Victory at Sea!

Arriving at Long Beach

Waiting to board the ship

Pool deck. Too bad it was too cold to actually get in the water. A few crazies did.

Apparently it is hard doing Vanna's job. Our rooms were pretty spacious. The bed was big and very comfortable and the bathrooms were large also. Sweet!

Long Beach, CA

Hello seagull

I keep wanting to sing the song "all the single ladies" but that's not right

These guys have been best friends for a long, long time

Catalina Island

More Catalina

Golf carts at Catalina

Ensenada, Mexico

Yummy tacos, and nobody got sick. Bonus!

Before the gauntlet of relentless salesmen

The Famous Ensenada Blow Hole

Sitting and indulging and loving every minute

Scott ate so many steaks.

Shuffle board, tons of fun, who knew?

The last night Scott went all out and had 2 steaks, meatloaf, and a cheeseburger

I went all out and had tons of dessert. Why yes I will have a cake with 3 ice creams with a side of apple pie a la mode. I may or may not have gained at least 5 pounds on this trip.

Every night the restaurant workers would do a song and dance for us. We were always there long enough that we got to see it twice every night. "It's show time!"

Scott performing (as opposed to just singing) Billy Idol's song Rebel Yell

Playing games and waiting for our flight home

Tripoli every night. Mom don't look at our devil game.

Prepare yourself, this is going to be a long one. I can't believe we actually did it. 3 years ago we were having a friends get together (meaning Scott's old high school buddies and their wives). We were staying at Phil's parents cabin in Heber. We were having a great time and decided that we would make a great cruise group. We all  get along well and have a fun time together. Anyway we were all excited about it and then we never talked about it again. That is until Royce brought it up 2 months ago and said they wanted to do a cruise and wanted everyone else to join them. The thought of it stressed me out! We just barely went on a cruise last year, I am nursing a baby, we have medical bills, sharing a room with Scott with no escape from his incessant breathing! Ha! I told Scott, "I am not a relaxed, fun person. I can't handle this!" Well despite all of my issues after discussing it further it seemed that everyone was in, with the exception of Richard and Cat who were due with baby number 2 in February and just happen to live in Dubai, you know the Middle East.

We decided that if everyone else was going we had to go. We then thought how we could make this the most inexpensive trip possible. Scott started surfing the web and found some good deals on some Caribbean Cruises. The problem with those are getting to the ship. It takes a long time to fly to Florida. It's more expensive and you more than likely would have to stay the night in a hotel. This also makes the trip longer and when you have 3 children that other people are babysitting this is a big factor. I suggested that we maybe do a cruise off of California. It would be a breeze to get there. We would fly and boom be on the ship. We all decided that this was a great idea. Scott found a fairly inexpensive 4 night cruise. He then applied for a Delta Skymiles credit card. He paid for the cruise with the card and we bought both of our round ticket flights for $87. We asked Scott's parents to watch our children and we were set.

I was trying to decide if it would be easier to take Piper or a breast pump with me. I decided that hands down taking a breast pump would be easier. I started building up a supply for her while I was gone. So far I've been on 2 cruises, I was pregnant with one and pumping on the other so that is not ideal. On the other hand I was on 2 cruises so you know, that's awesome. Maybe my next one I won't have to deal with either.

I was very busy all weekend getting things packed and cleaned and ready to go. On Saturday night we went to my nephew's birthday party and that was a good time. On Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting because Scott gave a talk which was very good by the way. We then came home and finished packing everything up and headed down to Salt Lake. I was very anxious Sunday night about everything and could hardly sleep. Heading to the airport Monday morning I was excited but still anxious. By the time we made it to California I was pretty much over it. There was no use stressing about how my children would do and I let it go. I just prayed a lot! I didn't give my kid's much more of a thought. There were a lot of families on the ship and a lot of Mormon families by the way. I kept playing spot the Mormon game with myself. Anyway every time I would see a baby it would make me miss Piper and Corbin and Gabby but it would also make me very happy that they weren't on the cruise with me.

We made it to Long Beach and caught a taxi to the ship. We could have spent $120 as a group collectively getting to the ship had we used the ship's transportation but Royce found a taxi van for $30 total for all of us. We went to check in and they asked for our passport or birth certificate and we didn't have either. Was this happening again? I had some serious drama trying to get on my honeymoon for the same reason. We missed that memo. Anyway my friend Jen had to break into our house and fax our birth certificates for us. Thank you Jen. We got on the ship and ate our first or many, many meals. The rest of the day was pretty chill. We hung out and toured the boat and met up for dinner with our friends. We were at dinner for over 2 hours. It seemed a little long but that became the tradition and every dinner was 2 hours. After dinner we went to the library and played games.

Tuesday we made it to Catalina Island and we rented a golf cart there and drove around the island for an hour. That was a lot of fun. I really liked Catalina Island, it was a very romantic place. I think it would be a great place to Honeymoon. We shopped around and then headed back to the ship. We later just napped and got ready for our 2 hour dinner and game session. I was exhausted that night because I was already going on about 3 or 4 nights without enough sleep. I skipped games and went to bed at 9:30. After games that night the boys went to karaoke and Scott took down the house with Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. Really? Who even knows that song? I believe it though, Scott is a performer!

On Wednesday we were in Ensenada, Mexico. We walked ourselves into town and looked at the shops for awhile. We decided to take the Blow Hole tour by ourselves. At one point Phil (who is no joke a world traveler) wanted to take the city bus to the Blow Hole. Some of us (ME) were more unsure about that plan and opted for the van taxi for $42 round trip for all 6 of us. If we would have done it through the cruise line it would have cost us $130. It was about a 45 minute drive to the blow hole. It was fun to take the drive and check everything out. It is still pretty poor and underdeveloped but compared to the area outside of Cancun it was very nice. We got to the spot and you have to walk about .25 mile down an alley packed with street vendors. They were intense! All of them would harass us incessantly to spend our money on their good. Every store had the exact same thing. Besides that it was very fun. I liked seeing what the shops had to sell. Scott actually broke down and spent money first, I was so surprised but he bought a big cup of freshly cut mangoes. Phil and Micaela got a pina colada drink that had $2 refills and we filled it up several times. We had mangoes, tacos, churros, and pina coladas. We were loving it. The blow hole itself was pretty unspectacular but it was fun and we had the best time there. Apparently it is one of three in the world. That night we had our usual dinner and game marathon. We played my family game Rage that night. Annika had a perfect game. Jealous!

Thursday was a day at sea. We just relaxed and had an enjoyable day. We ended up playing shuffle board which I have never played and I loved it. That was probably my favorite activity that day. Our cruise was not any too warm. I had to wear my jacket a lot. Everyone was trying to have a sun bathing day on Thursday but it wasn't nearly warm enough for it. Lots of people tried anyway. The sun came out and some of us decided to go down the water slide even though it was NOT warm. It ended up not being too bad. The worst part was standing on top waiting for your turn with the wind blowing on us. The workers at the top were freezing. They just shivered up there with the hooded sweatshirts on, tied on tight around their head. That night we went all out and ordered so much food at dinner it was embarrassing. Every dinner most of us would order at least a couple of starters, entrees and desserts. Some of us (Phil) would order 4 or 5 of everything. It was great fun.  We tried to play some more tripoly but it was a challenge because another couple had joined us for dinner and games and we didn't have enough chips. We played for a bit and gave it up. We then thought we were going to the karaoke bar to watch Scott but everyone else bailed. Karaoke is not my favorite but I knew Scott wanted to do it so I tried to accommodate him. It was fairly painful for awhile. But right at the end there were 3 fantastic ones including Scott in a row. That totally made my night along with the bad singing it kind of makes for a good memorable experience.

Friday we got off the ship and waited for our flight home. We had a great time playing games and talking with Phil and Micaela that day. Royce and Annika stayed in Long Beach for a few more days. It was fun seeing our kids. The girls came to the airport to pick us up and they both smiled from ear to ear. It was very cute. Corbin didn't care very much to see us but that's okay. It was Clark's birthday that day so we had burgers on the deck with his friends and played some games that night. Saturday we went and watched a soccer game and went to Hires. We left for Boise around 5:45. I don't like to drive at night but that ended up being the best time for us to leave. It worked out great, our kids were ran ragged by their grandparents and they slept almost the entire way. We went to bed late and woke up early for church. I still have a lot of laundry to do.


Our trip couldn't have gone better. We had the most fantastic time. It was the perfect balance between having enough time with friends and enough alone time. The balance between relaxing time and excursion time. Our kids did great while were were gone. Sweet Piper slept through the night every night and took her bottles. My sleep was alright, which for a vacation was fantastic. I would wake up about an hour or 2 before Scott every morning but at least I slept for 5 or 6 hours straight. It gave me some good time to read my scriptures in the bathroom every morning. Pumping ended up not being a huge hassle. Luckily our trip was laid back enough the I had plenty of opportunity to take care of my business. The worst was on the way home pumping in the airport bathroom, but hey it had a chair right next to the outlet. Not too shabby. It's good to be back but it was great. We kept saying to each other "This is such a good group!" And it is! Next cruise 2016! Let's do this.