6/4/2023 0 Comments Cruising into Summer VacationWe surprised Tim on the last day of school with a scavenger hunt to a summer vacation. He had to find clues and then put them in order to figure out our destination. This was the final thing once the clues were in order. Day 1: May 29, 2023 We woke up at 3:00 AM to make sure we could be to the airport for our 6:00 AM flight. There were more people than expected at security and we cut it a little close. We like to fly Southwest because we often use our credit card points for flights and it saves us lots of money that way. However, that does mean we have the long walk to get to those terminals at the Salt Lake airport, we made it just in time to walk onto the plane. We had a layover in Phoenix so we grabbed some expensive airport food during the wait. Finally, we made it to Los Angeles and took an Uber to the port. Tim was so tired he immediately fell asleep on the drive. There were some Memorial Day activities going on at the port and we wanted to check out the battleship Iowa, but the line was so long we knew we wouldn't have time before we were supposed to check-in for our cruise. After going through security we were able to get onboard and explore a little bit. We played some games, ate lunch at the Windjammer cafe, got our first of many ice cream cones, and then relaxed by the pool. We had a balcony room and it was really fun to watch us push off from the pier upon departure. We went right past the battleship Iowa so we got to kind of see it anyway. ;) For dining we were seated with a family from Idaho and found out they are also members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was great to get to know them better and build a connection with them. We had delicious food all throughout the cruise. One of the great thing about cruises is the great food and you can try multiple things. Tim was brave and even tried escargot - we told him afterward that they were snails and although initially grossed out he admitted they were good. After dinner we watched an amazing ice skating show and then put Tim to bed. It was so cute to see Devin tuck him in and tell him a bedtime story. Once Tim was put in bed Devin and I explored the ship some more and attended a Memorial Day tribute. We were both so tired from our early morning though that we didn't last too long exploring and went to bed Day 2: May 30, 2023 This was a day at Sea. We spent the day swimming (Tim was brave and did all the water slides. He even ended up loving one and did it about 6 times in a row), eating way too much ice cream, playing ping pong, rock climbing, relaxing (taking naps), and we even saw some whales (the pictures didn't turn out too great because they didn't really fully breach the water, but it was still SO cool to see/know they were there). The attire for the evening was "dress to impress" so we took our time getting all ready and it was fun to take lots of pictures all dressed up. We came back to our room to see some awesome towel decor. Tim didn't even notice the towel "guy" at first and just said "why is the TV on?" and then we noticed and all laughed. Day 3: May 31, 2023 Our first stop was Catalina island. We definitely thought the route was a little weird to have a day at sea before Catalina. If we were planning the cruise we would have done the day at sea and then Ensenada and last Catalina, but I guess either direction from Catalina to LA is really not that far. We took the tender boat out to the island and had lots of fun. For our excursion, we had initially planned just a beach day, but then upon looking up the weather in advance realized we didn't want to do the beach when the high was only going to be around 65 degrees for the day. So we booked a ropes "aerial adventure" for Timothy and planned to just explore on our own when he was done. When we got over to do the ropes course, they measured Tim and said he wasn't tall enough. He was super bummed and Sarah just about burst into tears at not realizing beforehand - although she swears she measured him and he fit the requirements. After that slight setback we decided to rent a golf cart for an hour and just drive around exploring ourselves. We fed some gorgeous fish off the pier and had fun driving around. It ended up being fine that Timothy didn't get to do the shore excursion and we were really grateful that they gave us back the onboard credit we used to book it. After returning to the ship we relaxed and then after dinner we played some lazer tag. It was a ton of fun, but poor Tim was on the loosing team and he definitely didn't like that. Day 4: June 1, 2023 This stop was Ensenada Mexico. We had an excursion booked through a separate company because the one we wanted to book through Royal Caribbean was all sold out. This actually ended up in our favor because it was cheaper and in a smaller group so we could ask more questions of our tour guide and get the "insider scoop" on what to do/not to do. We took a bus out to La Bufadora (the blowhole) which is a natural marine geyser that can shoot water over 60 ft into the air. The blowhole itself was pretty cool to see and the water was the prettiest blue. Getting there was rather interesting. We didn't feel super confident in the bus when we almost got T-boned and when the tour guide said we were on the road of death because every day for the past several years someone has died on that road. Luckily we were safe. To get to the actual geyser you have to walk past tons of little shops with everyone accosting you and trying to get you to buy all their things. We did do a little shopping and even with our haggling the price down we still felt like we overpaid things. Sarah got some leather sandals, Devin got a BYU poncho and backpack, Timothy got a stuffed animal. Upon getting back to the ship we ate some yummy dinner and played mini-golf to wrap up the day. Day 5: June 2, 2023 We arrived back in Los Angeles in the early morning, ate breakfast, and were off the ship close to 8:00 AM. We took an Uber to our hotel room to begin the 2nd part of our vacation.....Universal Studios Hollywood! Devin and Timothy were really excited about the new Super Nintendo World. We went there first and although the park was pretty crowded due to graduation events we still had a great time. We bought Tim a (overpriced) power-up band so he could do all the mini-challenges throughout the land. He loved going around and hitting all the question blocks to earn coins. We rode the Mario Kart ride first because we knew that one would have a long line no matter when we did it. That really is the only ride there right now so it was a little sad there's not too much more. We were happy Tim had the power-up band so he could complete the challenges to earn keys and battle Bowser Jr. It's always a highlight to see your kids so excited about things and Tim definitely was excited. We left the Nintendo world and explored the rest of the park too. We were so exhausted that we (Devin and Sarah) both almost fell asleep on the studio tour. We had been to Universal just a couple years ago so besides the Super Nintendo World there wasn't much else that was a definite "must do." We did several other rides before returning to Super Nintendo World to end the day there. Day 6: June 3, 2023
This was just a travel day. We had a direct flight back to Salt Lake which we were really glad about. This time we got to the airport with plenty of time...maybe even too much time because security was surprisingly not crowded at all. As we were in the air, Devin and I noticed we seemed to be making more turns that necessary - almost as if we were going in circles. A short little bit later the pilot got on and said that due to weather in Salt Lake we needed to reroute to Boise to get gas and then we'd hopefully be back on our way to Salt Lake soon. We thought this odd because looking out the window we didn't notice anything bad about the clouds. We landed in Boise and luckily the stop wasn't too long, but still we were delayed several hours longer than anticipated. Alan picked us up from the airport and we treated him to Leatherby's as a thank you for waiting for us for the extra 2 hours while we had our detour. We learned of the golf-ball sized hail that was happening while we were in the air and we were so grateful for our safety even though it meant extra time. We love our family so much and are so grateful for their love and support.
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June 2023
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