Baja Mexico Cruise!!

Finally got our pictures all ready for the blog! I know there are almost 40 pics here, but we did A LOT of fun things and its hard to leave any memories out! There are more pics that I left out than I put on here.

We have talked about going on a cruise for a few years, and we decided we would do it when Steve graduated with his Masters degree. So although he hadn't quite finished yet (his last class is this week!! yay!) this summer just worked a lot better than any other time.  We had been looking into going Oct 2012, but we booked our cruise last minute just one week in advance of leaving! We went on our cruise in the middle of June, 2012.

Day 1 (Monday): Leaving LA, California

Here we are...boarding the ship! So exciting!

 First day, exploring the ship.

On the deck as the ship departed from LA port.

First dinner on the ship. We sat with the same people for dinner every night and made some fun friends.

Our inside/no windows room. Not a big deal to us though, we got a room in the center of the ship instead of the front or back, and I think that definitely helped prevent motion sickness.

Monday night, a beautiful sunset view from the deck.

We loved eating outside on the deck, which meant we had to deal with the begging sea gulls. :)

Day 2 (Tuesday): Catalina Island

We rode the very first ferry boat at 7am to Catalina to get a run in. It was a beautiful run and such a fun way to explore some of the island before the rest of the tourists got there!

View of some private housing from our run.

After our run, we went back to the ship and got some breakfast.  We headed back to the island again and rented bikes for an hour, so we got to explore the island that way too!

 Fun and pretty day at Catalina Island.

Night 2: Formal dinner night

We dressed up for dinner, and got a little dancing in too. The waiters were so funny and were good at entertaining the guests too!

One of the fun little animals that the room service folded for us. It was fun to come to our room every night and see the things they create.

Day 3 (Wednesday): Ensenanda, Mexico

We got out on another early morning run in Ensenada.  It was good to get exercise in since we were eating the rest of the cruise. :)

Carnival Cruise ship

Walking the streets of Ensenada. They were filled with hundreds and hundreds of shops. We got to work on our bargaining skills this day!

We made a trip to the Blowhole "La Bufadora".  Its a natural hole that water flows into and blows up into the air.  It was pretty cool to see.

Steve was willing to pay 50 cents to go the the bathroom on our blowhole excursion, but I was not. :)

The open market on the blow hole tour was fun to walk down. We bought a couple souvenirs, and also enjoyed authentic Mexican fish tacos and the best churros we have ever eaten! (Sorry Disneyland, your churros just can't compare to these).

One of my personal favorite photos....

need I say more? :)

A little Kroff yoga is a must.

That night we found an empty deck on the ship and had a fun hour taking photos with our camera timer. The only time anyone walked by was in this shot. :)

Supposed to be yoga, but Steve kinda resembles more of a Sailor dancing and spinning me off into a ballerina pose. :)

This shows how much fun we were having. I couldn't stop laughing.

Day 4 (Thursday): Day at sea (so not as many pictures)

We met some fun friends while we were there: Abbie and Preston and Brittany and Tyler. Funny how small of a world it is. They both live in Provo and are finishing/finished with college there (and we have been there done that). It was fun to have a few friends to hang out with and enjoy some shows and games with. Fun times.

We thought these food sculptures were amazing. 

Again, enjoying the delicious food outside. I think one of the most fun things about a cruise is that the food is already paid for, so you can just order and eat whatever you want. Free room service even! Its pretty fun for folks like us who think going out to eat is a treat.

This was our dinner group. They were so much fun and we laughed at random things the entire dinner. Preston and Abbie, us, Gabe and Tera, __ and Deanna. (I can't remember her hubby's name).

We had a blast. We would totally do it again!

P.S. thanks to our great families for watching T.J. and Heber for 5 days and letting us have such a fun getaway!!