Absolutely Awesome Eight: Christmas Family Cruise and more...

WARNING: Very Long Post

Quinn & Elsie - reading in hotel room

It was the perfect year to do something different at Christmas time. Tanner was home from his mission, Brinley has not left yet, we don't worry about Santa anymore, Bob & Janene are still in Hawaii and Kristen & Steve flew to PA. There were zero extended community/family commitments so we took advantage of the opportunity and decided to leave town for Christmas 2018. We flew to Long Beach, CA (thank you Skymiles) the evening of December 22 and boarded a Carnival cruise ship the next day after Ubering to a random sacrament meeting in CA.

Family time

Walking the ramp to the cruise ship.

A beautiful winter day in Long Beach, CA

I stayed with the girls in one cabin and Aaron joined the boys next door in their cabin. The kids loved exploring the ship, Imagination, and indulging in a late lunch once on board. There was plenty of time to get settled before we left the port.

Aaron & Heather - eating lunch

Quinn & Tanner - checking out the scenery

We enjoyed our evening meals together in the nicer dining hall and they lasted nearly 2 hours. Jantzen courageously sampled a variety of fancy items on the menus including octopus, snails, duck. They were not repeats for him. Anna has an interesting 'bucket list' of food items she wants to try and squid was one of them. Not a repeat for her either.

Monday morning we ventured off to explore the quaint Catalina Island. You can see the cruise ship in the distance. Waters are too shallow for it to dock in port so we took a commuter boat ashore.

Shuttling passengers to Catalina Island

All of the really awesome pictures in this post were taken by Brinley. She does a nice job and especially has fun taking pics of landscapes. Much thanks to her!

Catalina Island is part of the state of California. It is 22 miles long and 8 miles across with most of the small population located in the town Avalon. There are very few cars on the island as golf carts are the major mode of transportation. In our limited time on the island, we walked the distance of 'civilization' even without renting a golf cart. We also enjoyed the Climbing Adventure which included obstacle courses with some repelling. It was the perfect activity since we could all participate and the weather was gorgeous (mid-60's).

Waiting at the climbing adventure park.

Somebody didn't want their picture taken?

Walking to the obstacle course.

Waiting to gear up.

Brinley

There's a small practice area where the kids could get used to clipping in before getting up high on the big stuff. There were beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of climbing to accommodate everyone.

Anna

Tanner

Elsie

Quinn

Aaron

Jantzen

Christmas Eve Day on Catalina Island

Later that afternoon, Quinn and Elsie thought the waterslide on the ship was awesome. I was freezing just watching them but glad they were enjoying themselves.

Some of the kids had fun singing and dancing to live Christmas music with a ship full of new friends.

Christmas morning we disembarked in Ensenada, Mexico. The forecast called for rain and it was 100% correct. Aaron and Tanner had rain jackets and we packed along a few umbrellas which were in constant use. We observed that the torrential downpours wreaked havoc on the dirt roads and hillsides.

Singing Feliz Navidad - the real deal!

Brinley, Elsie, Aaron - sitting on the tour bus

Fortunately, we boarded a tour bus in between cloud bursts so we were nice and dry for the 45-minute drive from downtown Ensenada to the coastal area of La Bufadora. We decided to forgo the zip-lining with the wet weather and spent more time in a warm, dry bus. I especially enjoyed listening to the local tour guide and the information he shared about politics (so corrupt!), agriculture and industry, their educational system (he's a former teacher) and so on. Even though his accent was thick, Aaron and I chose to sit up front by him during the return ride so we could ask him additional questions on our own (tour guides only present one-way apparently). We gave him a nice Christmas tip at the end.

The random person that took our pic didn't capture the entire word - ENSENADA

Jantzen - looking down at the marine geyser (blowhole)

According to Wikipedia:

La Bufadora is a marine geyser or blowhole located on the Punta Banda Peninsula in Baja California, Mexico. The spout of sea water is the result of air, trapped in a sea cave, exploding upwards. Air is forced into the cave by wave action and is released when the water recedes. This interaction not only creates the spout, but a thunderous noise as well. The phenomena repeats every minute or so with its volume depending on the strength of the waves.^[1

After checking out the awesome marine geyser, the kids had their first experience with shopping the Mexican markets. We prepped them beforehand so they knew what to expect. And all the rainwater made it a challenge to cross the street or enter shops. A few of the shopkeepers kept cinderblocks handy for just such a challenge.

Tanner - checking out the nearby shops

Notice the stickers on their jackets? The bus driver gave specific stickers to everyone with instructions on which bathroom they could use without having to pay for it. Everyone works a deal.

Navigating the 'river'

Anna - escaping the rain in a little shop.

Each of the kids was allowed to select a souvenir. It was Elsie's dream to have her hair braided. Just before we needed to get back on the tour bus, we found a lady that did braids. Wow - she was SO fast! It made me sad that she was working in her shop on Christmas day with her three kids at home but she was anxious to make some money and we helped her out. After finishing up with the tour, we returned to the cruise ship for a late lunch. The kids had fun with their own photo shoot.

I love these six children of mine!

Christmas night we dressed up for a lovely meal and enjoyed the festivities on board.

Family photo - we purchased.

Our waiters took notice that Tanner, Anna, and Brinley all have December birthdays. Each received a special birthday cake and a group of staff sang a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday" to our kids.

Elsie & Quinn - playing games in the "library"

It was certainly a different way to spend Christmas day but a memorable one for sure. The next day we were at sea so we relaxed and enjoyed some of the on-board activities. Some of us went to the fitness center where it was a unique experience to be on the treadmill with a rocking ship. I brought along motion-sickness medicine and we used it up among those that have a tendency towards this. The waves were rocking and rolling during our day at sea.

We laughed during two evening comedy shows but skipped out on some of the other offerings. There were kid camps for Quinn and Elsie but they never did end up going. The kids often paired up and ventured out together for something. Quinn was particularly fond of the small miniature golf course on the top level and Tanner ran around the 11-lap to the mile track a few times. We girls cheered on a female contestant in the "American Ninja Warrior" show in our room one evening.

Anna poses with the daily towel creation.

Elsie was delighted to make a Christmas Elf - post-Christmas.

The ship was decked out with holiday decor.

There were several BYU fans on board.

We did notice there were several other families that belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on board. They are easy to spot. It was especially fun to run into an old college roommate/teammate and her family - Shawna Halford Cox. She and Roger are the parents of six children also. Their two oldest daughters are recently married so they brought along their spouses. Shawna and I seemed to run into each other every day at breakfast time and we'd catch up for a bit before continuing on with our families. We never did take a photo together - darn!

Also on board was the head basketball coach for MHS with his family. Coach Schwab laughed when he saw Jantzen and said, "I bet you thought you were going to take a little break from basketball for a few days!" - haha! Coincidentally, we booked this particular cruise because it was the only one that worked with the basketball schedule for this season.

Fancy bird ice cream dessert

The variety of desserts was astounding. The soft-serve ice cream machine was available 24-7. I decided not to care if the kids were eating ice cream cones at 10am. It was definitely a 'free for all' when it came to the food/buffet areas. We all decided "Guys Burger Joint" was the absolute best. Seriously. It was the lunch go-to every day for most of us. Personally, not having to cook or clean made this an awesome holiday excursion.

I'm not a red velvet fan but most of the cakes were very tasty.

Gourmet desserts at dinner time.

Brinley had a comical encounter with an intoxicated passenger that gave her all kinds of photography tips. This friendly gal adored Brinley and kept reassuring her that she was doing 'everything right' with the camera. Overall, I didn't notice a 'party scene' though I'm sure it existed. I think the holidays attract families because there were lots of children and teens - family groups everywhere.

Brinley's early morning birthday breakfast on board

The morning of Brinley's 19th birthday (Dec. 27) we were up early so we could get a quick bite before departing the ship at 7am. Our flight home left Long Beach at 10am. Glad we decided to forgo checking out the lights at Temple Square once we landed in SL because we had a long drive home on snowy roads. We had two vehicles (truck left at Murray house) and were happy to have some daylight for the last leg of our travels home.

Chinese take-out - Brinley's birthday dinner tradition

Perfect meal to come home.

We laughed when Brinley opened up her fortune and read, "You will soon be crossing great waters on a fun vacation."

Happy 19th Birthday Brinley - we love you!

Quinn/Joseph with Elsie/Mary and Baby Jesus/snowman?

Angel & Shepherd

Not only did we celebrate Brinley's birthday on December 27, but this also became our "Christmas Eve" celebration complete with the Nativity re-enactment (short on participants for the first time).

It really felt like Christmas Eve with Aaron setting up the traps, the kids all sleeping in the bonus room together, etc. Honestly, it didn't matter what the calendar showed - we felt like it was Christmas morning.