MEXICO

Over spring break our family went on a 7-day cruise to Mexico on the Norwegian Star.  We had an absolute blast!  It was the first cruise for all of us.  We started off going to Grandma and Grandpa Smalley's house (what a fun bonus we got to see our grandparents!  the kids love grandma and grandpa!). 

As we were leaving Grandpa played "God Bless America" on his pump organ while we sang along.

The first two days were at sea we loved hanging out, playing shuffle board, swimming, playing games, eating, watching for wildlife (I claimed seeing whales long before actually seeing them...I only saw two but claimed more...) and watching the sun rise and set.  We were also excited to cruise with some awesome friends from medical school.  We didn't plan it, it was just a great surprise! 

Our first stop was Cabo. 

We took a glass bottom boat tour around to see some great rock formations.  The water was beautiful and clear. The weather was perfect and the sand was nice soft white beach sand.  Our guide dropped us off on an island where we played for the day.  We met up with our friends who also were there. Our boat guide gave us some cracker water in a gatorade bottle and Sarah and Aaron fed the fish.  Tons of fish swarmed them.  When the crackers ran out a few fish still followed them around.  Sarah said next time we need an underwater camera :)  Right before leaving we went out for one last snorkel adventure.  We went all over.  Sarah was wearing Aaron's snorkel gear and Becca was using mine.  I just had on goggles which was fine.  As we were coming to shore I noticed Sarah was crying a little.  She lost the snorkel mouth piece, somehow it had unclipped from her mask.  I went out with my goggles asked a few other snorkelers if they had seen it and they hadn't.  I said a quick prayer and turned around.  Fortunately the water was sparkling clear water.  I saw it.  I couldn't really judge how deep it was but it was really far down. I would have to say at least 12 feet because I could feel the pressure change and my ears start hurting.  I came back with the mouth piece.  Sarah was so happy to see it.  I told her that Heavenly Father even answers small prayers. She said she had said a little prayer too. 

There were tons of sea lions here. It was fun seeing these huge animals swimming in the ocean!  They would jump up onto the fisherman's boat to get a little fish.  It was funny to see the pelicans sitting on the boats in the water. 

Our next stop was Mazatlan.  I heard a lot of different things about Mazatlan, don't get off the boat, your kids are going to get kidnapped, it is a dirty city etc., etc.  but I am so glad we did!

 We decided not to go to the "golden district" where most tourist go.  We went to stone island where all the other tourists go.  We had to walk about half a mile where we got on a ferry to take us to the island.  It was what I expected Mexico to be like.  Everywhere we went David kept picking up coconut husks.  When we were leaving he found a heavy coconut.  He saw a metal spike sticking out of a bucket and was bound and determined to crack it open.  When Aaron and I were in Hawaii a few years ago we watched them crack it so after a few minutes of watching David hoping he didn't spear himself on the spike Aaron took over.  He quickly punctured a whole in it and they drank the coconut water from inside.  I am not sure why we didn't rip it open and eat the coconut, maybe it was because we were on someones private property and we realized that a little too late... At this beach we loved body surfing and snorkeling for shells (no cool fish here!)  We loved the grass huts and boat ride.

Next stop Puerto Vallarta.  This is what I had been looking forward to the most on the cruise.  We went swimming with the dolphins.  Unfortunately we didn't want to spring the $170 for the pictures!  We only had individual shots with the dolphins and they were about $25 a piece.  Nevertheless it was amazing!  It was fun watching my kids have a great time.  We did a belly ride, where the dolphin comes around your side and you grab one pectoral fin and then the other and you ride across the pool with him.  Then we kissed the dolphin and got a kiss back.  I wasn't really looking forward to this part as I thought it would be gross to kiss a dolphin, but he didn't even smell fishy!   The last part we went out to the other side of the pool and got on the boogie board and the dolphin (ours was Angel) pushed us across.  I underestimated how strong these animals are!  Man the push was amazing!  Dolphins are beautiful animals!  One of the days Aaron went back to the room with Emma and they saw about 30 dolphins swimming with our boat.  oh how I would have loved to see that!  We had a great time swimming with the dolphins!

 As we got off the boat there was a lady who was collecting funds for the Macaw rescue society.  The kids loved this, especially Sarah.  (David and Emma not so much...)

 An added bonus to the dolphin ride, there was a water park there.  No lines at all!  We went up and down quite a few times.  There was one slide that was like a toilet bowl.  You went down the slide and into a bowl where you went around and around until you came out the bottom and into a pool.  Seriously I felt like I had just been flushed!  I loved it!

 This is not how we rode the dolphins, but I thought it was cute anyway and a way we could remember our day :)

Our group selfie.  Aaron was holding the camera but we all made it in :)

One thing Emma loved was getting her face painted!  She wasn't in the princess parade because it started at 8:30 and she was ready for bed at 7, but she sure wanted her face painted!

Then we had two more days at sea.  We went to dinner and saw a magic show with our friends.  We sat at two tables of 6 where the kids were at one table and the adults (and youngest children) were at the other table.  The kids had a blast eating together feeling so old.  The magician that night was a little annoying and his wife/assistant was scantly clad, but the magic was amazing.  I don't think I have seen a better show (although I don't really go to magic shows very often :)

Then there was more shuffleboard, swimming and games, and food...yeah, there was lots of food :)  We are still getting used to normal portion sizes and stopping when we are not hungry instead of eating even though we are stuffed!

 After we got off the boat we went to Great Grandmas house.  She is 90 years old. It was fun visiting with her!  She is a wonderful woman!  We were also lucky enough to go back to grandmas and grandpas.  Grandma had a wonderful Easter egg hunt surprise for the kids.  They were thrilled!

Sigh, now it is back to life...but thankfully life is good!