Viva La Mexico!

Well- I finally have pictures of our trip up! Yay! The first section is our HUGE ship, a few family pictures from around the boat, and of course our little Emily. While we were on our trip she started sitting up all by herself. 

                 

                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                                                              The next set (above) is at our first port- Cabo San Lucas. We started off by parasailing. It was very exhilarating. While Justin and I were soaring above the ocean, we looked down and saw a huge sea turtle swimming along. It was pretty cool. After parasailing, we had some lunch and then went to a beach to enjoy the day and snorkel. On our little ride on a smaller glass bottom boat, we saw this rock full of sea lions. It reminded me of being at Pier 49 in San Francisco. 

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Our next port was Mazatlan. Here we shopped all morning and then spent the afternoon at the beach. Shopping was exactly what you think shopping in Mexico will be. A man even tried to explain to how there are "real fake" and "fake fake" Coach purses. Some of our favorite lines were "For you a deal" "Best price just for you." Yeah- uh huh. However, we did buy Emily a darling dress & some sandals, me- a christmas ornament, bracelet, & "Luis Vuitton" sunglasses, and Justin some "Oakley's." At the beach it was crazy how all of the vendors BOMBARD you. There was a little tent set up with a masseuse and I enjoyed an hour long beach side massage ($20- oh yeah!). 

I know that I continually claim that I have the most wonderful baby in the world. This day PROVED I really do and am not just a raving mother. We were in the hot sun all day- Mexican taxis, shops, the beach- and Emily just enjoyed the ride. She even took a fantastic beach side nap in her stroller. Mazatlan was such a fun beach town. I LOVED this day! 

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For our third port, we landed in Puerto Vallarta. It was fun to be there since it is where Justin and I honeymooned. It is such a beautiful city. The jungles are gorgeous and downtown is thriving with shops, sand castle builders, and people who do crazy aerial tricks. ( At this point, I will say if anyone is thinking of taking a Mexican vacation- Puerto Vallarta is THE PLACE!). So while we were there we went on a jungle tour. Not just any tour, but we soared through the jungle on zip lines. The company was very accommodating with Emily. At first they offered to babysit her for us (YEAH RIGHT!- but still a nice thought), but then eventually gave Justin and I a private tour after the others were finished and could watch Em. While we were waiting, we enjoyed our surroundings. They had a cage full of monkeys. Emily thought they were pretty cool. 

This last little group of photos is fun things from the ship. One afternoon we spent at the pool. They did kick Emily out though since she wasn't potty trained. Oh-well. The boat had a rock climbing wall that was really fun! I did feel a little bit of "scared of heights" at one point, but Justin just flew up it! We meant to go to the Speed Climbing contest- but we forgot. We also spent a lot of time playing ping pong. They had tournaments throughout the week. Justin placed 2nd in the adult contest and Kody was the teenage champion! Not pictured here is our greatest obsession throughout the week- Bingo.  Sadly, I'm not kidding, we were sucked in numerous times. Luckily Kathy (Justin's mom) did win once- so it was all worth it. :)

Oh- and if you ever go on a cruise- skip karaoke night. I won't go into details, just trust me. 

As you can see we had a very fun filled vacation. All of the adventures were very fun and exciting, but at the root of it all, it was nice to have  week dedicating to enjoying time as a family.