Happy 4th!!!

Happy 4th of July to everyone here in the United States. :) It was a fun but very long day. We celebrated Jerry's 40th birthday and my brother's 51st which is tomorrow. We had a small gathering of family but it was nice. Gracie's cousin Kevin came over who is so good with Gracie. He took care of her all day, like a little sister, I hardly saw her at all! At night, we had fireworks in our backyard because technically, we aren't supposed to shoot them off but they were the safe and insane, I mean sane ones bought from a fireworks stand in a neighboring city. Poor Gracie and Kevin stayed inside the whole time with Grandma, because they were scared, while us adults acted like giggling kids and watch the show.

Tomorrow, Gracie, Grandpa, and I are leaving for New Jersey to visit family for two weeks. Yikes! What is Jerry going to do with all that alone time? Can you please say some special prayers and good thoughts for a safe flight as I am freaking out because I am not crazy about flying, especially considering the latest events. I will not be blogging while I am gone but will have my camera and of course phone so will be posting on Facebook.

See you in two weeks!

I love this picture. It was taken from my camera phone.

We started with the small slide and....

moved up because Gracie got bored quickly. Not with this one though. She and Kevin were literally in the pool all day.

Splash!

Kevin and Gracie sharing some bubbles

Jerry made ribs in the smoker

Kevin and Gracie thought it was there birthday so they decided to blow out Frank and Jerry's candles!

Uncle Pete thinks something is funny

Some of the fireworks. This picture cracks me up because Gracie's 15 year old cousin freaked out when the sparks started to fly and this is a picture of her head as she was running into my shot!

Swim Party

Last Tuesday, the Lucky Mommy's got together for a pool party. Mia's mom Christy was so kind to host the party and she has a beautiful house and backyard. It was so fun and relaxing to just hang out in the pool and have a bbq. Christy had this really cool floaty thing that she had bought for Mia but graciously allowed Gracie to try and it was awesome. It kept Gracie straight up and down the whole time and she was able to swim all around on her own without my holding her up. I loved it so much that I had to go and buy one which we used yesterday and it worked like a charm. I was and still am amazed that Gracie can swim on her own with the floaty on! Of course I didn't take any pool pictures but when we go back east, I will try to get some of Gracie in the pool so you can see what I am talking about. I feel so blessed and happy to have this wonderful group of people in our lives.

I also wanted to wish my hubby Jerry a very happy 40th birthday today! Gracie and I love you honey and may all your wishes come true.

Some of the lucky moms

Mia enjoying her food

Michelle and Ryan

Karen and Becky

Gracie and Mia trying to decide who gets to ride the bike

Christy made these wondering cookie cupcakes which Gracie loved

Frosting face

Because she didn't have enough, she needed to lick her fingers

Gracie had a blast playing Legos

Alaka, the second half

Here are the rest of the pictures from our Alaska trip.

In Skagway, we went on an exursion where you take the train back. There was a train just ahead of us which you can see in this picture. Notice how narrow the track is? It got pretty hairy at times!

Mommy and Gracie on the train

Glacier Bay which is a national park, was probably my favorite part of the cruise. I could have sat there all day long looking at the glaciers surrounding us. It was so peaceful and serene, a true testiment of God's creation.

The water was as smooth as glass in Glacier Bay

This glacier is called Margarie Glacier. It's 250 feet tall and no words can describe it. Jerry and I sat on our balcony and just stared and stared. We got great video of some calving which is where chunks of ice fall into the water from the glacier. This is also where Jerry got video of a bald eagle catching a fish and eating it. Truly magnificent!

More views from Marjorie Glacier

Doesn't this look fake, like a paiting? I swear it is real!

Another glacier which we stopped at but I can't remember the name of!

One of our final stops, Ketchikan which was a cute, quaint old town.

The float plane which Jerry took that I chickened out on.

Look closely at the light pole. Jerry caught a bald eagle!

Misty Fjiords from Jerry's float plane.

More from the float plane

I thought this was a cool picture Jerry caught of his plane's shadow on the mountain

A lake totally frozen over

Jerry met some new friends on his exursion

Later after Jerry's plane ride, we went to a park called Totem Park which had a bunch of totem poles

Guess what? Jerry grew hair in Alaska! Must have been all the fish!!

A nice view of Ketchikan

Gracie having fun in the kid's club on the ship

Yep, even though we were in Alaska, we ate ice cream almost everyday!

The Parliament building at our last stop in Victoria, Canada

Our last night, Gracie tried to help with the packing. Peek a boo, I see you. :)

That's all folks!

Two Years Ago Today.....

This very day, two years ago today, my stomach had butterflies, my hands were sweaty, I was very nervous and couldn't think straight. But then, this beautiful, joyous, wonder of love was placed in my arms and it all became okay. All those thoughts of doubt, will it ever happen to me? Yes, it did and I can't believe that two years has flown by. As beautifully said by someone I know, the Vilander's became a family this day!

Alaska, Finally!!!

As many of you know, Jerry, Gracie and I went on an Alaskan cruise in May. I don't know why it's taken me so long to post, probably because I've been busy, along with just not feeling up to it but, I've finally updated my blog and have started posting some of my pictures from the vacation. We ended up taking over 1,200 pictures and heck no, I am not posting all of them! I went through them and tried to pick the ones I thought you'd like. I will do a second posting tomorrow, or more realistically in a couple of days.

Alaska itself was gorgeous. I cannot use enough words to describe how much I enjoyed the state and the cruise itself. I think of our trip almost everyday and can't wait to go back. This time around, we did a couple of flight tours and next time, I think I would like to do some land ones. There is so much to see and do in Alaska, that 7 days just wasn't enough. I did achieve one of my lifetime goals, and that was to walk on a glacier. If you've never done so, it was fantastic and surreal. I just felt so peaceful while on the ship, looking at the beautiful glaciers and land that I wanted to stay forever. You could truly see God's work and it was amazing.

The ship itself was great and we chose a cruise that was branded as freestyle dining. What that means is that instead of being given a set time to eat dinner each night, with the same people, we got to choose what time and where we wanted to eat which worked out great because of having Gracie and with the excursions we took. The bed was heavenly and aside from Hawaii, it's the best I've ever slept. One night, the ship even had a chocoholics buffet at 10pm (sorry Gracie that we kept you up) where they turned the whole buffet area into anything and everything chocolate. I swear, there were dipped apples, cakes, yummy huge strawberries which I had 7 of and just tons and tons of stuff. Unfortunately, we were so excited that we forgot our camera.

Anyway, once the 7 days were up and we had to leave the ship I did get a little teary eyed but I can't wait for our next cruise.

Oh, the weather was fantastic when we went. The captain said it was in his top 5 of trips he had ever done. It didn't rain once and was actually as warm as it gets here, in SoCal!





Flying to Alaska! Gracie did great on the plan, both ways.




Waiting for our ship to take off in Seattle. Check out the mountain in the background.

On our way, inside passage

Gracie LOVED her little bed that they made up for her each night!

Jerry enjoying his drink. He better cause they were pretty pricey!

Gracie was in hog heaven, literally! She had bacon every morning and they gave her extra here. :)

Back view from the ship as we arrive into our first port, Juneau

Juneau, AK

I love this picture of Gracie kicking back on the ship!

On the helicopter on the way to the glacier. Gracie was a little nervous and the only thing she said in a high squeaky voice was "Mommy". I was nervous too!

Our first view of the glacier. Isn't it gorgous?

Jerry and Gracie on the glacier. See the water in the background? The guide said we could drink it which Jerry did. I wasn't brave enough to reach over, for fear of falling in!

More glacier pictures

Gracie loved the towel animals that our room steward made for her each night

The below pictures are from our next port in Skagway, AK

In Canada at the Yukon territory.

Emerald Lake which is the most gorgeous lake I've ever seen and I've seen a lot! Believe it or not, some guy from Germany bought this lake a few years ago so it's privately owned. Our guide said he has never seen anybody ever swimming in it.

Sled dogs

This is us at a museum strictly dedicated to taxidermy. It was kind of strange. Don't you like our polar bear impersonation? :)

Even though it was early in the season, we did get to see a momma bear and her two cubs off the side of the road

We took a train back from the Yukon to Skagway and this was some of the scenary

More beautiful train scenary

More to come..............

First off, I have been a bad blogger lately and I apologize. May has been a crazy busy month and as you can tell, I haven't even had the chance to update my blog appearance, hence the Easter Bunny is still on the blog.

Monday our Lucky Mom's went on the train to LA where we ate lunch in Chinatown and the kids got to play a bit. This was Gracie's first time on a "real" train, which is one other than the train that goes around Disneyland. When I told her that we were going to go on the train, she kept asking about seeing the dinosaurs because that's one of the things you view while you are on the Disneyland train. When we were on the train, Gracie kept saying Thomas the Train because she loves Thomas so I told her we were on his train!

It was a really fun day and Gracie fell asleep the minute we drove out of the parking lot on the way back home. Tomorrow, we are leaving for our Alaskan cruise and I am so excited but a little bit nervous. I hate to fly so that's freaking me out. Plus, I have a helicopter and float plane tour booked, yikes!!! I will post pictures when I get back since we arne't bringing our laptop as we are trying to pack light, ha ha, if you consider 3 suitcases light but it's Alaska and it's cold so I needed to bring lots of clothes.

Getting ready to board

Looking out at the scenary as it whizzed by

I stole this picture from my friend Karen's blog. Gracie and Becky look like they are plotting something while innocent Ryan looks on!

Count Dracula!

Noodle beard! (not sure what was up with the food thing but it made for some comical pictures)

Our green chair photo

This picture cracks me up :)

Ryan enjoying the rocket

Yee haw!

One last group shot before we left. Amazingly, everyone was still awake!

Oops, a little too big for their little heads

Ryan looks cool with his hat and sunglasses

Happy Mom's Day

Here's a little twinkle from my star. :) Gracie loves to sing and out of the blue, will grab the microphone from our drawer. One day a couple of weeks ago, she grabbed it and started singing Elmo's World. At the end, she said thank you, thank you and bowed after I said good job. Have no clue where she picked that up. I realize listening to this video that I am overly enthusiastic with my voice and it's kind of annoying so I apologize. Also, excuse Gracie's hair and outfit as she is still in her pjs because she had just woken up. Happy Mom's Day everyone!

PS~ Gracie had the hiccups throughout the video so one will pop out every so often while she is singing!