Recurring themes.....and Juneau

Mendenhall Glacier

Aunt Lisa taught John Harrison the word "bear" by showing him a stuffed bear. John Harrison really likes bears....one of his seven comprehensible spoken words is "bear." So, when we saw this bear in Juneau, we had to get a picture of John Harrison with his furry friend. It is fun because John Harrison can identify a bear when asked to do so and we love hearing "bear" in his sweet voice. John Harrison's second sentence was "bye, bye bear" (his first being "dada getcha").

There is no doubt that John Harrison is a busy little guy. We took a compact umbrella stroller with us on our trip....there is a small three point lap strap/harness, but no chest harness. John Harrison almost constantly moves, squirms, reaches, kicks or grabs his legs, or lurches his body forward while in the stroller....generally showing an enthuasism for life, desire to be a part of everything that is going on (including reaching down to investigate the moving ground), and longing for attention of anyone around and reflecting his inner drive to be in constant motion. Several times on the cruise, people I strolled past (including cruise staff) gasped and reached out to "catch" John Harrison thinking that he was not strapped into his stroller. Other people would make comments about John Harrison not being strapped in....I would nicely say that he was strapped in, but that he likes to move around a lot. As you can imagine, these comments got old as those making them often looked at us like we were bad parents.

Along those same lines, John Harrison also enjoyed trying to take off his hat, socks, and shoes while we were strolling him around either on the ship or out walking around in Alaska. You can imagine that the weather was fairly chilly some of the time. It was quite a challenge to keep socks on John Harrison's feet and a hat on his head while we were out and about. So, if it wasn't too chilly (we had unusually warm, sunny weather and many of the days had highs of over 70 degrees), if we were not going to be outside for long, or if we just were too tired of stopping to instruct John Harrison about keeping his socks on and continually putting his socks back on (again and again), we would let him go sockless. I don't know how many times people (almost all older or elderly people) stopped to tell us that John Harrison had pulled a sock off, that we needed to put socks on our son, or that John Harrison was in the process of pulling his socks off. These comments got VERY old. I would seriously be pushing John Harrison in his stroller and be holding his socks in my hands and someone would feel the need to tell me that John Harrison didn't have socks on OR that he needed to wear socks (these occurrences happened frequently). At first, I smiled and held up his socks and laughed about how John Harrison just pulled them off. However....keep in mind that out of two thousand passengers on the ship, there were about 10 children (three or four under the age of two) and only a handful of people were under the age of 50. At some point on the cruise, almost every grandparent-aged person made a well-intended comment about John Harrison's lack of socks or seeming failure to be properly secured in his stroller. Ok, well that assessment may be a bit of a stretch, but over a 13 night cruise, we received HUNDREDS of comments about the need for socks or for our son to be strapped into his stroller. We finally got to the point that we would just smile at people who made these comments to us. What is the lesson in all of this??? If you see parents strolling a sockless child, automatically assume that the parents are completely ignorant of the risk of their child contracting pneumonia and quickly instruct the inexperienced parents of the need to properly clothe their child. OF COURSE NOT! Instead, smile and just say "hi" or if you really feel the need to say something, comment about the baby's cute outfit, sweet smile, or pretty eyes.

These pictures are from our day in Juneau. While in Juneau, we visited Mendenhall Glacier. John Harrison fell asleep on the busride to the glacier and actually stayed asleep after we got off the bus. David and I knew that John Harrison needed a good nap, so we sat down on some benches instead of walking the scenic trail. David wrapped his jacket around sleeping John Harrison and appeared "pregnant":) (see above picture). Once John Harrison woke up, we wrapped him up in his puffy winter jacket and walked the trail to see the glacier.....yes, he did wear his socks and hat almost the entire time :). In fact, John Harrison was so bundled up that he resembled Ralphie's little brother in the movie The Christmas Story.

Alaskan Cruise: Ketchikan

Back in January, Janie and Jack came out with a boy's clothing line called vintage seaplane. All of the pieces were adorable and in "honor" of our Alaskan cruise, I couldn't help but buy several jackets, a few shirts, and a pair of shorts from the line......unfortunately (haha!!), Janie and Jack also came out with a line in March called "out to sea" featuring a nautical/lobster theme. Also incredibly adorable and John Harrison again insisted on having quite a few pieces from this line so he would be properly attired for the cruise. If you look closely, you can see that John Harrison wore his Janie and Jack "vintage seaplane" line hooded jacket for the float/sea plane ride. I smiled because the plane we were in was yellow, also!

view from floatplane ride

John Harrison enjoying the ever-so soothing engine noise

My happy husband and sleepy son right before takeoff

one of many floatplanes in Ketchikan

frequent position of John Harrison's hands (tyring to take his hat off :)

The second port-of-call on our cruise was Ketchikan, Alaska. We wanted to do a float plane (seaplane) ride in Ketchikan, but decided to book the excursion on our own considering that booking through the cruiseline would mean that we had to pay for John Harrison as well as pay a much steeper price. David searched extensively onlilne and called numerous float plane operators in order to find us a reputable company that offered flights for the time, length, and price we wanted. Finding a company was actually quite challenging considering that only one of the operators utilized PPC advertising and none of the companies seemed to take advantage of SEO (having a husband who knows a lot about Internet marketing and business in general ensures that I understand how companies could greatly increase their conversions and business:). Anyways.......in Ketchikan we walked around the town for a while before our plane ride. We shared the float plane with the pilot and two other passengers. Each person had his own window seat. We enjoyed the flying through mountains, seeing frozen lakes, taking off and landing on water, and seeing other beautiful scenery. John Harrison slept through almost the entire ride:). David loved every minute and is talking about wanting to get his float plane rating. I enjoyed the sights, was glad the ride was only 30 minutes long, and was happy to be back on the ground with my stomach intact. (I am quite prone to motion sickness, but thankfully, didn't get too sick during the ride and felt better after we had been back on the ground about an hour or so and when I got some food on my stomach).

Seattle

We knew that it would be very rude to take John Harrison to the dining room for dinner every night and so we had already completly ruled out that nighttime dining option. The idea of white tablecloths, twenty different sets of silverware (ok, I am exaggerating), and five course meals with a baby does not sound like a good combination. So, the only other dinner options were pool grill (burgers, etc.), nighttime buffet (exact same sushi and stir fry), and limited room service menu. However, since we had a suite, we learned that we had the option of having our butler bring us food from the dining room every night. The first night, we ordered off the dining room menu and our butler showed up at our room to prepare the table for dinner. As soon as he put the white tablecloth on the table on our balcony, David and I looked at each other and then told him that the tablecloth was not necessary. He insisted on a formal table and we told him that we really just wanted an informal dinner....he asked if we wanted him to come and serve each course individually. We told him that was not necessary and that he could bring the food like he would normal room service and we were completely fine serving ourselves.
Thankfully, in subsequent nights, we were able to go without the white tablecloth ..... we could tell that our butler thought it was hilarious that we waited to have our dinner delivered until after John Harrison was down for bed each night and that we didn't want formal dinner service.
We just enjoyed having delicious food, a little bit of time to relax, and a chance to do some whale-watching. one of many famous fish markets at Pike's Place market...

family pic atop the space needle

The first port-of-call on the cruise was Seattle. David has been Seattle quite a few times, but I have never been there before so it was fun seeing the sights for a day. The cruise terminal is in downtown Seattle, so we were able to walk to the Space Needle and to famous Pike's Place market (including the first Starbuck's). Against all odds, we actually had sunny weather in Seattle until late afternoon when the inevitable gloomy skies and rain came through.

Stormy Seas

John Harrison enjoying playing on our balcony.

These pictures do not do justice to the storm we encountered at sea two days into the cruise. The ship captain and crew said that the seas were some of the worst they had seen in years. Some of the waves were 50 feet tall and the ship (Celebrity Mercury) rocked quite a bit. The worst winds were 85mph and throughout the day and night, there were 50mph sustained winds. Thankfully, none of us experienced bad motion sickness (or were blown overboard:) and actually, the front that came with the storm brought in great weather for most of the cruise.

Alaskan Cruise

One of John Harrison's many nautical-themed outfits :)

Catherine and John Harrison in the cruise stateroom.

John Harrison enjoying a mini ball pit in the kids' play area.

This picture is looking downward at a small glass dining table in our room. John Harrison in under the table trying to reach up through the glass to get his ball. The ball was actually a tissue paper ball that an Asian women (who did not speak English) gave to John Harrison in the buffet.
The paper ball was actually really fun---it came compressed and you blew a little air into the tiny hole in the middle of the silver area and the ball inflated....the delicate ball actually lasted a few days before John Harrison ripped so many holes in it that it would no longer hold air. The Asian women was one of MANY "friends" that John Harrison made on the ship.

Catherine and John Harrison eating in the buffet.

The port of LA was insane!!! This picture shows just a very small area of containers....many of which had come over from China on freighters. All I could think as I looked out at the endless stacks and rows of containers was how Americans have access to so, so, so much STUFF.

I have cruised the Carribean four times now and next up on my cruise wish list were Alaska, transatlantic, and Panama Canal. The transatlantic cruise wouldn't work with the dates we had in mind and there are not too many Panama Canal cruises to choose from, so we decided to go to Alaska. Also, with wanting to visit my brother and sister-in-law in L.A., we decided to combine the two trips since we found an Alaskan cruise that left out of L.A. David's dad took him on an Alaskan cruise 12 years ago as a graduation trip, but I had never been to Alaska so I was eager to see the beautiful scenery for which Alaska is well-known. Back in our pre-baby days, cruises were incredibly relaxing and our days at sea were spent relaxing and reading around the pool, sleeping in, enjoying leisurely dinners in the dining room, and walking around the ship and drinking coffee after dinner. Cruising with a baby is quite different. Relaxation morphed into keeping John Harrison happy and occupied, trying to work in naps, and trying to find baby-friendly activities both on and off the ship. We had a lot of fun with our little guy and really enjoyed the time together as a family, but had to adjust to the different cruise mentality with having a baby :).

Malibu Baby

John Harrison wanted to make sure that he didn't have any embarassing lint on his PJs at Aunt Caroline and Uncle James' house.

Enjoying a meal with Caroline and James!!

If there was any doubt that we were out West, this sign cleared things up! (who knew that you could use the restroom and be eco-friendly at the same time!!). California mansion hunting.....

Culver City lion statue/fountain area that John Harrison enjoyed looking at.

John Harrison enjoying a "healthy" meal of mac and cheese, jello, and fries at Bubba Gump on the pier in Santa Monica.

Playing in the park in Malibu....John Harrison's Gymboree attire was quite out of place among the other Malibu babies!! I still think he was the cutest baby at the park, though!

I always imagined the Hollywood sign being near studios or some uppity shopping area. Who knew....to get close to the famous Hollywood sign, you drive up a very narrow curvy on the side of a hill/mountain that takes you through a residential area. At the top of the hill close to the sign, the road just ends....practically in someone's driveway.....so, you have to figure out a way to turn around and drive down the hill. Kind of disappointing to me....oh well.

On May 12th, we headed out to "So Cal" (Southern California to those of us not native to California). The day was a long and fairly stressful one as out first flight was canceled after we sat on the plane for around two hours. Thankfully, David was familiar with passengers' rights regarding flight cancellations and was able to get our airline to book us on an equivalent ticket on another airline instead of having to wait till late that afternoon or the next day to leave. We were ever so thankful when our plane landed in L.A. that evening!!! We stayed with my brother and sister-in-law for four nights. While in the L.A. area, we visited the Santa Monica pier, walked around Culver City, drove to Malibu, explored Beverly Hills and Hollywood, sat in a lot of traffic, walked along the beach walk (can't recall which beach), visited with James and Caroline, and went to church with James and Caroline. John Harrison woke up very early every morning so several mornings we got up and walked to Starbucks. We really enjoyed seeing James and Caroline since we had not seen them in four months! On Monday, May 17th, we boarded a cruise ship and left on a 13 night Alaskan cruise. Upcoming posts will recap our cruise!