Cruisin'

So, a few weeks ago, Ty and I went on a Preventive cruise to the Mexican Riviera. This was the same cruise we took last year, but on a different cruise line and without our kids (we had decided last years could be considered a "trip" but not a "vacation" as we had our 9 month old and 2 year old in tow).

Our ship was the Norwegian Star

We had awesome company in Cami and Shawn Austin, Barbara Asp, Landon Roper and Jessica Lake, Joel Ragar, and Cameron and Emily Sego (where were you guys at this dinner??)I LOVED being able to just chill with my hubby

Ok-now there's one of almost our whole group (Jess had flown in from China that day and was suffering from jet lag). I think this was our first night on board...we had the captain's table
Lest you think all we did was eat and sleep, there was plenty of entertainment on board. Here's a shot of a sweet older couple from Salt Lake City who brought their entire family on the cruise and got volunteered to participate in one of the opening shows...it ended up being the spoon game. You know, the one where you thread the spoon through your clothes and then to the next person???!!!
I was actually sleeping during this show (more on that later) but I heard from the rest of my group that it was hilarious. We saw the couple many times throughout the cruise and they were so sweet. The husband always got a rose for his wife during meals.
Ty and I also participated in a cha cha class
Our second night onboard was formal night. I got this dress last year for formal night on the cruise, wore it that one night and haven't worn it since. I guess we don't do very many formal things. At least I got use out of it again during this cruise.
So...one of the reasons I haven't posted about the cruise yet is that I've been battling sickness since the week before the cruise. The first day of the cruise I had a fever and chills and was FREEZING. Everyone else enjoyed the outdoor air, but I stayed inside to keep warm.
We ate at one of the specialty restaurants onboard, Ginza, for formal night. It was amazing! We pretty much had all you can eat and more sushi. And it was the best sushi I've ever had. I was able to try all different kinds. I felt so bad because after eating our soups, appetizers, and main course, we still ended up wasting a lot of sushi. Mmm...I'm missing that food right about now.That night I took extra Tylenol and fell asleep early to prepare for our first stop.

First stop: Cabo san lucas
Last year, Cabo was our favorite stop. We were able to go to Lover's beach on Valentines Day with our whole little family and pretty much had the whole island to ourselves. This year we started off at Lover's Beach and it was just as we had remembered.
Ty and the guys took off snorkeling around the island while the girls laid out. I'm not really a "lay-out" type of girl because I am actually really terrified of skin cancer, but I was drugged up and still feeling pretty miserable, so all I wanted to do was rest.

I really had fun with these gals. They are some neat ladies.
The second half of our day in Cabo was not so great. Last year we ate at this yummy restaurant on the mainland and had a great experience, so we decided to try it again this year. What we didn't realize is that we were there during Mardi Gras ( I think it was Fat Tuesday). Let's just say Cabo during Mardi Gras I think must be somewhat like Cancun during spring break. The entertainment started getting a little too risque for us and the crowd a little too crazy and not accepting that we wanted no part and our guys almost got in a fight with a bunch of mexican guys and the mexican police were called in (on the other guys) and I left the table crying and we ended up not eating any of the food. Not a way to leave Cabo. Oh well. Live and learn. Thus, only pictures from Lovers Beach will remain in my blog journal.
Second stop: Mazatlan

Last year when we stopped in Mazatlan, we only went to the beach and shopping, so I was really excited to get to have a little tour and visit some history in Mazatlan. Here we are at the big Cathedral in downtown Mazatlan ( I have no idea what it's called...I was really drugged up for a lot of the trip and don't remember a whole lot).


We found an awesome cab driver who took care of us the entire day for a great price . After giving us a tour of the city, he dropped us off at the beach. We wanted to find the same spot for parasailing as last year so we walked along the beach until we got to the same hotel. We found it and it was even the same guys and price as the year before...nice. The ride was longer this year and for some reason I was a little more scared this year.

And I'm up...
...up, and awayAs soon as it was time to start landing, I remembered why I was more nervous. Last year, I wasn't really strong enough to pull the cord that directs me down. This year was no different. I pulled with all my might...but still ended up landing on my bum in the water...lucky for me, the tide was out.
We had a little beach entertainment while we waited our turn to parasail

Tyson ( who is terrified of heights) always put on a brave front
But I could tell he was really concentrating hard on take-off :)
Same random little fish as last year got stuck on shore. Everyone else in our group played in the waves...these guys must've been all around them
The group started building a giant sand castle with moat
and some of the local boys wanted to join in...and wanted us to take pictures of them joining in :)
I was so mad at myself the whole trip for being sick, but here I am again being a party pooper and resting while everyone else hangs out. I'm covering my legs because I was scared of getting too much sun
We ate at a local restaurant a few blocks from the beach that was really yummy. Once again, I have no idea what it was called.
Tyson must've completely worn himself out because he totally crashed on the ride back to the ship
Goodbye Mazatlan
Third stop: Puerto Vallarta
This stop was our longest (and the longest of all the cruises I've been on). We got into port really early in the morning and I think we left around 10 at night. It was also the only stop where we paid for an actual shore excursion through the ship (well, we didn't actually pay because we had onboard credit that totally covered it, yay!). We all got together to decide which excursion to go on and this one was on sale, so we decided to go for it. It ended up being AMAZING!

We had a super knowledgeable tour guide who took us on a speed boat all along the coast to see the sights and gave us a lot of history

Here I am wearing two towels and jeans to keep warm while everyone else is in swimsuits. By this day, my sinus infection had moved by my ear and jaw and I had chills and a fever still. Extra strength tylenol saved me.Our guide took us to this remote island that has no roads and is only accesible by water. I thought it was so neat...it was outside the tourist area so we really got to experience a little village in Puerto Vallarta. Aren't our sunglasses awesome? Ty and I both did not own sunglasses, but it was so bright so we bought matching pairs from a vendor on the beach. I think they're quite flashy...who knows if we'll ever wear them again :)

These people lived such simple lives and I really envied them. Life seemed slow paced and family oriented. Not a lot of distractions like we have here.
After the older kids were dropped off by a water taxi from school, the families went down to the water to get crabs and mussels.
This little boy was hilarious. He just took off down the walk by himself with no clothes and a little tube.
Once our group started giggling and talking about him, he started to ham things up and be silly
Our guide gave him a yellow warning sign...and then his mom came and spanked him and took him off
All our horses waiting
This was an interesting horseback riding experience because they didn't match us with horses by experience or height or weight...they just herded us over to a horse and we hopped on
Hanging on tight...I was a little nervous
We rode up a mountain for about 15-20 minutes through this scenery...it was so prettyMy horse kept pulling ahead of the pack...to my chagrin. I am not an experienced rider and wasn't feeling that great anyway

Luckily Cameron was an experienced rider and kept close

Cami and I probably talking about our kids (who are almost the exact same ages!) We ended up having a lot in common
At the top of the mountain we stopped at a little watering hole and got off our horsesand walked up a little waysto this beautiful waterfallThere was a nice little restaurant with tables and food and drinksa bunch of people (including our group) got into the water and slid down the rocks under the waterfall
After horseback riding, we rode our horses back down to the little boat where we rode a little further to another private beach. Here, everyone got on snorkel gear for snorkeling. I love snorkeling, but there was no way I was going to be able to snorkel, so I got dropped off onshore and then everyone else went back out to snorkel.
Here was my view from the beach while everyone was out snorkeling. I bundled up in all the extra towels until Ty came back from snorkeling and woke me up.

There was a BBQ set up and mats laid out and everyone just ate and hung out

except I didn't eat because I felt miserable and was scared of getting more sick and who knows where that food came from. Boy, I was really a debbie downer. Sorry, you guys!

Most of the drinks were alcoholic, so Ty asked if they could crack a coconut and put some pineapple juice in. Everyone else tried one too.Here's a view of the beach as we were leaving.

This was an AWESOME excursion and we really got to do some cool things, but then as we were heading back to the ship, we saw this:

2 humpback whales swimming not that far from our boat

It was a really super excursion...even being sick. If you ever go to Puerto Vallarta, do the Sea Safari through Vallarta Adventures with Kimmi...it was great

Puerto Vallarta was our last stop before Los Angeles, and it was a good thing because I was getting to my breaking point. Food didn't even taste good to me and that was so disappointing because I love cruises for the food. Here we are eating at another specialty restaurant...this one was Italian. I remember nothing looked good and all I could think about was getting home to a doctor and being worried about the air pressure on the flight home.

I'm still really disappointed that I was so out of it the whole cruise, but I still had a great time being with Ty, meeting new PPC friends, having new experiences, and getting some extra sleep. Mexico was beautiful. And after making it through the flight home, getting to the urgent care, and getting on some awesome painkillers and antibiotics, life was also beautiful again :)

On a side note:
Even after being really careful and lathering up and staying pretty covered, I got the weirdest tan/burn lines on my legs. They're still all splotchy in random patterns and have peeled twice

that is why I'm paranoid about skin cancerThanks Preventive for an awesome experience!!