Butterfield Banter: Mexican Riviera Cruise

We finally got to go on the cruise with Tom's family last month. As it turned out, only his mom and one sister's family came, but we sure had fun and the smaller group allowed us to rent a limo and a private yacht on the trip. It was a 7 day cruise of the Mexican Riviera out of Long Beach that we planned almost 2 years ago. Everyone really had fun and everyone wants to go again. But, as usual, i will give more of the story as pictures come up.

Upon landing in Long Beach, we took a limo to the port and paid the guy extra to stop at a gas station to grab soda for the kids since they didn't get soda cards on the boat

They loved the limo so much they wanted some random pictures

I was pleasantly surprised to see they had decorated for Christmas. I don't remember this being the case on my last December cruise

I believe we were waiting for our rooms to open...so pouty...

This one was ALL over the place

Sailing in to Cabo

One of few pictures I appear in

I'm still trying to figure out how to rotate the pictures

She was blocking the little one from falling down the stairs

Kasey took a turn at it as well

Then she decided to be silly

Typical shot in Cabo

On a 2 decker tender to the marina

See how big the boat is in comparison?

Here I am again

This was our private yacht. They treated us so well and fed us and chased a whale and took us snorkeling. Tom and I sat/laid on the front of the boat on pads with pillows.

An even better view of the size of the ship

Sea lions...

Tom got in the water first

Cindy and the baby never got in, but Kasey did eventually

Grandma was brave but didn't go out very far

I think this is Stetson she did really well!!

My new camera was so easy to sue and worked great. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

I was shocked to see such colorful fish in Cabo

Stetson, with our little sailboat in the background. She went out pretty far and saw some great fish

I found out around this time that our guide was baiting the fish by swimming out/down with a baggie of food and shaking it

That striped fish was my favorite

Stetson was good at snorkeling

This is my all time favorite picture from the trip

A sandy shot

Grandma and Kasey walking on Lover's Beach

Jake walked the beach too

Tom stomped around

We thought this spot required a photo

Pretty toes in the sand

Tom and Jake decided to walk in the water

Grandma and Kasey chose the soft sand

And there is our boat

ME!! Just before I carried Kasey to the boat while swimming...fun times...

We paid $2 for this picture with lizards

I paid $1 to take this picture for my brother...a green army man...funny crap

Tom enjoyed the slide. He went 3-4 times. I did it once and then took pictures of everyone else.

Kasey was nervous and went down sitting up

In Puerto Vallarta we hired a driver to take us into the Jungle, and to the zoo, and to the shopping along the beach. Here is the jungle area

We walked around a bit, stopped at a restaurant where soem knick knacks were purchased, and saw a cliff diver.

ALL of us in one picture...fun...And I wore the wrong shoes...lol

Jungle scenery

Hereis the cliff diver doign his 3rd dive, which was blind and scary

The zoo was a hilight for me. We paid $10 each to go in and hodl baby tigers and a lion. They were SO cute and super fiesty. They liked Tom better than me. The zoo wanted $10 each to go in and another $40 to play with the animals. We only wanted to hold the babies, so our driver negotiated it down to $10 for 5 minutes each with ony baby instead of all of them.

I LOVE this picture!!

He was so so so cute, but not as soft as I expected

Jake picked the lion

Grandma also picked the lion

The girls picked the tiger

We were all so excited

Even Stacey got a chance

The Tiger really liked Tom

Such a great opportunity and memory and I am so glad I brought spare batteries because my camera died right when we got to the zoo

The sand structures were different than they were my last 2 trips. There were also many old stores I looked for and they were gone

These balanced rocks were fascinating

This one was fun

Stetson was brave and ate snails

They added new cold fruit soups... cherry, mango, peach and orange. All were very good. Tom still prefers the strawberry , but I think I like the peach best

After getting harrassed for being a chicken, Jake ordered snails to try

Doesn't he look like he is enjoying it?

We told the kids if they got up and danced to some "shake it" song on formal night and did a good job we would buy them a frozen drink.

Jake took the challenge seriously

We all went to the towel folding class. This one was easy. Here is mine:

Jake's

Grandma's

My puppy....this was harder and we all had to get help

Jake's

Tom's

Grandma's

Stacey made a friend while we folded towels

My elephant. The head was SUPER hard and my trunk wouldn't stay bent

Jake's

Grandma's was sad

Tom got his after an extra round of help

Two days worth of towel animals

The candy we all eyed but never bought and you can see our fun soda cups

ICE CREAM...24 hrs a day

Conga line - in our defense it was for a scavenger hunt...

She made it at Camp Carnival

A past guest card and a first time card....and...a medal we won for getting the lowest score in a trivia game

We won the scavenger hunt and got our coveted "ship on a stick"

Somebody enjoyed the chocolate buffet...

A "chocolate swan"

They did a Christmas show on our last night. Stetson is in this group

There is Kasey

You can't tell, but they made it snow that night

More snow that didn't show up in the camera

After the cruise we ahd the limo for 4 hours. We went to see the hollywood sign and Rodeo drive and the walk of fame and ate at Pollo Campero for old time sake. They are a Guatemala based fast food chain that Tom and I have fond memories of.

There it is!!

And yet so far away

Stetson and Grandma

This was the coolest free science museum ever. Thsi exhibit was my favorite and I stayed back to get a picture of it, waiting for all other guests to walk away. It is a periodic table and almost all the squares had a sample or two of the element. There were also buttons to push that lit up special elements, like the ones in our bodies.