Mexican Rivera Cruise

Well here I am playing catch up again!! Sooo much has happened in the past month...starting with us celebrating Kevin's 28th Birthday on January 25th. It seems like we are go go go every second of everyday so it was a very simple party with the kids and I:)


It was nice to pamper him all day! He deserves it so much and I absolutely LOVE the days where the kids and I can make him feel special! The kids and I did the traditional streamers from the door for him.


When he got home from work that afternoon we had some gifts and ice cream cake for him.(his dramatic side of candle blowing!)


Toothless Kollin...he lost 3 teeth in the past month!!


Kevin and I got back last Saturday from our 7 day cruise down the Mexican Rivera. We have been in this funk for about a week now where we don't want to do anything - wake up, clean, cook, go to work...I think we were seriously depressed the first few days we got back! That week was the most perfect way to live! (don't take that the wrong way...I love my kids and wouldn't trade this life for anything - but it was absolutely PERFECT!!) When we left Vernal it was -10 degrees!! And that afternoon when we got to lovely San Diego, CA it was 80 degrees outside!! Oh I could have stayed there all week and just basked in the sun.

So the first two days were at sea while we sailed down to Puerto Vallarta, then up to Mazatlan, then Cabo and then another day at sea and home to San Diego.


(me and kev on our flight to California)


Flying in to San Diego we could see the cruise ship from our plane window! I was honestly like a child at Christmas time...I could have jumped and screamed in excitement but knew they probably wouldn't let me on the ship if I did:) This was us leaving dry ground and boarding the ship.


Us on the top deck.


Leaving San Diego!! The sunset was AMAZING!! It was such a surreal feeling pulling out of that bay!


Me and Kev our first night at Sea.


One of the funnest parts was that we got to go with our best friends TJ and Rachel. Every night we got to eat a 5 star dinner with UNLIMITED food!! If we loved the shrimp...they just brought us more, if we loved the steak...they just brought us more! It was the coolest thing ever! And it was so nice having good company at dinner and the pool and at each port.


The first two days were at Sea while we headed all the way down to Puerto Vallarta. We laid by the pool, played in the pool, sat in the hot tub, played ping pong, and basketball, in short - we relaxed for 2 days straight!!!


Yummy drinks too - this one was called their Miami Vice - Strawberry Daiquiri on top, Pina Colada on bottom...Yummm!!


One day they had some games and relays by the pool where it was Kev, me, tj and rachel and two other people on our team...we won of course:)


In the end there was a belly flop contest. TJ was going against the man getting out of the pool in this picture...TJ won that one too!!


It was just sooo nice to be in warmer weather and be able to wear our bathing suits ALL day!!!


It was so cool to sit in the pool and watch and feel as the ship would rock back and forth.



During the next day there was a Ping Pong tournament. Rachel and I played against two guys that were freakishly good and got us out in the first round but Kevin and TJ got to play against each other and Kev moved on to the next two rounds but then lost to a guy who works on the ship and obviously plays EVERY week.






Another AMAZING part of the cruise was the performances each night.


They had dancers, singers, magicians, comedians and this guy who did an Elton John tribute! He was INCREDIBLE!! Yes he came out in a feathery outfit but it was all part of the bit, he really was sooo good!


So because I have like a bizillion pictures from the whole cruise I thought I would do it in two different posts. So tomorrow I'll have up the pictures from Puerto Vallarta (where we did a zip line through the same jungle/rain forest that the movie Predators was filmed), and Mazatlan (great great great beaches), and Cabo San Lucas (where we rented Jet Skiis). Sooo much fun to be re-living this vacation!!!

Puerto Vallarta

So the last post showed Sunday and Monday at sea. Monday was Valentines Day so we had a formal dinner that night. And because we live in freezing cold temperatures this time of year, those two days of laying in the sun all day confused our skin bad...We weren't burnt but we did have a special reddish color:) And I wore about the exact same color dress...looks a little silly, but oh well!




On Tuesday Morning I woke up at about 5:30...I was so excited that I couldn't sleep at all! I've never been out of the United States and was ecstatic to be in another country. I got dressed really fast and ran upstairs to check out Mexico. When I looked over the ship I saw the sun coming up right over the Walmart and Sams Club in Puerto Vallarta. I couldn't believe that far south they had American Stores. (I honestly didn't know what to expect but that really surprised me!) It was so tropical and beautiful to see all the palm tree's and green hills everywhere!


At this port we decided to go ride a zip line throughout the forest. So when we got off the ship we caught a taxi that took us to the top of this very green/jungly/rain foresty type of mountain. The tropical flowers and trees were just incredible! There really are no words for how beautiful and green it was there.


Once we were all suited up we started hiking. They had us hike up and ride down, then hike up another part, then ride down...it took about 2 hours and was a little more work than we expected, but it was nice to get a little workout:)


They didn't let us take cameras up with us so I took a pictures of some random person so the kid would understand what we did. This was one of the lower zip lines. There were a few that we rode over deep canyons-or valleys (not sure what they were called). But it was an amazing way to view the most beautiful part of Puerto Vallarta!


After the zip line while we were waiting for our taxi Kevin and Tj decided to go for a swim in this river that ran down the mountain. FREEZING cold...like icicles just melted FREEZING cold! So Rachel and I decided to take pictures:) The had a rope swing and a sliding rock that the guys had a good ole' time with.




Once we got back to town we stopped and ate at one of the restaurants in town that was on the beach, I think it was called "The Blue Shrimp". They had the yummiest coconut shrimp and nachos!! After we ate we walked along the beach and shopped for some souvenirs.
Ohhh and while we were eating we saw whales right by the shore. We heard that this is whale mating season and that there were quite a few of them and I managed to get their backs on video tape but that was it! I really really wanted a "Free Willy" moment but no worries, I'll get it next time:)!! Wayyy cool that we were that close!
(real "mexican" nachos)




It was interesting to see some of the ways they improvised things...for example - Boxes and trash were used in construction zones instead of orange traffic cones.


Puerto Vallarta was beautiful but just wait til you see pictures from Mazatlan and Cabo...

Mazatlan

Mazatlan was again...INCREDIBLE!! We didn't have any plans on what to do when we got off the ship so we jumped in on a tour around the city. It actually was a great idea because they took us to the coolest parts of the town, let us get out and walk around and at the same time explaining the history of each area. When we got there it was cold and foggy but by about 9:30 we were able to get rid of our jackets!

Mazatlan had the best beaches between the 3 ports we visited! And the most beautiful scenery too.


A lot of the homes were built into the sides of the hills.






We visited the church downtown. We were able to go in and look inside too. It still holds multiple services each day but in between those we went inside and were just in awe of the beautiful details.




Our ships from a distance...ours is the blue one.


Each year Mazatlan holds this big "Carnival" which the way the tour guide was explaining sounds exactly like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Its just a huge party along the streets for an entire week. Although the only difference is if you break the law - instead of putting you into a jail cell they put you in this cell built in the side of a mountain. Its just a hole with a locked gate. They leave you in there all night and said you get eaten alive by mosquito's.


One of the stops we made were by these absolute CRAZY people! TJ and Rachel paid them 5 bucks and got him to jump from the top of this cliff into 5 feet deep water!! He would wait until a wave came by which would give him an extra foot of water. It was amazing what they would do for a few dollars!


Then after that we headed to the beach! The tide was really really low so it had a lot of beach front for us to enjoy.
Here's Kevin and Tj ready to do some boogie boarding.




Us girls even got in. Ohhhh it was sooo nice!! I haven't been to the beach in years and the few hours we had before heading back to the ship just wasn't enough!!
Me and Rachel.




Check out these taxi's!! The weather was so perfect and so beautiful that we were able to have the wind in our hair the entire 20 minutes back to the ship. I'm not kiddin...I could really get used the cruisin life:)


When we got back to the dock Kevin and Tj took advantage of a $5 massage while Rachel and I shopped!


We did have a freak out moment though...when we got back to the dock and did the massages and shopping we thought we had lots of time but that time went by wayyy fast and on the shuttle back to the ship we realized that we were the LAST ones back on the ship!! They pulled in the ramps right behind us!! I would have loved to stay in Mazatlan longer but having to figure out how to catch a flight back to the US or catch a flight to meet up with the boat in Cabo would have been one hectic night!! And to think of the fun we would have missed if we missed the boat that night...
When we got back on the ship we had some yummy dinner and went to the show that night (I think it was the comedian) and after headed upstairs to play some basketball. When we got up top all the lights were off and they had just washed the basketball deck so it was dark and very very slippery. But we decided to play anyways!! Turns out those two details makes it very interesting to play basketball! Honestly it was BLAST!!!
Then we went down to the arcade and played some more games...
Kev and Tj.


Another FUN FUN thing about the ship is that twice a day they come into our room and CLEAN IT!! Yes...someone else was cleaning my crap for once!!! And not only did they clean it but they left us a different cute, fluffy animal each night (with some chocolates for the eyes...which I would usually eat before Kevin even knew they existed!!).
Here's fluffy/cute/chocolatey elephant man!


So the next and last post is of Cabo and our last day at Sea...oh how sad that its almost over!!

~~CLICK ON "OLDER POSTS" BELOW TO SEE OUR STOP IN CABO SAN LUCAS!!!!~~