Today was our first full day back and it was a doosey. Lily and I were both sick, but had a mountain of tasks to tackle that had piled up while we were gone so we pressed on. I tackled work until late into the evening, and Lily took our car to two shops to find one that would repair our windshield, shopped, visited her mom to help with a Telehealth appointment, worked on the house, picked up Basil, got an oil change and registered our car.
We were both so busy that we felt profoundly grateful that our children played magically the whole day together, which included some puzzling).
In the late afternoon the kids walked Basil, I had a phone with my brothers, and I took Ammon and Clarissa out biking briefly so Clarissa could enjoy her new bell, helmet and gloves that came in the mail. We bought them to celebrate her learning fully to ride her bike! Then we had dinner.
Lily made an incredible dinner of spaghetti with corn and roasted tomatoes and a caprese salad (some of the best tomatoes I’ve had from the Brigham City area fruit stands on HWY 89 we went to yesterday). I ate a ton.
After dinner, I worked a ton more and then finished the day with a game of Wingspan with Lily. We tied!
Basil was such a good boy during his stay with us! He often liked to just chill when out with the other dogs but did every once in a while find a great playmate to wrestle with. We love Basil and hope to see him around again soon!
Today we woke up late at the Super 8 hotel. We hit the road by a little after 10 and drove straight to home (we arrived just before 8PM).
Two eventful things on the way, one bad, one good:
Bad: While driving on the freeway, we heard a loud “BOOM!” and there was shattered glass everywhere. Our sunroof had spontaneously exploded, I assume by the wind pressure created by driving on the freeway with a cargo container on top of the car. Everyone was quite shocked. Lily held the cover shut so no more glass got in until we pulled off and I bought tape to tape it shut.
Good: We stopped at 3 to 4 amazing fruit stands on HWY 89, just South of Maddox in Brigham City and ate peaches, plums and apricots the whole way home.
Today we woke up around 7. I thought it was really cute how Clarissa was sleeping:
This is a Queen size bed…..
We packed up and headed out to catch our flight. Everything ran on schedule. I thought this item from the airport gift shop was funny:
On the plane, I told Clarissa to put her backpack under her seat and I thought what she did was funny:
Swathi picked up from the airport and drove us to her house where we packed up some last items, and said goodbye to her and Clark. Mani, Sruthi, Soren and Meera were going to arrive later that night.
The trip was so magical, all of it. We loved spending time with Clark, Swathi, Sruthi, Mani, Soren and Meera and the kids got along so wonderfully the whole time. What a special experience!
After saying goodbye to Clark and Swathi, we hit the road to make it part-way home. The kids had a lot of fun in the car goofing off together. Here is a funny video of them:
At night we found a Super 8 hotel with three queens in one room for under $200. What a solution! The hotel was certainly good enough too. Lily said she heard Super 8 has been stepping up their game.
We woke up in the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge in Denali State Park and took a bus to catch a train to Denali National Park where we were to stay the night.
The train was incredibly scenic and Lydia said it was in her top two highlights of the entire trip (kid’s club was the other)
On the train, I finished, It Takes What it Takes which is one of the best self-help books I’ve ever read. Not only was the book amazing, but it came at the perfect time in my life. The book is all about not thinking negatively or positively, but staying neutral, anchored dispassionately in facts, and consistent taking positive forward motion and doing the next right thing. To put it in Nick Saban’s words, “Don’t worry about the scoreboard, worry about the next snap.” It’s also about deciding your personal goals and making the plan to reach that goal, not worrying about what others think. Once you know what you want, figure out what it takes, and do what it takes, because, “it takes what it takes.” I’m writing this entry a week later, and I’m still thinking about principles from this book and applying them dozens of times per day. I think it is safe to say it has changed me and will continue to change me for the better.
Despite being the capital of Alaska, Juneau only has 32,000 people in it. It is also in a rain forest climate and we definitely felt that today as it rained all morning. While the kids were at kids club in the morning (which they have been LOVING, see below), Lily and I explored Juneau and bought matching rain jackets (yay!) and got umbrellas for the kids who already had good coats. We also signed up everyone except Meera and Mani (Meera wanted to stay in) for some whale watching.
When Lily and I returned to the boat, we picked up the kids from kid’s club, enjoyed our buffet lunch and then everyone to the whale watching tour. It was unbelievable and fortunately, nobody got sea-sick:
Walking to and waiting for the boat tour
Amazingly the rain stopped right as our tour began. We learned so many things about humpback whales. These whales feed here extensively during the summer. They eat and eat and eat and eat. They dive down for 7 to 8 minutes (max is 45) and they eat a ton of fish with each dive. Then they come up and because they are out of breath, they surface for breath 5 or so times in a row, and then they dive again. They feed this way almost all day it seems. After their months of feeding, they swim to Hawaii, give birth and mate, and then swim with their new calf all the way back to Alaska. The whole journey takes about 6 months round trip and they do the entire thing (nursing their young the whole time) without eating anything because there is no food for them on the journey or in Hawaii. So when they arrive in Alaska, they are starving, and they feast extensively. It was amazing to understand more about their patterns and see them up close.
Today we woke up at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown Hotel and had a nice breakfast. Then we went to take the kids to a show like the Soren show that was in New York, but when we got there, the soonest available showtime was too late for us given the cruise boarding time. Lily used her amazing influencing skills to get our money back even though the company we bought the tickets from typically does not give refunds.
While we were running around town attempting to see a show, Swathi was giving a virtual lecture from the hotel room. She said it went very well! When she was finished, Clark, Sruthi, Mani, Soren and Meera picked her up from the hotel and we all met up at the boarding place for the cruise.
Lily had a mini-panic attack because she realized at the last second she didn’t have any of the emails, texts or communications that she was told she would get as the time got closer to the cruise. She did confirm that she booked and got a confirmation number, and we did pay, but she was very concerned because we got so few communications after we bought it. She called Princess Cruise Lines and learned that they have three separate systems. And in two of the systems we were registered and good to go. But someone forgot to check a box to get us registered in their third system which was for communications.
At the end of the day, everything went fine when we checked in at the cruise ship. We said our goodbyes to Clark and Swathi who were so nice to help transport us to Vancouver, and boarded the boat (after security, customs, bag checking etc). We were all excited to be on the boat, but especially Lily, who booked everything and carried the heaviest burden of making sure nothing went awry. Thank you again Lily for booking this amazing experience.
Even though the first half of our day was a bit stressful and anticlimactic (not getting to see the show, having to battle for a refund, and I didn’t even mention the broken elevators at the hotel which caused us and many others problems), the second half of the day was completely magical.
Once on the boat we had delicious food. The kids were all so excited and loved exploring the boat together. We looked out over the ocean from the deck as we pulled off and enjoyed the incredible scenery. After lunch, we all went swimming, and then I snuck in a workout. Then we showered and got dinner. We saw a whale while eating and we continued to enjoy the wonderful food. The kids had non-stop fun being together, and we were quite the group! Ammon had fun announcing on elevators, “sorry, we have a big family!”. After dinner, we dropped the kids off at the kid zone, and then Lily, Sruthi and I sat out on the deck with blankets, and watched “Ticket to Paradise’ on the big screen. It was a wonderful movie, and I loved cuddling with Lily. We picked up the kids at 10PM, then everyone went to bed and now I’m blogging. What a day!
Recently, Lily has been falling in love with Tacoma and the Pacific Northwest. She’s been going on walks at Point Defiance, and the beauty has astounded her, and she’s been wanting to take me on the walk. Today we woke up at 5:20 and went. Despite my zombie-like state from fatigue and work stress, I truly loved walking with Lily through that beautiful area. It was a complete gift and respite given the pressures I have been facing.
Then I had a normal work day, and Lily worked on packing up for the cruise. I wrapped up around 3:30, and we were all out by about 4:30. The plan was for us to pick up Swathi from work, and then she would drive with us to Vancouver, and drive our car back to Seattle the next day.
On the way to pick up Swathi, Lydia, Lily, and I had an intense discussion/argument about Lydia getting a phone as well as her harp practice. It left us all a little sore, but we had a productive and more peaceful conversation on the topic the next day that felt like progress to me.
After picking up Swathi, we had a delicious dinner at a local Washington sea food chain called Ivar’s. I LOVED their clam chowder.
When we arrived at our Hilton in Vancouver, we all went to bed.
Today was a good day. We’ve continued to eat Mani’s amazing food:
Also, I’ve been melting down from stress at work, but Clark and I had a fast run that was over 4 miles and at a 7:33 pace. It had a lot of hills and really made us work. We loved it!
While I was working and running, Lily was giving the kids an awesome day. I think she took all six kids to the park and ice-cream, and then dropped off everyone except Lydia and Clarissa, whom she took the Washington State Museum and Chihuli bridge.
In the evening, we had a wonderful dinner that Clark made.
Today Lily drove to Point Defiance Park to take a walk, and shortly into her walk she realized it was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen, and she cut her walk short, hustled back to the car, went back to the house and loaded all the kids (including Soren and Mira) in the car so she could take them. They spent the morning seeing the forest and the incredible beach. At the beach, there were kids digging for jelly fish. Ammon called them, “his crew” and he was so excited at their discoveries. Soon they gave him a shovel and Ammon got to dig too. It was so much fun for everyone! They even played jump-rope with the kelp!
After that, Lily dropped off Soren and Mira and took our kids to meet up with Julie and her family at Olympia National Park. They had a great time, pictures below!
Then Lily, Lydia and Clarissa went to ice-cream/dinner with Julie and her kids while Clark took Ammon, Soren, Mary and Mira to a park.
I arrived back from Dalles tired and stressed, but happy to see everyone. We sure have loved our visit so far!
