CRUISE
We collected our rental car and headed
to the cruise terminal. Thankfully it was a Sunday afternoon and
traffic wasn't too bad. Aarahi was pretty nervous about driving but
he has done really well. Once he stopped turning on the window wipers
instead of the indicators! Once we got on board the ship we ate then
SLEPT!!!!!!!!!!! We were exhausted. The flight was 16 hours long then
add in all the waiting in lines at airports etc and it was easily 24
hours from the time we left the house to the time we made it on the
ship.
That first day was spent sleeping then
making our way down to dinner. The food was just as wonderful as we
remembered it. There were plenty of Mormons on our cruise. A lot of
them seemed to be on big extended family holidays. On formal night
about 12 boys dressed in white shirts walked passed our table and you
could have half expected them to be carrying sacrament trays.
Day 2 was a sea day. The kids went to
kids club, which they were very very excited about. Despite the fact
that we homeschool and our kids are rarely away from us they have no
problem going to day care or other places by themselves. Aarahi and I
looked around the ship and then went and had another nap. Jet lag was
really setting in.
After lunch Aarahi took the big kids to
swim and ride on the waterslides. Lili was elated to be tall enough
to go on the big slides. Last year she was 5cm too short and it
absolutely devastated her. Ammon stayed in the room to nap. One thing
we have learnt travelling with kids is that it makes everyone much
happier if we stick to our routine as much as possible.
Day 3 was our first port day. We
arrived at Catalina island around 7am. Today was also the day that
jetlag hit Lili HARD. The poor kid was like a walking zombie. She
sure was a trooper though and we love her for her willingness to
soldier on through when all she probably wanted to do was sleep.
Catalina Island is a small island
village with lots our boutique shops and eateries. We spent
ridiculous amounts of money at the candy store. I think that may have
been our first purchase of the holiday. We tried chocolate frozen
bananas which no one liked, while we waited for our excursion on a
glass bottom boat. It was pretty neat to be able to see all the coral
and fish under the water. Ammon loved it the most. Lili slept the
whole way through and actually didn't wake up properly until the next
day. It was 2pm...
By the time we got back on the ship it
was dinner time. We took Lili hoping she would wake up once we got
there. However the lure of pizza wasn't even enough to wake this
sleeping beauty and she slept through dinner.
Day 4 was Ensenada Mexico. It was kind
of raining but that didn't dampen our spirits. Lili had a new found
energy. I guess sleeping for 17 hours will do that to you. We walked
up and down the market streets a few times. Auron saw a mexican
jersey he really liked and used his own money to buy it. The kids
have saved up their birthday, christmas and easter money for a whole
year so they were pretty rich. Lili bought a dress with a matching
one for the new baby.We purchased a few other bits and pieces before
looking for lunch. We settled on what seemed like a the most
questionable place on the street. However it was full of people and
the tacos were only $1. We gorged ourselves on tacos, salsa guacamole
and chips. There was a cop that came in a did a sweep of the place
obviously looking for drugs. But he was nice and stopped to help
Aarahi put Ammon in the carrier as we were leaving.
Day 5. Our last day. We had tears again
as we were leaving. We really enjoy cruises, even though we were
heading off to Disneyland we still wish we could have stayed longer.
We have already got our next cruise planned for next year. Once the
new baby is here. Unfortunately we are land bound until she is at
least 6 months. We disembarked the ship, and looked for our car. We
lost our car because we couldn't remember where we parked, or even
what it looked like. Then we waited in line to get out of the parking
building for an HOUR! While discussing why America has such an
inefficent way to pay for parking. You had to pay an actual person,
then stop and sign for your card. No paypass here, and hardly any pay
machines at the buildings. REALLY REALLY annoying.
Now off to DISNEYLAND!
