Sunday, February 25, 2018

Family Vacation

In September I came up with the idea of our family traveling for "Ski Week." My original thought was to fly to Cabo for the week. After doing some research I decided it would be too pricey to get four airfare tickets. I then moved on to look at cruises. As the goal was to go somewhere warm and also allow the girls to leave the country for the first time. So within 24 hours we had a cruise booked. Addison was envisioning sleeping on a fishing boat. She finally settled on the idea of the boat being as big as a hotel. The other thing we discussed was the water slide height requirement is 42''. Addison was 39'' at the time.

Fast forward to mid February. Addison is now 41 1/2 inches tall. She was becoming hopeful about making it onto the water slide. We drove to Long Beach early Saturday morning. Once we got on the boat we were all very excited. Endless ice cream, kids club and more to do then they could possible do in a week.

The first two port days were in Cabo. Both girls enjoyed everyone walking the beach trying to get them to buy whatever souvenir or service they were selling. Both girls decided to get their hair braided. I was pushing for this since it's something I did when I was a kid on a cruise. Addison also chose to get a henna tattoo and a mermaid fridge magnet. Alexa opted for a dophin that floats in a cup. The second day in Cabo we had lunch at a restaurant on the beach. Justin was picked to be in a drinking contest. He had to take a shot, chug a beer and then run around a pole 10 times at the beach. Lets just say it wasn't our proudest parenting moment. Addison also started getting sick in Cabo. We found a pharmacy and bought her some meds. It was an adventure reading the medicine boxes in Spanish.

After Cabo we went to Puerto Vallerta. We had an excursion booked for that day. We took a boat ride to a private beach. They serviced us lunch then we had access to ham micks, water sports and animals for pictures. The girls had the option of an adventure park. They both of course wanted to do it. We first had to pull them on donkeys up a hill. It was a fun experience but pretty dangerous when looking back. Once we made it to the top of the hill the girls ziplined down the hill. It was probably one of the highlights of the week.

The last two days on the boat where busy. The girls mostly wanted to hang out in kids club. Justin and I took full advantage of this and went to the spa. (Looking back weeks later this was a poor choice. I ended up with bronchitis and possibly pneumonia) We also all did animal towel making class and the life size sorry game. Justin and I were selected to play bocce ball. We won our first game but lost our second. In the evenings Justin and I went to the different music shows and comedy clubs. The girls were never ready to leave kids club. Addison fell asleep in there a few times but Alexa was always with her group of girl friends.

We were all sad for our cruise to be over. Maybe 10 or 14 day next time?