Mexican cruise!

We did a 4 night Carnival cruise that left out of Long Beach, stopped at Catalina Island and Ensenada.  It has been a very long time (almost 4 years) since we did a family trip, other than to Washington and everyone was excited!  We stayed at the Worldmark Anaheim the night before and the kids had a blast swimming in the pool.  We were very happy to be staying there since they have a washer and dryer and on the trip down, Reggie and Khalif were doing Pokemon cards and Khalif gave us a 10 second notice that he was going to throw up.  Needless to say, the barf bag didn't make it back to him in time.  We were in Ryan's work car, so he was not prepared for these types of problems and there was nothing but a few napkins to clean it up.  But, God provided and old dirty rag on the side of the road that helped get most of the puke out.  He also provided cleaner when we got to our room.  For some reason, they forgot their commercial cleaner spray bottle and Ryan took full advantage by cleaning his car with it.  The car is as good as new!
Diving for quarters at the hotel....he has become quite the swimmer.

The next day we set out to get on the boat.  The kids were really surprised at how big it was.  They thought our teeny, tiny room was the coolest thing ever, especially when the beds were down.  Reggie could've stayed in the room the whole time!  But, there was lots to eat and do, so we ventured out. The Williams were in the next room, so it was even more fun for the kids.   They spent a lot of time going down the big water slide the first couple days (while it was still warm).  It was REALLY fast on your back and Reggie was hooked.  The little ones and girls just loved to sit in the hot tub.  Really, it was a warm tub, meant for kids.  I don't know how much ice cream, french fries and chocolate chip cookies we all ingested, but it was a lot and the kids were happy!  We got off in Catalina to explore and rented a golf cart to tour the island.  We didn't have much time, so we were moving fast (as fast as a golf cart can go) and I think the kids were a little frightened, especially when Ryan told them we had no brakes!  The road was windy and went very high with no guard rails in many spots.

We played mini golf, corn hole, "checkers", visited the game room and played all kinds of board games and Ainsley and Daniella crafted a bit.  We went to a "fabulous" magic show that everyone said you just couldn't miss and we couldn't stop laughing, not because of the magician, but because we met a 14 year old girl who was a riot with the dynamics of our group.  The magic show was a bust which made it even more funny.  We laughed a lot at the comic show we stumbled across and I don't think Reggie and Ainsley got all of it, but they sure thought he was funny!  We checked the kids into kids club one day and they weren't big fans, so it was good it was a short time, but we kinda wanted to try a little of everything.  Even the formal dinner.  They had a kids menu, so it was o.k. for them, but we were all less than impressed.  The buffets seemed to be just as good and I was happy as a clam with my Mongolian :o).
Going down the little water slide:

 Look at that form and Laura rooting him on....too bad they lost to me and Reggie!

 You can have all kinds of fun with towels!

I almost forgot our stop in Ensenada.  Thankfully, the little ones chose to stay on the boat in the kids club, so we had 2 less to keep track of.  Laura had a little talk with the kids about staying close, so they didn't get taken and sold, so my kids were a little freaked out to start.  It didn't help when everyone was in our faces trying to sell stuff and the little, dirty children trying to sell us chicklets. Once store owner was even commenting on all of our eye color (which was part of Laura's talk) and I don't think Ainsley could get out of their fast enough. Even though they didn't like Mexico, I think it was good for them to experience!  The kids got some souvenirs and learned about bartering :o).

 Interesting cow hoof water bottle.  We tried to get Ainsley to get it for gymnastics, but she wouldn't, hmmm.

Everyone did pretty good with the motion, but Ainsley and Kayla had to take a little medicine. Overall, it was a great trip and a very good value (1500 for all 5 of us!).