Sea Otters and Whales

Obviously, I am behind in blogging. But instead of trying to catch up and tell you everything we've done since July, I will just start with something more recent...we went on another wildlife cruise! This one was a fundraiser Andrew was doing with the scouts, and it was in September. It was actually our second cruise, the first one was in Seward in July and it was amazing and exhausting! It was a 7 hour cruise, but we saw humpback whales, orcas (all three types), sea lions, sea otters, puffins, porpoises, and one eagle. After that, Jessica talks a lot about going on a boat, seeing whales and otters, and says that she needs her noculars (known as binoculars to the rest of us).

This is a random tidbit, but it shows how much Jessica now loves whales and otters. In Andrew's family growing up, his mom would often let them play with some bread dough and make whatever they wanted, and she also made alligators. So, one day, when we were making rolls, I asked Jessica if she wanted to make an alligator out of dough, and started making one. Then, she told me she wanted a sea otter and a whale. I kept working on the alligator and showed her how great it looked and let her help decorate it. Notice the white heart sprinkles on his face? Those are cheeks Jessica added. Even after that, she still wanted a whale, so I made one, and then, she asked for an otter. She is one lucky girl.


Anyway, so, when we told her we were going on another boat, she was pretty excited! This one was in Whittier, Alaska, and to get there you have to go through a  2.5 mile tunnel (which is the longest highway tunnel in North America and the longest tunnel used for both cars and trains...yeah, both cars and trains use this! Crazy, huh?). We were early, so we had a great time exploring a little in the rain. It is beautiful there! We saw glaciers, boats, a gigantic cruise ship, ran around and had a great time...and that was before we even got on board.





this wasn't our boat...we wished it was

Jessica loved it again! She wanted to climb up the side of the boat too. We sat with some friends we went to church with, so that was fun. But, the funny thing was, we didn't see much wildlife on this wildlife cruise. One otter...that was it. And it disappeared pretty quickly. But we did see a lot of glaciers and an amazing waterfall, and really, we were on a boat in Alaska, so it was great. But next time, we're hoping for a glimpse of another whale.