Cruisin'

We just got back from a super fun cruise yesterday, that's why I've been so busy! :) I don't think it's very smart when people announce they'll be gone before the fact, I wanted to wait til I got back to tell ya all about it! I've got lots to tell and even more pictures and only posted half of them ;)

Tim and I and my parents went on the Baja cruise, leaving from Long Beach, CA, we visited Catalina Island and Ensenada, MX. Besides Tim, it was our first cruise! I've been so terrified of the ocean but realizing more how short life is I decided to buck up and go. I'm so glad I did! Tim was such a sweetheart to plan it all. It was so fun to be with my parents, I'm glad they came. Of all people they most deserved a vacation!

We got to visit Hollywood a little bit when we arrived, it was fun to go up to the "Hollywood sign". Next boarding the Carnival Paradise. The view of the city from the boat reminded me of NYC on our way to the Statue of Liberty.
The ship was so beautiful, me and my parents were giddy like little kids :) We went to the front of the ship waiting for us to sail away and decided to enact the Titanic scene. The guys pretended they didn't want us to jump. haha
We were pretty excited when we got to all the food buffets, woa! That was one of our favorite things to do there :) they had some gooood food!
The ship looked amazing at night with all the lights, there were lights everywhere, so pretty!

After a rather rough night of stomach problems for my parents and I, we were grateful to get to land in the morning. They took Dramamine after that and were fine from then on. First day we woke up in Catalina. I must say this was my favorite, it was gorgeous! There were some amazing flowers! My favorite is the redish one in the middle.

We rented a golf cart and got to ride it around and explore, super fun! We went to the Botanical Gardens, lots of neat different cacti and plants. My dad is standing by some crazy twisted cactus and the "Old Man" which they have; we've had it forever but we didn't realize how tall it gets!
Tim's favorite was the "Prickly pear", it's cool how the old ones change.

My mom and I got to drive the golf cart back to town while the guys browsed around. If we had great weather all the time, I'd opt for getting a golf cart, they're so fun ;)
Look how buff and tuff the guys are holding up the ship, hahaha :) yea right, that ship is beastly HUGE!

Tim's favorite buffet on the ship was the mongolian, it was pretty tasty!
That night on the ship we had a formal night and got to dress up for dinner! Our waiter was awesome and brought him out a dairy-free dessert, a marinated pear which he said was great!
I was excited to see the sunset from the ocean, I've heard it's just amazing when you're out there. It did not disappoint. Stunning!
That bottom picture I was taking a pic of Catalina when a seagull flew right in the shot, ha! Not a very shy bird, but a great poser! :)
Tim took me out walking on top of the ship at night and went to the front to look out, but it was so completely dark and no moon out, all you could hear was the waves below, kinda creepy, call me crazy but I like to be able to see it to enjoy it.

The next day we arrived in Ensenada, Mexico! It was so foggy, we thought it would be cold, but not so, I got burnt while on the horsies. Yup, we went horse back riding, fun eh! Believe it or not, I know my way around with a horse. My horse was named "Baio", not sure of the spelling, but not as great as my dad's horse...."Bud Light". haha We joked about pulling him over for "riding under the influence". lol We rode for about 1 1/2 hours, it was so gorgeous on top of the mountain, foggy below, blue sky above with the sun shining through and the ocean right over the cliff, that's where the fog was coming from.
Sadly my mom didn't do too well on the horse, so they took her back, she was a trooper for trying it out! It was hilarious to watch my dad try walking when we got off the horses, haha I'm sure I looked just as funny, my knees were really hurting so when I tried to walk felt like they started to buckle up, I felt like an old granny. :)

Thank goodness Tim knows Spanish, it really came in handy. We were able to find an alternative ride up to La Bufadora besides the tour bus which was ridiculously priced. After walking a few blocks away from all the touristy stuff, we found a stellar guy named Oscar to drive us around. He and Tim were able to talk which was good or it would've been an awkward 45 minute ride. I could pick out some of the conversation with my limited Espanol. Si, hablo espanol. :)

Up at La Bufadora was the "Blow hole". It's a crevice in the cliff where the waves come in from ocean, some magical science stuff happens that I don't understand and Poof the water shoots up! Pretty sweet lookin! I was taking a picture of my mom and I when it went off really high and sprayed us! That was my next favorite part of the trip.

We got to look at the market up there and Tim did the bartering :) That's not my thing. I got a sweet cowgirl hat and a hat for Faith...which my dad is wearing. hehe Tim got another Frank Sinatra hat and some gnarly sunglasses since he left his other one's in Catalina. :(

The last day was spent at sea. It was the best weather in the whole trip, absolutely perfect day! A little too perfect, cuz I stayed out a little too long and got a little too burnt :( Yup, I came back a baked lobster hardly able to walk from the pain in legs. Silly me, I never learn. It was so nice to just sit out in the sun, read a book, run to the buffet for a snack, come back out a repeat :)
My mom got that pretty blue dress from the market in MX and it was the perfect day to wear it, nice and airy and light, she looks great in it!
Every time we came back in to our room, it would be all cleaned up and there would be a different "towel animal" on our bed each time. They fold towels up to look like an animal, they're so cool! I didn't want to take them apart. The pic here is a lobster. they did an elephant, dog and stingray also, so clever.

If I didn't make it obvious enough, I'm a fan of cruises! The staff there was AMAZING, they were all from different parts of the world, it was fun to meet them, they were all so nice and so helpful. The whole cruise was very neat, orderly and organized, which is right up my alley! The best part about the vacation was we didn't have to clean up anything, good thing the cruise wasn't too long or I don't think they could've gotten me off the ship. JK
This was my first time ever to be on vacation without Faith and it was so hard to leave her. I missed her like crazy and have never been so excited to see someone before, when we got back! I'm not one of those parents who's excited to get a break from the kids, nope, no more vacations without my little sweet pea. :)

If any of you have not been on a cruise, I highly recommend you go!! You can get some incredible prices! Do it, you won't regret it...unless you get sea sick, just take some Dramamine and you still won't regret it :)

Am I ready to get back to normal life? No, but I will anyways :)