March 11-15

CRUISIN!

Thomas, Sharli, Kyle, Celeste, Wayne, Karen, mom, Jon, Kathi, Mariah

Taxi driver Carlos Santana and Jon

Our taxi jumping the broken down dune buggy in Ensenada

Me and my Jonny enjoying another great dining experience

Karen had planned a cruise for her family and invited Jon and I over a year ago. It couldn't have come at a better time as we desperately needed to get away for a few days. Mom ended up joining us at the last minute. She had been sitting in the dark since Ryan's arrest so we were happy to have her join us. We traveled to Long Beach in a rented 15 passenger van with Wayne, Karen, Me, Jon, Mom, Kyle, Celeste, Thomas, Sharli and Mariah. Jared and Ashley drove separately. We boarded the Carnival ship "Inspiration" on Monday morning weighing ourselves first on Karen's bathroom scales. We bet on how much weight we would gain. It was a bit cold but we had a fantastic time. The food was incredible. Karen and I made sure we tried everything there was to do. She had even put together a treasure hunt with clues. Jon was fun to be with and we gave each other lots of freedom to do what each of us wanted. Sharli taught a zumba class and gave me some "jingles" to wear. Our first destination was Catalina Island. We took our snorkle gear but it was too cold. Karen paid Mariah $100 to jump in at the dock and swim to shore. We rented a golf cart and toured the island. The next day took us to Ensenada Mexico. Mom even came off the boat with us. We hired a taxi driver (Carlos Santana) for $10 each to be our personal tour guide. He took us to the "La Bufadora" and to some shops. Jared, Kyle, Celeste, Ashley and Mariah rented a dune buggy. We found them along the side of the road and Carlos gave them a jump start. Highlights were: dining, water slide, ping pong, shuffleboard, jogging track, miniature golf, kareoke, dancing, zumba, Where's Waldo, treasure hunt, playing cards, shows, Karen's shaking ping pong balls, going to shore, comedy and oue crazy cruise glasses. The cruise lasted 4 nights. I hated to see it come to an end but knew if it didn't soon they would be rolling me off the boat. I weighed and came closest to my prediction of gaining 4 pounds. We all had a safe trip home.

Mom and the famous cruise glasses