Major Catch-up Time!

Hello Blogland... I've missed reading everyone's blog posts.  It's been fun to sit down and catch up!  So since I'm here, I suppose I will do a post.
                                              Here is the first day of school.  Lexi is in 4th and Ava is in 1st grade. 

At the end of Sept my parents came to visit.  We went and saw Wicked and my mom, my SIL and I got to go to Time Out for Women.  None of my pics turned out and my instagram pics are still on the phone...

Reese had to have surgery for an umbilical hernia.  She was a real trooper! 

This is before the surgery.  She did NOT want to get into those pj's.

                                                                                    After surgery; in recovery

                                             Cuddling with Daddy... all she wanted was to be held the rest of the day.

HALLOWEEN

Reese was Little Red Riding Hood

Ava was a witch

                                                                  
                                                                                         And Lex was a vampire

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Southern Hills Hospital had a balloon festival and they bought a bunch of balloon rides for some of the employees.  So Benj got to go on a ride!  They flew right over our house, so we got to take lots of pictures.

                                                                        Benj is in this rainbow balloon

      

                                                               Benj's view

                                                   Can you see us in the driveway?

                                                       And in the backyard

                 We spent all afternoon and evening there.  The kids got to ride unlimited rides and Lexi even went on this thing:

                                                      At dark 6 balloons lit up at the same time for the balloon glow.

That was a fun weekend and the most time we have spent with Benj since he became CFO.  He has been working til 2 or 3 in the morning every day... I'm not exaggerating!  He is working hard and we are so thankful for him supporting us.  Hopefully it slows down soon and he can come home at a decent time.  We are all looking forward to our Thanksgiving vacation in Montana!

Alaska

Hawaii and Alaska in the same year?!  SURE.  For Benj's parents 50th wedding anniversary, Benj's sister, Debbie and her husband paid for all the kids and their spouses to go on a cruise to Alaska together.  It was so much fun!  I never would have thought of Alaska as a place to go vacation.  But it is so beautiful there and of course being on the cruise ship was so awesome.  We drove up to my parents house in Montana, all. through. the. night.  The girls got to stay with Grandpa and Grandma for a week and they hardly missed us.  :)  Benj and I headed to Seattle, where we boarded the Rhapsody of the Seas.  There were 3 stops total: Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria, British Columbia. 

                                                                                                Leaving Seattle
                                                  
                                                                                                
                                                                                                  Formal night
                                                   
                                                                                              Benj's Parents

                                                                                  Waiting for the show to start

                                                                                         Pulling into Juneau

                                                                                          Mendenhall Glacier

 Benj and I went on an excursion to go see the Mendenhall Glacier and then go to the Salmon Bake for dinner.  The glacier is quite impressive and I wish we would have had more time there.  The food at the Salmon Bake was incredible... such good salmon! 

                                                 

In Skagway, we all went on the train ride up to the Canadian border.  It was so pretty and we learned about all the mining, etc that went on there.  We even saw a bear.

                                                 

 Tracy Arm Fjord:  This is supposedly the closest the captain has ever gotten to this glacier with the ship.  We got here early in the morning and it was cold!  But another awesome glacier and with binoculars, you could see the sea lions sleeping near the bottom.

                                                             My man, climbing the rock wall on the ship.  :)

 Victoria, B.C.  Such a pretty town!  We rode a bus and just hopped off and hopped back on wherever we wanted.  This is Fisherman's Wharf where I fed a sea lion.

 This is Craigdarroch Castle.  The rich business man who built this never got to live in it... he died before it was completed.

 The Empress Hotel.  Very cool and English... I wanted to have high tea here, but Benj wouldn't go for that, ha.  ;)  We did some shopping around town and we ate at a  fish & chips pub for lunch too.  Loved this city!

This vacation was such a blast.  Thank you Debbie and Andy!  And thank you to all of Benj's family for the great memories, we had so much fun being together!  Thank you mom and dad for watching the kids.  The girls got to go horseback riding, got haircuts, park days, went on a wild animal safari (ya know, deer, cows, horses, wild turkeys ;)) , and loved helping Grandpa mow the lawn.  :)  They are still talking about it!