~~CRUISE~~

~~~~ See the waves? Yeah..that's how I'm still feeling... ha :)
ANYWAYS, here's the layout of the trip :)

THURSDAY

We left super early (6am) and started driving. This was a "surprise" trip (for everyone except me and Bentley), and all the kids had a different idea of where we were going....Arizona Grand Resort...Disneyland...Lagoon...etc etc. We drove through Yuma, and totally convinced Caleb that's where we were going. We even passed the "Welcome to California" and told him he saw it wrong, and that it said "Welcome to Yuma" and that there is SO much to do in Yuma, so it must be our trip. He realized it for a good hour or so until we finally told him that wasn't right. We blasted music loud the whole way (we had made CDs a few weeks ago of all our fun songs we wanted to jam out to on the way. We had the windows down, our aviators on, and ate sandwiches while we drove. I decided this day that I absolutely do NOT like California freeways. They scare me... We stopped at the beach for a little while and took some sweet pictures because Aunt Jen wasn't home yet, then a little bit later we finally arrived at Jen's house. Where she shared one of her Disneyland stories, making every single sibling believe that's what we were doing. They were afraid the lines would be too long and sold out..and Caleb wanted to forget Disneyland all together and just go play at the beach. Ha. We just chilled for a while, played our iPods (yes, that's what we do when we go to CA--play our iPods). We went to In-n-Out for dinner.. where a creepy guy came and gave me and Taylor a dime and two pennies, and Bentley a nickel... because he was having a good day. Then he had to leave to go smoke..that was interesting....

FRIDAY

We left Jen's around 10ish, and started driving. All kids still thinking our secret trip was Disneyland. We arrived at the cruise port, and everyone was confused/lost/excited/whatnot. We went and got all signed in, just to realize that we didn't have Garrett's Birth Certificate..but two of mine. :) we had to call Maricopa County, get approval, fax things back and forth, and an hour later get his Birth Certificate copy. Meanwhile, I found out that while I was setting up my direct deposit a couple weeks ago, I typed in the wrong account number for my savings, so I got that all figured out too. Finally, we get on the boat, eat and endless buffet, walk around/tour the boat. IT WAS HUGE. We sat in the hot tub, tried not to freeze since it was super cold! (ruined my plans of getting a nice tan...) :( Oh well. Then we ate a super nice dinner, where we tried escargot/snails. Actually, they weren't too bad! Then, after a long tiring day, we went to sleep, after I finally got a chance to read my The Work and the Glory book :)

SATURDAY

Saturday morning we went to MEXICO in the morning, where the ship stopped and ported. It was Ensenada, and we even got to go shop in the little bartering set-ups :) I got 2 bracelets and a backpack :) I like the little things they sell, it's so cute! It was crazy to see a bunch of little kids around trying to sell stuff, as young as 4ish years old! Then we went to the gym on the boat, which was cool. Then we went to the hot tubs, where we wore the bathrobes that were included in the rooms. THEY WERE WARM. But, both hot tubs were full, so we sat and waited for a couple people to get out at a time, then a few of us go in. Except when the people came back, they came in too, so it was crowded..and a random lady kept sitting on me.. :P We went to eat snacks later, and Porter threw up ice cream from eating WAY too much. He put his hand over his mouth and it like exploded everywhere..then we just left. ha. Dinner that night we tried lobster and alligator, both of which were alright. After, I tried to gamble. There are these penny slots, and I was so excited to do it, but it didn't take change, only cash or your cruise card. So my dad put in a dollar, and it made us bet like the whole thing right off. It was lame. I wanted to play like 100 times with my dollar, not like 3 :P That night, the ship started rocking like crazy, and I just laid down in my bed, and fell asleep. Clothes on and everything. ha.

SUNDAY

Rocking still really really bad. I felt sick the whole morning (until like 2) and couldn't get up without falling over and feeling like I had to throw up. I actually did throw up a little bit once when I tried to get up earlier in the morning. Not fun. I just laid and slept that whole morning. Garrett was the same way. Later in the afternoon, it slowed down a bit, so my dad came and helped me get up and going, and I was able to. After I got outside with fresh air, I felt so much better. Dinner this time was an adventure. Porter threw up again, (all over also, I must add--even squirted over to Garrett--ha) DURING dinner. So Porter and Garrett left and went back to their room. Then Jonah felt sick too, so he went to his room. So all that's left was me, Caleb, Bentley, Maizey, Noah, and the parents. We went to a comedian show, and that's about it. Then we went back to our rooms to pack and sleep.

MONDAY

The last day. Well, morning. We were up early, ate breakfast, and waited for them to call us to leave. TYSON CALLED ME! He was supposed to get out of prison on Monday, but actually surprised Grandma and everyone else and came home Sunday instead. We went to Jen's house again for a little bit, ate pizza and relaxed, then started to drive home. Luckily, my daddy drove the crazy CA freeways for me :) then we switched. We jammed out to loud music again, and got home around 8:30ish.

This was one of the BEST trips I've ever been on. Even though I was sick for half a day, I still really loved the whole thing. I want to go on more cruises :) Thanks Dad and Lexine for this wonderful time we all had. It was WAY better than Disneyland :)