Birthdays!!!

What a fun week we have had!!! We started the week with the Grand Rapids fireworks on Sunday night. The kids loved having ALL of their grandparents there as well as our adopted sister/cousin for the summer, Alex, and Shari and Alivia in from Indianapolis.

Bryan rode to the fireworks in style, but poor Grandpa! It was around 85 degrees. Is there anything grandparents won't do for their grandkids. I didn't even want to hold his sweaty little hand. :-)

We found two tiny little spots kitty corner from each other and settled in. It was tight, but...

it got tighter when we all had arrived. It turned out to be a really great spot to watch from.

Grandma and the Grays keeping cool, (or trying to) at the parade on Monday morning.

Grandma planned ahead and brought the sun visors. It was HOT!!!

Monday was a very special day at our house as we were remembering 7 years ago when we welcomed Ashlynn into our family. Not everyone gets a parade and fireworks for their birthday, but I'm really glad that this one does!! She is such a gift of joy and laughter to our family.

A pretty excited little girl once we finally got the sparklers to light.

She lost her tooth just days before her birthday. Look at that smile. :-)

Sparkler time! We decided that fireworks two nights in a row was just not going to happen so we made our own instead.

On Wednesday, we all headed to up to Mom and Dad's place to celebrate another special birthday. Happy Birthday, Shari!!! We rarely get to celebrate together anymore so it was a special treat.

A day at the beach was a nice treat during the heat. The temperature was perfect. Even Mommy went in, which is rare for a woman who would rather be just about anywhere than the beach. Sand and sunscreen... Yuck! It was soooo worth it.

The kids are bracing for a water fight between Mommy and Aunt Shari.

The kids love the time they spend at Kairos with Grandpa and Grandma.

My sweet, sweet boy

Two girls and their mom.

Two girls and their dad

My sister and friend.

This fun little guy, the youngest of the Kregel clan got a lot of attention over the weekend. As always, our time together as a family was enjoyed and savored for the gift that it was.

Alaska!!!!

We have been so blessed over the past two weeks. Our parents graciously agreed to love on our precious kids for two weeks while Eric and I escaped to the state of Alaska on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. This was not an expected vacation but we found a last minute deal that was going to be hard to pass up and found ourselves boarding a plane, eight weeks later, knowing that our children were in excellent hands with their grandparents. This was the first major vacation that we've taken with each other in 10 years and I'm so glad that we were able to do it. It was wonderful to learn that we still love to just "hang out" together and that we do have other things to talk about other than our offspring. :-) Here's a few of the highlights. Someday, hopefully soon, I will get a photo album together and will be happy to bore anyone with it.

Our first three days were spent exploring the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. It is a beautiful city and it was fun to be able to picture the excitement of the Olympics. We spent our time there mastering the public transportation system and looking for fun, mostly inexpensive things to do.

Eric's attempt at posing for a dreamy picture. I think he's a master at it.

The beautiful skyline of Vancouver in the background.

The Totem Pole Village at Stanley Park.



The Olympic flame which is under construction to be a permanent fixture in the city.

A highlight for both of us was a trip to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This thing is 447 feet long and about 230 feet over the river. It does actually shake when you walk across. It was amazing. We really missed the kids on this day, because they would have loved to see this.

Eric resting between bridges. It was really like walking on a pathway high up in the trees.

We were quickly realizing that traveling by ourselves made it hard to get pictures together, so we took any chance we got.

Our first view of the ship as we lugged our bags to the port. Eric had voted that we splurge for the $35 taxi but he lost to my vote that we take the $5 Sky Tram. He was glad we did in the end and we actually met another couple that we were able to build a friendship with on the ship.

Ready to sail.

The first formal night. It was fun to get dressed up, go to a nice restaurant and not have to worry about the prices on the menu.

Ketchikan was our first stop. I didn't realize I was in the picture but had to laugh at how thrilled I look to be in a place where they measure the rainfall in feet!! This was actually our driest port.

My husband contemplating how tired he is on the Married Man's Trail. :-) I do wear him out at times, I'm afraid.

This is Eric regretting agreeing to my suggestion that we pretend the ship didn't have elevators. Our legs got a really good workout on this trip as our stateroom was on Level 12 and most of the restaurants were on 5, 6, and 7.

At dinner, one night.

A beautiful sunset. The mountains just made it more breathtaking.

Another rainy day at the Medenhall Glacier. It was amazing. This stop followed our whale watching excursion where we were able to spot 7 humpback whales, a couple of porpoises, several sea lions and probably at least 25 eagles. It's amazing to see them all in the wild. Unfortunately, they're not used to posing for pictures and it was really hard to capture them with the camera, especially in the pouring rain. We did buy some great postcards. :-)

At the Skagway port we decided to pan for gold to hopefully replenish our bank account. :-) We were bound to be disappointed.

I unfortunately missed this glacier that was right up close because I was too tired to come up on deck. I was one of around 300 people who set their alarms for 4:30 am and went to stand out in the freezing cold because it was prime whale watching time. The whales didn't disappoint us as we probably saw 9 of them as well as porpoises and several seals but I was a very tired woman that day. Fortunately, Eric was able to get a couple of shots.

A second formal night with my new white gold and sapphire necklace from Eric. :-)

This will be a forever treasured memory for us and we are so thankful for the support of our parents which allowed us to do it. Our kids had a fabulous time with their grandparents and while we were very excited to see them, the experience was great for all of us.

John Ball Park Zoo

School has been out for two days and Eric and I were leaving in three days, so we took one last day to spend having fun as a family before the serious packing began and I became preoccupied with the details of leaving for two weeks. It was Children's Day at our house, a tradition started by my grandmother and carried on by my mom. We also celebrated Father's Day as we would be away on the actual day.

Our three precious children. A minute ago they were fighting over who got to stand by which penguin, but they sure look cute now :-)

This little goat was trying to eat the buttons off Elizabeth's shirt.

The only two members of our family brave enough to touch the sting rays. Yes, that's right, the rest of us believe that sting rays were not created to be touched. :-)




Daddy getting in on the petting farm fun.

Father and son.

The traditional family picture on John Ball. Does every family do this every time they come to the zoo?

Bryan really enjoyed that blue slurpee. I wish I could say that Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the aftermath, but let's just say, that is alot of sugar. Happy Children's Day!