Alaska ~ part eight (Juneau)

Oh man - if I could do one day over from this trip, it would be this one! By far the biggest adventure our little family had been on {all four of us}

But it was so daunting to look through all of the photos from this day - pick the best - size them for this blog - and look through the short videos Scott had on his phone.

So here they are!!! Our hike on Mendenhall Glacier!

Adventure began with a helicopter!



It's hard to describe how this felt - nerves, excitement, and pure happiness!





They were very specific about where we were to sit in the helicopter - the weight had to be even. And Abigail ended up in the front! So cool!











This is what we saw from above on our way to the glacier.

































This is what we landed on! Right on the glacier for a hike!






We were told to get out quickly and walk as fast as we could away from the helicopter toward their 'camp'. It was all ice of course so it was very slippery.





They put clampdowns on the bottoms of our boots so that we could walk.







And then all of a sudden we could walk! It was awesome!





Abigail brought this sign from her school - they are posting on instagram places kids have gone over the summer. This was the coolest place to have her KP sign!





To be able to trek across the glacier we were given ice poles.



The first place they brought us to we this hole in the glacier with water pouring through.













Being up that high - on the ice - in the middle of nowhere was a surreal experience.












































Me - trying to get as much knowledge as I could to save away fro my 4th graders -





Our time went too quickly - felt like 5 minutes - and before we knew it, it was time to have the guides take off our clamp downs and head back to the helicopter.







I was happy to be the very last and get every single picture I could.





































It was so much fun to experience this my little family!



Went back to the ship so the girls could eat lunch and then hopped off again so Scott and I could indulge in this!









Pretty much the best thing I've ever eaten.

Now there's a sweet story here that explains why this mid-cruise afternoon date was so special to Scott and I. Waaaaay back when they were babies - our Saturday night 'date night at home' started. After the girls went to bed {almost weekly} Scott and I could cook something yummy that they would never want. Often that was Alaskan king crab legs. Scott would pick them up from the fish store and we'd indulge with hot melted butter and all of that shell cracking goodness. So this brought back wonderful memories.



I can't think of a better way to come back to reality {except that the rest of our evening isn't really reality either, ha!} than all of us sitting over a pot of tea in the cafe on our ship.





And then getting dressed up for dinner.