lauren and Miss Marianne. We couldn’t help but chuckle the one night when we didn’t get the page that he needed help with going potty. I guess he had a “freak out” moment and demanded that they help him. Unfortunately it was against their policy to help him and the poor thing had to wait over and hour for us to come to his rescue. We can just imagine him demanding help, we have laughed and laughed at this one.

Day 6 At Sea and Victoria

Kelsey and Chandler did a ton of swimming on day 6.  After swimming they came in for hot chocolate.  It is so fun for Kelsey to have a cousin her same age and so happy that they enjoyed a ton of time together on this trip!

We were happy to see Spencer enjoy the water this time and it was good to see him jumping into the water and loving every minute of it.  It wasn’t that long ago that we thought the day would never come that he would “enjoy” the water.  Yipee for Spencer!

Joni is always such a good sport, she is usually up for about anything and she and I tried the Zumba class.  Let’s just say, not our thing, I think we were definitely fish out of water!

They had a family event for all kids on board the ship.  It was complete with cookie decorating, crafts, pictures with Pete the Pelican and games. The kids program on board was truly amazing!

We had one more formal night, but we were pretty casual for this one.  Take a special note at Spencer wearing his doggy pajamas!  He is so attached to those things, we just finally decided it wasn’t worth the battle, let him wear them and that is what we did.

Victoria was a fun last stop and Kelsey was praying for an open air double decker bus.  She got her wish.  It was a fun bus tour in the evening and the ever impressive Empress Hotel and Parliament building were beautifully lighted. 

 

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