December

Weston's birthday party at Top Golf

Hiking at Eagle Mountain Lake

Master Singer's Concert
(Max and Clay are trying to spot Nana)

Medieval celebration at Arrow

Packing and delivering boxes for Lovepacs

Dungeons and Dragons is a new
favorite game at our house.

Fun at Northpark Center

The Twelve Days of Christmas at
the Dallas Arboretum

Weston achieved the rank of Life Scout.

Winter Breakfast

Homestead Heritage in Waco

Mayborn Museum at Baylor

Holiday family fun

Weston spent Christmas Eve
researching stocks and investing
in the stock market.

Weston attended Twin Arrows
Scout leadership training at Camp Tahuaya

Ruth attended a CAP leadership training
at Lackland Air Force Base

Carnival Cruise as a family of four

Cozumel

New Year's Eve

The Amazon

We arrived late last night in Iquitos and spent the day today exploring. Our day started with a delicious breakfast at our hotel. Then we had our first rides in motortaxis, which whisked us away to the Belena Market, the largest in the city. It was certainly a spectacle! We enjoyed (and didn't enjoy!) a vareity of experiences for all our senses. We got to try concha, an egg-based drink with boiled yuca, sweetened with sugar and vanilla. We all thought it was delicious! The bravest amongst us (Ruth and Weston) also tried a type of grilled worm. It was one of the more unique items for sale, but we saw plenty of other interesting things.

Hotel breakfast

Motortaxis

Balena Market

From bait to brunch

When we finished up in the market, we climbed aboard a couple of very small homemade boats in order to explore the floating village. For six months out of the year, the river overtakes the streets of the village and the area is only navigable by boat. I have never seen anything like it, and I truly cannot imagine living that way. However, the people seemed quite content, and we were told by our guide that they are a very happy people.

The floating village

Later, we boarded a larger boat for a tour of the Amazon and one of its tributaries. The tributary was especially beautiful and serene. We saw all kinds of birds and two varieties of river dolphins. The boys also got to fish for piranhas, but to their disappointment, they weren't successful. We had lunch aboard the boat, which included fresh fruits, cheese sandwiches, and juane, a local dish consisting of chicken, eggs, and olives wrapped up in a ball of rice and baked in some sort of leaf. It is a traditional dish of that region of the Amazon and it was very good.

An Amazon tributary

Fishing for piranhas

Juane

Pink dolphins playing in
the mighty Amazon

At the end of our tour, we visited a smaller market, where we tasted some roasted seeds from a plant related to cacao and some freshly shelled and peeled Brazil nuts. We enjoyed both.

The smaller market

Back at our hotel, we rested for a while before going out for dinner at a place recommended by the person working at the front desk, who, along with the rest of the staff, were very eager to please us. We suspect we may have been their first American visitors. Anyway, the dinner place turned out to be a sort of fast food place, which we think was recommended to keep us from having to wait long. Mother's Day is a huge deal here, and the restaurants were indeed packed. We got a good chuckle out of celebrating Mother's Day with fast food, which is typically forbidden by me when we're in the States. The food was good, though, and we had a great time.

A very happy Mother's Day indeed!

Exploring Paracas

This morning, after a nutritious breakfast of cake and cookies, we went over to Paracas Bay, where we boarded a tour boat that took us out to the Ballestas Islands. These rocky islands are full of cool rock formations and arches and are home to tons of wildlife, including dolphins, boobie birds, cormorants, penguins, and sea lions. We also got to see another awesome line drawing on the side of a hill.

Boat tour to Ballestas Islands

After the boat tour, we got to drive through the Paracas National Reserve, which is an amazing national park where the desert meets the ocean. The landscape was almost eerie, though quite fascinating, in it's desolation.

Paracas National Reserve

Following a tasty and big-portioned lunch, which included tacu tacu, a traditional Peruvian rice and bean dish, we made the four-hour drive back to the airport in Lima to catch a plane to Iquitos. The flight had rigorous weight restrictions for carry-on bags and fees for checked bags, so before checking in for the flight, we removed just the things we needed for the next several days and repacked into our daypacks. Then we left the rest of our stuff in the airport's luggage storage area. I feel sure I left something important behind that I will soon discover isn't as important as I thought!

Lunch at El Piloto

Regatta and Cotillion

Clay got to participate in his first scout activity today: The Raingutter Regatta. He had a blast getting to wear his uniform and competing against the other Tiger Cubs.

Creating a mighty wind at the regatta

Meanwhile, Weston was off to participate in his first Cotillion class--a class designed to teach middle school and jr. high kids the basics of etiquette and ballroom dancing. He was a little nervous at first, but he enjoyed the class and looked so handsome.

Off to Cotillion

The rest of the cruise*

We got off our cruise boat this morning around 6:15, with sleepy and tearful kiddos. They made so many friends on board and had so much fun that they definitely weren't ready for it to be over.

After Juneau, our next port was Skagway. We disembarked but didn't spend a lot of time in the little town, because it was mostly just rows of souvenir shops. But getting back on the boat was perfectly fine with everyone because there was so much fun to be had.

Skagway Totem

A storefront completely
covered in driftwood

Ruth decided to get in on a statue pose

At port in Skagway

The day after Skagway was spent on the boat, cruising around Glacier Bay. This was definitely Jeff's and my favorite day. It was absolutely beautiful and possibly the most serene place I have ever been. The quiet was all encompassing and the fog made it seem otherworldly. We saw and heard the glaciers calving, which was such an incredible experience. We also saw sea lions, otters, and a couple of whales.  Since the whole bay is a National Park, we also had rangers on board all day to give talks, answer questions, and point out particular places and animals of interest. We could have easily been happy spending at least twice as much time there. That night, we had our second gala night aboard the ship, and everyone was excited to dress up again and dine in the dining room.

Glacier Bay

Icy sea shrouded in fog

Margerie Glacier

Captain Nice at the Lido Buffet

Gala Night, Round Two

The final day of the cruise was a sea day, and the ship had even more activities scheduled than normal, so we were definitely well fed and entertained. The kids spent almost every moment in their respective camps. Meanwhile, Jeff and I attended a tour of the kitchen, a couple of cooking classes, a couple of trivia games, afternoon tea. We also had a date night to the dining room, while the kids were tied up with their friends and activities.

Crab appetizers in the kitchen

A large quantity of whipped cream

This should be a scratch-and-sniff picture!
Everyone wanted to linger in the bread room.

America's Test Kitchen cooking class

This morning when we got off the boat, we boarded a scenic tour train to Anchorage. In addition to the beautiful scenery, we also saw a grizzly bear (spotted by yours truly), a moose, some eagles and artic terns, and a group of Dall sheep. 

From boat to train

View from the train window

The lighter brown spot just right
and down from center is a
gigantic grizzly bear.
Here are a few reasons it isn't the
 greatest picture I've ever taken:
1. It was taken with my phone.
2. It was quite a ways away from us.
3. We were on a moving train.
4. I was saying "BEAR! BEAR! BEAR!"
and wasn't able to fully focus.

I caught the back of the train
as we went around a bend

The foreground is all glacial silt,
which is left behind as the tide retreats
at low tide. The difference between
high and low tide is tremendous .

When we got off the train, we reconnected with Usha (our faithful and beloved little RV, who came to Alaska separately from us) and met up with Jeff's cousin, who lives in Anchorage, for a wonderful lunch. We haven't seen him in years, so it was delightful to have a chance to catch up. 

Our Alaskan cruise is definitely our favorite cruise we've ever done, and this state is such an amazing place. We are looking forward to exploring more of it in the coming week.

*For those of you thinking this seems to be picking up in the middle of a story, you're right! If you missed the posting about the first half of our cruise, check it out here.