a cruise (part 2)

Our second full day on the cruise brought us to Ensenada, Mexico. 

We had an amazing experience on the canopy tour zip lining! I remember when I used to be terrified of heights. I may still need to work on the fear of a snorkel mask, but I am proud to say I'm doing well overcoming my height fear because the zip line was all fun and no fear. It was seriously my favorite and I'd love to do something similar again.

There were 5 zip lines and 5 bridges to cross. 

This huge zip line is the one that Eric and I got to ride together on. Such a blast!

We drove to the ocean and kayaked over to La Bufadora. We didn't get any pictures when we were out on the kayaks but we loved experiencing La Bufadora from the water. 

After all that adventuring we were pretty hungry. We got some delicious tacos and then did a little shopping for little things to bring back to our kids.

Ensenada was good to us.

Back on the cruise ship, our dinner ended with a slice of jiggly blueberry pie. Um, we didn't think pie was supposed to wobble like that. 

While we are on the topic of funny things that made the trip especially memorable (clearly, the blue-jiggle pie did just that for us), I will shout "55!" That is all.

Which leads into the fact that Jared and Julie were celebrating their 15th anniversary! Yay!

Eric and I were very cultured on this cruise, too. We attended a seminar about the artist Thomas Kinkade. I actually love his art and thought it was pretty interesting. Later we also admired the art in the ship's gallery. This was my favorite piece.

On our last full day of the cruise, we played a lot of card games and ate a lot of food. We went and saw the comedian again during the family show. #section8cruise The first time we saw him, he cracked some Mormon jokes at the end and told us of the Mormon gang sign he was hoping would catch on. We ended up taking a picture with him. Someone made fun of my inability to make M's with my hands. And that's how we got these pictures.

We disembarked on Thursday. And then it worked out that we made a quick visit to Jenny in her new apartment before heading home. 

Now, I don't really think cruise life fits me all that well, but we really did have an amazing week and I'm grateful we got to experience it.

smiles

There is something thrilling about a child's firsts...

She smiled at me!

I was talking to her yesterday when she looked me right in the eyes and smiled. Twice!

This morning when Eric was playing with her she smiled and gave a little coo of happiness. 

We love this stuff! It's so exciting!

A few more pictures... these two are probably our biggest baby snugglers.

a cruise (part 1)

The world has finally stopped swaying so now I can tell you all about the cruise that Eric and I went on.

I will start by saying that we planned this trip months ago. Otherwise, there is no way I would've been to be able to leave the world's sweetest 6 week old baby for 5 days and 4 nights! 

Thankfully, B was in good hands with my sister. And my parents kindly managed the day to day and busy schedules of the other school-going four. So I tried not too worry about them all too much and to just enjoy myself while we were away.

And there was a lot to enjoy!

It all started with a breakfast of buffalo wings and ranch and then a six hour drive to CA. It could only get better from there.

We arrived at the port and walked on to our cruise ship.

And that's when I had a mini-freak out and questioned our decision. Everywhere we went there was loud music, drunk people, and swim suits that should not be worn in public. We walked around like scared deer in headlights until we eventually found the Nielsen's.  Then we got ice cream and I calmed down and tried to enjoy the party ship as best I could with all of its gluttony and idle ways (the pounds that I gained by the end of the trip proved that I fully embraced it).

You couldn't see it from the above picture but this was the serene view we had from our window each night.


We spent the first full day at Catalina Island.

We went snorkeling.

 Eric was happy as could be and in his element diving all around looking at the fish and other under the sea life. My deep, deep fear of masks and things covering my face and nose was confirmed and so the mask and snorkel went around my arm like a bracelet for the rest of the time. I was quite happy swimming on top of the water (and would've been even happier with a simple pair of non-nose covering goggles--a lesson learned for next time).






When we got back on the ship, Eric and I had some fun going down the waterslides.
 

What a beautiful view!

We dressed up that night for dinner. Isn't Eric just so handsome?

It almost felt like we were going to prom together when we posed for these pictures. My eyes are even half closed which is pretty standard for me and professional pictures.



We love the Nielsen's so much and we had so much fun with them on this trip!

We played a lot of games together over the course of the week (exploding kittens, canasta, Sushi Go, and more). This was my favorite room that we found to play in.



To be continued soon!