CRUISIN!

Well, we made it home from the cruise nice and safe (Kinda was hoping we would get stuck in San Diego for a few days hehe) and we had the absolute best time on the Mexican Riviera cruise with my parents. Thanks mom and dad for such a FUN trip!

Day 1

We flew in to San Diego on Saturday morning and arrived a few hours before we could get on the ship. We walked around for a little bit before going over to wait in line to board the ship. I can't believe how many people can fit on that boat! The Carnival cruise left the same time as us and we said adios to all the spring breakers as we boarded the geriatric cruise :) hehe! Lots of old people, but that left lots of fun/not so busy activities for us! Woohoo!

After we got on the ship, we took a little tour of the boat (just on our own) to see what we would be able to do for the week. There were lots of lounges, a casino, 2 pools, and lots of restaurants that I knew would be filling my tummy to the brim! (and they did, much to my dismay). We had the safety briefing, which I remembered from the one cruise I had been on before having to wear the big orange life jacket... but this time they had changed procedures and all you have to do is just be there. Kind of nice and less embarrassing if orange is not your color. We adventured a little more before making our way to the dining room to begin the eating-fest that would take over any self control I once had. But it was delicious and well worth it!

Dad and Mom at our first dinner in the Vista Dining room.

Jeff and I waiting for dinner

(notice how we are still whities, yep, you can tell it is day 1! haha)

The view from our room as we left San Diego

Day 2

We were at sea for the first 2 days of our cruise. It was pretty fun because we were able to really explore the boat and relax in the sun. The lounge chairs at the pools were always very crowded, but somehow we seemed to get lucky and find 3 really good seats to soak up the sun in (for me, Jeff, and my mom).

The cruise also had a bunch of contests that they held and if you won you could get a sweet little prize, usually a disposable camera or a T-shirt (woohoo). Jeff tried this fun little chipping contest where you had to chip the wiffle ball into a life preserver ring. It looked pretty hard and not many people did it... including Jeff. But it was fun!

Day 3

Another day on the boat. We pretty much did the exact same thing as Sunday. Hungout in the sun, played some games, ate some yummy food, napped in the sun, got some more food possibly an ice cream in a waffle cone, played some games, napped some more in the sun, read our books in the sun, you get the idea.

This day was actually pretty cool too because we took a little detour through Bahia Magdalena and saw some whales and dolphins. I saw more whales and dolphins this cruise than I have ever seen in my entire life. It was so awesome to see the whales breeching and crashing back in the water. The dolphins would just cruise through the waves and do flips and tricks impressing us with their speed and agility. So much fun to see wild life in their natural habitat. It couldn't have been a more relaxing day.

That night we had a formal dinner and it was a really good time. We didn't really go all out like some people like to do on the formal nights, but it was still fun to get somewhat dolled up for an evening with each other. The sunsets were gorgeous and made each evening absolutely perfect.

Day4

We woke up early to get a start on our adventure into Mazatlan, Mexico. We walked through the port and didn't want to get ripped off on a taxi into the city, so we thought we would just walk there. Once we got to the main road, we realized that no one else was walking. This meant that it probably wasn't really walking distance. We also noticed this lady following us. She was an American with long red hair and a cheery face. She saw my dad and how tall and strong/large he is and I guess it made her feel a little bit safer to be by us. We got to know her and found out her name is Stephanie. She ended up hanging out with us all day. I'm glad she was able to come along with us because it would have been so scary to go around that place all by yourself (She had left her sleeping, probably lazy husband in the room).

We decided to take a taxi and this man named Luis happened to be nearby with his truck and seats in the bed (his makeshift taxi). We talked with him and he gave us a good price, so we were off! He took us to all the interesting places in the town. We went to the Cathedral. It was old and beautiful. I am amazed at how many statues, paintings, and stain glass windows are found in catholic churches. They really know how to create beautiful art. It is something about the dusty smell of a catholic church that makes you feel like a lot of history has happened there. It is very peaceful. We adventured through the town a little bit, into the market where the local people buy their food (full pig heads, hooves, livers and all) right next to the tourist attractions with the bobble head turtles and traditional Mexican blouses. It was fun to see the people buying their produce and food, but not so fun to see the pig heads and other parts that made me a little queasy. It is funny how we, as Americans, never see that part of where our food comes from. We don't see how the chickens are killed, the beef produced, anything. We are blinded by everything, which I am not really so upset about. But it is just interesting, the different lives we have.

Luis came back and picked us up to take us to a few more interesting places. We got to see a beautiful overlook with fancy, colorful homes, a view of the bay, and quaint cafe's with iguanas running around. It was fun and interesting and beautiful.

We also were able to see the famous cliff divers of Mazatlan. They go around asking people to give them money for jumping off the cliff. It was pretty interesting how crazy they were to jump off this huge cliff just for a few bucks. Hopefully it is worth it!

Jeff with his man bag. Blue looks so good with his skin tone ;)

jk, its mine for the beach, but he was sweet to help out carrying the load.

The back of Luis' truck! It really is a smart idea.

Jeff talked me into going parasailing. I had never done it before (he had) and I thought it might be fun... so here I am, getting all ready! It actually was very peaceful. It is so loud on the beach with everyone cheering and talking and then you get into the sky and it is like all you can hear is the earth and wind around you. Pretty amazing and such beautiful scenery!

That's me taking off into the blue sky! Such a fun little ride!

As everyone knows, when you come back to your room after it has been cleaned, there is always a fun little towel creation! It always made me giggle trying to guess what it was. Is this a rhino? A baby monkey? Who knows! hehe! But we had many others, ranging from an elephant, to a monkey hanging on a clothes hanger, etc..

Day 5

Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta. I was really excited for this stop because we were able to go on a Canopy Tour. We woke up at 6 am and got all ready to go. We met with our leader, Alex, and he took us to the place where we would hop in a van and drive to the jungle of Puerto Vallarta. It was about a 45 minute drive and when we got there it was beautiful. Green everywhere and the tallest trees that had ropes and zip lines making up this awesome adventure. We weren't allowed to take any pictures, which I am super bummed about because their pictures were way overpriced and I sure didn't want to pay for it, but it was an incredible experience. I was a little scared the first couple of lines that we went on. My heart was racing (even though I knew and felt completely safe) and my hands were shaking a little bit. After the second line, I was having the best time! Not one bit scared (until we got to the wobbly ladder and had to climb up about 40 feet). But it was so much fun to have that experience with Jeff and my Mom. I was amazed at my mom's courage. She never usually does those crazy things with us and she was having the best time. It was so much fun to go zip lining with her!

After the zip line, we went back on the boat for lunch and changed into our swimsuits. We decided to walk around Puerto Vallarta and see the beaches there. We didn't have much time, but we found a nice little beach and relaxed for the remainder of the day. It was an awesome day. This was probably my favorite place that we stopped on our cruise. Puerto Vallarta is pristine and beautiful. It is well kept and the air feels fresh and clean. The water was beautiful. The houses were beautiful. The Jungle was beautiful. It was a fun day!
Day 6

This day was our last port and we were able to go back to the place where Jeff and I went on our honeymoon, Cabo San Lucas! Cabo is so beautiful and we were so happy to be able to go visit there once again. Jeff and I took off alone because my parents slept in a little bit longer than we wanted to and we took a water taxi over to Pelican Rock near Lover's Beach. This beach is awesome and there is the best snorkeling near the shore here. We got our snorkel gear with the taxi ride, so we were all set for a long day on the beach!

This is a picture of Jeff (he is the guy on the left on the very top of the rock). He did a gainer off this rock and really wowed out everyone who was watching. It was fun to see him be his "younger" self again. I don't think he is afraid of anything!

After a long day on the beach, we were for sure ready for some good eatin! There was a fun Dutch Chocolate Festival this night and we definitely partook. Especially Jeff. Ha! This picture is perfect. The funny thing is, we loaded up our plates but we only took about 5 bits because we didn't really like it! So, we went and got our nightly ice cream cone instead!
Day 7

This day was another day at sea. We slept in a little bit and decided to go lay out again. However, we didn't realize is would be super windy. So we hungout in the hot tub for a little bit and then decided to go check and see if any of us were in the finals for the blackjack tournament.

This is kind of a funny story. So, my dad was pretty excited about this blackjack tournament because he loves playing blackjack and is actually pretty good at it. The tournament was a $20 buy in but there were coupons that were 2 for 1 or 3 for 2. So my dad played 2 rounds and he did alright but was knocked off the qualifying rounds by other people. The tournament is set up with a qualifying round and if you are in the top 7 you get to play in the tournament. In each game you get $1000 in chips to play with. after 7 hands, whoever has the most money left wins, or if it is the qualifying round, that is your score and the top 7 scores get to play in the final round. Jeff played and he didn't do too well. I was never planning on playing because I have never been very good at Blackjack. Well, my mom told me she wanted me to play for her because she was too nervous to do it. I agreed and went over to get my tickets to play. I got the 3 for 2 deal and my first 2 rounds were not very good. In the third round I actually did pretty good and my score was $3,900. I didn't think it would last through the night and the next day so I didn't actually plan on playing in the final round. Well, since it was windy on the last day, Jeff and I decided to go see if I had made it to the final round. Annnnnnddd.... I did! I was amazed. So I played in the final round and got some really good hands. I was doing really good and on my last hand I decided to put everything except for $200 on the line. My first card is put down and its an Ace. In my head I'm thinking, wow, that is really lucky, I could maybe actually have a chance at winning this thing.... the next card comes around. a 10 BLACKJACK!! Oh my lanta I WON! It was so cool and crazy and exciting and I was so nervous, but I got lucky enough and won $500 buackaroos! It was such a fun and exciting thing especially because I really don't know that much about blackjack (like, I didn't know the dealer had to hit on 16). It just goes to show you that gambling is a little skill and a lotta luck!

This picture was taken right after I got Blackjack. The girl on the left is no so happy that I won. She would have beat everyone had I not gotten a blackjack. Oh well!

Me with with $500 in chips and glass of Champagne. Don't worry, I gave it to the girl next to me. A consolation prize. hehe

We had such an amazing trip and after rockin on the boat for 7 days we were definitely ready to come home (even though I felt like I was still rocking for a few days afterward). Thanks Mom and Dad for the best graduation gift! We had a blast with you guys and absolutely LOVED the sun!