Alaska Video's

I'm a bit late on uploading our 2008 Alaska Video's but hey I always say better late than never! Right? I still have my YouTube account www.youtube.com/auntienorma

Why oh Why?

I can count how many years I've had a computer and been online by counting the inches on my butt. HA!

Every night I tell myself I won't be long on the computer so I could get a good night's rest. Every morning I tell myself I'll log on for a minute or two.. just long enough to enjoy a cup of coffee. (I know you're smiling because you know what comes next.)

The next thing I know hours (and HOURS) have gone by. There are time I manage to rush around and tidy up enough to satisfy myself that the day wasn't a total loss.. but the inches keep adding up. At least this is my only addiction! Right?

Bribe me with a drink!

Last week  Rudy advised me that soon we will be going to Club 33. Huh! Club 33 never heard of it, what kind of music do they play? Then I found out it's not a dancing club but some sort of exclusive private club at Disneyland. (Oh Brother)

Angela and all you Disney freaks um I mean Disney lovers 

your going to hate me for a minute so cover your mousy ears. 

Okay I asked so why Disneyland ( I try to avoid D-land like the plague ) I'm what you call anti-Disney. Since Rudy is Senior Director for Directv he has access to this club and since he will be conducting business with some important people from another country he has invited them to the happiest place on earth ( excuse me while I barf, why not Las Vegas Ha! ) I guess Corporations and individuals pay big bucks for both the initial membership, but despite that, there's still a waiting list for a membership. (why?)

Someone told me that this club is the only place in D-land that serves alcohol, Oh boy I can't wait! Rudy and I are not taking any children with us (No Triplets) we will be kid-less so you bet I will have a few drinks to get me thru that day. Ugh! and I better watch what I say about D-land. They say it's complete with hidden recording equipment for listening in on guest conversation. WHAT!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Today my wonderful Husband turned another year older and  still makes my heart skip a beat.

I’m so thankful for Rudy and grateful to be spending another birthday with him. 

 We kept it simple today, we went out for breakfast watched movies on our couch and I cooked him a wonderful dinner and then we had a Flan dessert to top it all off. I love you with all my heart Rudy and look forward to every year growing older with you. I am the luckiest woman in the world, and I have you to thank.

Got wicked on Friday!

On Friday Rudy surprised me with tickets to see Wicked the Musical at The  Pantages Theater in Hollywood. My wonderful husband had orchestra center seats. Wow I could not believe how close we were to the stage it was pretty exciting. The show was awesome. Rudy and I enjoyed every second of it. Thank you Rudy for always making my dreams come true. Muah!

Quality time with my sister

Saturday I spend quality time with my oldest sister Ingrid. It was long overdue for some sister bonding time. I wanted Jon and Cory to come along with me, But they had their own plans for that day. So I gathered my sweet "Bear" and brought him along with me.

It was such a hot day. It was over 99 degrees, But who cares when you have an inviting pool to cool off in and a nice cool drink by your side. Mom and Dad came over in the afternoon they live 3 minutes away from Ingrid's. What a great day I had spending time with my Peeps. Thank You GOD!

(L-R) Ingrid, Micheal (my nephew) and Mom

Ingrid and Mom

Ingrid

My 28 year old Nephew Micheal who is very much like his Auntie Norma, Always manage to keep us all Entertained.

As my nephew showed off his skills by jumping off the diving board and acting crazy, I immediately headed for my camera . I love taking fast action pictures as you can see.

"You say tomato, I say tomahto"

You say tomato and I say tomahto! No matter how we say it, I got alot! This year I have been blessed with tons of tomatoes, thanks to my wonderful friend Mary Bell. Every year she has been planting tomatoes in my garden and working her magic with her awesome green thumb.So now I am stuck with an over whelming amount of tomatoes. PLEASE help me get rid of these yummy red tomatoes by e-mailing me or give me a call and I will be glad to unload some on you.

"Get them while they last"

As you can see today I've been keeping busy in my garden. That was as spontaneous as I could get today.

It's a Spontaneous day!

This morning the Hubby is off on another Vacation, um I mean business trip. I drove the Hubby to the Airport pretty early in the morning Yawn. He has Business meetings in Puerto Rico. He is addressing the media about next years DTV Transition and other stuff I don't quit understand.

I can recall years ago I would panicked at the mere thought of Rudy having to go on travel. I would make myself sick as soon as I learned of the upcoming trip. Now I look forward to his trips and even drive him to the airport with a happy heart. Thank You GOD.

So I am Husband free for 5 days! I get the whole bed to myself and not be interrupted by um his loud snoring.

I feel very Spontaneous today let's see should I head to LAS VEGAS! I really feel like doing something real crazy like driving up to Colorado or catching the next plane to visit the Weydemullers or should I stay put at home and Knit something to kill time while hubby is away! NOT... It's gonna be a Spontaneous day! OH BOY!!

Thank You Mom & Dad!

There is nothing like having two wonderful and caring parents who are always there when you need them. My Dad and Mom House sat and Doggie sat 

Look who turned "THREE" today

"Happy Birthday Kieran, Haydan and Presley"Noah gathered Two by Two But for the Weydemullers God Said that would not do!

Three years ago who would of known these Three beautiful babies would have such a big impact in our lives. I never thought I could love these babies like they were my very own, My heart always skips a beat whenever I'm with them they bring so much joy to our life.How very Blessed we all are to be able to be part of their lives. Thank You GOD for giving us these Three little miracles to love so much......I can't believe they are Three years old. Where did the time go.

Kieran Patrick:...5 lbs 11 oz...17 inches long...born...9:12 pm

Haydan Creed:...5 lbs 7 oz...16 inches long...born...9:13 pm

Presley Katherine:...4 lbs 6 oz...16 inches long...born...9:12 pm

Ketchikan

Ketchikan is a hustling, bustling city. Outside of Fairbanks, Juneau, and Anchorage, it is the biggest town in Alaska. When you first see it, though, it seems wild. Rugged spruce covered mountains push the town literally right into the water. They were still considerably snow covered in June, which added to the feeling of wildness.

I'm all Thawed out!

Yes! We are back from our cruise. Brrrrrrrr! I finally thawed out. While everybody was baking in the hot summer tempurature and trying to find a way to cool off, the Ramirez family trying to keep warm as we sailed through Alaska's Inside Passage.

We had a balcony state room on deck 11, and, quite literally, sat on our balcony with hot chocolate and watched the icebergs, whales, eagles and majestic, snow-capped mountains glide by (truly, words do not do them justice. I have never seen such beauty, inside or outside the US).

I must say, Ketchikan was my favorite port. It was my first glance at true Alaska. Juneau was so breath taking with all the snow -capped mountain's. We took a 30min helicopter ride up to the top of Mendalhall Glacier where we took in all of it's glory. It was so amazing just being in the center of it all. We trekked up, down and climbed the glaciers. This was the major highlight of our trip. How lucky and blessed we are to get a chance of a life time to experience this. Thank you to my wonderful husband for this chance. Everybody needs to have this on their Bucket list of things to do before you "kick the Bucket" (before you die).

Our third port was Skagway We did not get to see much of this town because we took a scenic tour of the white pass and Yukon route on a Train that took much of our time in Skagway. This tour was so breathtaking with so much beauty everywhere you see. We even sat next to one of ABC's news weather girl. I won't tell you her name but she has blond hair. Ha!

Our last stop was Prince Rupert. Um this was my least favorite port. Not much to say about this little Canadian town but this was a manditory stop for NCL cruiseline for this trip. Hey but we were lucky enough to be up and close to see the Eagles out on the harbour doing what they do best, Flying around looking for food.

NCL cruise itself was nice. They are the first to start this " which I'm not a fan of. I really did not care much for it. I know 95% of me hates being told what to do but I found out, When I am on a cruise I LOVE being told what to do and when. Ha! The food was good, Oh my gosh the Hot wings were fricken Delicious. The casino sucked the slots were as tight as Hum well I don't know but they were tight. I lost alot of money trying to find out if I could loosen them...

The entertainment was much cheesier than the pizza on board, that's for sure. Not much for our boys to do not enough girls their age they can hang out with. By 10:00pm it was like a ghost town onboard. There was a good mix of people. I meet so many people on board I even took a survey well sort of, I asked the wives who's idea was it to cruise Alaska and they all said, "It was my husbands dream" Hmm I figured this cruise is a "Manly Man" vacation. I really did enjoy this trip sailing through the passage and watching big chunks of ice passing the ship by as the ship very slowly and I mean very slow passes these Hugh chunks of ice the silence of our ship as it coast down this passage was very intense feeling.

I had played a lot of bingo on Carnival cruise and enjoyed it. On this ship they had a electronic bingo handset that was $89 to play or you could play on one paper sheet for $29. The difference in odds was staggering. I was amazed at how many people must have blown hundreds of dollars on bingo.I played 4 times on this cruise.

They had a great Gym onboard. Um Rudy used it twice the first day of our cruise and the last day. I did not make it to the gym (my excursions kept me physically active and darn sore). Rudy, Jon and Cory kept busy down at the Spa thruout our cruise they all had a Detox body wrap, facial and massage treatments. God talk about a MetroSexual I have Three. Turned out towards the end of our Cruise Inga our lovely Spa girl was keeping all my men very busy. She is a dam good sales girl... K-Ching let that cash register ring!

All in all we all experience a wonderful trip we all got much more than we expected we would out of this trip. While the ship itself was very basic and more of a floating hotel than a resort, Alaska made up for all of it's shortcomings.

*Oh and ladies when your hubby wants the Manly Man cruise of all cruises tell him you "Really want to go with him" Because there is a great big PLUS in going and really makes up for not wearing those sexy clothes and high heel shoes and prance around the pool. With the Alaska Cruise you always get lot's of old men and I mean lot's... okay hear it goes and with lot's of old men you get looked on and made to feel like you where "20 Something again" Oh Ya Baby! Sorry Rudy but this was to funny not to tell about it.

***A Thank You goes out to many of you who called or E-mailed me regarding why I have not posted my Alaska Cruise adventures and Photos sooner. Dam can't a girl thaw out first?.. I hope my pictures of our cruise was worth your wait. Please let me know what you think . And keep checking my Blog for lot's more pictures and of course I am putting together a movie of our adventures very soon.

Trekking on Mendenhall Glacier

Sawyer Glacier

As you can see the reason why so many people calls Alaska "The Final Frontier" because it is the untouched beauty that God has made.

The captain sailed the ship 14 miles up the fjord until we were very, very close to the glacier. I was so impressed when they expertly turned the immense vessel around in the narrow Fjord and sailed back out. The sweet light of the end of the day enriched the ethereal colors and set a serene and even spiritual mood. Does it get any better than this?

If you look closely at the picture below you will see some brave and crazy cruisers taking in all the sites in the Jacuzzi. Oh ya my kinda Peeps.

The milky blue color results from powdered rock that the glacial outflow carries.

The scenery at Sawyer Glacier was spectacular! This is just on of many mountains that were along the side of the ship as we were going into the bay to see the glacier.

Look another slide show