Friday, February 1, 2008

Please sanitize your hands!

Last week my family and I went on an 8 day cruise to the Mexican Rivera! It was such a fun trip because all 17 of us were there together! And I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to leave the snow and 30 degree weather back in Utah while I soaked up all the sun on the beach!

Friday we flew into LA and had a big sleep over at Janae and Rick’s. I think we had 3 or 4 air mattress that took up most of their free floor space. It was fun to have all of us in one apartment and Janae and Rick were great hosts. I hope Wyatt didn’t mind us invading his territory.

Saturday morning we woke up early (kids are an early alarm clock on vacation!) and headed to the pier to board the Norwegian Star. If you can imagine 17 people can have a lot of luggage! But we all made it on the boat without much trouble.

The first couple days were at sea. We ATE, explored the ship, ATE, played games, ATE, read, ATE, ran, and then ATE some more. Rick, Wyatt and I played ping pong. Wyatt is a good player and seemed to enjoy chasing the ball more than hitting it. Tuesday we arrived in Acapulco. The weather was beautiful and we spent the day at the beach. Brigham and Rick were expert body surfers and catching all the waves. Wednesday’s port was a small tourist town called Zihautenejo. We played at the beach and buried Brigham, Alicia, Jake, and Isaac in the sand. Puerto Vallarta was our shopping port. We walked around looking at cheap trinkets and trying to barter prices. Lisa kept laughing at the lowest prices the Mexican men would offer because she claimed she could buy anything we saw for much less in the States. Friday we arrived at Cabo San Lucas. All of us took a glass bottom boat around the Sea of Cortez to the Pacific Ocean. We then spent an hour playing on La Playa de Amor (Lover’s Beach). We did our last minute shopping by the pier where I made the best purchase of the trip…a large Mexican hat. You can see how much everyone loved to wear it!

The most memorable part of the trip was the Norwalk-like Virus. It seriously was an epidemic on the boat. Out of the 17 in my family 7 got the bug and were quarantined to their cabin for 24 hours. The captain kept coming over the PA system reminding people to wash their hands and every time you went to the buffet line or a restaurant there were several crew members asking you to please sanitize your hands. I am happy to report that I never got the virus and was perfectly healthy the whole trip. However when I got back I came down with a little cold where I lost my voice for a couple days.

Now it’s back to normal life with early mornings and long 12 hour shifts. Thanks dad for taking all of us!! It was definitely a trip to remember!

6 comments:

Sandra said...

You did a great job telling about the trip. Thanks for letting us see the fun pictures.

Unknown said...

Karen that trip looks like it was a blast! I'm so glad you had fun...but I did miss you while you were gone :(. We need to get together soon. Love ya!

Ali said...

Such good pictures...especially the famous "arc". It makes me miss Cabo. Such a great place! So glad you had fun and your resistance held strong to the BUG.

Grant said...

A great report and summary. We are glad you stayed healthy during the voyage.

Rick and Janae said...

It was a good trip, especially when we were out of our cabin! Thanks for playing with Wyatt I am sure he will totally say your name next time.

John & Nancy Wellington Family said...

It looks like you all managed to have fun despite the virus. I am glad you were healthy and felt bad for the ones that came down with it. It is fun to see all your pictures.