What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas

Even though our cruise was over, we still had fun filled adventures ahead with our drive back home. We didn't want to drive the entire way home, so we planned to stay in Vegas for one night. Our plan was to let the kids swim, but the weather was colder than normal, which meant the pool was colder than normal. Don't worry, the kids still swam for a few hours. 

We decided to take the kids to the strip so they could see what it's like. We thought they would have fun at the Bellagio and the Coke and M & M Factory. 

We started out at the Bellagio. The kids thought it was pretty cool to see all the flowers and they were amazed by the size of the hotels. 

Caden loved this chocolate fountain. 

Then we watched the fountains, which were so cool!

After that we walked to the coke factory. 

We decided to try the Around the World Coke tasting. They had 16 different kinds of soda from around the world like Peru, Japan, and Italy. 

Let's just say, some of them did not taste very good. 

But others were great. 

Then we walked next door to the M & M Factory. The kids loved taking pictures with all the characters. 

Look at all of those M & M's... yum!!

We walked past a few more hotels, like the New York, New York, but the kids were getting tired from all the walking, so we headed back to our hotel and went to bed. 

The next morning Makayla somehow convinced me we needed to go to Starbucks so she could get the dragon fruit drink. She is not spoiled at all. 

The one thing I have learned over the years is how much I love to travel with our cute little family. Yes, it takes a lot of work to plan (luckily Tyler takes care of most of that), and it takes a lot of work to pack (I take care of most of that). Sometimes I think I'm going to go crazy with all the fighting along the way (the kids take care of most of that), but the chance to see the world and experience new things makes it all worth it. I love our cute family and I love that we are making so many memories together. 
 

Crusin' Together Part 2

And just like that we were ready to board our ship for our 4 day cruise to Catalina Island and Ensanada, Mexico. 

We got on the ship and immediately started exploring. There were so many fun things to do.  This is the exact same ship Tyler and I went on before we had kids. 

We explored our room. We had two joining rooms, so we put the kids in one room that had two bunk beds and a queen bed, and Tyler and I were in the other room. It was so nice because we felt like we had a lot of room for all 5 of us. 

We spent the rest of the day at the pool. The weather was a little cold, but the pool was nice and heated. 

The kids wasted no time finding the ice cream machine. I swear every time I saw the kids over the next 4 days they had an ice cream in their hands. 

Tyler managed to find a spot to take a nap

Our ship had a ice skating rink, so that night we went to the show. 

Then it was off to our dinner. I lovethese nicer dinners and I love that our kids can try new foods. 

That night was the comedy show and I swear I have never laughed so hard... not at the comedian, but at Caden. When he gets laughing, he can't stop and his laugh is so contagious.  The comedian told some really funny jokes... just ask our kids to tell you about the "Molasses" joke. 

Brynn couldn't hang. She got a quick nap. 

Tyler and I put the kids to bed and then we went to a few of the grown up shows. Our favorite was to go the piano bar and listen to the amazing singer. When we came back to check on the kids they were out. It was a great first day on the ship. 

Day two we were up and ready for some fun. This day was an "at sea" day, so we got to do all the fun things on the ship. Makayla wanted to spend her own money on a Starbucks drink. 

We had fun going miniature golfing. 

Eating more ice cream and pizza

Going rock climbing...all of our kids were really good at rock climbing. They are all so tough. 

Eating more ice cream. Makayla was double fisting this one. 

We also got to go ice skating. 

Some of us had more fun than others because we were required to wear a helmet and this helmet did not "look good"... I'll let you guess which one of us was not happy. 

Every time I go on a cruise I am amazed at how big the world is. The ocean just seems to go on forever. 

Practicing our "Titanic pose" in case there are any icebergs along the Southern coast. 

We loved to go to the trivia shows. We loved the Harry Potter and Disney trivia, although we only got a few questions right. 

That night was our fancy dinner. The kids were not too happy about getting dressed up for dinner, but I loved it. 

This kid is the best. Caden must be going through a growth spurt because he ate so much on our cruise! Every morning for breakfast he had a big plate of bacon. He was always asking when we were going to eat next. I loved on our fancy dinner night he tried calamari and said he really like it until we told him it was squid. 

I made our kids practice good manners during our fancy dinner night. Makayla said she couldn't wait for our cruise to be over so that she could go back to burping and slouching at the table.

This was our server. We did the "my time" dining, so we didn't have a set time we had to go to dinner, which meant we would get different servers each night, but we had this server twice and he was really good. 

The kids loved coming back to the room to see what towel animal we had. 

Day 3 was in Catalina Island. We decided to explore the island in a golf cart which was so much fun!! Catalina is a small island so we were able to drive around the entire island in just a few hours. 

We went up a hill and could see our ship in the water. 

We only spent a few hours on land because the kids wanted to get back on the ship to do all the fun activities. Everybody was starving when we got back so we ate pizza, but our dinner time was just a few hours later and by the time we went to dinner we were all full. Brynnli didn't eat much of her dinner, so the server thought she didn't like it. He ended up bringing out a special ice cream for dessert because ice cream always tastes better than dinner. 

We woke up day 4 in Ensanada, Mexico. 

See what I told you, a big plate of bacon every morning for Caden

The kids didn't want to get off the ship and Tyler and I were perfectly fine with that. Mexico is not the safest to travel to right now, and even though we were in a touristy area, we were fine staying on the ship. It was actually perfect because we got to do all the activities we didn't get to and it was not crowded.  We went mini golfing again. 

And the kids swam in the pool. 

Makayla and Caden got to try the Flow rider which is like surfing. Brynnli was too small for it, so she just watched. The kids said it was fun, but kind of hard to do. 

That night we went to the production dance show, to dinner, and then to the late night party. 

And just like that our cruise came to an end. We had so much fun and made so many memories. We ate way too much ice cream, laughed so hard, and loved being together.