We drove down to Cerritos last night and the kids had a blast with their cousins while Mama and Dada went to see their tax guy.
We later went to Baskin-Robbins for an ice cream treat.
For dinner, we met up with Ankong and Ama.
Christmas 2019
Merry Christmas!! We all dressed up in matching pajamas this year!
Cousins came over early in the morning to exchange/open gifts!
Then we headed over to Toni and Thomas’ house to start the standing rib roast and make s’mores outside in the patio.
Janie helped out by peeling all the potatoes. Ankong helped keep the trashcan lid open.
It was fun watching all the kids play together.
All the kids got a new toy called a Springling. All had a different animal that comes with a spring-loaded container. They got really creative with how they played with them.
Ellie’s Birthday
This evening, we celebrated Ellie’s birthday.
It’s also Ellie and family’s last night in Buena Park. What a great group photo!
Chinese Food
For lunch, everyone went out to San Gabriel for some tasty Chinese Food.
Looks like the kids ate well.
Love this photo of Ankong with all the kids. So cute!
Evening at Uncle Jason’s House
Dinner was at Uncle Jason’s house tonight.
Looks like their having a great time playing together.
More swimming!
The kids all went swimming again and ate In-N-Out for dinner!
Alaska Cruise: Day 6
It’s Day Six of our Alaska Cruise: Ketchikan, AK
We are in Ketchikan today and had just enough time to have breakfast before heading outside.
Our window is always close to the port so we placed the friends at the window so they could see out the window while we were away.
Auntie Jia got each of the littles a polar bear that hugs your arm.
Janie got a harbor seal.
We booked a trolley ride today and hopped on for a quick ride around town.
Peanut got a front seat so he could see all the sights with an unobstructed view.
We stopped near a stream and the boys enjoyed watching Ankong play with the yo-yo he bought in town.
We also went looking for bears but they were all hiding today.
Back in town, we went to Creek Street to browse the shops built right over the creek that usually has lots of salmon running.
At dinner, Peanut played a mean game of Uno with Ankong but started to make up his own rules. He also had two servings of cocktail shrimp this evening!
Here is our towel animal for tonight. Is it a duck? A gorilla? We don’t know.
Alaska Cruise: Day 4
It’s Day Four of our Alaska Cruise: Hubbard Glacier
We arrived around noon and the excursion boat came by to pick up passengers that paid for a closer look around.
We arrived at Hubbard Glacier today and the ship took us pretty close to all the action.
The bow (front of the ship) was open for viewing.
The kids loved the open space and took full advantage of it.
It was hard for them to see the glacier but they had fun taking photos of each other.
They also served Dutch pea soup, which Janie really liked and finished a whole bowl!
This is a time lapse that was taken on the boat by the photographers on board. You can see the kids running around toward the bottom right.
Here is some of the ice breaking off the glacier and falling into the water.
It’s hard to see in this photo but there’s a bear on the shore (the brown speck to the left of the boat).
We also passed a group of harbor seals lounging on an iceberg.
In the evening, we had dinner in the Dining Room again and Peanut enjoyed the pineapple sherbet.
Here’s our towel animal for the evening!
The kids also had a late night in the game room. Janie learned how to play Battleship and the littles “helped out”.
Alaska Cruise: Day 3
It’s Day Three of our Alaska Cruise: Juneau, AK
This morning, it was business as usual. We had breakfast at the Lido Bar and then we went back to the observation deck to play.
The kids loved the “water elevator” on the ship.
One of the chess tables was free so Janie played a game with Dada.
For lunch, we ate at the taco bar that was by one of the pools.
Then there was just enough time to get in a hardy nap before we arrived in Juneau.
When we docked, the kids were excited to see where we ended up. We had been at sea for almost 2 days.
When we disembarked, we got a family photo while waiting for our dog sledding excursion to begin.
We all rode in a van up into the deep forest and arrived at a summer camp built for dogs training for the Iditarod Race. Look at all the dogs!!
Our driver and guide, Brittany, took us on a little tour and described how they train the dogs, how they get their care, and even fed us cookies and hot chocolate!
Then it was time to meet some of the dogs. There were 12 chosen to pull us today and they were all so excited to get started. One gave Peanut a giant kiss on the face.
Then we all got into a cart and off we went!
After the ride, we went to visit the puppies.
Dada held one of them while the kids said “hello” and petted him.
They also enjoyed feeding him treats!
We were all wet by the end but it was so much fun!
Back in town, the kids took one last photo together and then it was back on the boat!
Alaska Cruise: Day 2
It’s Day Two of our Alaska Cruise: Day at Sea > Juneau, AK
This morning we were up early and the kids learned quickly that the day of the week changes in the elevator!
They also enjoy what they call the “water elevator” in particular.
After breakfast, we all gathered in the Observation Deck to play and relax.
It was rather cloudy outside most of the day but the kids didn’t care. They brought plenty of toys and games to keep themselves occupied.
We also went to the America’s Test Kitchen demonstration. Janie really enjoyed learning how to prepare salmon two different ways.
When we got back to our room mid-day, we found our basket filled with the fruits that we checked off last night on the card they placed on the table. The orange and apples did not last long before they were gobbled up.
In the afternoon, we went to Afternoon Tea in the Dining Room.
Janie enjoyed some of the English Tea and all the tasty treats on the tray.
They also went swimming in the pool, which was pretty wavy from the boat rocking back and forth.
This evening was “Gala Night” in the Dining Room so we all dressed up and had some family portraits taken.
It was really hard to get a photo of all the kids smiling at the same time.
When we came back from dinner, our room had been converted to “sleep mode” with a bunk bed and bat ray on the bed. This is so much fun!
