[Feb 15-23] Mexican Riviera Cruise!

This past President's week, we went on a cruise to Mexico for 8 days!  Ashley has off that week from school so we wanted to take advantage of the off-season vacation week.

It was a ton of fun and super relaxing...we were definitely ready to get back to our routine and our beds!

Here we are leaving San Diego, Ashley is already enjoying the ice cream which was available 24/7!

We decided to go with an inside cabin since it was extremely cheap and we weren't really in our room too often.  It was actually better than I expected!

We went on Carnival Cruise Lines since it was really family-friendly and a lot less expensive than other cruiselines.  Overall, not too bad, especially given the price!  They had mini-golf and a waterslide!

We went to Acapulco, Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, and Manzanillo...not the best ports but we weren't really interested in going offshore anyway.  Port days were spent walking for a couple of hours to see the scenery, then back to the boat for lunch, ice cream, swimming, and the waterslide!

We did go snorkeling in Acapulco, it was Ashley's first time and she was a little scared at first.  The best part was when one of the crew members caught a blowfish in his hand and made it puff up and he put a starfish on top of his head!

Ashley loved the food! She ate lobster tail, tons of shrimp, escargot (see above), and tons of dessert. 

 Her favorite was the chocolate melting cake!

The best part was that they had a kids club that Ashley loved! She asked to go all the time which gave me plenty of time to read books and relax :)  We also played tons of card games (Phase 10 and Uno) together and enjoyed the night shows.

Here is Ashley with the Carnival mascot "Fun Ship Freddie". The tip of his head matches the smoke-stack on the ship.

Our ship, the "Carnival Spirit".

Plus every night they gave us towel animals (which Ashley named of course, above is Ellie the Elephant) and chocolates.  A perfect ending to a fun day! 

It was an awesome vacation and while I probably won't be ready to go on another cruise for a few years (due to the extreme over-eating :) ), I definitely can't wait to go again.  For those of you who want a true vacation that doesn't include cleaning up after your kids, entertaining them, and cooking for the family, it's the dream vacation!