Day 8 At Sea and 50th Anniversary Celebration

The whole reason for this fantastic trip was to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary.  My brother and I did some planning and scheming before leaving for the trip and decided that Thursday, while at sea all day, would be a great day to celebrate.

I started my day where I usually did--on the back of the boat, eating breakfast...amazingly alone.  Notice the cream cheese on the cucumber slices.  My brother and I had a ten minute discussion about this--why was cream cheese only available on cucumber slices? Why can't I have a scoop for my bagel that hasn't touched cucumber?  Why cucumbers?  And so on....

This is a classic note--left for The Girl, telling her where and when to meet us, since we didn't use cell phones on the ship

After breakfast, many of the family members participated in a rousing game of Calvin Ball.  Ok, it wasn't really Calvin Ball, but for you fans of Calvin and Hobbes, you would recognize the game---If my nephew made a goal, he got a point, if his dad missed a goal, my nephew got a point, if grandma or grandpa blocked a goal, my nephew got a point...and so on and so forth...

My dad and The Boy look cold, while my mom and brother seem to be taking off layers...the weather was interesting!

While Mr IM, my brother and sister in law and I decorated the party room, the grandkids entertained grandma and grandpa.  The staff were fantastic--we had deliberated for months..cake..no cake.. cake.. no cake (my dad is diabetic) and finally decided on a cake.  The staff not only provided the cake, but also beverages and candy in fun glasses.  Even a giant bowl of sprinkles for the cake...mmmm.

They were surprised (I think?)  We watched a slide show of the past 50 years (set to music) and ate cake.  We had a fabulous photo session, using the timer on my brother's camera.  Let's just say the photos came out as our timed family photos always do (there were a few good ones!)

We then proceeded to dinner in our matching 50th Anniversary cruise shirts, where the wait staff sang "Let me call you sweetheart" to my folks.

We were met in our room by this guy (now, he's quite impressive!)

And my parents kept some decor on their door the rest of the trip--earning them many "happy birthdays" from passersby.

We ended the day with some time watching for whales and other wildlife

and enjoying the semi-tropical, Alaskan evening (he, he...palm trees)

It was beautiful!

Happy (belated) 50th Anniversary to my parents!

A Pacific Northwest Adventure, Day 1...Denver to Seattle

I'm back....

So for my parent's 50th anniversary, they took the whole family on an Alaskan Cruise.  Since Alaskan Cruises leave from Seattle, we added a day or so on either end of the trip so we could visit with Mr IM's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and our nephews.

We left the Suburban Ranch very early on Thursday morning and headed for the airport..
As always, there was a lot of hurry up and wait..

 Flying Southwest, we were pretty sure we wouldn't get four seats together, so we had travel buddies---this is mine, in his vintage Varnet shades.

 After a pleasant plane trip, we landed in Seattle and took a shuttle to the airport.  Since it was only 10 in the morning, our room wasn't ready, but the nice folks checked our bags for us. By the time we got everything situated, Grandma arrived and we piled in!

First stop was to visit Grandma's new apartment, including her awesome community garden and her giant tomatoes!

For our second stop, we met up with Aunt A, Uncle M, and the cousins.  Little E was quite the hit with The Girl (although she passed him off when diaper duty came around)

 The Boy found a secret garden, which just happened to be a giant blackberry bush!

 Grandma hung out with all her grandkids at once--

 And helped the enthusiastic boys find blackberries to share with everyone

 For dinner we visited a restaurant in an old school--we ate on the patio, listening to live music, and enjoying the (slightly) cooler weather!

After dinner, Grandma dropped us off at the hotel (for a long walk to our room...biggest hotel ever...seriously) ...Day 1=success!