Kelly Cruise 2009!

Well we officially disembarked our cruise ship we called home for eight glorious days, exactly one week ago today. Though I had a fantastic time and would love to share all my wonderful memories and pictures with you all, writing this post has been something I have not been looking forward to and have been putting off. There is just so much to write about and so much to say! So I will try to keep it somewhat short because it is probably not nearly as fun to hear about, as it was to actually experience it.

Above is a slide show of a select few of photos chosen from the over 1100 we actually took with Molly, Bonnie, and Dad's cameras. My sad news is. . . I lost my brand new camera which I loved and just got for Christmas, on our second day on the boat. I guess it is better than losing it on the last day of the trip because this way I didn't lose too many pictures. I was however, the only one that took pictures during the emergency drill they always have the first day of sea. It's when they make you all put on your life jackets and meet at your muster stations to practice in case we were to evacuate the ship while at sea. . . scary thought huh? So I put on the life jacket later and got a photo. . . just wasn't the same though. But my family was good about capturing all other events after that!

So basically we boarded in San Diego on Friday and took off in the early evening. We spent Saturday and Sunday on sea. One might assume that the days on sea might be the boring days, but those are actually some of the best. They have a buffet open almost all the time, a pizza place, a hot dog and hamburger stand, ice cream machines, and anything else you might desire through room service. . . all just absolutely free. I definitely did my share of eating! Besides food. . . they had several swimming pools, a water slide, a mini golf course, a gym, and random events, shows, and classes going on all day long. Me and my sisters and Bryan tried to be good about going running each day and mom introduced us to the steam room which we went in several times after that. At the kids center they even had a build a bear thing going on, and lucky enough, I was able to make one even though I am not a kid. I built a moose fondly known as "CannonBall."
The next three days we hit Mexico. The city names can be found on Molly's blog because I cant remember how to say them, let alone spell them! We hit a beach, toured some cities, and did a little touristy shopping. Frankly, Mexico somewhat scares me, so it was always some what of a relief to reboard the ship.
Then the last two days were once again spent on sea. There were thirteen of us all together and it is very rare that our family is all together on one day, let alone a whole entire week so it was lots of fun seeing everyone and being able to hang out with them so much.

A few random highlights that we probably will never forget. . .
1. The heinous couple who stole two of our towels. Scott seriously almost got in a fight with the horrid man and somehow Bonnie stopped him. After that however, the man got evil looks from the whole family whenever he walked by.
2. All of us "kids" scaring all the old people out of the pool with our cannonballs. The ship was seriously filled with old people, that wasn't going to stop us from making a ruckus in the pool. . . later on at one of the bars (getting cherry coke of course) Bon was asked if she was the "cannonball girl."
3. At night they set up a bunch of places where you can go get your picture taken and buy the photos later on. You would walk by and they would ask if you wanted your photo, which of course you didnt, but near the end, we started saying yes. Me, Molly, Bryan, and Aubrey got some random pictures taken. They were these nice, posed pictures, but why in the world would we buy them- they are like only random sporadic people in our family. Later, me, Bonnie, Molly, and Cayd got some more done. They were fun to look at later, but if only the poor photographers knew that there was no way we were even considering buying them before we even saw them.
4. The whole family sharing two bingo cards while an old woman hounded Scott when she overheard him (sarcastically) tell us he had washed his hands in the toilet. She would not lay off of California people after that. . .
5. All you can eat/drink Cherry coke, chocolate milk, and french fries. Enough said.

Anywho. . . we all had a great time. We have the best family and the best parents for taking us on such a great vacation. . . even after we are all grown ups! Can't wait for the next one dad!!