1st Port of Call: Cabo San Lucas

On Christmas Day, we docked in Cabo San Lucas. What a fun Christmas day. It hasn't happened and might never again, that our little family finds ourselves parasailing in Mexico on Christmas day. hehe.

It was such a fun filled day!
Our first photo in Cabo.

After this picture we broke up into smaller groups and went shopping.

 We found these amazing Luchador (Nacho Libre) masks. Merrick had to have one, and Berkleigh found this pretty bracelet she wanted. I love boy/girl twins because they are so much a like, but so different.

We also found this guy who wanted us to "pay" to take a picture with his iguana.
Merrick really wanted to hold it, but we kept saying no. The guy was persistant, and Merrick wanted to so bad, so I asked how much. He said "$5." I said, No thank you, and he said, "Ok, just a tip, just a tip." So this picture happened...

Then I gave him a dollar and he said, "No, I said $5." I glared with my I am not budging teacher look, and said, "You said a tip, and that is a tip." Pushed past him and we walked on.
Oh, that is what I do not like about Mexico. The bartering and everyone in your face trying to get you to take their water taxi. :)

Cabo was beautiful. It was Christmas day and probably 85 degrees. The harbor was darling, and the shops were fun, except I remember Mexico being cheaper....

We got on our water taxi to head out to sea for a little parasailing...

It was super shady! The water was super choppy and the driver was driving so fast.

Then he ran into the parasailing boat. I kinda thought we were gonna die. ha.

They didn't have life jackets for the babies, so I held onto Quincy so tight, and then stole an adult life jacket and stuck her inside. She was not happy and probably scared from the racket and bumps of the boat.

 I wish I had a picture of the driver. He looked like a terrorist.

But once you were up in the air, it was so peaceful. I would definitely parasail again.
Berkleigh going with dad.
(There was a weight limit, so we had to distribute the weight as much as possible. Tyson got to go with Berkleigh, but I didn't get to go with Merrick.)

She is such a little daredevil. She loved every minute of it. I don't think I would have done that when I was little.

Grandpa and Merrick : Brooke and Brittany : Cameron and Jana

It was so fun when our two boats came close and both parasailers could fly by each other.

Merrick and Grandpa

 I got to go with my sister in law Brianna. We had such fun up there. We kept spitting to see how long it took for our spit to hit the water. I decided I am not a good spitter because my spit just kept rolling down my arm.

At one moment, Brianna said, "Hey, Jen! Look at that cute little fish!" 

I said, "Um, we are really high, I don't think it is a cute little fish..."

We freaked out a bit, Shark week came to mind.

And then of all the people to be dipped in the water...

it was us. :)

Any other day I would have been happy, but after a "shark sighting", it was the last thing we wanted to do. The water was so warm though. It was amazing.

It was such a fun day, and also it is so fun to make these kinds of memories with family.

It is also fun to have a family full of photographers. There are so many good pictures of our trip! I can't pick just one.... so here are some more favorites.

When we went back to the big boat, we decided to head to the waterslide.
I love spontaneous moments...

We had two days in Cabo, but our boat left the port, so that they could get out to international waters to open the casino and serve alcohol. (Just shows how much money they make on those activities.)
We took some pictures leaving the port...

First Day at Sea: Christmas Eve

By the time we started really traveling (5pm), it was dark. We couldn't really see what the scenery looked like.

First thing the next morning, our first full day at sea, we headed out on our balcony to see the view.

It was so fun to see the ocean surrounding us, and then to look to the left and right and see the rest of the family waking up and taking a look was pretty awesome. My father in law got us all rooms along the back of the boat.

My sister in laws and I headed to the gym and then ran on the top deck of the ship. It was gorgeous. Sunny and blue ocean surrounding us. No better place to run.

We ate brunch, swam, laid out in the sun, sent the kids to the Camp Carnival (which they hated and never went back too). 

Because it was Christmas Eve, we went to the Holiday Spectacular. It was fun to dance in the aisles with the family to Christmas songs... or mainly just Mariah Carey Christmas. Carnival LOVED Mariah Carey Christmas. 

Heading to the Holiday Spectacular...

Sitting in the theater. Dancing in the aisles.

It was such a unique Christmas Eve.

I love my girl. 

(Did you notice there is no Merrick in these dancing pictures? He is our little wallflower. He did not want to be apart of the shenanigans.)

We then played a little round of miniature golf.

Fun with cousins.

Doesn't he know that this might not end well?

 Tyson looking out on the high seas for pirate ships.

Tyson (aka Scotty)...Cameron... and brother in law Tyson (aka Smitty)

We need a way to tell the Tyson's apart when we are all together.

We went down the waterslide.

And right before dinner, Tyson thought it would be fun to take the kids swimming. The only problem is we picked the adult only pool. That swimming adventure ended pretty quickly.

Christmas Eve was our first formal dinner night. 

This is one of two tables for our large party. This was one of the things I looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. It was so fun to try different foods and not have to worry about the cost because it was already paid for... it was fun to say, I want to try both these entrees, so two entrees it was.  It was also so fun to switch up the tables and have fun chatting with family. I dreaded it because imagine going out for dinner everynight with a 1 yr old. Yea. I need not explain.

Cute Berkleigh eating her ice cream sundae. We told the kids that they could eat whatever they wanted on the cruise. Merrick said he wanted pizza for every single meal, and besides breakfast, he pretty much stuck to that goal. Berkleigh wanted tons of ice-cream, and for every dessert at dinner, or every time we passed the ice cream station on the Lido deck, Berkleigh got herself some icecream. 

There were so many fun things to eat. My favorite were the cold fruit soups... cherry, strawberry and peach. Yum. Other more adventurous people tried shark, lobster, frog legs, alligator. I stuck to things not of the sea. 

Our first day at sea was successful. Tyson got a little seasick, but besides that, we played, and ate, and swam, and got tans. Perfect.