Back in February we found out that Carnival had some great deals on their 4 day cruises. So, we decided to use some of our tax return and book a basic 4 day cruise to Catalina and Ensenada. Tim and I have already been on this cruise for our high school senior trip, but we figured that you can't beat the price that we got and Tim's family had never been on one yet. So we all booked for November near my birthday. Carnival, however, decided they would drastically change the dates on us, so they upgraded us to a 5 night/6day cruise to Cabo San Lucas for the same price we had already paid! Nice! Carnival has upgraded since we last took a cruise...of course, since everyone is in school, there was not much partying going on. That was kind of nice...Maddie loved Camp Carnival for kids...we were finally brave enough to leave her on the 3rd day since she was going stir crazy with nothing to do. Casey was such a trooper...he rode in the car 12 hours (thanks to the world's worst traffic) to Auntie Carrie's house on our way down to San Diego, and not a peep came out of him...he sucked his thumb w/ blankie in hand the whole way! He survivied the ship, with nothing for him to do on it, a big bummer since he was under 2 years, he could not even go in the kid's area at all.
Cabo was awesome! Very, very humid! But this tropical setting is exactly what we were looking for. Our goal has always been to find ocean water that is warm and clear, and as you will see in the pictures, it was! Tim and I went snorkeling and took a tour by the famous arch to take pictures just like every other tourist. That is where the sea sickness began for Tim. The catamaran we were on was very bumpy and on the ship that night, the ocean was very rough. It felt as if we were dropping to the middle of Earth at times as I was laying there in bed on our last night. I think everyone was sick that night.
Finally, it was time to "debark" and make our way to Disneyland! 5 days on a ship was quite enough for us! We checked into our roach coach motel...:( Well...it was alright because it was giving us a huge deal since it was Tim's birthday, and we could walk to the park. We met our friends from Washington and spent one day with them, and the next with just our little family of four. Maddie met her favorite fairies in Pixie Hollow ( a new addition to Disneyland this year), but I do NOT recommend going to Disneyland during the Halloween season. Their firework show is completely evil...with ghosts flying around...and chanting the dead. Very weird for a place that is supposed to cater to small children. 2 days in Disneyland and California Adventure was quite enough, especially since Maddie and Daddy got food poisoning from the "House of Blues" restaurant! I had to drive the whole way home with this....and Casey, once again, was a trooper. 7 hours of driving in complete silence and not a peep out of him!
Needless to say, I think we are all Disneyed out for a couple of years now, and definitely will never take our kids on a cruise again until they are much older (although I am hoping that Tim and I can take one to Hawaii for our 10 year anniversary, wishful thinking huh! I will have to do much convincing of Tim, since the last night of sea sickness ruined it for him). Visit the weblink below to enjoy more vacation pics!
Time has escaped us once again! Here are pics from Maddie's 4th birthday on Aug. 24th! She was in Tinkerbell heaven with her "little friends" and "big kid friends" (teens from our youth ministry). 
Signing off....
