We left after seminary on Thursday morning and drove to California! We were able to board a little early and eat lunch aboard the ship.
After eating and finding out rooms we went about exploring the ship!
The kids were so anxious to get in the pool--even though the air was cold and so was the water! They spent most of their "swimming" time in the hot tub.
The first night we decided to eat in the formal dining room. It was delicious! Because the food was already paid for it was fun to be a little adventurous... William even ordered gator bites which were pretty good!
Day 1 towel animal:
Because Henry and Lydia get car sick I had prepared for someone to be seasick... I just didn't expect that person to be me! I felt awful and decided to take some medicine... which made me SO tired. I finally remembered that I had a non-drowsy formula which made a world of difference. Most of day 2 is a bit foggy in my memory because of all that.
The kids spent more time in the water.
Everyone--but especially Alex--ate their weight in ice cream cones.
I took Lydia to participate in the Dr. Seuss parade. She loved it! We met up with Rich and Henry at the end of the parade route to listen to Benjamin--our cruise director--recite "Horton Hears a Who" with some help from audience members.
William spent most of his time hanging out with Gage and Deven (ward members) and this was a rare sighting for me!
Friday night was our formal night. I convinced everyone to dress up and get a picture with the whole family... but then William and James decided to opt out of the restaurant and eat burgers instead. (I think they regretted it a little when they heard we had creme brulee for dessert!)
After dinner we took the three smaller kids to the (family friendly) comedy show which we all enjoyed.
Day 2 towel:
Day 3 we arrived in Mexico!! It felt nice to be on solid ground again! We opted not to go on any excursions and instead wander around on our own.
Everyone liked trying to lift this heavy anchor chain.
We ventured away from the super touristy area--hoping to find our way to the beach--and also to find some shops. We didn't make it to the beach because the kids got worried and wanted to turn around. (There was a man yelling into a microphone on the corner and a small crowd was gathering. The kids now call that area "yelling Mexico" where we started to feel unsafe.)
Lydia chose to get a little tea set with her souvenir money but also really wanted this mask. The man gave it to her for free.
William decided on a huge sombrero! I don't know what he's going to do with that!
We headed to the more touristy area, passing a fresh fish market along the way, listened to a mariachi band, and found a place to eat. The people at the restaurant were the nicest and the food was great! They had a cat wandering around and the kids loved it!
We ended up heading back to the same little shop after lunch so that I could buy a blanket (William did NOT want to buy anything from the people close by who were shouting in our faces) and William could buy a poncho. Afterwards we enjoyed the view and spent time wandering around a little more. We even spotted some sea lions! It was so nice to all be together--it felt like on the ship everyone scattered to do their own things.
When everyone was done we headed back to the ship. Since we were docked it was less windy and the kids had a great time on the water slides! Even Rich braved them!
Day three towel:
