Going Home

Our disembarkation day had finally arrived.

Time to wake up, sleepy bug!

We had a buffet breakfast, then waited for our turn to disembark the ship. We headed to the airport, where we hung out for a little while since we were pretty early, then got on the plane back home.

Grammy had gotten the girls some little husky puppies for a souvenir from Alaska. Evie named hers Golden Puppy and Nora named hers Jello.

The girls shared the puppies with the babies while we were waiting to keep them happy

Awww, Sam loves puppies

Grammy reading to Nora

Kate reading to Sam

Hanging out in the airport, coloring, having snacks, and playing games

We had a wonderful time on the trip, and were sad to see it end and to say goodbye to the Burtons. Luckily they were coming to visit Utah in a few weeks, so at least it wasn't goodbye for long! I was happy to see Sadie and Brina again when we were back at home, though.

I have posted lots of posts about the trip today, so keep clicking on the "older posts" at the bottom of the page to keep going back to see them all :)

Cruise Day 7 - Part 2, Victoria Butterfly Gardens and Butchart Gardens

We ate an early buffet dinner, then headed out on our excursion to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens, and Butchart Gardens. Sam came with us on this one.

Nora looking at the chrysalises 

We got to see a butterfly come out of one. It's on the top row in the middle.

Another picture when it got both of its wings out

Nora and Mike looking at butterflies

There was also a pool with flamingos

A giant butterfly eating some fruit

A butterfly landed right on Ben!

Little butterflies in a tree

One of the guides had a parrot on his shoulder, which Nora thought was really cool

Nora and Evie checking out a black and white butterfly. The guide said these were the most "social" around people.

Mike and Sam

Nora checking out different things under a microscope

Beth posing by some purple flowers

A short bus ride later we were at the famous Butchart Gardens

A view of the sunken gardens

We found that the way to have Evie be the happiest was to let her be the leader, but then Nora got jealous, so they took turns being the leader.

The gardens were amazing. So many gorgeous flowers.

They do have a carousel there, but you have to buy an additional ticket. The kids were happy to just have a turn riding on this carousel horse statue.

There are two totem poles there, which the girls and I were excited to see. Nora was able to point out the beaver on this one.

Walking through the gardens

The Rose Garden

The sturgeon fountain

The Japanese Garden

We walked down to the lookout

The girls said they were sleeping puppies

Back up through the Japanese Garden again

The Italian Garden

On our way out, I took this picture of a window display they had - a dress made from flower napkins

Water wheel

On our drive back, our bus driver gave us a little driving tour of Victoria. He made a brief stop for taking pictures of the Legislative building, which has lights on it and is really pretty. The tour ran a little long, and we were the very last ones back on the ship. Whew! I guess if you have to miss the ship sometime, the last part of the last day after all the fun activities are over would be the best choice, but luckily we didn't have to deal with that!

I finally managed to get a picture of this - on the back of the ship they have a Donald figure hanging from ropes, "painting" the ship, and a figure of one of his nephews about to cut the rope. Hehe.

We were greeted back in our room by a towel lobster, then we put out all our suitcases, then we all promptly fell asleep.