Christmas Cruise

Wow!  Nine months since my last post.  I knew it had been a while, but wow, that is a lot longer than I thought it had been.  I feel this post is a bit out of the blue and even a month past the event.  But, I will share anyways.

This year, we spent Christmas on a cruise ship in the Pacific.  My mom took my family and my sister on Carnival's Inspiration to visit Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico.  It was a wonderful, relaxing time once on the ship.  Unfortunately it didn't start out that way.  The night before we left, we found that our van wouldn't start and it wasn't the battery.  Early the next morning we had the van at the mechanic who said he thought he might know what the problem was and there was a possibility it could be repaired in time to take it to LA.  Just in case we reserved a rental.  An hour later, we find out that something is wrong but not sure what, so we had to get the rental.  Taking two cars to LA we did arrive in time to board the ship and even have a snack before the ship set sail.  We praise God that the van decided to act up before we left home and not on our way to the ship. 

Here are a few shots from our Christmas vacation...

I am not sure how many stuffed animals the kids brought with them, but every night they were part of the towel folding display :)

 

 

Shopping in Ensenada.  This was the low pressure market.  They kids did not like the bartering market where the vendors shoved things at them trying to get them to buy.

 

The boys in front of Long Beach as our ship was heading out (I didn't get the pics in order very well)

 

The younger three liked the water slide for short periods of time.  It was pretty close to freezing water and the air wasn't too warm either.

 

Jathan and I in Catalina Island

 

View of our ship from Catalina Island.

 

 

Paige, Clay and Jathan did a little rock climbing while on Catalina. 

 

Wild buffalo on Catalina Island.