Our weekend....

...of relaxation and puppy preparations!!

I had a rare weekend off from the gym and coaching this weekend (because the gym was closed for a tournament) and so I was able to spend all weekend at home with Jason....like a mini "staycation"!!

On Friday night when we got out of work we decided to go see the new Pirates movie (opening weekend) in 3-D.  I have to say that I liked it quite a bit----I'm not an avid fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise...but this was probably one of my favorites of the films.  I'm pretty sure it's because mermaids were a big part of the story and film and I love mermaids...but whatever...it was a nice way to spend a Friday night.

After that relaxing evening out....it was time to knuckle down and get some work done...

Souvenirs galore....

OK, so I know I promised while we were still on our vacation that we would post some pictures of our magnets and other souvenirs from this trip (and I know at least one reader out there is hoping to see a picture of the new Tigger figurine I got). 

So here goes....a few of the things that we got to remember this trip by:

Update on our puppy, Merlin...

We got a call from Mary Jo yesterday.   Mary Jo is Jason's step-sister's future mother-in-law and is the one who breeds the family of yorkie puppies where Bridget (Jason's step-sister) and Sheila (his step-mother) got their puppies....and that's where our little Merlin was born and is living until he can come home with us!  Mary Jo just called to give us an update that Merlin is doing very well, playing a lot, eating well, socializing with people and the other dogs (and cat) in his home well and is even already crate trained to pretty much sleep through the night and potty-pad trained and has started going outside to potty as well...so the process of house-training him not to have accidents has already started.  He will go for his second round of shots after Memorial Day and then we can bring him home in early to mid June.  We're so excited----and look how cute he is in this picture they sent us of him hiding under the coffee table!

Some more portraits from our trip....

So we've finally gotten around to going through our CD of professional images and portraits from the second half of our vacation.  We ended up with a CD that had about 150 pictures (maybe a few more).  The pictures ranged from character photos to our regular dinner attire to our formal wear to some casual clothes to some VERY casual clothes (like PAJAMAS! hehehe)....and even some unique and fun poses----by this point in the trip we were really having a good time with the photographers and we go a bunch of new favorite pictures.....

The case of the missing comments.....

Hey readers----So I logged on this morning (it's been a few days since I was on the blog because life has been a bit hectic) to catch up with comments on the blog.  I know that some comments were left because I got email notices about them----but they seem to have vanished!  I don't know if it's a technical glitch or what, but it appears that if you left a comment on or after May 11th, it didn't make it onto the blog and is lost....so I can't reply to any of them!  If you did leave a comment or question and want to try to post it again, feel free!!

Many, Many THANKS!!!

Greetings readers and fans!!  So now that the vacation is officially over, there are a number of "Thank You's" that I want to put out there:

1. First, and most importantly, a huge THANKS (& hug) goes out to my dear friend (and fellow Disney cruise enthusiast) Hadley.  I haven't mentioned it previous to this post, but the only reason any of you were able to read this blog during our trip was because when I realized that the ship's internet service was going to block my ability to blog, Hadley stepped right in and volunteered to post our blogs for us.  So every day I would write out the blog in an email and send it to her and then send her a separate email with a compressed file with all the necessary pictures.  She would then log in for us, piece it all together, do the necessary edits and post it.  Without her not only would there not have been a blog up to this point, really---but I'm not sure I would have had the energy to come home and try to catch it all up now! 

Saying Good-Bye to the Disney Wonder....

The image to the left is the only door magnet that was left on our door overnight our final night on the cruise and stayed there until we finally left our cabin for the last time on Tuesday morning.   I need to thank a DIS friend (I think Sandi, right??) for making this door magnet for us on our last cruise....and I have loved it so much that I bring it on all vacations since to use on our last night....because it so accurately captures my feelings about getting off the ship (or leaving our resort when we're at the parks).

Nonetheless----the vacation had to end.....

Monday, May 9th, Day At Sea----and last day on the ship!

Well, the last day of our cruise had arrived….and, as you can see in the attached picture, the weather was once again lovely and the seas were calm.  On the way North we had used the outside passage (the captain had the night prior given a detailed explanation over the P.A. system about why----but in a nutshell…it's maritime law for the region that any ship sailing out of Vancouver and up to Alaska for the first time, must always use the outside passage for its inaugural trip North).  Now that we were returning to the South and into Vancouver, however, we got to use the famous "inside passage."

The seas were not entirely smooth, but they were decidedly smoother than they had been on the way North-----I'm assuming that has something to do with being in a slightly more land-locked waterway rather than open sea….but I may be wrong.  Also, the shore line (on either or both sides) along the way was much closer and so lent itself to more great views.

Sunday, May 8th, in Ketchikan, Alaska

Well, Mother's Day found us in Ketchikan, Alaska.  The weather out our window was, as you can see in this picture, wonderful.  Score another point for Disney pixie dust because we got ANOTHER mild temperature, sunny day!  Honestly every port we landed in thanked us for bringing some magical Disney good weather.  We felt so fortunate to have been so lucky with the weather because, while we certainly would have made the best of whatever weather got thrown our way, it definitely made the vacation that much nicer that we had nice days with sun and not having to bundle up like we were in the frozen tundra!!

This was a unique day because it was a port day for us...but it was a late port day.  We're used to waking up and the ship is either already in the port or is pulling in shortly and you get off the boat first thing in the morning.  We weren't due to arrive in Ketchikan until around noon, however...so that gave everyone on the ship all morning to sleep in or find something to do.

Saturday (5/7) in Juneau, Alaska

 Saturday morning found us arriving in the capital of Alaska, Juneau.  Juneau is a much bigger city than Skagway was----but was still had a very Alaska feel---especially because the city of Juneau apparently has no roads into or out of it.  There are roads within and throughout Juneau (I think our tour guide told us there are less than 200 miles of paved roads in the entire city)----but all of those roads dead end at the edge of the city or just beyond it.  So it is impossible to drive to or from this city.  You must get there by boat or plane.  It's a little odd to think about as a "lower 48-er" where it feels like every city is connected to every other city in some way....but Juneau is kind of an island on land!

As was becoming the norm in Alaska, the views were picturesque.  As you can see from the picture here, taken out the window of our cabin, this city (and the entire state of Alaska it would seem) is one giant postcard----and it's AMAZING!  You can't really tell it from this picture either (it was taken pretty early)....