Cruise Notes

Last week we went on a cruise, to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico. It was fabulous. The kids stayed at home, and David's parents watched them for most of the time, with my friend, Heidi, watching them for a few days too. It was all planned by my fabulous Aunt Angie and we had 31 people with us, including my grandma, five of my aunts and uncles and their spouses, my parents, my sister and her husband, my brother Tyler and some family friends. It was probably my favorite vacation ever.

I'm pretty much just putting up my personal notes and lot of photos from the trip. I hope you enjoy.

Friday—Vegas—Get up, pack car, David's parents come to watch the kids, Jayson and Jennifer arrive, we pack everything up, then hit the road (riding in our van were Jay and Melissa and Jayson and Jennifer), we arrive in Vegas, check into our hotel, make our way to the strip, the gelato, go into New York New York, no food, decide on Cheesecake Factory, walk forever, watch the Bellagio water show, it takes forever to be seated, Jen is practically falling over, “Choose me, brahahahahah,” eat crab cakes and nachos, take the bus back, walk over the freeway, major blisters.

Saturday—got up, drove the rest of the way, we miss Vine Street and have to go around, board the ship, meet up with everyone else, table mix ups at dinner, explore the ship, Jay and David have two lunches, reading The Hunger Games, karaoke (David sings Kryptonite and Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm, Kara sings Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with Angie, Dixie, and Mom), watch the first show.

Sunday—Went to breakfast with Mom and Dad, Melissa and Grandma, then we went up to the buffet breakfast by ourselves, back to the room to hang out for a while (I read some more), then David and I went up to exercise on the bikes, then we came back and showered, then went up to sunbath on the deck, I read some more, then Melissa and I curl each other’s hair, we get all fancy and go to dinner, David has game hen, I have lobster which I still don’t like, David hangs out with Jay and Melissa in the casino, I wander around the ship, looking for the meeting spot, we watch the hypnotist show—Ty and Brock get hypnotized and are hilarious, I love how Ty dances, when they cry all over each other in the sad movie, girl has magic hand, Ty working to get his hands apart.

Monday—first day in Cabo, David wakes us all up way too early, we watch Iron Man in our room, we have breakfast, then meet everyone else to get off the boat, we go shopping first, buy a ring for me, luchador masks for the boys, a dress for Aubrey and a bag for me, we walk through town, takes forever, I buy a swim cover up and a Dora mask and cape for Aubrey, then we eat lunch at the hard rock café, we finish walking to the beach, which takes forever, finally we get there, we lay out our beach things, then swim in the ocean, I pee, which is nice, then I go swimming in the ocean for the first time in my life, I can’t believe how much I float, we hang out on beach, David gets a henna tattoo to match his dragon towel, we take pictures, find a dead seahorse, we walk back (much, much, much longer than it appears), David, Jay and I all get "the shafe" and the boys discretely apply the "bom bom," while I just endure the pain, we get back on the ship, we shower, then go to dinner, we see the juggling comedian and the not so great Glenn Hursh, then to bed.

Melissa and Jay on the tender to Cabo. You can see my fabulous Aunt Angie in between their heads.

Another view of the harbor, and that is the tender we came in on from the ship.

The beach we were at on the first day:

David and his dragon henna tattoo:

My uncle Jim and Jay in the water, my uncle Jayson and my aunt Jennifer, the my mom and my dad:

Tuesday—second day in Cabo, we wake up in the right amount of time, go to breakfast with Jay, Melissa, Mom, Dad and Grandma, go to Cabo, get there at 9:15 when we are supposed to meet everyone for the tour, we end up going on the tour with Dixie, Rick, Darla, Judy, Mom, Dad, Melissa, Angie, Jim and Ty, first we go out and see the arch and some of the sites right by the harbor, then we go out whale watching, we see four whales, but not really close up, get completely soaked by a wave, then we take a long, long ride to Santa Maria beach, snorkeling, sun bathing, sea kayaking with the crabs scattering, then we head back to the harbor, my butt gets very wet, we look around for a phone, I have "the shafe" again, we can’t find a phone card, we give up, go back to the ship, we shower and have dinner, I go straight back to the room and go to sleep.

Sitting in our glass bottomed boat, waiting to be fueled up:

My sister's toes in the sand on Santa Maria beach:

My mom sitting on the beach:

My brother Tyler and my dad in the background, perhaps my favorite photo of the vacation:

David and my dad on the sea kayak. I took a turn too:

Wednesday—day at sea, we sleep until 8:40, we get up, have breakfast with four very nice strangers, then go up and have 2^nd breakfast at the buffet, Melissa and I go the ten dollar shop, I buy a purse and a bracelet, eat lunch at the buffet, play Uno with Angie, David, Melissa and Grandma, then I borrow a book from Melissa, spend most of the afternoon reading,  go to dinner, very rough seas, go to comedy show, then to bed.


Thursday—Ensenada, have buffet breakfast, go ashore (we can walk off the boat, no tender), meet everyone outside, get a bus for all of us, there was not one seat open, our tour guide is Gilberto, take the bus to La Bufadora, see it which is pretty stinky, since the tide was going out and it wasn’t shooting high at all, walk slowly back up to the bus, eating churros and buying a purse for me and for Heidi, some vanilla, we think about eating there at the Havana Banana, but once we see the prices we decide to skip it, so we leave, Jay and David go down the slide, we think about buying a lot of other things, but only end up buying me a $5 hat and a can of Coke, then we get back on the bus, go back to the ship, David and I go to eat at the buffet, then we shower, I get all dressed up for dinner (I brought two dresses and I want to wear two dresses, even though it is not an official formal night, even though there are supposed to be two), then we go into the karaoke lounge, but they are booked up for the night, we hang out with Brock, Kat and Tyler for a bit, go back to the room, pack all our checked bags, put them out in the hall, then head off to bed.

Us in Ensenada:

A view of the little inlet where the blowhole comes up:

Friday—arrive back in San Diego, I am out of underwear, we thought we’d do a load of laundry, but we didn’t have quarters and were having too much fun to find some, we finish packing everything, eat breakfast with another very nice group of strangers, get all our stuff together, then go sit on the lido deck in the sun until our number is called, then we get off the boat, I’m feeling crappy by this time, seriously think I’m going to faint and trying to haul around my backpack, my huge duffel bag, my smaller duffel bag stuffed with shoes and my new purse, we call for the shuttle, but people keep stealing them, we finally get on the shuttle, get back to the car, start driving, I start knitting my Mrs. Darcy cardigan, we make some phone calls, Heidi calls to tell us Aubrey got a melting bead stuck up her nose, we eat lunch at Jack in the Box, we drive some more, get gas a few times, I get all bummed because it gets too dark to knit, then we decide to eat at the Dairy Queen in Cedar City, almost run into a car that didn’t look before making a right turn onto the street, David saves us, I have onion rings, we drive the rest of the way home, kids are fine (Aubrey’s trip to the doctor reveals it probably fell out), give Heidi her purse, hear a little bit about how things were while we were gone, then Heidi leaves and we go to sleep.

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