Grant Family pics 2011

                   The Grant family, minus ALL my brothers that were too lame to get their pics taken :)

Victoria, Canada

Our last night! We arrived in Victoria around 8 PM, so we only had a few hours here. It is such a gorgeous city! We walked into town, saw the water front, walked through a crazy party, and walked back to the ship! Eventful! It was a great last night to the end of our trip. This morning we said good bye and we are now driving home! Only 13 more hours to go! What a trip! Now we head back to reality!

Missing Macy

Gosh, I miss that girl! I hear she is doing just fine, and in the few days I've been gone, she has actually decided to replace me. Cheryl said that she has started calling her "momma". She cuddled with her for an hour each morning (Which she NEVER does). Also, when I left she could only crawl out of the port-a-crib. Tuesday, Cheryl laid her down to take a nap. She thought it was a great idea to take a nap herself! So she laid down in her bed and within 5 minutes she gets a knock on the door. "Hello! Hi! Hi!" Macy somehow climbed out of her crib, went upstairs, and found her "new" momma. That brings a smile to my face! Silly girl! 
I talked to my dad on Thursday. He wasn't exactly the happiest guy ever. He was in the middle of taxes ad had all the papers laid out on the floor. The phone rang and he left the room to answer it. He came back to the Destroyer (aka Macy) destroying all The papers. she had jumped on, crumpled, and ripped everything. And of course....she was all smiles! 
Mom told me that Macy has phases where she will only go to one person. She follows that person around the house all day and then randomly switches to someone else. There was a short moment when that person was my dad. Macy was watching tv with him and she decided she wanted his glasses. She grabbed for them about five times, each time my dad told her, "No". She ended up pulling them off his head, nearly destroying them. Dad tapped her hand and said, "No, no!"She got so upset, swung her arm back, and popped him in the nose. She then continued to beat Grandpa up by slugging him in the ribs and yelling at him. Umm... Can you say, "Like daughter, like father." :)
She loves the horses. She isn't the least bit afraid of them. I guess yesterday she went outside and tried climbing through the fence to get to them. 
I never thought I'd say this, but it's been a week and I miss her like crazy! I can't wait to get home and see my little girl. 

Ketchikan, Alaska

Today we woke up to the beautiful view of Ketchikan. We strolled along the streets and looked into the shops. My sweet husband bought Macy and I some sweet bear pj's. Yes, we look hott in them:).
We rented some cool little carts and drove around the town, stopping at the hatchery, the Totem place, and saw some bald eagles and owls. The highlight of the day was the Lumberjack show. We watched the professional lumberjack competition. They did some pretty cool things...with humor. The pics will give you a small taste of what we saw. Also... I have to mention that we are Team Alaska! PK bought everyone Alaska baseball hats and the seven of us wore them around town all day. Yep, we are cool :).

Sitka!

Sitka... What can I say? Sitka is a very small town with not a whole lot to do! Lol, it was beautiful as ever with all the mountains and the ocean,so that in itself was good enough. We walked around the city and looked at the little shops and ended the day with some amazing crab cakes, and king crab legs! Yum, yum! Need I say more?
Did I mention all the food on the ship? I'm sure I gained ten pounds. It was worth it though! All you can eat, for free! Our trip revolved around food. We ate... Ate some more...went to the spa, and when we were done with that, we ate some more! There was a huge dessert show and I've never seen so many sweet things in one room. There were so many fancy cakes, pies, pastries, ice sculptures, fruit, objects made of food, sugar, edible flower arrangements, chocolate, and more. I was in heaven. Unfortunately, I didn't have my nice camera. I did get a few pics with the phone though.
The entertainment on the ship was fun! We saw broadway, singers and dancers, a magic show that blew our minds, and some comedy. Tons and tons of fun! :)

Glacier Bay and Juneau, Alaska

Tuesday we toured Glacier Bay.Glacier Bay is a BEAUTIFUL glacier in Alaska that we viewed from the ship. It was perfect weather and it was amazing to hear the loud crack from the glacier when a chunk broke off.

                                                    Crab straight from The Deadliest Catch!

                                                      Look at those King crab legs! Yum!

 

                             Our beautiful ship, the Oosterdam! Ri and PK are in there somewhere!

We arrived in Juneau on Weds. We hopped on a smaller tour boat and went whale watching. It was awesome! We saw several hump back whales and many sea lions hanging out on the boey. (sp?) The water was incredible...creepy to think of what was swimming underneath us though! Juneau is a very charming city. I didn't realized how many bald eagles are there. I must have seen nearly thirty, and I wasn't looking for them.

A vacation inside a vacation!

So... Vacation in Utah has been wonderful so far! It it so good to see family! We went to Lagoon last week and I saw my brother, Brennan for the first time since he left on his mission to Chile. He is the same old, cute guy! He even brought not one, but two girls with him. My family had a little get together yesterday. It was my dad's birthday and Brin's graduation. Dad's truck broke down, and with Ri's help, he ended up buying a brand new "showroom" Toyota Tundra. It was by far the best looking truck they had on the entire lot, which is funny, because it's not like Dad. (But "it has a lift so he can drive through the snow drifts better while chasing deer".)Daddy Daryl paid for it all up front with cash. What a cutie!
Now for t he exciting part... We are driving to Seattle as we speak!(Yes, I am typing on Riley's new Ipad. He had to stop by the Apple store and bought it just a few hours ago.)Tomorrow we will hop on a cruise ship and be on our way to Alaska! Ri's dad had some time off and decided to go on vacation. He was kind enough to take us with him. I am so excited to have a week without Macy. My family is watching her. (So far she is having fun, but she learned to climb out of her play pen, so last night she would climb out, bang on the door, walk back to the crib and cry because she couldn't get in. That only lasted for three hours, so I'm sure she will be a handful. I miss my little angel though.)

7-day Cruise to Alaska... To be continued...