The Cruise!

WARNING...LOTS OF PICTURES...HOW CAN I NOT??? Monday morning, Dec. 8th we boarded the Carnival cruise ship out of San Diego. It was so exciting to get on this huge boat with restaurants, pools, water slides, our rooms, a theatre and much more. Isabella wasted no time, as we got some food, she stripped down right there on the deck and put on her swimsuit and jumped in the hot tub! By dinner time, we were all very exhausted! Some even fell asleep right at the dinner table! The next day was a fun day at sea as we sailed south to warmer weather. We spent the day by the pool, working out, walking on the track, sliding down the waterslide, eating...eating oh and more eating, making new friends (as Jaxson says, "SHE's in love with ME...") a couple of us hung out yonder in the shade...camp carnival for the kids and a few body paintings! Tuesday night was the Captains Dinner so we all got to dress up! Kids ate upstairs with the other kids and camp carnival staff, and we ate in the fancy restaurant. Little Maisy usually ended up joining us sometime during the meal...not to fond of camp carnival! There are no pictures of Matt on the fancy night because I think he was gone at the time getting Maisy! Sorry Matt:(. We always ended our nights in the theatre watching the shows, some nights better and more wake than others! Wednesday we got off the ship early and spent the day in warm Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Franzi and Sophi went horseback riding and the rest of us rented a van and drove to the beach to hang out for the day. It was beautiful, some of us layed out on the sand, others in the shaded restaurant under umbrellas, and others played in the ocean all day. Someone handed my kids some lizards to hold and then after tried to make us pay...almost took all mom's money. After the first wave attacked Grace, she decided she was done with the gross salt water and decided to hang out on the beach and get her hair braided. We built sand castles and burried the kids in the sand. A few friends from camp carnival, Nathan and Lacie were there to play with the kids too! It was a great and relaxing day! We even had our own stores come right to us ALL DAY LONG...we did find a few good finds however! We didn't get enough, becuase Jan, Mom, Jax and I decided to spend a little more time after going down the pier to shop some more, while others washed off in the shower and headed back to the ship on the ferry. After another fun day at sea, in which we discovered the sauna:)...we spent Friday in Ensenada, Mexico. Dad, Bell and Jaxson decided to stay on the ship and the rest of us walked through the city doing some sight seeing and shopping. We even found mom's paper mache' nativity she's been looking for every time we are in Mexico!! YEA! Again, just Mom, Jan and I were left to finish up the day while the rest headed back to the ship. After searching for golf balls all day, I finally convinced Jan to go to a place I knew had them and sure enough we found the last three golf balls in all of Ensenada. Jan also found a perfect little girl, reading to put in her home to remember our trip. After shopping, we decided to take a tour of the city by horse and carriage and saw the movie theatre and the fish market and then headed back to the ship. Sat. we got off the boat in the morning and all went our own way. It was a great time and it will be a long lasting memory we will have forever! A few of the highlights from the trip are: The claustrophobic rooms that were 150 sq. ft and slept 5 The food...that kept coming and coming. Especially the midnight Mexican Buffet, the chocolate cake that was saved in a napkin, the expensive but unlimited coke dates, the french fries, the 4 hour old burger sitting by the pool Jaxson couldn't resist, the hot chocolate, the black and white pudding, the crab cakes, the sushi..I could go on and on! The animal towel that mom even learned how to make! The sauna, discovered much too late. The dancing at dinner and dance contest Gracie won! I never knew Stacie and Grandma were no fun in the clubs!


Kids club available from 9am-10pm free of charge. This picture was the kids in the dance club. Grace having fun out on the floor and Jaxson sitting at the bar watching! How typical, just like their mom and dad and my mom and dad! Bella had clown day and they did face paintings!



Meeting Sophi's sister, Frazi, who flew in from Washington D.C. where she works as a Nanny! It was so fun to have her there and get to know them both better. They are both just like family and we are glad to have them be a part of our life for a year! We hope to see you again Franzi, thanks for joining us!

Celebrating Jibby's and Jess' B-days! We hardly ever get to be with family on birthday's anymore so it was fun to celebrate with them!

Most importantly, the memories with family and learning the small details about them I didn't know before...
My kids love getting to know their extended family and even snuggle with them!
Matt actually grew up to be quite responsible!
Dad doesn't like people;)...but he's ok with it!
Jess and Stacie are still in love and so loyal to one another!
Jan and I can loose track of time just talking:)
Jenny and Maisy sleep with their arms above their head, but have a complex with a part of the body I never even noticed before!!LOL
Mom will never say no when invited out...even if it is after midnight and she's already in her jammies!
Jess wants to watch a television show based on the life of Derek and his sayings!(i told him, it's already out there, called King of Queens)
Derek is quite funny! and he doesn't mind taking the kids to bed early so his wife can enjoy the night life!
Derek was really dissapointed to see how fun our night life is when he joined us on the last night and said, "I can't believe I didn't know about all this food and have missed out on the night fun all week"
Stacie STILL gets whatever she wants!;)
Grace can REALLY dance!
Jaxson realized it's true that if a girl's mean, it really means she likes you!
Bella is a good cousin...Maisy actually likes her!
Sophi and Franzi were always meant to be a part of our family!
And Mom, Jan and I are still the life of the party...ok, I already knew that part!