We had the most amazing time on our cruise with the Casper/Daniels side of the family! Zac's Grandparents were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary and decided to take their whole posterity on a cruise. It was the greatest!!! I am so incredibly bummed that we never got a picture with our family and Grandma and Grandpa. We didn't get a big group picture either, bummer. There are lots of pictures that we either forgot to take or that got lost with Zac's phone, but I'll include the ones that we did remember. We went the week of the New Year and it was so fun.
Here are the kids waiting on the shuttle to head to the boat!
Once we were on the ship the fun really began; unlimited food, relaxation and family time, nothing better!
Until we got down to Mexico, I thought it was a little cold for swimming, but the kids didn't care! No matter how breezy or cold it was, they wanted to be playing at the pool. All the adults were huddled in blankets and coats watching the kids play in the pool.
Zac was the only adult willing to brave the water and the kids were so excited! Eloise would go down the slide by herself and as soon as she got to the bottom she would jump up and run to the end so she wouldn't get hit by the next person. She would get this look of intensity and would look over her shoulder to see if she was going to get flattened by the big kids.
The first stop was in Cabo San Lucas. We did the touristy thing and walked around and bought cheap souvenirs and then hung out at the beach, it was such a fun day!
These two were quite the posers.
These two ladies both got their hair braided first thing! Eloise loved to be twins with Taylin!
Eloise ventured into the water occasionally, but mostly enjoyed the sand.
Teagan was a little fish and was in the water constantly, he loved it! Again, he didn't mind the cold one bit.
Adeline made a new friend. This other little girl was fussy and her parents sat her down by Adeline and she immediately stopped crying. They became great friends and had fun grabbing each others feet and trying to steal snacks from each other. It was pretty entertaining.
One of the favorite games Teagan and Taylin played was rolling around in the sand and getting covered and then jumping into the water to clean off. They were VERY sandy by the end of the day.
This is the closest we got to a family pictures at one of the dinners. Dinner time was always an adventure. Adeline would last about 30 minutes before she was throwing a fit. Eloise fell asleep one night, but other than that the food was yummy and it was so fun to chat with everyone at dinner.
The second stop was Mazatlan. It was a little bit more run down. There were guides who told us to follow the blue line to the downtown/tourist area. We took them very literally and actually walked on the line in the middle of the road. We couldn't risk getting lost!
Addy spent about 75% of the cruise perched on my front. She was very content to be held constantly and have a good view of the world.
We got to go inside a pretty amazing church. It was huge and very ornate. The kids wondered why our church didn't look the same. Because everyone is different. :)
This is the inside, it was so cool! The pews had a little stand for you to kneel on, it was even padded!
Zac gave me a break and packed Adeline for a while. She love it.
We had to buy these lizards from a local, the kids had quite a bit of fun with them, until we were all tripping on them so much that we had to take them away.
This lady was selling some sort of pancake with caramel on top, you know those Daniels boys stopped for caramel! We had fun going into all the little stores and finding sunglasses and bracelets. One shop was a big open space, on one side was a butcher shop (it was warm in there and sooooo stinky!) on the other side were stores selling fruits, veggies, and trinkets. Very different from here!
On the way back to the boat we stopped at a local restaurant for drinks and guacamole. Adeline pretty much took over my pina colada, it was so delicious.
That night was our anniversary. Our room man must have known because he left kissing swans on our bed when he turned our room down for the night. We were so lucky to be able to go out for the night. Kurt and Shelly took the kids so we could have a little alone time and it was so nice! We ate at a fancy restaurant and went to some shows that night.
Our last stop was Puerto Vallarta and it was so gorgeous! We headed right for this beautiful beach.
Here are Grandma, Adam, Sheena, Eloise and Bri. Enjoying the warm sunshine!
These boys were looking out for the guy on the jet ski who kept going right next to the kids. He was getting way to close for comfort so our guys politely reminded him to stay away, and by politely I mean, tried to jump on his jet ski and knock him off. haha
Everytime the jetski would start going for another run they would rip their shirts of and dive into the water to get after them. It was awesome, I wish I had it on camera. It was like Babe Watch!
Sporting my new gardening hat and a sleeping baby. She took pretty much all of her naps like this.
These three kiddos had so much fun together the entire cruise. Eloise loved feeling like one of the big kids.
Our family keeps growing! We have a picture like this of our family at pretty much every stage of life, so we(I) couldn't pass up the opportunity to get one now that we have Adeline too.
Adeline woke up happy, yay!
She really enjoyed watching all the fun action going on. Kurt and Shelly bought some fun kites that everyone took turns flying and Teagan, Taylin, and Eloise ran from the ocean to the sand over and over. It was such a fantastic day at the beach!
After the beach we wandered some more shops and got some t-shirts and some sunburns. Zac was a super hero with the kids. I got so stressed out trying to keep track of the kids, but he was calm and collected and successful at keeping all the kids close by.
I don't have many pictures of the fun we had on the actual ship. Each night Teagan went to the kids club while we went to the adult game shows with everyone. It was so fun because we had participants. In Deal or No Deal both us and Adam and Sheena were big $50 winners, Jesse and Bri got onto "The Perfect Couple" and were so hilarious, and Jesse, Sheena, Adam, and I all were on "55 seconds to win it." Each night was a different game and it was pretty hilarious so we had a lot of fun.
With no naps and late bedtimes, there were a few meltdowns. This one was because her sweatshirt was touching her??? Silly girl. Once we got back to the fun she was happy again.
This little lady did pretty good considering the circumstances. There was definitely some crying, but she was pretty good all day, it was the evenings that were brutal.
They had fun just hanging out in the room and laughing at Adeline trying to grab their faces.
Teagan had so much fun at the kid's club. He and Tay went together most of the time and he also got to get to know his cousins Ryker and Cole better. He thought they were so awesome.
The kid's club put on a circus on the last day of the cruise. It was fantastic. Teagan was a clown and he made us all laugh. Teagan is on the far left, then Ryker is 3 from the left folding his arms and Taylin is 3 from the right with the heart shirt.
Here they are "trying" to lift an extremely "heavy" mat. Teagan couldn't keep a straight face because he thought it was so funny. We were laughing pretty hard too.
This was the final bow, he is front and center in his Captain America shirt from grandma Packer.
At the final dinner Kurt and Shelly sat with all the kids so we could sit with the adults! Talk about an act of true love!!! The kids were in heaven and so were we!
Eloise grew to love her aunts. Sheena taught her all about chapstick and jewelry and Eloise loved all the girliness. At the evening shows she would scoot from lap to lap and soak in and love all the attention she was getting. Family is the best!
We got off the boat at about 9:30 am on Sunday and after a quick ride to the hotel with Grandma Packer and some hugs and kisses we were on the road to home. At our halfway point we decided to just go the whole way. The kids were so great! They watched movies, ate goodies, and were pretty pleasant. They fell asleep in Salt Lake and we kept on cruising. We were so tired when we got home, but I LOVED climbing into my own bed to sleep for the night.
We spent Monday unpacking and taking down Christmas decorations, and then the kids and I got the flu and took the week off. We miss being on the boat with everyone. Some of my favorite times were just sitting around playing cards and eating wings and fries. I felt like we got to know Zac's side of the family so much better and it was so fun. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Casper and Grandma and Grandpa Daniels for making it possible!
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