Alaska Cruise--Sitka!

We are back from our trip and it was awesome! Unfortunately, my memory card with most of my pics accidentally travelled back to Idaho with Carolyn, my mother-in-law! Whoops! Our trip started in Seattle, then we cruised for a day, got to Juneau the next day, then to Sitka, but this memory card began in Sitka as I'd nearly filled the other by then. :) Sitka is a beautiful little fishing town, and it's very proud that fishing is their main source of livelihood, NOT tourism, unlike so many other cities in Alaska now. The people of Sitka had an opportunity a few years ago to vote to decide if they should build a huge dock for the cruise ships so that more than 2 a day could tour the town, and there was a huge outcry and it was very strongly opposed because they like that they're not overrun with tourists. So, as there is no dock, we anchored in the harbor and "tendered" ashore. This means we got in the lifeboats and went to shore that way! At least we know they work! Here's a picture of one of the lifeboats

Here we are waiting in line to get off the ship onto our boat to "tender" to shore!

we passed a TON of bald eagles on the shore!

the harbor in Sitka--the mist on the mountains is so pretty!

Sitka has a huge Russian influence as evidenced by a lot of their architecture--this church in the middle of town was especially neat

These old steps were pretty impressive and the view from above was great!

This was on the dock where we came in at... I just thought it was so funny!

We went on a wildlife-watching trip on a boat around all the outlying islands in Sitka and saw a lot of otters, one whale up close, a ton of bald eagles, and a sea lion

They had nice binoculars for us to use, and as you can tell, it was chilly so we were bundled up! It was actually a beautiful sunny day until about 12, and our tour started at 1, at which point it was pouring hard, but luckily we were prepared with our gear and the boat had covered seating upstairs and down--the better views were definitely upstairs, but no one else was willing to brave the weather so we had it all to ourselves! Sitka is typically a very rainy city, getting 200+ inches of rainfall a year, so we were grateful to have that sunniness in the morning at least!

Bob and his mom looking for wildlife!

A view of our ship, the Zaandam, from our boat

Every night when we came back there was a cute towel animal on our bed, and in Sitka it was this very cute bear!

There was a movie theater on board--here we are enjoying it! We saw Australia (really good!), The Other End of The Line (cute romantic comedy), and W (eh)

We ate a LOT of really good food!

Bob and I at dinner the night before Sitka

There were 2 formal nights on our cruise, but the pics from the 1st one are on the other card! Here's the 2nd one though--it was the night we were in Sitka. We got back from our adventures and went to dinner only to discover it was a formal night, which we had missed, so we ran back and changed and were all ready in about 20 minutes! Not too shabby, huh?
Bob and his mom

Bob and I on the stairs by the old dutch organ which had these really ornate figurines on it that played music a couple times a day

This was one of the many nights I had 2 desserts because I just couldn't decide! This was chocolate mousse inside this white chocolate chef's hat with berries. SO GOOD! The head chef for our ship was Rudy, hence the signature on the hat

I'd never had baked Alaska before this cruise, but I had it at least 4 nights there! They couldn't set it on fire due to fire codes on the ship, but it was really good anyway!

This was the best one--Baked Alaska with caramel sauce! There was chocolate chip ice cream inside on top of a chocolate chip cookie

We had dinner with several strangers every night which was kind of fun to chat with people from all over. This guy next to Carolyn really looked like the old guy from Ocean's Eleven, and he was traveling alone and was very secretive. Everyone else was very open with where they lived, what they did, you know, basic getting to know you stuff, and he was pretty guarded, only mentioning that he was living with his daughter in Kentucky. I also wanted to get a shot of Carolyn's dessert so here it is!

Very impressive ice sculpture--it's a seahorse!

Ok, that's all from Sitka--we had a lot of fun there! I will post more in the next few days of the rest of our trip but here's a start!

~Cathy

Portland trip

We hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather this weekend! And for the parents (which is pretty much everyone who reads this) don't forget the sunscreen for your kiddos! 90+% of our lifetime sun exposure is before we're 18 so parents really need to protect your kiddos from the skin cancer! Every bad burn increases their risk, so don't forget the sunscreen. And the shades aren't just to look cool--sun exposure is tough on the eyes too and cumulative sun exposure on your eyes leads to cataracts. Ok, now that that's out of the way, here's what we did this weekend!

It's not that often that I have a full weekend off with no call or shifts whatsoever, but I'm doing all shifts with no call this month in the peds E.R. and had this whole weekend off, so we thought we'd head down to Portland since it's so close and the weather was even better down there!

Lilo was pretty excited for the trip!

We left early Friday and decided to shop first. We found the best outlets on this trip! Just south of Portland, the Woodburn Company Stores had tons of great stores and we got a bunch of great deals. I found the coolest watch for $6 among other things! Then we had dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, which we first discovered in Buffalo, but they also had them in Vegas all over the place and Bob has missed them in the meantime!

Saturday morning we hit the Portland Saturday Market, which was actually HUGE. Way bigger than we expected! If you are a hippie in need of pretty much anything for your hippie lifestyle, this place could hook you up. If you are a tiny Lilo however, this place might have too many people crowded into tiny rows between the stalls and you might be pretty afraid of being stepped on! If you were a Stitch though, you'd be a super-happy cat because there was a booth where a lady was selling these cat toys that were filled with catnip. Stitch has LOVED his so much and attacks it like crazy. If only there were catnip for dogs... it's so funny to watch the kitty crack in action! We had fun enjoying all the art and especially the people-watching! People of all kinds were out and about enjoying the booths and the wonderful weather!

After the market we headed to Chipotle to get some lunch. We have a few Chipotle's near us, but they're all at least 40 minutes away, so it was still a treat to enjoy this place! They had tons of outdoor seating so Lilo hung out too and enjoyed just a little of the goodness she found on the ground. :)

She looks so innocent...

Chipotle + Bob = Happiness

Next we headed to Multnomah Falls, which we've both been to before, but neither of us had ever hiked to the top, and it's been a while since either of us were there, hence we had this hike in mind when we planned the trip. It was really fun and the weather was perfect! There were a lot of other people there with the same idea, but it wasn't too crowded. Lilo was hugely popular as always, and made many little kids' day.

The mist felt so great and really turned out pretty neat in the pictures!

On this bridge you could really feel the mist!

Here's the full glory of this massive waterfall!

We really need to get one of those awesome wrap around anything tripods... I fully intended to get Bob one for his birthday but then got sidetracked by many other great options. Also, our handy tiny digital camera doesn't have a tripod hole in the bottom. Does anyone know, do they have ones that could work without that hole they typically screw into? Anyway, as a result, there were many longarm photos taken this trip, so you only get extreme closeups of the 2 of us together. :)

I'm glad I have long arms! I would like to add that I'm not actually that sweaty, but my shadow is causing the appearance of a dark ring around my neck I think... this is almost to the top, so I am sweaty, just not THAT sweaty. :)

Bob and Lilo at the steps at the overlook at the very top!

It's a LONG ways down!

We made it to the very top!

This is the view from the bottom

Yet another long-arm shot :)

Look how nicely Lilo poses... such a good pup

Kind of gives you an idea of the scale of this waterfall!

After our hiking we needed to clean up before we headed to dinner. We're slightly less shiny now! (But the sun is still bright... hence the squintiness!)
Ooh, you also get a peek at my awesome $6 watch here! This was by far our best find at the outlets, as it was regularly $75! Who doesn't love a great deal?

We had dinner at Mama Mia Trattoria, a very cute Italian place downtown that we had a really great dinner at last year when we went to Portland, so thought we'd go back. We have been lucky enough to get seated next to Promsters on multiple occasions in our marriage, all of which have been highly entertaining, the most recent of which (prior to this trip) was last month at Outback, which was especially funny. We were with a bunch of friends and all their babies, and we enjoyed all their outfits and Ryan giving them all sorts of paternalistic advice. Our dining experience in Portland also included Promsters nearby, and we had seats by the window and saw many passing by AND there was a wedding party so basically there were tons of great dresses to enjoy throughout our meal. We had a great time rating all the ensembles that passed by and making up stories about the groups of kids.

After dinner we headed to Comedy Sportz, which we haven't been to since we were first dating since there's one in Spokane. We laughed the whole time and it was great fun!

After our long full day we thought we'd sit in the hot tub at the hotel for a while but unfortunately, it was no warmer than the pool! Bit of a letdown. Another couple there told us it had been toasty the night before, but mysteriously lost its warmth that night. Oh well, it was an otherwise perfect weekend!

So before we headed out today we stopped at the rhododendron garden. During our last visit, we were too early in the season to see the roses in bloom (Portland has a VERY impressive rose garden for any of you who've not been) but all the rhodies were in all their glory, but we never made it to the big rhododendron garden, so we really wanted to hit it this time and we weren't disappointed! My only complaint was that they weren't better labeled. I'm a nerd and wanted to know the common names of all these different colored rhodies but not all of them were labeled. The grounds were beautiful with ducks and geese all over the place because there were waterfalls and ponds throughout the gardens. One goose particularly disliked Lilo and kept hissing at her and threatening her, but Lilo had no idea and just sniffed toward him. We hustled away before we saw who would win the Chihuahua vs goose battle. :) I was way more scared than Lilo was... I was attacked by a rooster when I was little and actually have a pretty inappropriate fear of fowl...

Here we are on a really cute bridge near a fountain that you can see just behind us

Lilo and Bob at the entrance

I liked these white ones

Pretty neat arch under the bridge

I loved this bridge's railing and the fountain

A nice shot of the pond

Some of these were HUGE. This was a pretty good sized one!

Ok, this was a TON of pictures. I've got way more flower pictures from the garden, but it's bedtime. Hope you all enjoyed the sunshine and thanks for reading this very long post! Have a great week!

~Cathy

Rainier's Game and Flowers

Here are a few pics of what we've been up to lately! One of my fellow residents has all the birthdays in her family in May so she had a combined birthday party for everyone at once and her daughter Zoe was the star for sure! Check out the awesome fashion sense of a 2yo in action here. She's wearing her super-cute birthday party dress with even sweeter Barbie car crocs, her helmet which is covered in ducks, while riding her brand new tricycle! I also LOVE the birthday debris in the background! She had a blast and entertained us all!

This was our gift to Zoe which entertained us all to no end! His name is "Manely" and he shoots bubbles crazy fast!

Now some random flower shots. I really LOVE that everything is blooming right now! It makes me soooooooooo happy. The snow is beautiful in the winter, but here we don't have the constant snow cover like we do in Coeur d'Alene though. Fall is nice for the changing leaves, and late spring/summer are nice for all the blooms, but it's all the in-between seasons which are hard... the muddy yucky super-rainy time or even the cold winter time when there's no snow to keep it pretty and make it worth being so cold that make me so much more appreciative of the flowers this time of year and every moment of sunshine!

First up: This is my rhododendron Mom bought me for intern graduation last year. We went to a rhododendron ranch in Olympia that had hundreds of them, but in June this one had stopped blooming already, but the lady assured us it was a deep red, which is what I wanted. Not so much deep red, but I love rhododendrons anyway and it's beautiful in all its pink glory!

I have no idea what these blue flowers are, but they continue to spill under the fence from our neighbors and I love them. Bob mocked me for taking a pic of wildflowers that he had the nerve to call "weeds" but there really aren't that many blue flowers out there and I'm glad they've run amok. :)



Likewise, this guy is also a weed that sprouted up in the rocks by the fence, but also pretty :)

Now forgive me for the out of order-ness here... feeling a bit too lazy to re-organize them all! We went to a Tacoma Rainier's game with friends last weekend and had a great time! Every Friday night game has fireworks afterward and their kids were soooooooo excited for them and we were too! A few of the pics turned out so here they are!

Not a bad view from our seats--it's actually a great stadium where even the cheap seats really aren't that high up

This is "Rhubarb" who maybe is the long lost child of the Mariner's Moose, hence the smaller antlers? He was pretty entertaining--one of the top mascots we've ever seen! Super-energetic, with one of the best moments of the evening coming when he challenged an ump to a dance-off and they busted their moves all over! Every Rainiers game we've ever been to has included some impressive Rhubarb action!

The scoreboard in case you forgot where we were. :) They got beat eventually, but this is a nice memory of our lead!

Dorothy and I at the game--Dorothy's boy would only make goofy faces, so you only get to see the ladies!

Ok, time for more flowers, just what you've all been waiting for! These are some tulips I planted last fall! They're short and cute and popped up over a month ago!

More flowers out front--the blue ones are hyacinths I think, and the white ground cover is phlox maybe? I don't remember but very pretty. :)

The tree is so pretty right about now too, and the hydrangea in the background is blue and will bloom in a few more months. :)

Our house from the street, for those of you who haven't visited us yet!

Not the sunniest day, but I'm starting to get a bit nostalgic even though we're not leaving yet... we'll only be here another year and although we're pretty used to all the moves by now, I'm already starting to get a little sad to leave Lacey. I love all my fellow residents... our program is great, our staff are wonderful, and I'm going to miss everyone at work so much. We love having a yard, garden, flowers, and living fairly close to so much fun stuff and not commuting far to work, things that will all be likely to change wherever we go next, especially if we're lucky enough to go to D.C. if I get my fellowship.... It's way to early to be sad about leaving, but of course the biggest thing we will for sure miss wherever we go next, is being in the NW and sooooo much closer to our friends and family. We have loved being able to go back home and to have our friends and family come visit us so much more than ever before and we're really going to miss that. Ok, enough dwelling on the eventual move! We're just going to love every minute of our time here for now! :)

In other news, I'm rotating at the peds E.R. this month and it's been pretty neat so far--I've had a lot of practice at reducing fractures and casting so far, diagnosed a 3 year old with appendicitis, seen a LOT of worried well, a horrible burn on a kiddo who accidentally drank the parents' HOT tea, a little guy with serum sickness (kind of a late allergic reaction), a really impressive anaphylactic allergic reaction, a popcorn kernel stuck in an ear, a BAD outer ear infection in a kid who pierced himself, and a ton of other stuff. Every shift is entertaining and the staff are great teachers. I've learned a lot about doctor-patient interactions already too... it's amazing how differently parents react to the same news... I had parents of a little guy who needed surgery to fix an broken arm, and when I explained this they both burst into tears! I definitely understand having your little kid have surgery is scary and they felt guilty because they thought his arm wasn't that bad and didn't bring him in for a few hours and it was a mixture of a lot of things. And then another mom didn' t know what appendicitis was, even after I went through it in pretty detailed layperson terms, but told me that if I thought her 3yo needed a surgery that was ok with her. Wow. Some moms cry and tell me they're sure their baby is dying because they're just lying around after puking all day, while the kid is running around the room. Then, often the parents of the sickest kids come in after 4-5 days of a serious illness and aren't that worried about it... it's just really interesting. I'm definitely going to keep focusing on this during my month and just try to get better at reading parents and seeing how I can best reassure them and just better communicate with them because it's really amazing how different they all are, and how much different they are in the E.R. even from the outpatient world...

Otherwise not much is new! Bob went golfing yesterday and had a lot of fun--he's just started playing a little and is liking it. He went to Star Trek with friends while I was working on Friday too and loved it--everyone we know who's seen it has loved it. Any thoughts on this? I was never a Trekkie, but the previews really make it look impressive, and JJ Abrams is pretty awesome in general... hard to go wrong!

Does anyone else have bittersweet feelings about all the season finales right about now? I love our shows and will miss watching them every week, but on the other hand, we'll have so much more time once they're all off!

Last of all, Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers!!!!!!!!!! I'm so grateful to have a mother and mother-in-law who love us both so much!! Thanks to you both, and thanks to all you mothers for all you do! As someone who works with kids all day, I see first-hand the fruits of your labors and what a difference a loving caring mom can make! Keep up the good work! We hope you all have a great week!
~Cathy