Halloween Time

It was so cold this week and actually snowed, but we managed a trip to Bailey Acres with lots of layers and some of the coolest costumes.  A quick dinner with some friends who live in the neighborhood preceeded our candy collecting.  We really enjoyed all the fellow trick r treaters as well as the posh treats folks were handing out.  There was even a hot dog stand, hot chocolate stand and a house that gave out tubs of cotton candy.  I'm so glad we were able to spend the evening together and wonder if this will be our last!

Singer

Norah was asked back in August about singing a duet with another girl.  They were going to sing "The Miracles of Jesus" written by the sister of a friend back in TX.  Norah sang this song in a primary program back in TX and was thrilled to be able to sing a duet here in UT.  With only a few practices under their belt, these girls nailed the performance.  You could tell they were nervous but they never messed up and sounded beautiful-way to go!

Sick Again

Not surprising, two days after we got back from our cruise Ulli started whining and limping.  I made an appointment with our vet, but when his condition escalated, we scheduled a sick visit and took some xrays and did some bloodwork.  The xrays were inconclusive and the bloodwork only showed that Ulli had elevated white blood cells.  We were given some antibiotics for the infection he was fighting and headed home with some pain killers for his limp and whine.

Kyle and I immediately thought Ulli was relapsing when he deterioarated quickly that night.  We managed to get an apptointment with the specialist for a few days later and eagerly waited for what the appointment would show.  Kyle took Ulli to SLC and met with the vet, where he told Kyle he didn't think it was aseptic menigitis and told him he needed to another spinal tap.  We declined and Ulli seemed to come back to life, literally, on the way home.

He has been taking his antibiotics without pain killers for about a week now and he is a new dog!  Not sure what's going on with him, but we are hopeful that this infection was causing him pain and a limp as well as a lack of appetite.  Only time will tell what will happen with Ulli, but as for now it seems like he is on his way to his old self again!

More Puzzles

Another 1000 pieces done!  This one was fun and afterwards, everyone who helped got to pick out their favorite candy from the puzzle and buy it at the store!

Ghost Goodie

We have been really neglecting the holiday with a sick pooch and recovering from our vacation.  Today we decided to make some goodies to get us in the spirit of things.  The dark chocolate mousse filled graham cracker cup had whipped cream on top; it was fun to make and fun to use our Halloween cookbook!

Bangers and Mash

Tonight Kyle decided to whip up some Irish food for dinner and we all enjoyed the bangers, mash, yorkshire pudding AND the minted peas!

We're Back

All the reports we got from the Forrests showed Ulli having a blast and loving every minute of the time he spent with them and their two dogs; a make lab and a female husky.  When we got home though, he seemed off and started limping.  We have an appointment and will hopefully get some answers about what's going on!

Puzzling

After a trip to Star Wars Land, Kyle picked up this puzzle on a Smith's run on Friday night.  This 1000 piece puzzle was finished in less than 48 hours!  BOOM!

Valley Art

We got home yesterday and today was the kids' first day back at school as well as the day I teach Valley Art.  I read the presentation and thought I was ready to present.  The exhuastion was undeniable, but somehow I managed and so did Norah; look at this clay dog she whipped up!

Star Wars Land

Last night after checking into our hotel and watching some more conference addresses, we headed to downtown Disney to find some dinner.  We waited in a crazy security line to get into the downtown area and the realized the waits at the restaurants were all ridiculous.  We needed to eat, so we picked up some empanadas at a food truck at the entrance.  Big mistake.  We ate the food, and then headed back to the hotel.

Sometime in the night, Kyle woke up with violent food poisoning and was sick the entire night.  He wasn't sure if it was a virus or food poisoning, and kept the boys aprise of the whole situation.  When I woke up and started getting ready in the girls' room, I had no idea what had happened throughout the night.

Once we were ready, the boys came into our room and told us that Kyle was sick.  The news was devasting, we had bought our tickets the night before and had to check out of the hotel before noon.  Kyle managed to sleep while I took the kids to Disneyland and enjoyed the entire park before he met up with us at 12 once he had to check out of the hotel.

We all headed to California Adventures where the long lines started to develop thanks the new mid-day pass.  Kyle spent some time in the sick bay while the kids and I waited in some long lines.  We skipped a bunch of fun food on behalf of sick Kyle and managed to get through a few long lines before dinner.

Once dinner was over, we headed back to Disneyland and closed out our day there as best we could without anymore worthwhile fast passes.  The highlight was probably the new Star Wars Land and the picture we took at the top of Splash Mountain.

Laguna Beach

After the temple, we went to the beach where Wyland paints and has a gallery.  We saw a few artists painting the beautiful spot and even walked through the waves before jumping back into the car and headed to LA.

Newport BeachTemple

We got off the boat this morning and grabbed an Uber to the hotel where we would be picking up our car.  We had a bit of a drive from Longbeach to LA where we would be staying, so we listened to Conference and made some stops along the way.

Lasering At Sea

In addition to the go-cart track, our cruise ship boasted a laser tag arena.  We had a hard time imagining how the ship would pull this off when we headed up to the top deck on our final evening on board.  Boy were our expectations exceeded!  This may have been the most fun we've had with an on-board activity.  Our whole family was teamed together against another fun family (of adults) who barely beat us in a head-to-head match.  We wished we'd scheduled more laser tag runs when all we said and done!

Fruit Carving Demo

When a cruise ship is at capacity and you have a day at sea, you sometimes need to get creative to avoid the crowds (especially near the pools, where the weather was finally warm enough to justify a little sunbathing).

It began as an afterthought, but a few of us decided to head down to the scheduled fruit carving demonstration--met and exceeded expectations.  Pretty amazing what one can do with knife skills and some fruit.  The watermelon artist blew our minds--the other art (in the middle) felt like something we might even be able to try at home!

Whale of a Picture

Between the exposure to Wyland art and our brushes with the real thing on our whale watching tour earlier in Victoria, it shouldn't be suprised that some of our little artists were feeling inspired.  Ben crafted this cute sketch on the kids' menu at the Italian restaurant on board as we departed San Francisco.  Blue Humpback Whale (in blue crayon), 2019.

Made It

Our late start from the customs check really put us in a hole when it came to seeing and doing all we had set out to in San Fran.  We made the mandatory run to Ghiradelli's with Matt and Cal and then decided to walk the 15 minutes back to the cruise ship terminal (with a quick bathroom stop on the way that allowed us a quick visit to the Pier 39 sea lions).  We cut our return to the ship closer than we ever have, arriving back just 5 minutes before they were scheduled to close the doors.  The kid were half-panicked they wouldn't let us back on, but we were determined to get some extra steps in to counteract all the cruise food (and now Ghiradelli sundaes) we've been enjoying this week!

Boudin's With Matt

Part Two of our excursion was to visit Matt!  We returned the rental car (after having it only a few hours) and met up with Matt for a late lunch at Boudin's Bakery on Fisherman's Wharf.  The sourdough bread doesn't get any better--even more fun are the various loaves crafted in creative shapes (like Norah's sea turtle loaf).

Battery Spencer

Our original plan for our San Fran excursion was to rent a car and drive up to Muir Woods.  After an eternity disembarking the ship due to customs, we hustled to our rental car and headed up to the Muir Woods area only to find that the park was full and not taking any additional visitors without prior reservations.

Given the late start of our self-guided car tour, we decided to make lemonade out of lemons by driving up to Marin Headlands to take in the unbeatable views (and photo-ops) at Battery Spencer, something we had meant to do our last time out in San Fran (you can even see our giant cruiseship in the distant background!).

Wyland Wall

The exterior of our cruiseship was painted with a massive mural of sea life by reknowned artist Robert Wyland.  His art was also for sale in the ship's art auction and a dedicated channel on the ship's closed-circuit television network featured his Bob-Ross-style art instruction shows.  By the end of the cruise, the entire family were fans of Wyland.  ...And what did we find minutes after leaving the boat in San Francicsco--one of Wyland's famed "whale walls."  This ended up being only the first of 4-5 additional Wyland whale walls we ended up seeing in our journeyings around California this trip including his studio in Laguna Beach! 

Day to Night

Given our early start, we not only caught views of the Golden Gate, but also of the entire Fisherman's Wharf area, including our favorite spot in San Fran--Ghiradelli's!

After a whirlwind day in San Francisco, we settled in for dinner at the ship's specialty Italian restaurant with a window view back toward Fisherman's Wharf as we departed San Francisco Bay.  We had the kids run out onto the shipdeck to catch this photo, complete with the illuminated Ghiradelli sign!

Going Under

We knew when we booked the cruise that the ship would need to sail underneath the Golden Gate Bridge to get us to the wharf.  Based on the arrival time that was published on board, we knew it was going to be an early morning if we were going to be up in time to witness this once in a lifetime(?) event. 

The kids made it clear that they really wanted to witness this--who are we to deprive them?!  We set an alarm at 5:30am and poked our heads out the window to get a sense of how close we were getting, hitting the snooze button and re-checking until the Golden Gate came into sight!  We weren't the only ones who set their alarms--the exterior of the ship was abuzz with passengers taking in this unique view.  Everyone held their collective breath as the smokestacks at the rear of the ship were to pass under the bridge--it seemed like they cleared the underside the bridge with only inches to spare--what a giant boat!

Go Kart Racing at Sea

In spite of the cold, the kids spent a large portion of our day at sea poolside and on the waterslides while Kyle and I worked out in the gym and spent some time looking at the shops onboard.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner were filling and after our last trip to the buffet we took the kids to another highlight of this new ship-the go karts. 

We listen to the instructions, got on some gear and headed to the racetrack where we were fitted with helmets and strapped into our cars.  Everyone was thrilled to be able to race a car on the top deck of the cruise ship.  There were some difficulties steering for Ben and Norah that caused them one too many warnings and forced them to exit the track.  Kyle could see that the kids were upset so he headed back to the starting line and joined them off of the race track for some conciliatory desserts from the buffet. Ava, Jack and I joined them after finishing the race and securing a refund for the races that weren’t completed. 

Good Times

This whale watching excursion has been a highlight of all of our cruises for everyone of us.  Seeing such majestic creatures in the water near our boat has been so magical.  The bitter cold didn’t stop any of us from staying outside and watching the whales for the majority of our boat ride.

The Way Back

We saw another whale come out of the water and then sailed around for another 45 minutes before heading back towards Victoria.  When we got to the close to the harbor we spotted our cruise ship, it feels so big when you’re on the water next to it.

2 Whales Are Better Than 1

Our whale watching boat cruised around for about 20 minutes after exiting the reserve.  The passengers were all on high alert and looking for any signs of whales or other wildlife. Finally a blow from whale was spotted in the air and eventually we saw his tail come out of the water followed by a second whale who did the same.  I was the one to spot the blow above the water making the tail viewing all the more satisfying. 

Trial Islands Ecological Reserve

Our first stop of the day on the  tour was the trial islands ecological reserve.  The naturalists guiding the tour on the boat were both excited to tell us all the wonderful things about the reserve. The boat slow down to maneuver all of the rocks, and allow us to see multiple species of wildlife.  Not only did we see a sea lion on the rocks which is extremely rare to see out of the water, we saw sea lions as well as a bald eagle-the light house was pretty awesome too!  The girls enjoyed some complimentary hot chocolate in hopes of warming up!

CANADA

Slept all through the night, and made it to breakfast before heading out to catch a cab to the Prince of Whales dock for our whale watching excursion.  As we waited to board the ship I took this amazing picture of the kids with the Canada sign and the Parliament building in the background.

City on the Water

 After we left the parliament building, we walked past the wharf with so many sailboats docked. The kids were feeling tired and cranky so we headed to our last stop, Chinatown.  We picked up an amazing brownie and pumpkin muffin at a coffee shop to tide us over until we made it back to the boat.  We found a cab in front of the Empress Hotel and took it back to the boat where we hung out until it was time for dinner. 

Victoria, BC

Norwegian canceled our port of call in Seattle; giving us an extra day in Victoria, British Columbia.  We took it easy this morning, not rushing out of our rooms after waking up late, and barely made it to breakfast before the buffet closed.  We didn’t have any excursions planned for today, since we didn’t get the cancellation news until late last night. We decided to get off the boat and just explore the city on foot.  Our first stop was the Parliament building, and even though it was under construction during our visit the exterior was still breathtaking.