Alaska Trip

In July, we took our Alaskan Cruise with Celebrity Cruises (Eclipse ship).  We traveled from Vancouver, through the Inside Passage, stopping in Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan Alaska and returning to Vancouver.  2058 nautical miles.

It was our "replacement" trip for our canceled Italy trip when our Uniworld River Cruise ship was involved in an accident which caused our trip to be postponed (we are going next summer instead).  We have no regrets about going to Alaska.  It was an amazing experience.  The ship was lovely, but most of all the incredible scenery was stunning.

France 2017

It's been weeks since we've been back from our trip, and I'm just getting around to writing this now.  Where to begin?

The trip was everything we planned and hoped for!  And more, I'd say.  We spent 3 days in Paris exploring a number of locations such as the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Opera House, Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower (of course!) and the banks of the Seine.  We also did a little bit of shopping at Galleries Lafayette.  On our third day in Paris, the local host for Uniworld visited our hotel to introduce herself to us and the other passengers who were staying at the same hotel. She was kind enough to drive us in her little car to MonteMarte where we had dinner and then walked/took the funicular to Sacre Coeur.

The river cruise itself was pretty special.  We embarked in Paris, visited Vernon, Les Andelys, Rouen (loved that city), Caudebec-en-Caux (Normandy Beaches), Rouen (back again), Mante-la-Jolie (Versailles) and then back to Paris.

The kids met many other children on the ship - there were about 30 kids on the boat which made it pretty fun.  The closest friends they made were from North Carolina, named Emily and Jackson.  The other kids they hung out with were Nick and Josh from Arizona.  I know the kids are trying to stay in touch via social media, so hopefully they will continue that.

I MUST go back to Paris, I need to also see more of the French

countryside.  It is so beautiful.  Eye candy.  It filled up my soul.

That last crawl to the finish line

June can be the nicest month but it can also be one of the most exhausting, especially if you are a mom to school age kids.  This past month we have wrapped up dance, piano exams, soccer and school.  I found preparing the kids for their Royal Conservatory Piano exams likely the most exhausting.  I was wondering if Fynn was going to make it, as was his teacher.  He surprised me to be honest and came out with a 73, and Sophie a 70.  I'm very proud of both of them.  Fynn also had a number of small projects that seemed to be due at school in the same week:  a speech, a comic book assignment, and another assignment that escapes me right now.  I feel like I really had to push him along so he understood how to make things a bit better than just dialling

it in.

The other big wrap up this month was an Advanced HR Certificate program I had been taking for the past 9 months or so through UCLA.  It was a good program but I'm certainly glad to have that bit of extra time back again.

We are in the final preparations of our trip to France.  I find it hard to believe the date is almost here.  I'm excited about the flight, seeing Paris for the first time, and the beautiful river cruise. Can't wait.