Cruisin'

Last year Tyler's youngest brother, Drew, and his wife, Kristen, called and asked if we wanted to join them for a cruise.  They planned to take one to celebrate Drew graduating from dental school {which will officially happen this May}.  We said, "Ummm...YES!"  Then it looked for a bit like it might be off, then it was back on, then we weren't sure it was going to work out with the craziness of summer schedules, then *ahem* I had the brilliant idea of going over Drew's spring break...and that's what worked out for everyone involved!

It is quite the undertaking to get out on a cruise when you have seven children between the two couples.  Drew and Kristen live close to a lot of family and split up their three girls amongst the fam in Colorado.  We decided the best plan for us was to drive to Vegas and let my sisters and parents take turns with our kiddos.  So that's just what we did!  We drove there in one day {a first for us, it usually takes two} and it went really well.  We had a day to spend with my fam and we even got to have the Mann Fam Easter Part-ay with them, which was fabulous since we are never around for those shin-digs.  And it was oh-so-good to be in the sunshine!

Sunday night, Drew and Kristen flew into Vegas and we stayed up talking to them for a while that night.  I need to say here that I LOOOOOOVE Drew and Kristen.  They were the perfect travelling companions.  I will forever love that we share this memory.

So.  Leading up to the cruise, everyone asked me if I was so excited.  I....wasn't.  I knew I would love it, I knew it would be a great time, I was excited about the idea of it, but I was having a hard time getting over the stress and worry of dumping my kids on my family for 5 days/4 nights.  Would Tuck sleep for them?  Would Ev melt down at bedtime?  What if there was crying - LOTS of crying - and little to no sleep for my sisters, their husbands, and my parents?!  What if there was some kind of emergency?  We wouldn't even be reach-able by cell phone for a chunk of the cruise.  And what if we died and left our children parent-less?  I'm a little morbid.  I thought of several possibilities of death for us.  I was worried, okay?!

So Monday morning, we said goodbye to kiddos and got in the car.  And guess what?  I was SO excited!!!!  Finally.  I'm such a drama queen sometimes.  Maybe more than sometimes.  I felt like we were newly married couples without a care in the world and very little time constraints.  Kristen and I were super giddy.  We stopped at State Line to check out the Old Navy Outlet {disappointment} but ended up getting flip-flops on a good sale at Children's Place {so maybe I felt like newlyweds with kids}.  The men weren't as excited about the shopping trip...but they were excited about the massage chairs.  We tried to ride the Desperado roller coaster at Buffalo Bills, but it wasn't working that day.  So we journeyed on.  We stopped in CA to eat at In N Out, of course, and then kept making our way to Long Beach where we'd GET ON A CRUISE SHIP!  The universe tried to stop us by way of a flat tire, but we were way too tough and smart for the universe {okay, so the men we married can change a mean tire}.  We dropped off the tire and said we'd come back and pick it up on a Friday because we had to skedaddle and catch OUR CRUISE SHIP!  Can you tell the kid worries were totally forgotten at this point?

Oh man, we were so excited and had no idea what to expect.  We got on the ship, took our suitcases to our rooms {so glad we got rooms with ocean views} and met up with Drew and Kristen to explore.  We were walking through one of the restaurants when they started putting a bunch of food out and were ridiculously excited about the fact that we could just grab what we wanted to grab.  Even though we'd be eating in an hour or so, we grabbed some hot chocolate, ice cream, and a few even got some pizza.  That would kind of be the theme of the cruise - snacks of the 24-hour hot chocolate, pizza, and ice cream in between most meals.  I know, glutenous.  I don't care. :)

The dinners were really fun.  Especially because Drew made it his mission to eat as much as possible.  He ordered so much food every time.  The last night, he ordered 4 starters, 2 entrees, and {I think} 4 desserts.  It was incredible!  And the obligatory pictures the cruise staff would come and take of each person at the table were bizarre and funny.  We'd have to do couple and then solo shots. And, seriously, there wasn't a choice.  Just a camera suddenly in your face and a man clicking away.  I was laughing in most of them.  We did some funny-faced ones, when that clearly wasn't what they wanted us to do.  We loved our service staff at dinner...such a nice group of men.  And the people who ate at our table were great too.  Three of them didn't speak English, so we did a lot of nodding and smiling at each other.  The other three were a couple and their teenage son.  They were super nice and we enjoyed getting to know them!  Oh, and the wife asked me if anyone had ever told me that I look like Katy Perry.  My word.  I need to capitalize on that somehow.

After dinner the first night we were on our way to the hot tub and walking through the ship when we came upon some karaoke.  We walked in and sat down and within minutes Drew and Ty decided they were going to sign up.  What?!  I love being married to Tyler!!!  The cool thing is that it was just about to switch over to Super Star Live, which is karaoke with a live band!  So we waited it out and Drew sang "Call Me Maybe" {it was a little higher than he was prepared for, but he did great :)} and Ty did Jessie's Girl.  Oh my gosh, I loved that they did that.  Kristen and I couldn't stop laughing...and cheering.  So fun.  We almost had the hot tub to ourselves after that.

The first port was Catalina Island.  I am in love with that place.  We took a small boat from the cruise ship to shore early the next morning and just started walking.  We ended up on a long, windy, beautiful road.  It was gorgeous.  Zip lining was on the agenda {for three of us, they only had three spots left when we bought them so Ty took one for the team} later in the afternoon, so we just took our time exploring.  I kept having to remind myself I was the mother of four children with a ton of responsibility. Ahhh, it was nice.  Drew and Ty decided to check out the museum, which left Kristen and I to shop.  Perfection.  I freaking love Kristen!  We had a great time.  And, of course, bought matching fedoras.  Of course. :)  We had a little lunch and then said goodbye to Ty who went back to the ship while we went zip lining.  I felt bad, but he didn't so I got over it.  Zip lining was rad!  I wasn't expecting to be nervous, but I was the first time.  There were 5 zip lines and the scenery was gorgeous.  Super fun.

We had little to no plans for Ensenada the next day.  We thought snorkeling?  But the weather wasn't super good and turns out that wouldn't have worked anyway.  We got off the ship, a lady asked if we wanted to go to town, we shrugged, she pointed us toward a shuttle bus, we paid and got on it, we got off the shuttle bus and a big guy asked if we wanted to go to La Bufadora, we shrugged, bought tickets, and were soon on another bus headed to a natural blow hole and open market.  Our tour guide was Big Tony and he was somethin' else.  We made a stop for some "spirits" and he drank with a bunch of other passengers on the way there.  Big Tony told us some touristy info and then started to give us the skinny on the open market and bargaining for things.  Then he told us about the "pharmacies" and how we could ask them to package things in a way that we could get them through customs.  What the what?!  La Bufadora turned out to be pretty awesome.  But want to know what was even more awesome?  Talking a sweet lady from $12 down to $6 for a beautiful bracelet.  Turns out negotiating is pretty fun.  And even more awesome than that?! THE CHURROS.  A.m.a.z.i.n.g!  I've never had such goodness. Mmmmm.  They were just passing out churro samples all over the place and we took every single one.   And then we bought some.  And then we ate more samples. Oh, the churros....Ensenada was pretty great.

The shows, the ice cream, the hot tubs, the melting chocolate cake with ice cream for dessert every night {except one}, the freezing cold water slides {I was the only one who didn't venture}, Rick the crazy head bobber, the tambourine lady with her oxygen tank, dancing on the lido deck with my hubs, hot chocolate on the upper deck, watching the stars & ocean in my hubby's arms, getting a wee seasick the final night, dancing to Gangnam Style with our dinner staff, time to just be me and my man, awesome convos with Kristen {and Drew too!}, reading an entire book in a few days {Heaven Is Here...loved it}, laughing about the photo ops with the cheesy backdrops...I've already gone on long enough.  I did have a tearful moment on Wednesday night in Tyler's arms missing the kids, but mostly I lived it up and loved the memories!

On the way home we stopped at State Line again and got to ride the roller coaster.  As good as I remember!  Great way to end an amazing vacation!

It was simply fabulous and I am SO glad we did it!  AND everything went great back in Vegas while we were gone.  Phew!  So thankful to my wonderful fam for making it possible.  Now I'm wondering when I get to go on another cruise.  Anyone want to watch our kids? :)