So a new year has started! Life is good. Paige recently started a new full-time job (more details to come later), and Josh is busy with school and looking into internships. But in the midst of all this busyness, we realized we haven’t posted our pictures from our awesome Alaskan vacation last summer! Maybe it’s a good thing because it gave us the opportunity to reminisce about a great vacation. Here are some of our favorites…

FAVORITE FOOD TO TRY

Josh: I tried crab, because I’ve never actually eaten crab. The verdict? I’m just glad I stole some of my brother’s and didn’t order it for myself. ;-) Everything else was totally amazing though! I liked having a real plate of different cheeses (many French) for dessert, how français!

Paige: Baked Alaska! A glorious dessert involving ice cream, brownies, assorted toppings like carmel and berries, and glazed cream. How could you go wrong with a creation like that?

FAVORITE RANDOM MEMORY

Josh: In Juneau, we watched a presentation on the Tlingit Indians (pronounced Klink-it for all of you uncultured saps, but the tl and ng really actually make different sounds in the native tongue) to help us better understand the native cultures and their history. Afterwards, the presenter asked if there were any questions. A middle-aged man asked the brilliant question, “So why don’t you just spell it ‘Klinkit?'” “Uh, because that’s not how it’s spelled. It’s difficult for most Americans to say it properly, so we say it like that to help you,” came the presenter’s answer. “But why don’t you just spell it Klinkit?” O my… American cultural awareness at its highest.

Paige: One of my favorite stories was how Josh’s dad’s rules on food changed over the week. When we first got on the ship and went to our first of many all-you-can-eat meals, Dale told the boys, “Whatever you want to eat, you can! You can have dessert first if you want.” Well, a few days and several dozen ice cream cones later, Dale’s new rule for everyone was, “For every ice cream cone you eat, you walk a lap around the deck!” That story probably shows how awesome the food was, and how much of it there was, and how much we all enjoyed it…

FAVORITE EXPERIENCE

Josh: It was great to have everything at your immediate disposal for the entire week you are on the boat. We got to be around family the whole time, and you could do basically anything you wanted at any hour of the day. Watch a movie, go swimming, eat, exercise, eat some more, see a magician, look at the scenery, eat some more. It was pretty awesome. O, and did I mention that you could eat at all hours?

Paige: I loved the fancy dinners each night! I don’t usually think of myself as a classy or fancy person, but I loved the fancy dinners: getting dressed up, eating new foods, three-course meals, fine dining, visiting around the table…yeah, livin’ the high life! (or at least pretending).

FAVORITE THING OVERALL

Josh: Seriously, spending an entire week with the family was just fantastic. I loved being able to almost get to know them again, as it had been a while since we had been together that long. Paige and I also had the time to just get away, and that was absolutely wonderful! Such a great experience!

Paige: Other than the fancy dinners, it was great to just spend time with the Lyman family and get away from it all. It was a wonderful break from the normal grind. We had so much fun talking, laughing, playing games, eating food (and ice cream, lots of ice cream). What a great experience!