Cruising the California Coast

For Christmas last year, my parents decided to simplify and do one big present for their kids.  They took us on a 4-day cruise in January, sans kids, and it was SO fun.  We missed Dave and Krista, but luckily everyone else was able to come.  We left out of Los Angeles, and stopped in Catalina and Ensenada.

Some of my memories of the cruise:

• Packing a little too lightly (we carried on all our luggage to save time at the airport).  The weather was actually quite nice compared to Utah in January, but I probably should have brought more long pants and an actual coat.
• Playing lots of funny rounds of Telestrations on the no-kids-allowed "Serenity" deck - we were probably not the most serene crowd, haha!  My favorite round: George Washington -> Shirley Temple -> sparkling cider.
• Free sushi every night at 5:00 p.m.
• Renting crappy bikes to explore Catalina.  Looking back it was fun, but my chain came unhooked every time I tried to switch gears, so I had to do the whole thing in the lowest gear, and I was in pretty wimpy shape!  Mike would have gladly traded bikes with me, except we couldn't get the seat on his bike to adjust lower.
• Shaunda sneakily putting cute signs on our stateroom doors.
• Ordering FREE room service!
• Every night at dinner I struggled with "morning" sickness, but the pregnancy was still a secret at that point, so I couldn't admit it.  Luckily seasickness was a good cover.  Our waiter was so nice to offer to bring me bland things like baked potatoes if my entree didn't agree with me.  
• Finding folded towel animals in our stateroom.
• We went to see a Newlywed-type game in the ship's theater, and my parents got picked to come up on stage as the longest-married couple in the room.  It was hilarious (and slightly embarrassing) to hear my parents answer some of those questions!  Before they started, the host took my dad aside and told him that some of his answers would be changed for the sake of comedy.  The very last question was something like "You haven't seen ugly until you've seen my wife's _________" and the host read out my dad's answer as "I haven't stayed married for 35 years by being stupid!"
• Conga line in the dining room.
• The BEST do-it-yourself excursion we could have hoped for in Ensenada.  The excursions offered through the ship were overpriced and didn't sound very cool.  Shaunda found out about a campground with a network of ziplines, Las Cañadas, several miles from the port, and we decided to try getting there and back ourselves.  I was worried about not making it back to the ship, or being taken advantage of by a shuttle driver, or finding the zip-lines to be rickety and dangerous, but everything turned out wonderful.  Our prayers were answered.  We found Manuel, a shuttle bus driver willing to drive us all there and back for a reasonable price.  He was so friendly and ended up spending the day joining us in our zip-line activity.  The zip lines were SO fun and thrilling, but I felt completely safe and in good hands with the instructors.
• Eating authentic fish tacos in Ensenada, and dragging Mike up and down the streets looking for the perfect souvenirs at a bargain price I could live with.  He should thank me for all the great opportunities I give him to work on patience. ;)

It was such a fun time, and we made great memories!  Thanks Mom & Dad!