Christmas Cruise!!! YAHOO!!!

Chris and I have been waiting many years to start this new Christmas tradition.  We were waiting for our youngest to be older, out of diapers/strollers, and a good swimmer--and that day has arrived!!!

We are so over the toy thing in our home.  I greatly dislike spending money on things that the kids forget about within a week.  I look at all the toys and video games in the stores and there is seriously not a single thing I want my kids to have.

Our kids LOVE looking through their scrapbooks of all the trips we have taken over the years.  We LOVE talking about, "Remember when we did _____________?"  Memories last WAY longer than toys so we are out to make LOTS more of those!

Chris and I just LOVED our cruise this past summer and wanted to see if our kids would like it too.  We opted for a shorter--4 day--cruise just to test it out.  We booked our Ensenada, Mexico cruise as soon as we got home from our Canada/New England cruise and counted down the days!  It finally came and it was AWESOME!!!

Our "Elf on the Shelf" (Buddy) was not going to be left out of this fun time so he found his way to our cabin on our boat!

The kids were so excited and amazed to see Buddy in our room!!!

We promised our kids that for the entire cruise they could eat whatever they wanted and whenever they wanted.  They had ice cream with every meal!!!  WOOHOO!!!

Ice cream 24 hours a day!!!

All passengers are required to head to their assigned "Muster Station" to learn what to do in case of emergency.  This freaked Max!  He was just sure we were going to hit an ice berg!

Waiting at our "Muster Station"

We ate every night in our assigned dining hall.  It was so much fun teaching our kids some "etiquette."  It was pretty formal most nights but Max can make anything fun:

We had the same dinner staff every night and I LOVED this because they learned all of my kids names and they always asked them about their days.  Every night the wait staff did a little performance for us.  They asked Ethan to join them on the first night and he got right up and danced without any hesitation!  He shocked the heck out of me!!!  And of course I didn't have my good video recorder on me so this was the best video I could get with my camera!!!  Go Ethan!  Way to rock the boat!!!

Jose, Ethan, & Duro rocking the boat!!!

And every night in our cabins we had a new "towel animal."  The kids LOVED this and couldn't wait to see what animal was in our room every night!!!

We had to rent 2 cabins and so we decided to have a "boy" cabin and a "girl" cabin.  So Carlie and I took the regular beds and Tatum took the bunk!  Max took the bunk in the "boy" cabin:) 

Tatum on her fold down bunk:)

So it was too cold for me to go swimming but that didn't stop these guys!!!  Chris was the "fun" parent that went in the water with them and I was just the photographer.  Cute kids in their cute new Christmas swim suits (REALLY good time to buy swimsuits online--BTW--super cheap:)

There was a massive water slide on our ship too.  The kids LOVED this!

The spiral stair case that lead to the slide!

The gianormous/fantastic slide!!!

First the slide, then the HOT TUB!!!

Catching some rays:)

We got off the boat for a day in Ensenada, Mexico.  You can buy "excursions" from the boat that will take you all over the city OR you can take your chance with a local taxi:)  We took our chance with a local and had a FABULOUS time--seriously laughing the whole way:)  I am pretty sure the mini-van we took was held together by only tape.  And our driver got us to the beach/Bufadora Blowhole in about 30 minutes--it is supposedly a 50 minute trip.  Our driver knew every back road/pot hole/road block in the city and drove really really fast:)  By some miracle, we all had working seat belts:)  But when you can pay $10 per person round trip verses $28 per person round trip, I would do it again!

All the seats were like this--there was tape holding the sliding door closed too!

  

Breath-taking views!

"La Bufadora"--the famous blow hole!

I did catch a video of the Blow Hole in action:

YAY!  I remembered to get myself in a picture!!!

Now I know that not everyone likes cruises but the Meekers LOVE LOVE LOVE them!  I seriously cannot recommend them enough!  On our boat they had places for our kids to go--Camp Carnival.  So Tatum got to go with the 6-8 year old and play games/make lots of fun crafts/learn songs to be in the Christmas show on the ship:)  Max & Ethan got to go with the 9-11 year olds and do older kid stuff like scavenger hunts and video games.  Carlie had her own "teen hang out."  They all had SOO much fun in their camps and made so many new friends.  Carlie texts/face times her cruise friends every day. 

**Funny Side Story**There were activities for the teens until 12:30 am every day.  So I "assumed" that Carlie would come right back to the cabin afterwards.  She did the first night, but the second night, I woke up at 1:30 am to see her bed EMPTY!!!  WHAT THE HECK?!  Of course I can't just call her because our cell phones don't get service out on sea!  So I jumped out of bed, threw on my glasses and a coat and set about looking for my missing 13 year old (in my PJs)!  The boat is the size of a small city and I can't think very clearly at 1:30 am so I am FREAKING out just a bit to say the least!  So coming up with no ideas of my own, I go to guest services and ask, "Where do I start looking for my missing 13 year old???"  "Go to the Lido Deck (where the food is 24 hours)."  And there she was, eating ice cream!  BUSTED!  I did my best not to make a scene but calmly told her it was time to come back to the cabin!!!  I told her if she did that again, I would NOT be as nice again AND I would leave my mouth guard in to embarrass her even more!!!  Let's just say, she was on time the next night:)  Oh the joys of teens and it's only just beginning:)

Chris and I got to enjoy time on the ship going to the shows, watching movies, reading, and hanging out!  So we were entertained, our kids were entrained, and everyone was fed well--maybe a little too well:)  Seriously, what more could you ask for???  Well, the kids were SUPER sad that the cruise was ONLY 4 days!  We all had such a fantastic time and no one got sea sick!  Max even said, "The cruise was SOO MUCH FUN!  I don't know why I was so worried that we would crash!"  So we have already picked our next cruise for next year--and it will be a full 7 days:)  WE LOVE CRUISING!!!