Cruise hangover

     

I'm having major withdrawals over here. We got back from our first cruise last Thursday and we still can't stop gushing about the crystal blue waves and the endless amounts of ice cream and hot chocolate. As happy as we are to be back with little man, we are having some struggles getting back into the swing of real life. For example, we're still under the impression that it's acceptable to have 6-8 meals a day (first lunch, second lunch, pre-dinner, dinner, post-dinner etc.) and it's a little more expensive to have 7 ice cream cones a day when its not a part of an all-inclusive cruise buffet. We're also struggling with the idea of having a "grown-up" schedule, like...having to wake up, or go to sleep. All I'm saying is that the struggle is real.
    On Sunday we left for the coast and after 6ish hours of chatting and catching up with the "T" of TM Enterprises, we made it to port! I was feeling a little sick ( I always get sick when we travel) I was ready to get on the boat and get settled in. When we saw the boat, it got real, our excitement levels blew through the roof. I was so excited, I left my luggage at the security check point. Such a classic "kayla" move. Check in was very easy and when we stopped by guest services to put money on out cruise card, they told us that we had an additional $50 to spend because they over estimated federal tax and fees when we booked! Awesome.
    We went to our rooms and settled in before we went up to the deck. We didn't even plan it but the Thompsons were about 50 feet from us and only a floor away making meet ups super easy. Our room was...cozy. We went the "cheap and small as possible" route and that's exactly what we got. We had a small interior cabin with, prepare yourselves...bunkbeds! It made things...interesting, but very fun! The Thompsons had a queen so we went there to play cards on their bed and see the ocean through their awesome port hole!

    The first day was pretty much just recovering, we were all a little exhausted from the drive. We struggled through it and the boys went off the the sauna while Chelsea and I lounged and continued to catch up after three months away (We could talk for hours and hours if our husbands would let us). After we shoved off, we all were feeling the rocking from the waves so we had an early dinner and retired for a long nights rest so that we'd be ready to roll the next day.

    Chad and I woke up early and rushed up on deck to watch as the ship docked in the beautiful Catalina Island. We had such a jam packed day of adventure on the island. We rented a golf cart and took turns driving it all over the Island. We snorkled at lovers cove and swam with the most gorgeous bright orange fish, the water was perfect. We ate some delicious Mexican food and kayaked off the pier. I was pretty nervous the whole time, something about my husband being out of my range of sight and having the upper hand on the vessel that holds us both afloat made me feel very nervous. We're not the most buoyant people so my guard was up the whole time, plus Megalodon...so there's that. We had fun reading the names on the boats along the dock, some of my favorites were, "The Compormise", "Can-do", and "Afishanado" which I pronounced  "a fish-nado".

     When we got back to the cruise boat, we were enjoyed some dinner, Trent and I did Karaoke while Chels and Chad laughed at us, Trent started out the night with his rendition of "Dont Stop til You Get Enough" and he was probably the best act of the night (best dance moves and song entirely in falsetto for sure). I did "Genie in a Bottle" that became an instant drunk crowd favorite, then we retired to the Lido deck to played some cards and, you guessed it, ate more ice cream. Afterwards we planned out our day in Ensenada!

    We were off the ship even earlier the next morning with a mission...to see La  Bufadora! We drove for about an hour until we got to the edge of the mountains where the tourist attraction started, hundreds of overwhelming shop peddlers  working their way into our hearts with phrases like "come to my shop and buy more stuff you don't need" and "please let me show you my highly inappropriate mugs and shot glasses" or my favorite was " I'm next". (for some reason my bleeding heart made me feel like it was only fair for me to go to each shop, those tricky Mexicans!) Chelsea got an adorable MK bag and Chad got some sweet Oakleys...both of which are debatable in their authenticity but I vote real. I got a cute little sombrero and maraca for Liam that "Ok, for me," it was only maybe $6. We hung out with some adorable kitty cats, but Chad likes to call them Lions. They were so friendly, which we were all very grateful for since the guy we paid made us sign a waiver that said we understand that "all he has is some ducktape to patch us back together" if the Lions mauled us.
  La Bufadora was beautiful! We didn't kayak down by it because we had kayaked the day before but i think next time i would kayak in Mexico, even though it was a little more scary, it was beautiful at the base of La Bufadora. We held baby Lions which I was obviously thrilled about because as I look back at all the pictures, i noticed that my mouth was a gaping, jaw-dropped smile for the whole 1/2 hour we played with them! We ate at an over priced but delicious restaurant with the sketchiest slide you'll ever see, which is why we were so compelled to take the go-pro and slide down. I think all restaurants should have slides...maybe just a little better built.

   We drove around trying to decide what to do next, Ensenada was great but a lot less touristy than we hoped.We found a horse rental spot on the side of the road, and against my better judgement, we stopped for a tour. I like horses, don't get me wrong, I just have seen too many AFV incidences that I could easily see myself repeating. But sweet Chad talked to one of the guys there and asked that I get a very mild, responsive horse. Both Chad and Trent made things so much easier with their fluent Spanish! We rod horses for a hour on the beach and got to see some really cool spots and after about 30 minutes of worrying and practically choking my horse with the bit, I eased up and really started enjoying myself! I even ran when we got down to the water. Poor Chelsea, she got a mama horse who apparently was missing her little baby very much because she was not obeying Chelsea commands at all! Chels just got into teacher mode and reasoned that horse down to submission, she did amazing! Chad was just galloping away, we had to tell him to slow down and wait for us most of the time, but he was in heaven. And Trents horse was a lot like mine, very tame and kind of more of a follower, I called him spicy because Trent would pull on the reigns and she'd always shake her head or push away before doing it.

    When we went to return the rental cars the boys went in to take care of it while Chels and I sat on the patio. After a long while, I tried to go in to see what was taking so long but Chad signaled to me through the glass doors to stay put. Why, what was wrong and why couldn't i come in? After a little while longer and a lot of worrying on my part, Trent came out and said that they were going to charge us $200 because they claimed that the car wasn't in the same condition that we got it in, then Chad came out and had the same story, he said the wheel well was bent some how and that they would start with $200 Charged to the credit card we provided as collateral and charge more according to the needed repairs.
   You guys, I'm a credit card fa-reak! I hate credit cards, I honestly hate that we have one, yet alone that we had to provide it even just for collateral so I almost lost it! Chad felt horrible for playing such a nasty joke so he told me it was all made up and that nothing really happened. While laughing, he begged for my forgiveness, which he still hasn't fully received. Not cool boys, not cool.

    We got back on the boat and took naps, Chelsea and I went to the spa where we did the free do-it-yourself facials lead by a dreamy, starchy shirted, englishman. We went back and got ready for "fancy night". The boys loved their two servings of lobster tail and while Chels and I weren't too crazy about our dishes, we had some fun making faces and trying out new accents we heard around the boat. Like mature adults. BTW I'd like to by called Kyla, (k-I-la) in a swedish accents from now on.
 The next day was a day at sea so we spent most of the day lounging. We made it a priority to see the hairy chest contest (it did not disappoint), and the gender wars (which the girls won, for the 3 month in a row) and a slightly uncomfortable newly wed game. We went down the water slides and ate lots and lots of food! To end the evening we chilled in the hot tub and talked for hours!

   Chad and I took advantage of the free room service and ate ourselves to sleep....no shame. We woke up early to get off the ship to beat the crowd so we could get back to our babies! As we talked on our drive back home, we all decided it was the best vacation we had ever been on, so fun and so jam packed with adventure! So we immediately started planning TM Takes Hawaii 2018 or so. It's in the works.
    I was so nervous about this trip, It was technically our 5 year anniversary trip too so I was worried about having Chad to myself enough but we all just get each other so there was no pressure, plenty of alone time and we all seemed to want to do the same things together, it was effortless!The Thompsons are great like that, so fun, easy to please and the same kind of crazy as us!

Some of my favorite moments that I don't want to forget...

-"Guys, I can yodle to this song, listen....oh wait, is it not working?"
-Whenever Chelsea did an accent
-Trents karaoke to Michael Jacksons "Don't stop til you get enough"
-Drunk lady trying to seduce me while I sang Genie in a bottle.
-Chelsea and Chad fighting over what city we were in...meanwhile, I had an anxiety attack
-"Whats your name? Daisy. Whats your name? Paint."
-"For you, ok, $40."
-Sinking Kayaks
-Busted snorkles
-Stubborn horses
-Making Botox faces at "fancy night"

SO many good times with Trent and Chels, we're so grateful for friends who'll do crazy things with us and talk us into doing crazy things too!

Chad and I have been so stressed lately, moneys been tight, lots of unfortunate events have put us under some crazy pressure and we really needed this trip, it really did the trick. I'm so crazy about my Chad and I'm so glad we got some time to enjoy each other in the same element we fell in love in, and with our best friends, it just doesn't get any better!