Marina Bella Shickler
The Second Year
May 2009
The Sixteenth Month
Marina's grown so much! Her 15-month appointment on the 6th went smoothly. Her official stats: 32 1/4" and 24lbs 2oz. She's grown nearly 2 inches since her last appointment, and gained almost 2 pounds!
We took an Alaskan vacation this month. It started in Vancouver on the 9th, then continued with an Alaskan cruise on the 11th, and ended the month up in Kodiak, my birthplace and also where my parents currently live.
While in Vancouver, we stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, which was very near our cruise port. We biked around Stanley park and saw some totem poles. We also walked around Gastown and ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. On the day we embarked on our cruise, we stopped by the Science World, which has interactive exhibits. I even got the best time of the day on one of their exhibits - it was a reaction test on 5 lights - the previous best was 2.34, and I improved it to 2.04 seconds! Marina didn't actually start enjoying the place until we were about to leave, and she hated leaving!
Our ports of call on the cruise: Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Whittier with viewings of Glacier Bay and the College Fjord. It was an amazing cruise! Marina was the youngest one and she became quite popular by cruise's end! Many passengers got to know Marina on a first name basis! People loved seeing her dance at the Wheelhouse Bar! People also loved seeing her walk the deck in her "eskimo" jacket! I felt especially guilty when we were going through the Glacier Bay. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of people to see the glaciers up close. But when Marina started walking the deck in her white jacket wrapped up in a Dodger blanket, the line of people on deck just turned around and started taking pictures of Marina! She was quite a character! She's also shown her love of music on this cruise - she would dance at every opportunity she had, from the string quartet, the pianoist, the band at the Wheelhouse Bar, to just general music being played! Her favorite souvenirs from our Alaskan trip were a whistle from Skagway and a flute from Kodiak!
We spent almost 2 weeks visiting my parents in Kodiak. We got to see some relatives I haven't seen since I was 4 years old! My dad loves playing Scrabble and he usually comes out the victor, but I did beat him once (but I'm pretty sure he let me win that time!). I've also renewed my interest in the Tong-its card game! As usual, my dad usually beats me at it (I think I did win one or two rounds out of probably dozens played)! Auntie Marilou is very good at that game too! It was also fun meeting several cousins for the first time! Twins Mark and Christopher were fun to talk to, and my husband Mark was able to bowl a couple of games with them. My mom is still trying to set up Auntie Marites! She's hoping that either Mark's brother Dan or another relative in Washington will get to meet her.
We really enjoyed the Crab Festival, even though it rained 3 of the 4 days! We were able to have some king crab legs on the first day! Auntie Tessie also gave us some, and those were huge! Mark and I entered the predicted mile race. I definitely was not in shape, but Mark fared a little better - he finished at 6:40 with a predicted time of 7:00. This race was the first time I ran in several months, coupled with running in cold weather, I only finished one lap! But somehow, I ended up in the papers finishing 5th or 6th (comparing the difference between predicted and actual times). Not bad for one lap!
Kodiak
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See more of pics of May 2009:
Back at Home:
1, 2
Vancouver:
3, 4, 5, 6
Cruise:
On the Island Princess:
7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Ketchikan:
12, 13, 14
Juneau:
15, 16, 17, 18
Skagway:
19, 20, 21, 22
Glacier Bay:
23, 24, 25
College Fjord:
26, 27
Anchorage:
28, 29, 30
Kodiak:
31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
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