cruise

first off, i'm sorry if the pictures are a little confusing. i dont know whats wrong with my computer. when i uploaded them they loaded really funny.

next, when you are gone for a week, you have sooo much to catch up on. i spent all day yesterday loading pictures, reading my blogs, and catching up on facebook. in addition to the loads of laundry that had to be cleaned and the mess in general. yesterday night, we had dodger baseball tickets so jesse and i took jj and some of our family and friends with us. it was a ton of fun. we left early, but it was still exciting.

later today we are leaving for san diego. we are staying for 4 days. we are taking jj and ellie with us and we are going to visit friends and go to the beach and to sea world. the kids are really looking forward to this trip. so imagine what my house looks like right now. a complete mess, thats what.

now on to our wonderful 7 day cruse on the mexican riviera. it was truly awesome. such a relaxing time with great friends. we were very adventurous and did many things we normally would have never done. but we were glad we did them.

we set sail on sunday afternoon and had two full days at sea. those were pretty fun. we kind of got cabin fever. at least i did. even though the ship is huge, all the pools were packed with people and it felt very crowded. i think the food was definitely the highlight of the ship. they had 24 hour ice cream cone machine. AWESOME. the dinners were fantastic. i think we ate every possible type of meat and seafod available. together we had bbq ribs, filet mignon, duck, shrimp, lobster, crab, oysters, snails, calamari, scallops, veal, chicken, etc. and that was just at dinner. desserts...dont even get me started. AMAZING. warm chocolate melting cake. tiramisu, cheesecake, choc. cake, ice cream, cappucino pie, lemon cake, and the list can go on and on. i think we both gained at least 5 pounds each. it was totally worth it though.

while on the boat, we played bingo, blackjack, watched movies, watched the nightly shows, saw comedians, danced, slept and sunbathed. it was so nice to relax and not have any worries at all. especially since the kids were being well taken care of. thanks gaga and pop pop!!!!!!!!

now onto our port cities. the first stop was puerto vallarta. we had arrainged to have a shore excursion on two of our three cities. on this stop, we were doing a canopy adventure. we were going ziplining though the mexican jungle. we first take a boat to the other side of the bay, then we take a big yellow military style truck into the jungle. the back is all open and there are benches on both sides of the bed of the truck. there are also "oh #@*!" handles just in case you might need them. umm...yeah we needed them the entire time. after an hour ride into the mountains, we turn onto a dirt road. we literally felt like we were riding indiana jones ride at disneyland. thats how bumpy the road was. then we finally arrived. we put all our gear on and our insect repellant and listened to the instructions on how we were going to do this. then we were off. we hiked up a small hill and then one by one they hooked us in and pushed us off the platform. the guides were hilarious. they would ask if you were ready. "no, not yet". then they would push you anyway. this one was our favorite (not really), they would get you ready to go and then you would start to take off and just when you were out of reach they would scream, "wait, wait, not yet" and make you think that you were in danger and then just laugh.

so not funny.

but it definitely lightened the mood. it was VERY scary but so fun. once the scariness went away. we probably did 10-12 ziplines and 2 repels. yes you heard me. two 60 ft repels. those were scary. but we did it. mosquito bites and all. we were extremely tired and exhausted, but we all did it.

our next stop was mazatlan. we didnt plan to do any excursions here, only to shop and eat. we took a taxi to the "main" beach and shopping area. we had planned to rent jet skis and lucky us. they were available. it was pretty basic, exchange of the money and when we wave the yellow flag it's time to come in. no signing of papers or anything of the sort. off we went. jesse and i had never been on jet skis. all i can say is that it was a total blast. so exhilarating and exciting. we only were out 30 min. and it was awesome. once our time was up we just waded in the water. it was incredibly warm. like bath water. it was amazing. something i noticed was that the ocean was EXTREMELY salty. i know. i know. ocean=salt water. this was to the extreme. has anyone heard of this? or know of any proof? afterwards, we had strawbery daiquiris and did some shopping. we took the taxi back and got ready to depart from mazatlan. we had a pretty great time.

our next stop, cabo san lucas. this was by far the best port. in my opinion. it was definitely a resort town. on every inch of beach, there was a resort/hotel. our ship couldnt port at the pier, so we dropped anchor in the ocean and took tendor boats in to the pier. well it took FOREVER to get everyone loaded in their boats that were headed to the pier. we had signed up to do the snorkel excursion and our catamaran was set to leave at 10. our boat was not on time getting to the pier, which most people know that made me SOOO happy. not. i was extremely irritated and anxious that the boat would leave without us. it in fact did not, but you know me, it completely upset my whole mood.

anyway, once our boat left we went right by the famous rocks and the arch. they were beautiful. it took about 1 hr to get to our snorkel spot. on the ride there, we saw probably 50 manta rays jumping out of the water and then belly flopping back in. it was incredible. i was able to get it on video using my regular camera. who knows if i will be able to add it to a future post. we'll see. the rays were about 2-3 ft wide. they were huge.

once we got to the spot. we got our gear and jumped in the ocean. well, from my perspective, i wasnt too sure about snorkeling in the first place. i was interested in it and excited, but super scared. well...lets say that jesse and i wont be going snorkeling any time soon. my lifevest wasnt tight enough and almost came off when i jumped in the ocean. (which that alone scared me half to death) then i got the really salty ocean water up my nose when i jumped in. GREAT. once i was able to see and breathe properly. jesse and i made our way to the beach where i adjusted my lifevest and was able to officially start snorkeling. jesse on the other hand had already had enough. he made his way straight back to the boat from there. he saw some fish on the way back. i started to swim towards the rocks where most of the others were. i finally got the nerve up and stuck my face in the water. i totally freaked. i would have mini panic attacks every time i did it. then to add on top of that, the fish were WAY too close for my taste. i know. i know. thats the whole idea of snorkeling. well after about 15 min. of that. i was done. i came back in completely exhausted. i felt like i had ran a marathon. i think it was my anxiety that got me all riled up.

nice boat ride back with more manta rays and back on the ship.

NOTE: these days in mexico were soooooooooooooooooo hot. i dont think i have ever been anywhere on earth that is more hot than where we were. the sun felt like it was 10 miles away. that didnt deter me from soaking it up, but just wanted to put that out there. i was sweating up a storm. the pictures dont really do my color justice. i am currently very dark. like i dont think i have ever been darker in my life. if my memory serves me right.

we had our last full day on the ship. we mostly vegged out and relaxed. we realized our vacation was quickly ending. 7 days is a long time. we both missed the kids tons and were dying to see them. our vacation was wonderful and it was great just being together, just the two of us.

the kids had a blast without us. they kept very busy. baseball games, crafts, duck feeding, swimming, coloring, going to the zoo, fun times.