Family Vacation 2011

Friday, July 22

We drove 8 1/2 hours to Long Beach, CA.

Saturday, July 23

We went to Knott's Berry Farm and left early since the lines were so long.

After getting back to our hotel we strolled down to the pier area. We found little shops, an arcade and restaurants.

These two jumped in and said take a picture and then asked what was on the other side.

Here is my pirate/mermaid with a fighting face.


And a happy face.



Sunday, July 24



First off, Happy Anniversary to an amazing hubby!



Waiting outside ready to board our ship.



Day One: Boarding Carnival Splendor

Oh, yes! We found the drinks! I didn't drink all mine and gave Jim the rest since the weather was cold. It was around 65F out. I didn't pack appropriately for the weather and had to buy a sweatshirt in the shops. The weather was cold until we got down to Mexico and then it was WONDERFUL! Yes, I think 95F is WONDERFUL!

We found the drinks and Samantha found the pool.

These are the flowers our travel agent sent us for our anniversary. Sandy (Jim's mom) and Big Daddy also sent us some goodies; four drink tickets for us and a towel folding book for Samantha.

So, if you come and visit make sure to ask for towel animals in your room.

One of the towel animals left on our bed at turn down.

We think it is a seal.

Samantha dancing it up at the kids dance party.

Aren't I cute?

OK, the story behind this is....I was pointing for them to pick Jim to go up and play "Be A Game Show Star." The host said "no, you come up." I am NOT good at trivia and the guy all the way to the left knew ALL the trivia. He then admitted to being on real game shows before. I lost but got a medal for participating.

The host finally picks Jim and he rocks it. I knew he would! He got a medal AND a bottle of sparkly. After this we enjoyed the Welcome Aboard Show at 10:15pm. There wasn't a night where we didn't get to bed before midnight.

Day Two: Sea Day

This was a nice relaxing day at sea. At 9:15 am they have "Wake Up (Fun Style)...Live Morning Talk Show with Todd and Stephanie." They asked for a kid to call in to win a Build a Bear. Samantha was the first one and won a Build a Frog. She was so excited!

This night was also our first formal night. So, we all got dressed up and went out to dinner. I have photos that they took but I forgot to take any with my camera.

Samantha enjoyed a night with friends she met in Camp Carnival while Jim and I enjoyed an adults only comedy night.

Day Three: Cabo San Lucas

Today we arrived at Cabo! We had a land excursion at 10:30am, Land's End Boat, Beach and Shopping. We took a relaxing 45 minute cruise to Land's End where we saw Cabo's most famous landmark, "The Arch." After our cruise we boarded a bus for some beach fun. On the beach they served us an authentic Mexican meal. YUMMY! Then it was off to shopping, the only part of this excursion that wasn't good. They took us to a mall that had shops that we have back in the US of A.

Cabo from our ship.

Our ship from our cruise out to Land's End.

The arch

Jim and I

Relaxing on the beach.

This night we enjoyed Bingo (my family is addicted) and more comedy.

Day Four: Cabo San Lucas

We walked around our port. We shopped and Samantha did her first haggling with a Mexican vendor. They started out at $2 each and she got them down to 2 for a $1. We were so proud!

We stopped and got a drink at an outside bar and had a Mexican group play a song for us.

At dinner, they not only serve great food they entertain you. The wait staff got up on little tables and danced and sang for all to enjoy.

The magician came over and showed us a trick. He had us pick a card and then he kept shuffling the deck and pulling it out. Flipping the deck and pull it out. We never figured out how he did it.

Here is the build a frog Samantha won with the towel frog.

Day Five: Puerto Vallarta

Last year on our cruise Samantha wanted to swim with dolphins but she wasn't old enough. This year, that was one of our excursions. We chose the "Dolphin Swim Experience." We got to swim with Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins. We got to touch the dolphin, hug him, kiss him, he kissed us, dance with him and swim with him. It was an amazing day and I would recommend everyone to do this at least once. Our dolphin was so sweet. Well, he was sweet but he liked to poop and pee a lot.

Samantha getting kissed.

Dancing with the dolphin.

Jim feeding the dolphin.

Belly rub time!

His fin in the back kept hitting me.

I love this photo!

Hug time.

Belly rub/hug.

Jim swimming with the dolphin.

Yes, I got kissed by another male on this trip.

And I kissed him back too!

Let's boogie!

Samantha swimming with the dolphin.

Jim getting kissed by another male and liking it. He liked it so much that....

He kissed him back!

Let's Boogie too!

Not my favorite part. I do not like to hold fish, let alone dead fish.

Can you tell I am nervous? Look at my neck. He kept moving around and freaking me out.

But this didn't bother me.

After swimming with the dolphins, we went back to the ship and changed to go out shopping.

Here she is with two of six turtles she haggled for. Yes, she searched all over for someone to match her deal at Cabo. She finally found him and proceeded to buy six, now she has eight. Our waiter told us you are suppose to put seven of them by your front door for good luck.

Monkey Towel Animal!

Day Six: Sea Day

Today Jim and I sat and relaxed on deck. We went to some events but mostly relaxed all day. At night we went to the adult comedy shows. By now, Samantha never hung with us. She met some kids on the ship and was gone first thing in the morning and would meet us in our statesroom at 5:45 pm to go to dinner. Then, after dinner she was gone again. Tonight we had our second elegant night.

At 10:00 pm, Samantha had her "Fun at Sea" event. It was a big party for 9-11 year olds. They had competitions, played video games, had sporting event, pizza, ice cream and so much more. She didn't come in until 3:00 am! Jim and I were sleeping away when she came in all excited about the things she did. We had to convince her to tell us in the morning so we could all get some sleep.

Jim also entered a blackjack tournament. He did the best he has ever done.

His name was up on the board to be in the final tournament up until 5 minutes before the final began.

Day Seven: Sea Day

It got COLD again!

Samantha rolled out of bed around 10:30 am.

We started to pack :(

We played Bingo again, I already said we were addicted. We went to the Ultimate Couples Game and laughed a lot! Oh, we played Bingo twice today. We watched the Carnival Legends event. This event is where guests dress up like, Madonna, Elton John, Elvis, and so many more and karaoke to the artists song.

We rolled into bed around midnight and new that tomorrow was going to be long since we had to be up early, 6:15 am.

Oh, I can't talk about our cruise without showing you my weight gain friend. Yes, this is what I look forward to at dinner and feel my clothes get tight over. But hey, I usually gain 5 pounds on a cruise but I only gained 2 this time!

My method was to eat only HALF of the Chocoalte Melting Cake!

Doesn't that look yummy!

Oh, shoot! I gained a pound looking at it!

Sunday, July 31

We got up early this day and left our statesroom by 8:00 am. I will miss the ship and look forward to sailing again.

On our ride home we had to take an hour detour since there was a huge mudslide on the mountain pass.

After all the fun we had, it was still nice to get home to our own beds and see our puppies again!