My plane landed just before 10 o'clock tonight. The boys clapped and rejoiced to be home. However when we got down to baggage claim I found out Asa was late leaving, and stuck in traffic. By the time he called Justin to get out of the traffic, he was circling the wrong terminal. It was a huge mess, and I had probably the biggest melt down of the entire trip. We had to wait at the airport for an hour and 15 minutes after our plane landed, plus the hour delay, we got home at 12:57 this morning, resulting in a day 29. This trip has been compared to child birth- more than anything I've ever done (well, except of course actual child birth). Hopefully we look back fondly on all the good times, and forget the bad ones. Tonight was a bad one though, so not awesome to end on such a crappy note. At least I got to see Porkchop as soon as Asa picked me up and I am currently in bed, with my laptop, watching the DVR and my puppy down by my feet under the covers. Its like I never left- except for that massive to do list now awaiting me. (unpacking, grocery shopping, laundry, picture uploading to snapfish and facebook) Back to Reality. But, as a disclaimer, I'm not cooking till Sunday.
In case you missed it, lets recap:
Day 1: Not so affectionately referred to as the day that never ends. Total travel time to our hotel in Anchorage: 23 hours, 15 minutes. Had a nice stop over in Phoenix visited family and friends and stopped at the Cardinals stadium for some pictures. Swore off every booking a trip whose travel time exceeds 12 hours.
Day 2: Walked around downtown Anchorage, went to the market and had our first taste of reindeer, resulting in some guilty feelings- after all, i just ate the guy that flies Santa's sleigh.
Day 3: Traveled from Anchorage to Fairbanks stopping at the Reindeer farm, and the Iditarod Headquarters. Gave it the old college try on eating the Sewards Folly. Saw a barrel, a lady, a log and a Moose. Took a blurry picture of the road and a car. Met everyone else in Fairbanks, who questioned the validity of my moose sighting with no picture.
Day 4: Riverboat Tour on a Rainy Day, Visited the Pipeline which the kids thought was just amazing, and proved to Asa I can also be the careless parent. Traveled by motor coach to Denali where everyone went for a hike, and got drenched while I watched the younger kids tolerance for each other start to decline.
Day 5: Spent the day with the kids in Denali, in which we fed Holly and Cort's kids lots of ice cream and fudge. Which pretty much resulted in us being the coolest Aunt and Uncle ever. We made paper airplanes, played mother may I, and went into town after going to the visitors center. Took a late night hike with Cort, Holly, Peyton, Calib and Asa. Clint and Jess spoted a moose AND take a picture. Overachievers.
Day 6: Traveled from Denali to Anchorage, listened to Rio for the 8th time. Played the moose drawing game (that Peyton later got a prize for) and stopped for ice cream in Houston. Dinner cost me an amazing $1.47, and we pretty much met Sarah Palin.
Day 7: Affectionately referred to as the last day Corinne didn't feel sick for a whole week. Rode the train from Anchorage to Seward, where Clint and Jess's stinginess caused them to boycott breakfast. A couple more moose were spotted, but no pictures resulted in some raised eyebrows. Went to the sea life center for an hour, rolled around in the grass, and boarded the boat where Hayden immediately started his cookie count. (It took Peyton and Calib a little longer to find the ice cream)
Day 8: Peyton's birthday and a whole day cruising. We went through the hubbard glacier, and spotted a couple of sealions. Peyton made it to the top of the rock climbing wall, and spent half the day in kids club. Apparently what he wanted for his birthday was a break away from everyone else. We had lunch in the dining room, and had Ponderosa for dinner while Clint Jess and Mom took the Red Lobster route.
Day 9: The cruise port was Juneau. Everyone (sans Clint and Jess) got off the ship for the whale watching cruise where we spotted lots of whales, bald eagles, and sealions. My family stopped at the crab shack, and had some bisque and crab cakes, where we contemplated moving to Alaska and catching crabs for a living, since you can totally sell each leg for $25 and people will buy them. Thats some kind of profit right there.
Day 10: The cruise port was Skagway. The boys stayed on the ship and Asa and I went into town to find a spot to connect to the internet. We waded in the freezing cold river, saw a small boy fall in said river and scream due to the cold, and saw girls in bikinis swimming in the river. Take a guess who was the Alaskan natives. It was the 4th of July so the waiters in the dining room sang a medley of patriotic songs, there was napkin waving for all!
Day 11: The cruise port was the Icy Straight (Hoonah). Asa, Mom, and I took Garrett off the ship. We wandered around some shops, waded in the water, and dodged the rain. We had to ride the tender boats in and out, which didn't help my sea sickness. I was later jealous of Clint and Jess's tide pooling adventures. Mom climbed- no wait- conquered the rock climbing wall.
Day 12: The cruise port was our last one, Ketchikan. Asa, Calib, Peyton, Mom and I made a bee line for creek street, and did lots of souvinere shopping, where the lady at the gift shop looked at us really funny when we asked if we were on a floating dock (a lot of days at sea will do that to you) Mom was the last one on the ship, and therefore the last one to set foot on Alaska. The kids had a pirate parade minus Peyton, who quit due to embarrassment from having to yell something about boogers up noses. Bonus Clip: Video sold on the ship and previewed the last night showed Peyton stomping out of kids club and quitting the Pirate Parade- awesome.
Day 13: Our last day cruising, aka see how much food Asa can eat while it's still free. It was lobster night in the dining room where Peyton spotted dolphins swimming. We squandered away our last dollars in the penny slots, went out on the helipad before watching the farewell show. Peyton and Calib watched Hayden all by themselves for the first time ever, and nothing (that) bad happened.
Day 14: Our cruise ended in Vancouver. Aunt Patty and Uncle Emmett picked us up and we drove back to their house stopping to see Deception Pass, ride the ferry, and pass by the Boeing plant. After spending time at the tide pools that day, Peyton said it was his best part of the trip so far- looks like grandma wasted all that money for his trip to Alaska.
Day 15: Some of us went out to the fish market where we saw the fish flying. We visited the first starbucks, and the fremont troll before having a homecooked seafood night by Aunt Patty, where the "kids" table had way too much fun playing with the crab claws. Uncle Emmett also coerced the kids into thinking picking up pinecones into garbage bags was super fun, when in reality he was just happy not to pick them up himself.
Day 16: Brandy and Britt stopped by to hand deliver Voo Doo Donuts, and lick some Banana Slugs. Corts family and Mom flew home (phew- thank god- a person can only take so much), and we got to go up the space needle at dusk and see it in both daylight and night time all in one trip. Plus, we got to go see Quest Field.
Day 17: Oh thank heaven day! We spent the early afternoon going to the zoo, and the later part of the day was Asa's day (because he needed to be a little nerdier) visiting the Jimmy Hendrix statue, Tim at Microsoft, and having slurpies at the highest grossing 7-11 in the country (because EVERYONE knows where the highest grossing 7-11 is), right next to the Nintendo building.
Day 18: Asa headed home, and the rest of us flew from Seattle to Cleveland, going through San Fransisco, and picking up another state. Until I get to Candlestick Park in San Fransisco, I will be sure to remind the boys I didn't get that stadium because they didn't want to take their shoes off to go through security. Such sacrifices I make as a mother- but what separates me from the good moms, is I don't intend on letting this one go.
Day 19: Took the boys to Soak City, went to the Pizza Box for take out and watched Shrek down at the Boat Basin in Huron. I complained about the cool temperature on Day 19, and I would really like to tell everyone how sorry I was, apparently my wishing to be warmer went a bit on the extreme side after this. It would later be referred to as the last time everyone got to wear their hoodies this trip.
Day 20: Moms Birthday! We went to see Cars 2 in 3D, and out to the Wildlife Safari in Port Clinton to feed all the animals. Calib had a near death experience with a yak. Well, scratch that, Calib thought he had a near death experience with a yak- that never got closer than 15 feet from him. The boys rode ponies after mom guilt tripped the lady into (way to go grandma!), and we waded in lake Erie.
Day 21: We had lunch at Woodys, which to Hayden's dismay was not toy story related. Calib went to his dads house (and I'm sure breathed a huge sigh of relief to get the heck away from us after 21 days) We headed out to Niagara Falls where we stopped to be sure to meet the requirements of a new state in Pennsylvania. Our room was comped to a falls view, because we're just that awesome. We got to see the falls lit up, and ate ice cream from our hotel as we watched the fireworks.
Day 22: Rode the Maid of the Mist early in the morning, and walked the length of the falls over to the welcome center and gift shop. Then we got to ride the tram back up the hill, after Hayden conquered his fears (also know as realizing we were not tricking him into boarding the tower of terror). We headed home, stopping at the ever underwhelming Buffalo Bills stadium.
Day 23: Family Day! We went to the Sacred Heart Festival, out to Maumee Bay state park to celebrate with a birthday brunch of a whole gaggle of people. We accidentally swam with Max and Henry, and Peyton learned a valuable lesson in how mom is nearly always right. We visited Grandpa in his new house, where Hayden thought grandpa was now living in a hotel. We went out to dinner with the Sattler's, and visited with family at grandma's house. Also, probably contracted pink eye.
Day 24: First day of kids college- Thank God. Peyton needed a break from me, and I needed a break from him. Took Hayden out to Marblehead and climbed on the rocks by the light house, noting grandma and calibs carelessness around rocks previously. We had ice cream, or really, melted cream. Boat night got rained out, so we had Chud's for dinner and went out to Cedar Point to play putt putt, have ice cream, and swim (albeit illegally) in the camper village pool. Ice cream count for the day: 2.
Day 25: Second day of kids college. Took Hayden to the Imagination Station in Toledo with Ben, where we ate raw meat, I had a sick baby who just happened to be African American, and we built a block tower as tall as we could before hurricane Hayden arrived. We went out to lunch where Hayden had a photo shoot with the salad bar and Bens feet (not at the same time of course, that would be inappropriate). After kids college we went out to Huron to ride on Bob and Linda's boat. Had a picnic dinner, swam in the lake, saw Cedar Point by boat, and Hayden played bumper boats while Peyton actually played a decent captain.
Day 26: Third day of kids college. Took Hayden to Sandusky to have lunch with Tiffany and Aiden (yes, Hayden and Aiden- that was fun), played at the playground, and then headed back to Fremont to pick up Mom and Peyton. Watched Grandma's camel ride snowball into a huge (perhaps even epic) event, the boys feed some animals, and went to Fazoli's for dinner. Then crashed the camper village pool again before stopping by DQ on our way home. All without ever being seen, like ninja's or something.
Day 27: Last day of kids college. Took Hayden to the library where we searched for Waldo for an hour and a half (it's alot more difficult without google handy), brought everyone lunch at Terra, took Hayden out to white star park to swim and to DQ (because, I mean, we obviously needed more ice cream) before getting Peyton from kids college and going to the Fremont Rec Center to swim. Went to dinner at the pizza palace, played with the garden hose so much so grandma had to nix the hearing aids, caught lighting bugs who later made a great escape also ninja style, did sparklers and only had one burn, packed, and "lost" to Peyton in hotels again.
Day 28: Go Home Day! Or so we thought, stupid plane delays. Went to the cemetery where Hayden was sorely disappointed Mr. Ham Lincoln wasn't buried there, and took 5 boys to lunch with me (because four just isn't enough). Afterward we got screwed out of a trip on our second train ride to add to the transportation tally due to storms nearing the zoo. Of course we were nearing the end of vacation, so we had to make one more trip for... anyone? anyone? ICE CREAM! Then took the plane home to end one epicly long vacation.
Next Up: The Epic Count of Epic Events on my Epic Vacation. And, THE END.
No comments:
Post a Comment