Vacation!

The week before Thanksgiving, we took the kids on their long-awaited cruise with some of their cousins. We went to Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas and had a wonderful time! Maylan and Brandon (Marissa wasn't invited. She had a lovely time with my parents in St. George. Thanks mom and dad!) could hardly believe how lucky they were!

I thought it was cute to see them dragging their little suitcases through the parking lot on the way to the ship. They were so excited!

Our first stop was Ensenada, which isn't the most fabulous city, but it is a city in another country, which made it fabulous to the kids.


They liked to see the cruise ship off in the distance.

This was Brandon's first and most exciting purchase off the streets of Mexico. Lovely.

Maylan wanted to get her hair braided, which thrilled me too because it made doing her hair much faster and easier the rest of the time. And it looked pretty cute on her!

With Viagra anything is possible.

Back on the boat, it was formal night! Lisa and I got the girls matching dresses and they looked so beautiful and fancy. We even put makeup on them for the occassion.

My two fancy kids. They ate with us in the dining room every night except for one and actually really enjoyed it. The kids, all nine of them, had a table all to themselves and felt so grown-up. The best part was that after they were finished eating, a good hour or so ahead of us, they could just leave and check themselves into the kid's club. It was wonderful!

Every night before going to bed, they would enjoy themselves a cup of hot chocolate and watch cartoons. They loved the fact that any food they wanted on the boat was free!

Beautiful ocean in the background.

Playing a little miniature golf high above the water.

Walking around the pool area. We didn't always have the warmest of weather, but when it was nice, this was a favorite place to be.

Maylan, who takes after her father, had pushed Ashley into the water earlier, so now it was Ashley's turn to push Maylan!

Brandon takes his swimming and jumping very seriously these days.

Weston, Lauren, Ashley and Maylan.

Brandon liked the hot tub the best. And the snorkel mask.

He and Zac are too cool.

The beach in Cabo was fabulous! The water was warm, the sand was cool and we had a very nice relaxing day.

Brandon and another snorkel mask.

Building sand castles.

Maylan and Lauren soaking in the sun.

This was Maylan's form of sunscreen.

Other than the mask, Brandon's other favorite purchase was a toy model of the cruise ship. It went everywhere with him.

Heading out for a ride on a jet ski.

When we were walking back, a man approached us with these iguanas for the kids to hold. I told him we weren't interested because I knew he wanted to charge us for pictures. He insisted it would be free and gave the kids the iguanas and told me to take pictures. So I did.

After the kids enjoyed the iguanas and I took a couple of "free" pictures, he asked for just a "little tip." Maylan thought that was hilarious for some reason and now whenever she does a favor for me, she asks for a "little tip" too!

I can't believe I got such a fabulous picture of my mother-in-law while she was "gettin' down" before the kids talent show. We were all having a good time dancing, but she was really having a good time!

The kid's club hosted a talent show in the center area of the ship for all to watch. It was great! Maylan showed off her hula hooping skills by doing three at once!

Maylan and Ashley relaxing after their performances with their medals.

And then it was Brandon's turn. This was the point that my camera battery died which was a complete tragedy because the talent he chose to showcase was his hip-hop dancing skills! He did a solo! We were shocked! He stole the show and I was so proud of him. This kid continues to astound me.

On our last day at sea, we finally attempted the rock climbing wall. Maylan was having too much fun at the kid's club to join us.

Brandon did awesome. He knew going into it that he wouldn't make it to the top and as soon as he got uncomfortable, he headed down. The sad thing was that I didn't make it much farther than he did! Ryan got to the top, as did my little neice Ashley. Kind of embarassing for me. Anyway, we had a great trip, Marissa had a great time with my parents and we can't wait for the next big vacation with cousins because they make everything better!