Wow. We made it to Seattle. Anyone who's ever traveled next to small children on a plane generally cringe when they think of the crying, the noise, the feet kicking the back of your seat...Let me tell you - those little terrors have nothing on a couple of teenage girls traveling with their aunt! I've never met two girls that could talk SO MUCH! I even turned off the hearing aid, in hopes of catching up on some sleep. Not these guys...they were all about the conversation - the reading - out loud - of the Hawaii travel book, the in-flight magazine and anything else they could get their hands on. And, writing. They both wrote extensively in their travel journals (Mom and Dad, you should be proud of your girls!) Of course, everyone around them took their UNENDING conversation in stride, smiling, laughing and enjoying what they saw. The girls made friends with a little girl across the aisle. They were sweet and playful with her, which made my own heart swell.

Have I said how much I'm thankful and privileged to be traveling with these girls! They are the best. Yes, they talk nonstop, but I suppose every 13 year old girl is entitled - especially when they are so excited they can hardly contain themselves. LOL!

It's good to be me...We'll catch up later!

Here we go again....

I can't believe it, but tomorrow marks the beginning of another journey. This time, another cruise to a warm location, but a little closer to home. I'm headed to Hawaii! I turn 40 this year. Actually in just a few days from now. But, that's not really the reason I'm going. Let me back up and say, that I'm privileged to be the aunt to two very special 13 year olds. These two beautiful young ladies chose to go on a cruise with Grammy and Popo for their "13-year old birthday trip". Why am I going if it's their cruise? Because I'm the cool aunt. Well, that, and I'm still single. So, I get the joy of going with them! There's nothing quite like traveling with teenagers to make you feel alternately young and old all at the same time! :-) So, as it happens, I'll also be celebrating my milestone birthday. Mom celebrates a birthday and two very special friends are celebrating with us. So it goes, the seven of us are off to Hawaii.

I've been to Hawaii before, but never like this! So, I hope to take a few pictures of the scenery and a lot of pictures of the birthday girls...all of us.

Tomorrow's an early day as we travel from Anchorage, Alaska to San Diego, CA. We'll spend the night with Grammy and Popo, then join our friends Liz and Larry for breakfast before we embark the ms Zaandam, bound for Hawaii. It's a 15-day cruise aboard one of Holland America's beautiful ships. I'm probably a little biased, but with such recent fond memories aboard the ms Rotterdam in October...I won't be disappointed! It's great to work for such a wonderful cruise line. I really love my job. I really like the people I work with. All the more reason to spend my precious vacation time on a cruise - surrounded by family and friends with dreams of sunshine and palm trees swaying in the wind.

Aloha!