SURPRISE Cruise 2016!!!

Thursday Jan 7^th Puerta Vallarta

Today we booked a pirate ship boat that was geared toward kids. It really was a great day. We actually got to the boat right as it was sailing away! WHOOPS! So they took us out on a little boat and we were able to get on. When we got there we went down in the bottom for breakfast. They were basically putting on a show the whole time. They picked Koen to be a part of their little play. I didn’t realize he was the only one they picked. It was really cute and he ate it right up!

After maybe an 1 ½ boat ride we got to the beach. It was a beautiful little beach, but the surf was pretty darn rough. It gave me a little anxiety. There were some pretty strong currents and my kids are fearless.

They had a little treasure hunt on the beach. At the last clue there was a spot roped off with multiple holes to dig in. Lucky Brigs got the right pile! He was the treasure finder and nice little pirate chose to share his treasure. It was too funny that only 2 kids really got to participate and it happened to be both of mine. J

Back on the boat they fed us lunch and then played some fun games. They even brought Brigs up on stage in front of everyone and gave him a sweet bandanna for a reward. We did a little shopping in town when we returned. It really was such a fun time. We had to get pics of our kids with our Personal Pirates who served us all day! So great!

Friday Jan 8^th at sea

We met up again for breakfast which we enjoyed doing on our see days. After that I took the kids to see Big Hero 6 in the theatre while Phil rested. We met Phil after for cupcake decorating where Koen thought he was pretty funny making his as gross as he could. The little girl next to us thought he was so dang funny but it wasn’t until after that we realized it was the comedian and her daughter sitting there with us. J

That night for dinner we did Cagneys again, I swear I could eat there every night, so dang good! We actually ran into someone walking there who was not only from Utah and Riverton but lives maybe 2 minutes from our house. Too crazy. Every night the kids fought over who got to sit by Brad at dinner.

The show that night was a combo of the dancers and the aerialists in Le Cirque Bijou. It was way awesome. We really enjoyed all the entertainment.

Saturday Jan 9^th at sea

Another chill day on the boat, breakfast, the gym etc. It was a little too cold to be out and about at the pool but we found other stuff to do. The kids didn’t dig the kids camp, of course but we had fun playing Noah’s arkle (like farkle) and lots of uno. We hit Tepenyaki one last time and it was a lot better not having all the allergies and such to deal with. We had a good time at the goodbye show too that had a little of everyone.

Sunday Jan 10th heading home

The kids were sad to leave and we were all sad to go back to chilly weather. L Going somewhere warm in January is heavenly. I have a hard time with winter and cold so it is lovely to escape it for a bit! We had such a great time. We missed little miss Myla so much and are super grateful for my sis playing with her for the week! Hopefully next time she is big enough to come with! 

SURPRISE cruise 2016!!!

We had thought we were going to give our kids a cruise for Christmas but a couple weeks before Christmas I was asking Koen how tall he was and he replied “Why? We are going on a cruise and you want to know if I am tall enough for a ride?” Excuse me??? Ya. I told Phil about it and he was like, “lets not tell them and just go” so we did just that. Saturday night Jan 2^nd we told the kids we were gonna go sleep at Grandma’s with Lynae’s family for their last night of winter break. At 5 AM we woke them up and still did not tell them they were going. We got them in the car, picked up Missy and Brad and went to the airport. When we got there Phil told the kids we were going on a cruise and that he needed them to take good care of Koda and Myla while we were gone. Koen was like “OK” and Brigs was bawling. When we got out of the car and were giving them hugs Phil told them they didn’t need to be sad because they really were coming with us. They were so excited!!!!!

We had such an early flight we arrived in LA and got to the cruise terminal really early. We had quite a bit of waiting around which for sure wasn’t the kids favorite, especially with such an early morning. We got on right about lunch time and went and ate. After checking the kids in at the camp we decided to go and take a rest. When we got to our room we were shocked at its largeness!!! Holy moly. We lucked out and got a handicap room which was fabulous for our family.

That night we had dinner at the steak house, Cagneys. It is my favorite restaurant the ship has. It is WAY yummy.

Monday Jan 4^th

We had a sea day. We met Missy and Brad for breakfast and then we went to the gym. Phil took the kids swimming while I took a nap. Ahhhh. In the afternoon we went to a pancake decorating activity for families. It was actually really delicious. The whippy frosting on pancakes, #yesplease. 

We went to Tepenyaki for dinner and it was real mediocre. We had people at our table with allergies and so it took forever and wasn’t great.

Tuesday Jan 5th Cabo San Lucus

We were in Cabo this day. We got off and took a boat to a beach to snorkel. It was beautiful. I wondered if I would like these stops as much as I like the Caribbean because I hadn’t been here. But I really did. Although the water wasn’t nearly as clear the stops were equally good to look at. The only thing that wasn’t great about the day was that the sun went behind where we were pretty quickly and in the shade it was a little chilly.

When the boat picked us up we had them take us to a different beach and we walked back to the boat. We loved all the cute Cabo signs along the way.

We shopped on the way and stopped for a way yummy lunch! The kids even got to sing with the Mariachi band. The kids of course wanted everything along the way and may have had a few meltdowns about the “No.” Gotta love vacationing with kiddos. J

We got back on the boat pretty late but we did catch the show and some dinner. My favorite thing was at the show the comedian, named Chris asked how many of us thought she was a boy. She said “The cruise director thought I was a boy and I said wanna me to lift up my shirt and prove it to you?” Brigs was so appalled….he was like “Mom, did she really do that?” It was too funny. I had to explain to him that she was joking. He then asked how I knew she was joking and if she had said that. Haha Silly Brigs, that’s her job.

Wednesday Jan 6th Mazatlan

We had heard less than great things about Mazatlan. Before we went we decided to book an excursion so we didn’t have to figure something out that wasn’t gonna be fun. This excursion first took us to see the sea lions.

 After the little boat ride we road to Stone Island. We spent the day there and it really was so fun! The beach was really long and the water was super shallow. We had such a great time spending the day there. Brigs bought a fun kite with a super hero on it. We rode the banana which was a blast.

We enjoyed crepes every night at about 8 PM. Oh they were so so good. They had a chocolate fountain that they put inside of them and seriously so dang good! We also loved all the shows. We had a performance from a couple of aerialists this night and it was amazing! Brigs wanted a picture with them after (but really the girl) so he was slightly disappointed when the boy was the one in it. hehe this night.