Mexican Riviera Cruise

Mexico

In June we packed our bags and headed for Mexico. We planned our vacation about 9 months ago and then waited for what seemed like forever. When the day finally came we were so excited. The first day we had a few mishaps..We got off the plane in L.A. and got our luggage but when we tried to look up the information on my phone for our rental car, my internet on my phone would not work. After being on the phone with a carrier I won't mention but it starts with a big T... I finally had internet service. We got our rental car and found our hotel. Kayla and Jordon wanted to find a Chik-fil-a so we looked on the GPS and found one at a mall. We ate and shopped and talked about our upcoming adventure... everyone was all smiles, until we walked out to the car and I noticed that there was a huge scratch on the bumper of our rental car. After calls to the rental car agency and to the police, filling out a police report and spending a few hours in the mall parking lot they determined that the car that had matching scratches on their front bumper and was parked next to me...WAS NOT the car that hit us. Tape showed that another car drove in, hit the car and drove off. ???? We left the mall and went to the hotel to rest... the kids decided to go swimming and were very disappointed when the pool was FREEZING! So decided to sit in the hot tub and it was EMPTY. Third try was the sauna which was broken... 3 strikes??? This trip had to get better!!! After dinner we decided to take the rental car back so we didn't have to get up early in the morning. We had to wait quite a while for a shuttle back to the airport then another shuttle back to our hotel..The kids played and laughed and we got a lot of looks...but at least we still had smiles on our faces... what a day!... BUT we were still so excited for our Adventure the next day.

So mad waiting for me to get my internet back

Kayla and Jordon

Kelsie, Me and Kilee

Mom and Dad...

Our rental

the car parked next to us that didn't hit us???

Once we got on the ship it was all smiles.. the weather was nice and we were ready for our 7 days on board. The first two days were spent on the ship, we played miniature golf, worked out, ATE, ATE, and ATE some more, watched some pretty bad shows, laid in the sun, swam, ate some more, played cards, sang karaoke, and just relaxed.

This chocolate molten cake was HEAVEN! Me and Ki ordered it

every night we ate in the dining room.... It may be the

single reason I gained weight!

Creme Brulee

Kelsie LOVES ribs!!!

Still in love

Formal Night....

Our first stop was Cabo... It was HOT... We went on a water taxi out to lovers beach and then to another beach.... we shopped, walked, got lost, had so many people try to sell us their goods and actually bought some from the cutest little Mexican girl. We went back to the ship early and soaked up the sun and then back to sea for the night. The next day Mom and Dad decided to stay on the ship and so Jordon, Kayla, Kelsie, Kilee and I went back into Cabo to go shopping. It was so fun to be with Jordon, and it was nice that we had a body guard. He got called our body guard, our baby sitter... Not too many people bugged us... it was so fun to hear him speak spanish to the locals and watch their faces when this white young man was speaking to them in their language. There were some men talking about the girls in spanish as we walked by.. Jordon turned around to them and in spanish told them that he could understand what they were saying.. they laughed and were shocked and then he said which one do you want. There were people that asked him where he learned his spanish and he told them about his mission. At one little market there was a little girl that was so taken by him she just sat and stared at him while he was bartering for a better price.

Don't drink the water! Drink Diet Coke

Water Taxi

A sale we couldn't resist

New pets????

Our next stop was Puerto Vallarta... It was beautiful, I woke up early and went up on deck in time to see us come into port. It was amazing how the ship pulled in and turned all the way around and ended up parked perfectly next to the dock. The sunrise was amazing and I was so mad that I had forgotten my camera but didn't want to leave the beautiful view to get it. Our day was an adventure to say the least. We drove about an hour into the jungle, on our way we drove past the locals and saw the poverty and shop after shop, make shift restaurants, drought, hungry cows, an LDS church and it made me so thankful for my blessings in this life. We had no idea what an incredible adventure was ahead of us. Zip lines through the jungle, rappelling from high trees, meeting wonderful guides that made us laugh, learning we could do scary and hard things. It was worth every penny and if you are even in Puerto Vallarta, go see the guides at Puerto Vallarta Adventures, you won't be disappointed.

Our last two days were spent on the ship and we were a little sad that we didn't have sun. It was cloudy and windy and cold so we made the best of it. We played a lot of phase 10, relaxed, read, went to some more shows, ate a lot of frozen yogurt and more amazing food... watched movies on the big screen, sang more karaoke and just enjoyed each others company.

Now were back and wondering where to go next... we're ready to start saving and planning... I love vacations but mostly I just love being with my family and the memories we make.