Our trip to Alaska

We had such a nice trip to Alaska with our good friends, John and Angie.

First we visited Guillermo's brother Eugene and wife in Seattle.  John and Angie toured Seattle during that day.

This is the view from the back deck of their house.  It was so beautiful.

 Their daughter Shirley and husband Ken hosted a dinner that evening at their lovely house.  We had such a nice time visiting with everyone.

The next day we flew to Juneau from Seattle.
Wow, what a different world it seemed when we landed in Seattle.  The beauty was everywhere and it was cold!

This is us taking a break while doing the dreaded "steps".  There are a LOT of stairs and uphill walks in Juneau! 

Stairs were practically everywhere.

There are constant flights in small planes taking off in the harbor.  We didn't go on one.

We took a tram up Mt Roberts our first day in Juneau.  It was cloudy and rainy but the view was still amazing.

And we did quite a bit of hiking while up there!

And it's really hard to see but there in the center of the picture is a porcupine in a small tree nibbling on something.

We also saw a Bald Eagle in a tree on our way down.

Views from around Juneau.  Our first 4 days there were very cold with constant rain or drizzle.

Here we are on Gold Creek at a Salmon Bake.  It was interesting, just cold and rainy.

The next day we got a rental so we drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier.  We took the trail to the closest viewpoint.  We saw way too many helicopters flying around but when between helicopters, it sure was lovely out there.  It was another cold and rainy day.

  
Some nice lady from Juneau was just hanging around this other viewpoint and graciously taking tourist's pictures with their cameras.  The umbrella from Hell was with me everyday and came in super handy with all the rain and practically constant drizzle.  Hell, Norway, that is.... When we visited that place in 2014, I accidentally forgot to pick up my umbrella while going through security at the Oslo airport.  So knowing how rainy Norway is, when we stopped to spend the night in Hell, I bought another umbrella from a little mall there.  Hence, our umbrella from Hell.

We also drove north from Juneau to where the road just ended.  On our way back, we stopped at various places to admire the view.

Here's a precious marmot.

We crossed the bridge from Juneau to Douglas Island and drove around hoping to find bears.  We didn't see any but as always, many beautiful views.  This picture below reminds me so much of how the skies always looked in Norway.

 Looking at the Mendenhall Glacier from Douglas Island

On our way back to return the car, we stopped along the road to admire all the Bald Eagles hanging around.  We also saw a little bear cub playing around by the trees but no pictures.

Our last full day in Juneau we took a boat tour out 50 miles through Tracy Arm to see Sawyer Glacier.  It was a 10 hour tour and was just awesome!

Guillermo and I, and sometimes John, spent most of the ride on the bridge with the captain.  The captain was a very nice young girl named Alyssa.  She enjoyed talking with her passengers and we enjoyed talking with her.  When the waters were as glassy as they are in the picture below, she just kicked back and steered the boat with her feet!

 When we got closer to icebergs, Alyssa was very attentive to the situation.

This one in particular was so beautiful.

We enjoyed watching this Eagle eat whatever it is he had captured. 

Not a fan of selfies, but thought I'd try one. 

Alyssa practically took the boat under the water of this waterfall, we were so close!  I didn't take pictures then.

Approaching North Sawyer Glacier

This is North Sawyer Glacier.  Alyssa tried to maneuver the boat to South Sawyer Glacier first but the water was too full of icerbergs.

We spent a lot of time at the North Sawyer Glacier.  It was doing a lot of spectacular calving.

We got a few videos of calving but like just about any other picture or video, it's just not the same as in real life.  The sound of the ice hitting the water sounded just like a gunshot, it was amazingly LOUD and very impressive.  

 Heading back to Juneau

An island covered with Steller Seal Lions.

Last view back before arriving close to Juneau

We stayed at a nice Air BnB in Juneau, it felt just like being at home.  This was the view out of our bedroom window - at 10:00 at night!

The last thing we did in Juneau was hike a flume trail.  It was interesting and very pretty.

This is how most of the streets are in Juneau.  We did a LOT of uphill walking every single day.

We were in Juneau for about a week.  Then we flew back to Seattle and visited with Guillermo's other brother Alfred and some of his family.

It's always wonderful to travel, but it's always nice to get back home too.  Now we're getting our house ready for Fernando, Eva and Leo who will be coming in July!

A little yard

Guillermo has been working hard! (Really, what else is new?)
Anyway, he has dismantled one of his raised bed gardens, has leveled out the ground and thrown on more dirt.  Now for the grass!
On Friday, I drove the truck to get 150 square yards of grass.. What an experience! Just driving that truck is an experience! Anyway, it was strange hanging around with all the other trucks and guys and waiting for my load of grass. Then having to back the truck up to the grass pallet for the workers to load and having to act quickly and know exactly what I'm doing because everyone else seemed to know and were eager to get their load and be on their way!  Last challenge was to back the truck into our driveway. After driving that truck, which is manual transmission, I sure do appreciate our automatic car!
Saturday we spent a good part of that very warm day putting diwn the grass. Now we just need to keep that grass happy until it takes.
It's a small yard for Leo but at least it will be a place he can play.

Fun with Leo and Eva

Eva and Leo came for a few days so that Eva could check out some preschools for Leo for when they move to San Antonio.

Leo playing with Fernando's old truck.  We saw this exact same truck in one of the train scenes in Tucson when we visited the little train museum.  The one in the museum was in mint condition - this little truck has gotten lots of love and wear.  Leo apparently loves it just as much as Fernando did.

Leo checking out the equipment in the first school we visited while Eva visited with the asst director.  In this picture, he had put some cheese in the microwave and then he served it to me on a plate.

The school has a really neat wooden structure indoors.  I climbed up its stairs to snap a picture of Leo relaxing in a chair with a book.

Eva in the background getting info and Leo continuing to play.

 After the school visit, we picked up some lunch items at HEB and then went to a nearby park for a picnic and then some playground time.

Rebeca sent a Lego set back with us for Leo and here he is helping me put it together.

Having dinner at Taco Cabana one evening with our friends Mike and Barbara.

Easter fun

Plastic garden bunny guarding an egg.

Showing his Easter basket

Easter lunch with Irene and Aida

Don't get bigger!

We went to Tucson towards the end of March and stayed through Easter Sunday.  We got to take care of Scotty for a full week since his school was closed for Spring Break.  As a four year old, he is quite high energy and so much fun!  We were tired most of the time, especially at the beginning due to the 2-hour time change and I was recovering from a cold and Guillermo was right in the middle of one.  It always seems to take us a good 4 days to get used to the different time.

So excited about his new toy.

Our first weekend there, we visited a miniature train museum.  Wow, what an interesting and fun place.  All the little scenes inside and outside were so fascinating.  And it was so much fun for kids because many of the tables had buttons that could be pushed to make certain vehicles or items move. 

We did a lot of lifting Scotty up to see the train tables until we realized that there are little stools that kids can take around with them to stand higher.

Pushing a button.  This one might have been making a windmill spin, but can't see it.

Then we took a little train ride around the property.

Sitting in the upper observation booth of a real caboose.

His first day off from school we spent taking his bed apart.  He's going to be getting a new bed!

Rebeca picked this shirt for him and he obviously loves pockets.  Hope this pocket makes it!  It was constantly getting stuffed with things.

Our little playdough creation.

On Tuesday we had lunch with Irene.  He said he loves this bench and wishes he had one like it. It is in front of Irene's house. 

On Wednesday, Guillermo went to visit Roy and I took Scotty to the Children's Museum.  We spent over 3 hours there and had a great time.

Turns out there was another boy named Scotty there at the museum, and they eventually played together on the lighted sea floor.  It was funny watching them try to "catch" the fish and octopus images together.  They both answered whenever one of us said their name.

Every year we take a picture of him sitting in the driver's seat of the Fire Truck in the museum.

After lunch, the museum had a special "Under the Sea" themed activity.  Here Scotty is decorating a paper lantern - or a puffer fish.

In the background, you can see a pink swimming pool.  That might have been the highlight of the whole day.  There was water in it, and little rubber ducks swimming around in it.  But that wasn't what was special.  When the activity was all over, all the kids helped take the rubber ducks out and put them away.  Then two of the staff members lifted up the pool while another staff held open that side door.  They barely made it out of the door.  Water started spilling out onto the floor of the museum and when they finally got most of the pool outside, they emptied the rest of the water down the ramp.  Scotty was just fascinated.  He loved seeing all that water go down the ramp.  It was like a slow motion wall of water.  I have to admit, it did look pretty neat and must have been amazing to a kid to see all that water flowing by.

Octopus hat!

On Thursday, I took Scotty to his neighborhood playground.