Skagway and Juneau

Thursday began our port days and our first stop was Skagway, Alaska.

We were all making our plans the night before and Trent decided to go hiking with a big group from my family.  I was fine to just stay behind with Aiden and was planning on having a fairly leisurely morning just checking out the city.  The next morning Trent headed off for the hike around 7:15, or so I thought.  I got a call from my mom around 7:45 that everyone was going on the hike (there was apparently an "easy" part that some of the group was doing and others were continuing from there onto a more intense hike) and that I should hurry and get dressed.  Trent and the group hadn't even left yet (sometimes it takes a while for my family to do things - there's just too many of us!) so he hurried back to the room to help with Aiden and my mom and Amber came as well.

We hurried to get off the ship and almost immediately a HUGE gust of wind swept Aiden's little Patagonia jacket (I mentioned in my last post) right up - it was tucked under his legs because we thought we'd put it on him once we got outside (obviously we didn't realize how cold and WINDY it was!).  It was like slow motion as we watched it float across the deck below us and blow right over the side, out of sight, all.the.way. down to the water (we debarked up on deck 4 so we had to go down a winding ramp to get off the ship).  My heart sunk.  This was our first day off the ship and Aiden's coat was gone.  I was so incredibly frustrated. Trent had to rush off to catch up with the group for the hike, but thankfully my mom and Amber were with me.  We were able look over the edge and see Aiden's coat way down in the water and my mom immediately grabbed security to see if they could do anything about it.  I thought for sure it was a goner.  BUT I was wrong!  Security got a big long pole, and after several tries at getting it, they pulled Aiden's sopping wet little jacket out of the water! 

So much for our plans on hiking!  The group was long gone and it would have been really hard to push Aiden anyway, so it was probably better we didn't.  So back inside we went with Aiden to layer him up since his jacket needed a good, thorough washing :)

Our second attempt getting off the ship in Skagway went much smoother.  Although, if someone asked me to describe Skagway in 2 words they would be WINDY and COLD!  We have been used to AZ where it's been over 100 everyday and it was like 50 there.  Brr!

Aiden all bundled up as we headed out to explore Skagway.

We learned that Skagway was once inhabited by Tlingit Indians and "Skagua" is the Tlingit name that means "the place where the north wind blows."  That's for sure!  The gusts got up to 35 MPH.  It was hard to push Aiden's stroller straight at times.

Here are just a few pictures of Skagway.  The population is only about 862 and there were like 2,000 people aboard the Disney Wonder (maybe more)!  Crazy huh?!

Skagway has been largely restored to retain the feel of the Gold Rush days.

I didn't stay out too long because I was worn out and Aiden and I both needed to eat and take naps ;) 

Skagway was probably my least favorite port just because it was so cold and windy (and Aiden's whole jacket dilemma put a bit of a damper on my day, although I was thankful to get it back).  Trent though says the hike he went on there was absolutely gorgeous and the highlight of the trip for him, so I'm happy he got to do that :)

These pictures are just from later in the day.  It was a little tricky feeding Aiden without his highchair because he'd climb around everywhere.  We learned to start bringing his food to dinner with us where they provided a highchair.

That evening the girls all decided to watch "Titanic", since we were on a cruise ship and all ;)  We chit chatted with them a bit before they began, but then we were off to bed with Aiden.

Love his eyes!

The next day, Friday, we ported at Juneau.  But before any of us got off the ship we had our huge family picture.  It was raining out so my mom was able to make some last-minute changes to get the pre-booked photographer (from Juneau) on the ship for the picture.

Aiden just waiting for us to get ready.

Love his little jeans :)

You know when you take a picture of yourself to see what your hair or makeup or whatever looks like??  Yeah.  I wouldn't normally post this, but I liked comparing my eyes to Aiden's eyes 3 pictures up.

We finished with the family picture and got all bundled up again to check out the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.

Aiden zonked out on the shuttle over.

It was very gloomy, rainy, and foggy and we didn't have much time, so most of us just hung out in the visitor's center.

The best picture I got :/

So foggy!

On our way back to the ship.  We had to be back on by 2.

A few hours later we had a family get-together in a room my grandma was able to reserve.  Each family took a chance to update everyone else on what each member was up to.  Dane also threw a little surprise masquerade party for Jordan because it was her birthday :)

We were surprised that Aiden actually kept the mask on..haha.

Aiden playing with Tessa and Greyson.  So cute!

With the birthday girl!  She turned 23.

Then we were off to dinner and it was "pirate" night.  We all had bandannas.  The waiter put Aiden's on.

We left Aiden with my mom again and went to see "Toy Story: The Musical."  I was impressed!  It was really good!

Our sweet sleepy boy.

Stay tuned for my next post on my favorite ports :)