Hola!

We are back from the most wonderful family {VaCatIoN} EVER!!!


Getting a family of 7 ready for a week long trip is a lot of work but this trip was well worth it. After counting down for 5 months, we finally went on our Mexican Riviera cruise. This is the fourth cruise for Chet and I and the first for the kids.

We rented a van and drove down to California on Friday, May 6th after Kylee got home from school. We got there at 2 in the morning and stayed with family until Sunday Morning when it was time to drive to Long Beach to board the ship.

The drive went well. The DVD player the kids got for Christmas (telling them about the cruise) came in very handy and made the trip lots shorter and a lot more entertaining for the kids...not to mention "quieter" for mom and dad! :)

When we got to Vegas we decided to drive through the strip to let the kids see the lights. They actually saw a bit more than the lights, if you know what I mean...we had to tell the boys (especially) to not look at any of the signs on the taxi's and billboards.

They were "wowed" by the buildings and lights and after that they pretty much slept the rest of the way. Saturday was lots of fun. We enjoyed spending time with family and later we went to a Filipino party for the Pacquiao fight. There they had a really nice pool and the kids swam and had a great time.


Sunday morning we left early and headed for Long Beach. When we got to the port the kids were super excited when they saw the ship, The Carnival Splendor. They were amazed to see how big it actually was. Kylee kept saying she was "so excited, she was going to pee her pants!" haha.




We got all checked in and had to wait for another hour before we could board the ship. It was a little chilly outside while we waited but we finally got to board the ship. The kids jaws just dropped when we stepped into the lobby of the ship. It was SO fun to see their expressions and excitement about everything when we boarded. Our rooms weren't ready yet so we headed up to the Lido deck to have our first meal on board. They all loved the variety. Some had burgers, some had Asian...we had a whole week to try everything, and we did!



We finally got into our cabins and decided to explore the ship a little bit. We were one of the first ones to board so it wasn't too crowded yet. We had lots of fun checking out every lounge, the pools, the kids' clubs.... all of the fun things that are on a "fun ship".

We originally booked 3 and 3 in each cabin. Our balcony cabin had a sofa bed, for Hunter and the kids' cabin had two twins and an upper bunk. When we got into the cabins we noticed that the kids' had an extra bunk that was not pulled down. When our room steward saw that we had four kids she asked if we wanted her to pull down that extra bunk so they could all be together...Chet and I took one look at each other and said, "do it!"

So, needless to say, Mommy and Daddy got their own room...ow, ow! :)

I have been spoiled with the balcony cabins. This is the second one we've had and I just don't think I could ever go back to a regular (or even ocean view) state room. They are bigger and it's so nice to just relax on your own balcony. Our first morning at sea I got up before everyone else, so I went up one floor to the Lido, got me an omelet, took it back down and ate it on the balcony while I read my book. It was so nice!

( a couple of pics of our waiters dancing at dinner our first night.)

Chet also did a little bit of his own "dancing"...

Yeah, he works that pole....and the stage! :)

On board for only 30 minutes and the kids were already pooped! :)

After exploring the ship and taking lots of pictures we got us all some umbrella drinks for our "sail away".



Then we started the trip off right with some ice cream...the ice cream machine was a huge hit with the kids! Every time I saw them they had ice cream in hand.... it can be a bad thing if you eat too much of it. I don't mean gaining weight either. A few of you out there know what I'm talking about. We were warned about it and now we know for ourselves that it is true. We will just say that Talon had a very smelly "incident" later in the week. (poor kid)

I had the following beautiful roses waiting for me in my cabin for Mother's Day with this sweet note next to it...


and I have to agree, that they ARE my five greatest achievements. Although I have to say that I have SIX greatest achievements, and that was choosing to marry the right man in the right place. Without him I would not have the kids and life that I have.

For dinner I also got my own Mother's Day dessert...it was VERY rich and chocolaty but very yummy all the same.

We spent our first day at sea by the pool. The boys went to Camp Carnival and had fun. Our first day at sea was also the first Elegant Night. It was so fun to see my cute family all fancy shmancy for dinner....it was also Lobster night, so you can't beat that!




One of the fun parts about cruising is all of the fun pictures you can have taken!

{ I LoVe my GiRlz!}

And my {BoYz}!!!

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas. We were actually there two days in a row because they have pulled Mazatlan from being a port due to increasing violence. The first day in Cabo we took a two decker boat and they took us out to the arch, Lover's Beach and then to a beach about 45 min away to snorkel and swim. Hunter wasn't too sure about putting his face in the water until he realized that he could do so and still breathe.


It was a really fun excursion. They fed us lunch on the boat and had some great entertainment.



Talon actually got up and danced for me to win me a $100 gift certificate to Diamonds International. The guide actually asked Hunter to do it, and you know Hunter...super shy...so that wasn't a go. Talon didn't really want to either, but he did....he loves me!
On the boat ride back Hunter zonked out! He denies ever "sleeping" he just said he closed his eyes and that was all, he didn't sleep...ya, right!

The second day at Cabo we took a water taxi to Lover's Beach and played in the water.





That was a huge wave, strong wave. I was surprised at the force of these waves...they totally pushed you up onto the shore or could even pull you back in.



The food was amazing! Wednesday night we ate up at the Steakhouse. It costs a bit extra, but it is a really nice and fun experience! The Lobster and Filet (Surf and Turf) dinner was in one word, FABULOUS!!!

The kids looked forward to the towel animals...they were excited to see what they would get each night.

The second Elegant Night Hunter came in dressed and ready to go...

My favorite was his choice of footwear...sandals with his suit pants...haha~!

Twice at dinner Hunter actually fell asleep right in his chair! By 8:30 every night he was ready for bed...it was just so busy with all the play that it just wore his little body out.

On the second Elegant night Hunter got a little full....too full. He did well eating all week long and the same goes for this particular night at dinner. He had one shrimp left...let me rephrase that...one GIANT, HUMONGOUS shrimp left. The waiter told him to finish that last shrimp and so he tried...he really tried...but he got that look on his face and Chet and I knew that look all too well. Everything started to come right back up. We tried to keep it as discreet as possible and the waiter immediately started bringing large amounts of cloth napkins. He felt so horrible for telling him to finish that last shrimp. He kept apologizing over and over! He even brought us an extra dessert to share. We were able to catch most of it in the napkins and finished up and left for pictures.

We really had the best waiters EVER!!! Probably one of the best teams out of all our cruises. I cannot even express how attached I became to these two men. They were both from Indonesia. "Fri" was our assistant waiter, he is the tall one. (That really isn't his name but his first name was too long to pronounce so he shortened it to "Fri") and our head waiter was Newman. Both of them had teenage and young kids of their own back home and they were so great with our kids...especially Hunter. They knew and called each of them by name, played with them and joked with them. When they looked at the kids you could just see the longing for their own in their expressions. It made me quite sad for them.

These guys go anywhere from 6 to 8 months at a time without seeing their families and then get only 6 to 7 weeks off vacation, then it's back to the ship for another 6-8 months. The pay is not the best either. If you ever cruise, please be sure to tip them well...they work harder than any of us and earn less.

The kids' cabin

Our room steward, "Nun", was from Thailand and she was so sweet and great. She was also cute with the kids.

When Hunter found out we were going to Mexico and that they had "Nacho Libre" masks, that is all he had his heart set on buying. He saved his money and that was the first thing we shopped for. Pretty dang cute if you ask me!

"Chancho, I need to borrow some sweats...."

The kids were pretty surprised to see how the locals "attack" you trying to sell whatever they have.

One lady literally threw a lizard onto Makayla as we walked by. As soon as Kylee snapped a picture of it she wanted $5 for it. Chet gave her $1 and she wanted more. Chet flat out told her "no, we didn't want it in the first place." I know Makayla certainly didn't want a lizard on her head...it freaked her out quite a bit. We should have just kept walking away with the lizard...haha. I know how desperate some of them are for money and my heart goes out to them, but I was irritated when they expect you to give them money for every little thing, especially when you didn't want it in the first place. One guy expected a tip from us because he happened to be the one that tied the water taxi to the dock. He didn't help us off or carry our stuff like others did, he put the rope to the boat around the little hook thing on the dock...and wanted a tip for it.

The view from our balcony

We were in Puerto Vallarta on Thursday. We were there all day long so we took our time in the morning. We really didn't have any specific plans here so once we got off the boat we decided to take a taxi downtown. The streets were cobblestone and there were some magnificent "old Mexico" buildings. Including a beautiful, old Catholic church.

They also had lots of beautiful sculptures and statues all along the coast.

One of the cool things was all of the sand sculptures. There were so many of them but this is just a sample of our favorites, including one of the Last Supper with life size people.

The old church...

One of the very cool statues...

We just did lots of walking and shopping here. Kylee said this was one of her favorite places because she loved seeing the sights of it. Kylee has taken two years of Spanish and decided that High School Spanish is a lot different than the real thing. She said she thought her Spanish teacher talked fast! haha

Thursday night was a deck party that was a blast! We told Kylee beforehand that we weren't too thrilled with the idea of her going to her "club" for the 15-17 year olds. Only b/c I don't know what 17 yr old boys are going to be there looking to hook up. Well, the night of the deck party for everyone they played a couple of slow songs and she got asked to dance...by boys where not exactly boys. More like young MEN. For instance, the first one was 22 years old and then the second one was 19! Chet was ready to throw them both overboard. He and I started to dance right by Kylee so we could keep our eyes on them...er, I should say HIM!

Kylee came up after the dances were over and said, "And you were worried about the 17 year olds!" haha...no kidding!

Makayla never did want to go to her club activities and the boys went to Camp Carnival a few times and had fun. They got a free T shirt they were able to color and made candy art, played games etc.

The kids also like the movies on deck at night. You could get a blanket and curl up with some free popcorn and watch a flick under the stars...pretty cool.

I asked some of the kids what their favorite and most memorable parts of the cruise was and this is what each of them said, in their own words...

Kylee~ "My favorite memories were the deck party, when our waiter was dirty dancing, (pretty funny stuff), the 24/7 ice cream and the hairy chest contest."

Makayla~ "My favorites...Snorkeling & seeing the fish. Playing at the beach, and almost drowning! (you'll have to ask her about that one...scary!), Walking around and seeing sand sculptures in Puerto Vallarta, Waiters & room service, Food...especially the chocolate melting cake, relaxing & swimming....THE WHOLE CRUISE and EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!!

Talon~ "My favorite part of the cruise was when we partied on the deck. Also when I had to dance on the little boat in Cabo. And when our waiter got up on the chair and took the napkin and did a dance between his legs with it. My last favorite part was when a lady threw an Iguana on Makayla...(ya, he would like that part, seeing the horror on his sister's face!)

Hunter~ (in his spelling) "Going swmming and going on the waterslide and giting my tatoo and camp carnuvool."

NOW~ my favorite part of this cruise... most definitely seeing the expressions and happiness on my kids' faces all week long!!! The food and service wasn't too bad either! :) Now, it certainly wasn't the Caribbean but our kids didn't know the difference and honestly, could you have a bad cruise?

We all had a wonderful time...not to mention the fact that Chet won us some money on the Blackjack table which paid for our Cabo excursion... that always makes it fun! However, we missed our littlest guy like crazy. Thank you so much to Shellie, Evonne & Shareen... our WONDERFUL family for taking such good care of him. We LOVE you and appreciate everything you did to help so we could take this awesome vacation with the kids!

Aaaah, I am so ready to plan our next one.... I AM IN LOVE WITH CRUISING!!!