HELLO FALL!

Ive just accepted the fact that "FALL" has a completely different meaning in Houston ;)

Still 90 degrees outside but I insist on making it feel like fall by making soup and putting out some pumpkins! I love a good healthy soup and this is an all time favorite of ours! 

I found the original recipe is found HERE but I added what I use here as side notes ;)

       

      Optional : 1/2 an avocado ( diced ) added at the end in each individual bowl 

1. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat, add the onion and jalapeno peppers and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
3. Add the broth, salsa verde, chicken, beans, quinoa and oregano, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked and the quinoa is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Remove the chicken, shred or dice, return to soup along with the lime juice and cilantro, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Our second port of call was in Juneau! Juneau wasn't near as cute and quaint as Skagway, ;) although we did find the Alaska State Capitol ^^ and some pretty crazy high up little homes we hiked to.
( Random thought - if you have little kids, I loved an umbrella stroller for this trip! ^^
There isn't a ton of walking so you don't need a crazy good stroller and it hardly takes up any room in your state room ;) 

So I'll be honest and say we had ONE BUMMER for this trip.

In Juneau, we were supposed to have an excursion that helicopter'd you to a glacier and then you went dog sledding in the snow! It was cancelled because of weather :( we were totally ready to go and it was cancelled about an hour before it was supposed to leave! The weather is pretty crazy and literally rained every day we were there!

It's also REALLY foggy ( we never saw the sun) so apparently they actually have to cancel helicopter tours quite often because of visibility -- which is completely understandable! ( so if you have plans to go to Alaska make sure you have a plan B for tours that are cancelled! :) 

There was a "frozen night" on the boat! ^^

They had a cute show for the kids outside and then made it actually SNOW!

It made being in the middle of the Alaskan mountains even more magical!

Saw seal lions ^^ and whales.

The blood was a little hard to get used to ^^ HA! Hence my screaming in the video Aaron took of me as the fish was jumping around the boat and blood was spurting all over.

Love this sweet fam of mine! ^^
Gosh, we loved this beautiful place!! And I secretly think we all loved being cold for a week haha! ;) I've only ever been somewhere warm on a cruise so this was something totally different and SO fun!
Instead of going for the unlimited ice cream every day, we went for the unlimited hot chocolate!
There is something magical about being in the beautiful mountains and bundling up with the ones you love!
The whole thing was incredible and I would seriously recommend this trip to ANYONE!

TIP: When going on an Alaskan cruise, PACK LAYERS and bring rain boots! Dress like an onion. You wont regret having too many layers. If I could do it over, I would buy us all some winter gloves and bring all my warmest winter sweaters / socks / hats! Luke had a raincoat as his warmest coat -- #momfail! We made due with lots of blankets and luckily there is so much to do inside the boat for the kiddos. The weather said it was in the high 40's to low 50's but with the rain and wind it felt more like low 40's/30's haha! Anyways I would be happy to answer any more specific questions about what to pack so please email me! XO

HELLO ALASKA.
Disney STYLE.
This was a much anticipated trip and it was a dream come true to be able to see Alaska for the first time with my whole family! ( Just Missing my cute sister serving her church mission in Peru ! )
My dad has always traveled a lot for his job so it's rare to find a place even he has never been to!
It was a FIRST for all of us!



I've gotten so many questions about this trip and I will do my best to tell you what we saw and did in a "PART 1" and "PART 2" post! We are obviously far from pros after only one week of being there ;) haha! BUT I would 1,000 percent recommend it to anyone! Seriously one of my most favorite vacations to date!



Alaska, we are huge fans. ^^
It is one of the most beautiful places with the most lush green mountains and greenest blue ocean water - All the heart eye emojis here!


Ryan could not understand why it was freezing every time you walked outside on the ship haha!
The weather was a shock to the system for my Texas boys!
It was definitely a NICE change from the 100 degrees we had been experiencing in Houston! ;)

Needless to say we didn't bring warm enough clothes! ^^ #fail -- I will be doing a post later on with what to pack - so stay tuned!



This is honestly the scenery outside the boat for 90 percent of the trip! ^^ It's beyond beautiful! Hard to even describe so I will just let most of the pictures do the talking. We saw sea lions, whales, bald eagles, and "jumping fish" as Ryan would say, all from our boat - SO SO COOL!



Cutest mama ever. ^^



Little love bug ^^


Inside joke... but check out his stretching ^^ haha!!
My dad is the coolest.


Ryan just one of the big kids! ^^ The wonderful thing about a Disney cruise is that you can take your babies to the kids club to nap. It was too cold to have Luke and my little nephew sitting outside so we took them to the kids club on the boat and had them nap :) Which brings me to what I want to talk about next -- THE BOAT~
Disney seriously knows how to do it right.


Our cute waiter cut out aaron's head of the picture ^^ haha! WHOOPS.

There are 3 dinner restaurants on the ship and this is my favorite one ^^

The drawings on the walls dance and have a little "show" throughout your dinner - kid heaven.
You get to draw a cartoon one night and SOMEHOW it comes to life on the screen up above your table! ( no idea how they do it! )


I can't count the amount of ice cream sundaes I consumed on this trip. ^^



They have CONSTANT disney movies playing in your room-- Every TV channel has a different disney movie!
There is also a theater on the ship with the latest movies playing - new Spiderman, new Pirates of the Caribbean, new cars 3 movie etc! Ryan was in heaven!



ANNNDD Disney characters - EVERYWHERE! ^^ This is as close as Luke would get.
He's not scared of many things - but apparently he's a little scared of people in costumes ;)
I can't imagine having a baby girl with all the princesses walking around the boat - HEAVEN! Ry and Luke could care less about the princesses haha! But my girly - disney princess loving self was dying inside!

Pools were heated and even the slide was working! It was so funny, the worker lifeguarding the slide was in a parka, hat and gloves haha! My family did hot tub once or twice and said it felt so good!


We had 3 ports of call and the rest of the days were at sea.
FIRST PORT OF CALL : SKAGWAY 


When in Skagway, get polar bear chocolate suckers ;) anndd!



And go to Klondike Doughboy and get the best cinnamon bread fried things ever!
OH MY GOSH! we kept trying to find another Klondike Doughboy in the other towns we went to on the trip and there wasn't any! So definitely go in Skagway!



This was my favorite "town" we stopped in! Ok but seriously. Cutest little town tucked right in the mountains! ^^



We toured the little town in the morning and then later on boarded an ocean speed raft .



I honestly can't describe how beautiful it was! ^^ Our driver did doughnuts and sharp turns and it secretly freaked me out but Aaron was in heaven. It was SO fun to be piled on a boat with my fam in orange sumo puff suits!
One of those "once in a lifetime times" that you can't replicate!





Look how TALL that water fall is!! ^^ All the heart eyes!



Spotted 25 bald eagles on our excursion! ^^ Yes, we counted :) HA!







These suits keep you so warm- ^^ in case you were wondering ;)
The excursion gives you goggles, gloves and hats in case you didn't bring them.\


First port in Skagway was a success.
Juneau and Ketchikan coming soon! This is already the longest post ever ;)



And thanks to the worlds best aunts and uncles for being my kids heros! ^^