Vacation Day 3 - Boarding the Ship

As soon as the ship was ready for embarkation, we hit the lunch buffet and then grabbed our swim suits. Since we're headed to Alaska, we figure this may be our only day to enjoy the pools on board.

In the evening, the cabin steward turns the rooms down and always leaves us a cute towel animal waiting for us. Julia wanted her picture with the pig.

Vacation Day 2 - Seattle

On our second day, we met up with family from Texas. We toured Seattle on steep roads that resemble San Francisco, and saw beautiful homes and wonderful views of the city. Although you don't see it here, Mt. Ranier is off in the distance to the left and is magnificent! Eric wants to come back and summit this 14,000 ft peak.

Vacation Day 1 - Mount St. Helens

We began our vacation with a day trip to Mount St. Helens. This is the only active volcano in the continental US. It's last major eruption was in 1980, but still has smoke & ash spewing frequently.

They had a beautiful hike around the blast zone area, so we couldn't resist. Although the eruption was over 30 years ago, you could still clearly see the areas that were devastated and transformed. Vegetation is slowly coming back, and so are the animals. We saw snakes, chipmunks, squirrels, and birds.

First Garden Produce

My garden is starting to produce. I picked the first red tomato today from the upside down tomato plant. I have already picked some green tomato and made some southern fried green tomato's. A rabbit got first pick at my green beans so I don't get to enjoy any of those this year.

Here is a picture of the sweet basil growing on top of my upside down tomato planter.

The bell pepper plant has some nice peppers forming

illuminations

July 3, I woke up early this morning to run a 5K. After the race I was hot so went to the pool and swam 1 mile. I feel like I got my exercise for the day.

Later in the day, I went to the local stand and purchased some illuminations (fireworks) for the kids. The kids didn't want to wait until Independence Day to try out the illuminations. So we light some of the illuminations.

Justin Luke and Julia had fun writing their name in the air with a sparkler.

July Fourth Cake

This week I have been watching Julia and Luke while mommy works from home. I wanted to do a fun, easy, and tasty project. We waited till Friday (since it's the closest to the holiday)and we made a Fourth of July Cake! Unfortunately, Luke went to a water park with some of his friends, so it was just Julia and I who made the cake. We put on our aprons and started cooking. She helped me mix ingredients in a bowl, watch the cake while baking, and decorate with sprinkles, strawberries, and flags. Once we were all finished, we took some bites of our masterpiece!

Another summer day

It is another dog day of summer. I got off work and took the kids swimming. Then went for a 2 mile job. I feel beat like an egg from Bob Evans.