THE Cruise

We had this vacation planned and booked for over 3 months, so there was a lot of fun anticipation leading up to it! We went with our friends, the Currys, Webbs, and Johnsons. I bet you are thinking, "Hmmm, Ashby's - you had 5 years with no kids, why did you wait until you had one to go?" Answer: I don't know, we kept asking ourselves the same thing! We are so glad that we waited so we could go with all these friends, it was such a blast and the perfect trip!!!!

We arrived in San Diego on Friday, Jan 8th with some time to spare, so we hit up this place. Don't know the name, I didn't see much of it as I was pumping in the car the whole time. Yes, that was a little interesting on the trip, but not that big of a deal.

We saw our ship, the "Elation", and got very excited! It was SO huge!!

Here is the crew: Ashby's, Webb's, Johnson's, and Curry's. We left 6 kids at home between all of us - our parents are all saints for watching them!!

The first day, we ate lunch and got settled into our rooms. I got 2 huge bowls of Mongolian stir fry, just because I could!! Let the non-stop eating begin. We discovered that Tim and I both had unpacked our stuff, putting things in drawers, etc and loved every minute of it! Can you say OCD? I know I am, at least! That night we had a emergency training, which was lame-O and then we did some exploring. Our first dinner was awesome with a capital A!! We all agreed dinners were super fun, even though the food wasn't fantastic all the time. We started moving at dinner that first night and it didn't sit well with everyone. I was surprised that I didn't get sick at all - I am definitely one to get car sick in planes and cars. We asked our waitress if it always moves this bad and she said, "Oh, is the boat moving?" I guess it does!

This little guy was waiting for us when we got back to the room. SO cute! Mike couldn't understand why I kept taking pictures of the dumb things. I couldn't believe just how many times they would clean our room in a day. I almost felt bad. I wasn't expecting there to be so many international workers - don't know what I was expecting - but it was cool to see where everyone was from. All of the staff was very attentive and seemed to enjoy their jobs.

That night we checked out the Karaoke situation and went late night hot tubbing - very fun! We also got some late night soft serve - actually every night we did!

Saturday we met up and just hung around, playing some of the games they had going on. We played Battle of the Sexes and Family Feud.

Melissa smoked this guy with her very intellectual answer to her history question.

Kimmie proudly let everyone know her name and that she is pregnant (which is true). It was funny and the worker got a kick out of it!

Amy and Marcus battled it out to the bitter end.
Mike, Rob and I also participated - Rob beat me after I took my totally random guess of Boston to the question: What city are the bands Pearl Jam and some others that I don't remember from? The answer is Seattle, fyi.

Amy and Kim made it up on stage for Family Feud - well, Kimmie barged her way up knocking over a few gals. This was the question they both answered funny, but awkwardly to: Name something that you would only use once before throwing away. He said a form of birth control and Amy said a feminine product. (use your imagination) We were DYING laughing! None of them were on the board - huh?!

This was our little friend that night - a little pig! This night was also the fancy dinner night. We saw the hypnotist show beforehand. I can't decide if I believe that it works yet or not. I think some people were just faking, but a few were really "out of it". I don't know! I don't have any pictures of us dressed up, but someone does, I'm sure. We were taking pictures like crazy for each other.

We also participated in karaoke tonight, which was a blast!! Kim, THE PRO, went first singing a Reba song - it was seriously AWESOME!! I went next and did a little rendition of "These Boots Were Made For Walking". Melissa was next with a little Neil Diamond - people loved the song! Then, Amy AND Marcus went and did a great version of the Grease hit, "Summer Lovin". It was SO funny and they were actually really good!

The next day was Mexico - Ay Caramba! (sp?) Ensenada was a pretty crappy town, but it was nice to step on solid ground and eat something other than the cruise food. Don't get me wrong, I loved the "all you can eat at any moment" food, but I love me some Mexican food as well. We cruised around boosting the Mexican economy. I even heard one vendor say, "Come, come and buy things you don't even need!" We bought Mr. Max a mini poncho and some maracas.
Melissa felt the need to stop at the local grocery store and get some nectar. I am glad she did, as I am a big fan!
I chose more of the mini vending machine type.
"Hola moo-cha-cha!"

Our home away from home

The rest of the day was really fun back on the boat. We got in our swim gear and watched the first half of the Cardinals game with a bunch of other fans. Some were for Green Bay, but it was still fun to really get into it! We took a hot tub/pool break at halftime and resumed watching the game with our pre-dinner plates of chicken fingers, fries, and sodas. Boy, was that game exciting!!! (they won in overtime, if you don't remember)

This was our last little pal....sniff sniff. I wonder if they knew that I have been stung by a sting ray before and it would bring back awful, painful memories? Ha ha, j/k....not about being stung.

Our last night was the funnest, I think. I don't remember everything we did - but I do remember the karaoke that night. It will NEVER leave my memory! I haven't laughed that hard in years, seriously. The place was packed! It started to get good when this middle aged man got up and sang "Ladies Night" and requested that all the ladies come up and dance. His singing was totally mediocre, but I know he felt like a million bucks with all the ladies swarming. Then a group got up and sang, "Baby Got Back", of course. There is always someone that does that one. Well, this older, hefty lady got up and OWNED the song. She seriously danced NON stop and I don't think her moves were Stake Dance approved, if you know what I mean. Just check out the picture - it was just too hilarious and I am laughing right this very minute thinking about it!

(Thanks for the pic, Kim)

I cannot even tell you how fun it was!!! See my pal Kimmie's blog for more pictures and more stories - she's hilarious, and I know I left out a lot.

Oh, I did bring back a souvenir.....................

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A six month "food baby"!! I am still full!! BLAH!! :)