Juneau

Our first real stop on the cruise was Juneau.  We did some research ahead of time and figured that the one "not to miss" thing in Juneau was Mendenhall Glacier.  It's about 7-8 miles north of town, so we bought shuttle tickets and headed out.  We were able to get a lot closer than the glacier in Tracy Arm, so it was an awesome experience!

 There was a beaver dam right by the viewing platform with some ripples in the water just upstream of the dam.  I like to think the ripples were beavers, which I'll always think of fondly thanks to CS Lewis ("Safe? Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." — Mr. Beaver)

Here's the glacier, which has actually receded quite a bit in recent years.  Still magnificent.  You can walk on it if you're willing to fork over the money for a helicopter ride to the top.  That would have been cool, but pricey...

 Maggie and her Mimi at the glacier.

 There was also a waterfall just to the right of the glacier (Nugget Falls) which Mariah and I hiked over to while someone else watched our kids (Eric was still on crutches at this point of the trip).

 Back in Juneau town, a view of our boat.

 And from one of the upper decks of the ship, looking out onto Juneau harbor.  There were 5 ships in port that day, and float planes (probably carrying cruise shippers to the glaciers and such) landing every few minutes.

#50!

I can't say that I was all that well traveled of a kid.  Family vacations consisted of visiting family, and when you live in Minnesota and family lives in exotic locations like Michigan and Nebraska, well, you don't rack up a whole lot of states driving between those.  We did move to Arizona for a few years though, and in junior high drove from Indiana to California.  Then in college I took a road trip out to the west coast and back to MN.  At some point, maybe by the time I started dating Eric, I realized that I had actually seen a fair number of US states.  Maybe 30 or so.  But the East Coast.  Wow, that was just one long stretch of 15 states or something, none of which I had visited.  So during residency interviews I hit up most of them.  And suddenly, all I had left were a few southeastern states, W Virginia, Vermont, and Alaska (I got Hawaii in college on the way back from a trip to New Zealand).  Eric and I started planning vacations specifically to get to states we have never seen before.  And just before leaving for Kenya, I hit #49.  Alaska was all that was left...and it seemed a long ways away. :)

Fast forward 2 1/2 yrs.  When Eric's parents suggested an Alaskan cruise, I was thrilled for several reasons.  Deep down inside, the peak of my excitement was seeing #50 finally within my grasp.  And on May 28, 2012, I stepped off the boat onto the dock in Juneau, Alaska.

 Here is Eric's family, graciously helping me celebrate, and Eric's dad waiting at the end to welcome we into the 50 State Club (he made it about 10 years ago in Vermont).

Some interesting tidbits.  I can remember visiting EACH of the 50 states.  Meaning, I have visited them all in more or less recent memory.  Wyoming was the "longest ago," in 1993, I think.  My first state (of birth) was Ohio.  I have lived in seven of the states.  Eric's first state was my last state.  My favorite state?  Hm.  Maine and Alaska are both hard to beat!

Ah, victory.  What's next?  Well, there's the seven continents list...only South America and Antarctica to go...

Tracy Arm

After our first day at sea was completed, the next day was a scenic cruising day through Tracy Arm.  Tracy Arm is a fjord which houses 2 glaciers:  North and South Sawyer glaciers.  We were told that due to current weather conditions, there was almost no chance of reaching the actual glaciers (too much ice for the cruise ship to get past) but the rest of the cruising would be scenic anyways.  And wow, was it!  It actually coincided well with the kids' naptimes, so Eric and I were able to spend almost three hours reveling in the majestic creation before us.

It was probably one of those situations where you start taking pictures immediately, because everything is so beautiful, and then the further in you go, the better it gets, so you end up with over 100 pictures. :)  Here is the beginning of Tracy Arm, with waterfalls EVERYWHERE.

 Eric and his sister Mariah up on deck.

 Eric's parents got an oceanview room with a window, and it was great to be able to see the beauty around us even while taking our turn listening for the napping kids.

 One of the fun features was all the pieces of glacial ice floating around the boat.  The closer we got to the glaciers, the more ice we saw and also the bigger the pieces.  This was a fun "arch" of ice floating along.  And the pictures don't do it justice, but the ice was all a beautiful blue.

 And then...we turned the last corner, and North Sawyer glacier appeared in front of us.  Wow!  You can see it in the cleft of the mountains above, along with Sawyer Island (featuring a nesting pair of bald eagles, one of which we saw later on).

 Here is a great shot Eric took with the glacier above and a giant ice floe right in the triangular mountain reflection.  The water was so still and pretty.  Words failed us!  Except, of course, to make a lot of Titanic jokes and references. :)

Cruising with Family

Eric's parents have been talking about taking the family on an Alaskan cruise for awhile now.  Eric's dad worked for many years in the Indian Health Service as a civil engineer, and they lived in Anchorage for several years in the early 80s...Eric was actually born there.  Eric and his dad, Tim, returned for a visit about 10 years ago, but none of the rest of the family has been back (his two youngest sisters have never been to Alaska).  The initial Alaska plans were for about four years ago, but got tabled when all four of the McLaughlin siblings got married in a three year span.  Then we moved to Kenya for two years.  When we returned this fall, his mom asked if we were still interested.  Um, yes!

All three of Eric's sisters and their families (minus one husband who sadly was unable to get away from work) came along for a 7 day cruise on Holland America leaving from Seattle.  We visited Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria BC, and did scenic cruising in Tracy Arm (a fjord that's home to 2 glaciers) and Puget Sound.  Awesome, awesome trip.  We took 100s of photos and will share them in a few upcoming posts, but wanted to start with some fun family photos.  The kids especially enjoyed getting to see Mimi and Bapa, their aunts and cousins, and their "chunkles" (uncles).  And we especially enjoyed having all those people around to help out with our kids. :)

Maggie and Ben reunited with their Bapa

View of Puget Sound from the back of the MS Amsterdam

Mimi and her grandkids on the first formal night.  She made Maggie and Sierra matching dresses, and Ben and Liam were wearing (unplanned) more or less matching vests.

13 McLaughlins in an elevator!

Rachel and my only niece, Sierra

Maggie and Ben sharing a chair (they each had their own chairs, neither of which was the chair they are sitting on in this picture, but when dinner takes 2 hours, some musical chairs do provide much needed entertainment!)

Ben and his Mimi

Calling Grandma to tell her about the cruise

Maggie, Ben, and Liam had fun checking out the rental carts at the Seattle airport.

Ben and Liam, 5 days apart in age, chilling in their carseats

Pacific Northwest

We left Minnesota on Wednesday the 23rd...2 days before the cruise left.  Some of you might recall the last time Eric and I took a cruise.  We call it our ill-fated vacation.  Due to some serious airline problems, we missed the boat on day 1 and came within 10 minutes of missing it on day 2 as well!  So perhaps we were a bit gun-shy, but REALLY wanted to make sure we didn't miss the boat this time around!  The extra two days also gave us a chance to visit with some friends in Washington State.  

We got in to Seattle and rented a car.  There will be posts to come on the Great State Race, but with Rachel's 50th state within smelling distance, Eric was feeling a bit bummed out only being at 47.  So, in her magnanimous way, Rachel suggested a brief detour down to Portland to hit up one of Eric's three remaining states (Oregon, S. Carolina, Hawaii).  It was only 20 min south of our friends, so it worked out well!

The question of course was, what to do in Portland when you only have an hour.  Cross the state line and call it good?  We didn't have time for extensive sightseeing, so picked a place on the map called "The Grotto."  It's a Catholic shrine but also a beautiful park, right off the interstate.  It was raining and cool but a beautiful stop.  Here's Eric and Maggie at a small waterfall.

The shrine.

We spent Wed night with our Post-Resident friends, Dan and Kristina Benedick, who have recently started working in southern WA (after returning from Ecuador several months ago).  It was fun to catch up and see their new place!  Thursday we drove back to Seattle and spent the day with our friends from Knox, John and Lace Fang, as well as their daughter Lily.  We didn't do many touristy things, but did get a nice family photo by the Seattle skyline.

Here's Maggie showing off her new "funny face" at a playground/beach near their house.  Those are clouds in the background, but also the snow capped mountains on the Olympic Peninsula.  Wow!  The Pacific NW is soooo beautiful.  Wish we could move there. :)

Farm Time Fun

We are about to launch on a whole series of posts about our recent cruise to Alaska (whoo hoo!) so stay tuned for those.  Return to blogging in a big new way!  Seriously, like Eric mentioned in our post last month, it's not that we have given up on blogging, but when you lead a transient life, it's hard to find time and internet to be able to share the adventures.  In fact, there are probably MORE adventures than normal, just less time for documenting.  So, we have the pictures and will attempt to share a little tidbit of our lives this past month over the next few weeks. We're really back blogging a lot, but better late than never.  PS...we're in Minnesota right now, so email if you want to get together.

Alright.  So.  We finished up our 6 wks in Colorado and headed east.  It made the most sense to drive to Minnesota and then fly out to Seattle for the cruise, so that when we returned from the cruise we could start visiting right away.  On the way to the Twin Cities, we stopped in Kearney NE, Lincoln (to visit Nathan and Heather), Omaha (the Batchellers), Des Moines (the Guck families) and Spring Grove, MN.  Eric has an aunt and uncle who have a little farm and woodshop in Spring Grove, and I had never been there.  It seemed like a great chance to visit!

The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and the kids LOVED the animals.  Within moments of our arrival, Maggie was out back helping to feed the chickens and collect eggs (sort of...she just really just put the eggs in a bucket to keep from getting pecked).

There were a few baby kittens on the farm which was totally Maggie's favorite part.  She got to hold one and spent the rest of our time there either talking about it or asking to go and find it again.

Eric's aunt and uncle also have some goats, which were quite large.  Here's a picture of some baby goats they were thinking of taking on as well.

Ben made friends with the cats, too....

....as well as a baby calf.

What a great place to spend a day or two!  Maggie also got to pet some horses and go for a ride in the Bobcat.  Kids really do seem to love farms!  When it was time to leave, Ben plopped himself down on a hay wagon and refused to go.  Hopefully we can go back again someday.

Crutches, or Our Bodies Really Like Both Legs to Work

We had a wonderful time in Moab several weeks ago, as was chronicled below.  We loved visiting our friends, the Pages.  They had rented an awesome little vacation condo, complete with loft, reached only by a circular staircase, and you could take a FIREMAN POLE to go down!  How awesome is that?

Really awesome.

But I'm an idiot.

The last morning that we were leaving, I said "Wait!  Each of the adults need to take a turn going down the pole, and we'll take pictures."  It was a rare moment of exuberance.  Maybe I should make sure those moments stay rare.  I (thankfully) volunteered to go first.  Here is me coming down.

Note the lack of shoes.

I hit the ground fast and hard.  I guess I didn't lock my legs around the pole well.  Or grip it hard enough.  Something.  I more or less freefell and landed straight on my right heel.  This is me on the ground a few minutes later, praying that I hadn't just broken my calcaneus.

The next day I was still in a lot of pain, barely able to walk, so I went to and urgent care, and x-rays didn't show a fracture.  So I thought it would get better soon.  It didn't.  After a few days, I borrowed some crutches and did partial weight-bearing.  After a week, I still had a lot of pain, and began emailing friends to get opinions on what I should do.

I ended up taking weight off it totally for almost 10 days, with the result that, since then, I have been feeling good, and am now on my 3rd day with no crutches and I feel great.  A couple bullet points on this experience:

• I guess I'm officially old enough to do stupid things and get hurt by them.
• Me being on crutches while my wife, 2 little kids, and I, travel about the country is really hard.  Especially on my wife.
• Rachel has been SuperWoman. (again)
• That same family scenario traveling on a plane flight is near-laughable, but after taking our family home from Nairobi with 8 pieces of checked luggage, everything else is easy.
• I've never been on crutches before, but I'm astounded how using them makes every other part of your body so tired and sore.
• I finally made the decision to start walking without them after our visit to Sitka, Alaska.  Our shuttle abandoned us, and I crutched back to the boat (about a mile), with the result that my injured heel suddenly became the healthiest part of my body.  Thankfully, it paid off.
• Lesson:  Legs.  They are an awesome pair.

Where did they go?

This is kind of a "placeholder" post, for those who are wondering if we have abandoned the blog.  The answer is a resounding "no", but we've been quite crazy busy.  There is much to tell, and we will try to get around to it soon.

A little Q&A:

Where are we?  Currently, we are in Seattle, WA, and in a few hours, we will get on a cruise ship with Eric's family to head to Alaska for 7 days.  This has significant implications for Rachel's State Race.  Then, we will be in the Twin Cities for a bit, before heading to Baltimore for a month of tropical medicine for Eric.

Where have we been since Moab?  We were back in Colorado for two weeks of Language Acquisition Training, which was great.  Then, we had a wonderful time visiting friends and family, all the way from Denver to Minneapolis, where we flew to Seattle.

Are you surviving?  Yes.

Do the kids' sleeping patterns suggest that they have any idea what time zone they are in?  No, and the 4am daylight of late May in the Northwest does not seem to help.

Is Eric on crutches?  Yes, due to a story that I'm sure we'll blog on later, but hopefully he'll be off soon.

Should we pray for all of you?  Yes, please.

Are you still enjoying where you are, despite the fact that it sounds (and is) quite nuts sometimes?  Yes, we are.  "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." (Ps 126) =)

Moab

We are currently in the middle of a week off between our two Mission Training Institute classes, and have taken the opportunity to vacation!  First, Eric's parents came to town for the big birthday.  Then, we headed west...to Utah!  My best friend from med school and her family live in Salt Lake City, and they met us for a long weekend in Moab, near Arches National Park.  It has been great so far.  Maggie was especially excited to see "My buddy.  Wilson." 

On the way, we decided to take the scenic route from Colorado Springs west and then borth to Breckenridge.  Our state highway took us past TONS of beautiful mountains and an area that looked just like Rohan (think Edoras and the Golden Hall, LOTR fans).  Below is a view from the car.

 Then, after we got onto I-70, the highway went right through a beautiful canyon west of Vail.  There were points where we were literally driving at the base of a narrow canyon, just the highway and the Colorado river at the bottom and sheer walls on either side.  I hung the camera out the window and tried to get some shots.

 We arrived in Moab on Thursday night and spent the morning on Friday in Arches National Park.  It is beautiful! (in a fascinating but no desire to live here sort of way)

 Balancing rock, featured below:

 We were able to take a few short "hikes"...the Balancing Rock loop was about 0.25 miles, perfect for our family. :)

 Maggie showing off some mini-balancing rocks.

 The other hike we were able to do was to a formation called North Window.  It was huge!  So pretty.

 Eric walked to Landscape rock, a very thin arch, while I stayed in the car with a sleeping Ben.

Such a beautiful park!  Some day we will have to return when the kids are older and we can do some more hiking.

THREE!

Hard to believe it, but our baby girl turned three years old yesterday.  It was a fun birthday!  We are currently still in Colorado Springs, CO, and Eric's parents came out to visit for the big day.  We went to Garden of the Gods in the morning, and then headed home for a festive PINK lunch.  The lunch featured strawberry applesauce, raspberry lemonade, tomato soup (more orange than pink), and corn dog muffins (the hot dogs were sort of pink, as was the ketchup...).  The cake was, of course, pink.  With pink frosting and princesses.

Here she is, showing off some of her ballerina moves while wearing a favorite gift, PINK ballet slippers.

Here she shows off another favorite gift, a tea-pot shaped castle for her princesses to play in.  Wow, is she a little girl or WHAT? :)

It has been a wonderful adventure these past three years, being Maggie's mommy.  I can only imagine what the future holds.  I am fully expecting that the terrible twos came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday. :)  But regardless, she fills our days with smiles and joys.  Happy birthday, sweetie!