Cruisin in Cali

Oh my!  We had such a fun time in California during fall break this year.  We've done SoCal so many times, but this time we did things we've never done before.  We did a quick Baha cruise, then spent a few days afterwards taking in Universal Studios, the beach, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, La Brea Tar pits, and more. It was seriously so much fun.

Our flight arrived in San Diego, and we headed straight to Seal beach for some ocean fun.  What was supposed to be a quick ocean moment ended up with all of us being a wet, sandy mess (especially Beckett and Dawson- then me after trying to wash him off!). After that it was time to hit the hotel pool, order pizza and crash.  On the way to the cruise terminal (sort of a drive), we listened to General Conference, which was nice. Just as we were about to check in, my parents happened to walk up right behind us.  We were so surprised!  We hadn't talked to them at all yet and weren't even sure their flight had landed, and then ta-da, there they were.  It was a great surprise!

The first 4 days we spent on a Carnival cruise ship, hitting Catalina Island and Ensanada, Mexico.  My parents joined us for the cruise which made it extra fun. The kids were in awe of it all...the big boat, the waterslides, which everyone went on, even Dawson who braved the biggest slide they had! They loved our little bunk room (we all crashed hard every night), the shows and music, and especially the food.  So much food.  Asher ordered a steak every night he could at the restaurant.  The fancy dessert tables were fun too, and they loved that they could try one of everything if they wanted (we did tell them to only take what they would eat!).  A favorite food story:  Asher ordered strawberry bisque one night.  They brought him a bowl with a tiny jello-ish circle in it.  He just looked at my, baffled, eyes wide and wondering if maybe this is actually what strawberry bisque looks like.  But no.  The server came back with the soup and poured it on top of the fancy little accoutrement that then floated in the soup.  Hilarious.  We laughed pretty hard at that one.

The first port was Catalina, and we took everyone's advice by getting our on the earliest tender and rented a couple of golf carts and drove all over quaint Avalon. You can never go wrong with a golf cart!   At the top was a fantastic lookout point and as we drove around we found that it was beautiful, but peculiar.  The boys were wishing for some remains of the Cubs' Spring Training years there, and I was wishing that we could see the buffalo that were released on the other side of the island from a movie filming years back.  The beach area was cute with shops everywhere and the weather that day was perfect.  My mom and I were able to take a  stroll down to the Old Casino at the edge of the beach and back. We had a fun day, and it was a cute little island.  Beckett was excited to go to the kids group for his age, and Asher was dying to roam the ship.  For dinner, we dressed up and went to the restaurant for way too much food.

The next port was Ensenada, Mexico.  There was a caution given upon disembarkation that we needed to be careful and that it was somewhat advised NOT to get off, but we figured we'd be safe and do our best.  We hired a local driver- Antonio, who was an extremely kind, older man with very limited English but did a great job getting us where we wanted to go. Corey's limited Spanish (making it work with his Portuguese speaking background), and it was entertaining watching their attempt at communication. We went to the Bufadora, a cool geyser that regularly erupts from the ocean and crashes on the rocks above.  There were shops lining the road winding down to it, so we walked through them and gave the kids some spending money to find their own Mexican treasures, with our help.  We helped them find and bargain a little and each one found something fun. Dawson could not for the life of him decide on what he wanted, even though shop owner after shop owner placed every imaginable wooden toy and trinket into his little hands.  He finally ended up with a wooden shark.  Beckett wanted everything then found the crystal necklace of his dreams and Asher negotiated for a cool Mexican soccer jersey.  Each kid's approach was so different!  I even ended up with a pretty little ceramic dish, which I love. After that we went to....wait for it....Costco!  I know, I know... what!? One reason was we figured the food was safe to eat, another was that my Dad is a Costco maniac, and another is that it's just fun to go to Costco in other places, oh...and the free bathroom.  The mango smoothies were a favorite, we liked the El Pastor pizza, and the world's largest bag of Chupa Chups we purchased wasn't bad either.  Next stop was Playa Hermosa, a beach near the cruise ship docks.  The beach itself was nice, and the boys found tons of tiny shells, handfuls of baby sand dollars (the only thing Asher really wanted was to come home with ONE, seriously), hermit crabs (no, I didn't let Beckett bring them with us after he begged), and there was lots of wave jumping but it was uncomfortably empty.  Corey was on edge the whole time and watching our things and us.  We headed back to the ship, thanked our driver and went back on board.  That evening had turned into a foggy one and was very pretty against the hills of the city.

The ship itself had lots to do for our family, besides eating of course!  Being October, it was decorated for Halloween and there was trick or treating and a costume contest.  We packed super, minimal space taking pirate gear.  Dawson ended up winning best costume...he looked so cute and I had him on my shoulders so he was easily seen, and our family won best family costumes!  Corey mocked me for bringing anything at all, and then when they handed us the plastic pumpkin trophies, he laughed and mocked a little more at my prize winning pride.  We won!!!  Hahaha. All of the shows were fun for the boys too and they liked a lot of the music. We all went down the slides (only once for me, thanks, and brrr), and the boys somehow continued to race down the slides every chance they had, despite the weather being nice but not especially warm.  They tried their hand at shuffle board, spent lots of time in the hot tubs, and played lots of mini golf.  Dawson ended up with a few holes in one, sneaking in between other families golfing at the same time. Little sneak. The cruise was a solid few days of fun for everyone.

After the ship, my parents headed home to Utah and we braved the drive to our hotel, which was across from the Hollywood Bowl and of course there was a sold out concert that night.  We agreed that driving around in Southern California is absolutely ridiculous.  Worst thing ever. We did finally make it and enjoyed exploring a bit.  Universal Studios was fun.  I thought the best things there were the 'back lot ride' and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which was AMAZING.  Asher, Beckett and myself are all big fans and loved the authenticity.  The rest of the rides were just okay, and in my opinion they use too many screens which can be nauseating now that I'm not 20 anymore, but we loved the details they put into some of the areas.  Oh, and frozen Butter Beer.  YUMMMMM.  We have since made our own at home and it was also great.  The animatronic dinosaurs for Jurassic World were incredible, and the newly opened ride was great too, and after near devastation, a ride refusal and two times being measured(he hadn't stood up straight and we didn't know how strict it was!), they let Dawson ride.  We all loved the dinosaurs and they could not have looked more real.  The shows were totally worth it.  We saw a wand ceremony, the pet show, the stunt show, and the Waterworld show.  All very cool. After some Smash Burgers and catching an Uber back to the hotel, Dawson donned his pajamas and put himself to bed while the rest of us found some candy in the lobby and watched Hotel Transylvania.  One note to self to remember for future trips...we gave each kiddo a set amount of spending money, and they were ALL very careful with what they bought.  It was so much better than being asked for everything in sight.  Definitely the way to go.

The morning of our last day, we walked a couple of blocks to the Walk of Fame and Chinese Theater.  Honestly, it wasn't overwhelmingly awesome, but now I've seen it and can check it off. The homeless situation there was intense, so we kept the kids close, saw lots, and tried to explain later.  It was eye opening for sure, and so sad.  Afterwards, we went to the La Brea Tar Pit museum, which displays an insane amount of bones and remnants from prehistoric tar pits that are still on the property.  It was really interesting, and the boys liked it too.  We took a quick (or not so quick because it's California and you can't go anywhere quick) cruise down Rodeo Drive, and Beckett drooled over the many exotic cars.

Our flights were out of San Diego, so we were slammed with the traffic of getting back down the coast.  At least some of it was along the ocean so the views were beautiful.  Despite the traffic, we loved our family trip, my parents made it extra fun and memorable, we enjoyed fish tacos, cruise ship fun, Universal Studios magic, and just being together!  Thanks again California.