Airport, Vancouver, and Great Granma's Bday Party

Sorting

I'm trying to sort through tons of pictures from Alaska. It was a great cruise and Noelle has been asking to go back since she arrived home. Tom looks at the scenery out our windows and gets a very distant look on his face as he remembers sitting on the balcony, after Noelle went to bed, and watching the mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers pass by.

Here is a quick picture of a glacier.

Here is a little video on Noelle and Uncle Alex swimming in the pool during some turbulent seas. She loved the pool and enjoyed daily swims with Uncle.

Cruise Update

Tom and Noelle are only three days away from ending their second Alaskan cruise. I have talked to them many times and they are having a ton of fun. She is enjoying much attention from everyone and gets away with murder when with Granpa and Granma Goodhue. It will take me a month to get her back on track! Uncle Alex continues to be a favorite and encourages her to do things that I would not deem proper for a three year old - that is what Uncles are for!

They have visited Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway so far. Today and tomorrow they will be on the boat doing scenic cruising through Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord. On Saturday they end the cruise in Whittier with a short bus ride to Anchorage. Their plane leaves Saturday evening from Anchorage and arrives back in Detroit at a bright and early 5:30am on Sunday.

Here are some pictures that have been sent to me via cellphone from my Dad and Tom. Multitudes of pictures with follow when they get home.

Noelle's Camera

I cleaned out Noelle's camera in preparation for the trip. Out of the 300 plus pictures I kept about 50 of them. You can only keep one or two pictures of her foot or snack time food. I do highly recommend her camera to any children over three. The quality of the pictures isn't the greatest, but you can put silly add ons to the pictures and it even has some entertaining games. Plus she loves having her own camera to take pictures of whatever stricts her fancy. Here are a few cute ones.

St. Clair

Last Wednesday we went on a day trip to St. Clair to visit Great Granma and Granpa Babcock along with some Great Aunts. The ride went well, I feel very lucky that all the children travel with ease. Noelle couldn't wait to see Great Granma and Granpa. All year long they send wonderful packages filled with many clothes and presents for the children which bring many smiles to their faces.

When we arrived Noelle and Max made themselves at home and explored the condo. The condo is right on the St. Clair River. The boats and sparkling water (Noelle was quick to point out how the sun sparkled on the water which looked like glitter and it brought a big smile to her face. Little girls and glitter, what could be better?) was very exciting for them. Great Granma and Granpa had tons of gifts for the children and they dove right in enjoying everything.

I wish I would have taken a lot of pictures but I only took two :( Chasing around Max, trying to keep him from destroying things just took up too much time!

Because three children tend to be a bit overwhelming we didn't want to over stay our welcome so we headed over to my Aunt Judy's house just a few miles away. The kids enjoyed playing with my cousins and Aunt. Again I failed to take pictures. The children were tired out and we started the journey back home around 4pm.

It was a wonderful visit. I absolutely love spending time with my Grandparents and showing off my children! Some of my greatest memories of childhood include my Grandparents. Shopping trips with Granma, learning to drive the golf cart with Granpa, visiting Florida every year, the list goes on and on!

Tom and Noelle leave for Alaska (thank you again Granma and Granpa for this third fabulous Alaskan cruise!) Saturday morning and we have begun our packing and gathering of things. Noelle is over-the-moon excited. She can't stop talking about the different adventures she will encounter. I have cried a lot (not around) when thinking about being away from her, but I know she will be the center of attention and will have the time of her life.

That's all for now!

Working Weekend

For the Holiday weekend we spent it working on landscaping. It is very difficult to accomplish much with the children. They usually get 100% of our attention and when we decide to do something that requires us to derail our attention away from them they are not happy and it makes things difficult.

We bought some festive flag t-shirts to all wear for Saturday. My plan was to get a family picture, but Violette had a diaper that leaked through and I was only able to get a few pictures.

Taking the children to local fireworks was something we debated but decided not to. We did let Noelle play with some sparklers before bed (in the pictures she has pj's that are obviously small on her, but she insists on keeping them) and she had a blast. From our house we had a great viewing of the firework shows. I ran to wake up Noelle and show her but she would not have it and told me to go away! Maybe next year she will be able to stay up later.

We did find a very rare, very temperamental tree. I have a feeling it will grow leaps and bounds over the next years and gives us mountains of trouble!

It's About Time...

After our weekend of sickness and missing out on the Roehrig Family Gathering, then Granpa Roehrig getting sick, we finally got together last weekend. We drove in Saturday and had a wonderful day. The children were excited to see Granpa and enjoyed the time we spent. We can't wait until the next get together with Granpa and the rest of the Roehrig Family. Here are some pictures that speak volumes more than words: