This year Spring break fell on two different weeks for our children now that Taylor is in college. For Taylor's Spring Break he got the house to himself for most of the week.
One of the days he was home I went and volunteered for a day at the Jurupa Mountain Discovery center where my friend works.
I tailed one of the instructors that was doing a presentation for and elementary school field trip.
She did a great job and was fun and informative for the kids.
I even started a rock collection to bring with me when I sub. Last week I taught a class of 5th graders that were learning about minerals and was able to share some of them.
Since the kid's Spring Breaks didn't overlap we didn't make any plans to travel far but we did decide last minute to try a quick 3 day cruise out of Long Beach. Jacob had to miss one day of school so we could get Taylor back before his classes started but he didn't seem to mind.
We lucked out that the weather was nice...but since the pool was filled with ocean water it was cold! (The joys of our Pacific ocean ;)
Hanging out in Long Beach waiting to depart.
We got two rooms so we didn't have to all be jammed into one. That turned out to be a smart move since the entire bathroom with the shower was the size of a handicap porti-potti. I couldn't imagine 5 of us sharing one.
The next morning we woke up in Ensenada. It was a beautiful day again. We ended up booking a tour through the ship that would take us around Ensenada and tell us about it and then end up at a restaurant for a cooking class and then give us time to shop at the end.
When we got to the cooking class we found our own cutting boards and bowl full of vegetables.
Instead of huddling in a kitchen we sat in the dining room of the restaurant that was closed except to our group...
And our chef was there with us giving us instructions. We made Mexican Salsa (or pico de gallo) and then added the avacado to make guacamole. We had two more courses of food that we made (really pretty much just assembled).
Guys off the street kept wandering in and wanting to play mariachi music for us.
Our lunch was us assembling/making our food and then eating it. It was a nice way to have a cooking class and in the end we were all stuffed.
When we left the restaurant to shop we were approached by some people doing a fundraiser to raise money for an animal sanctuary. Basically you could pay to have your picture taken with a lion cub and the money would go to the santuary.
Ashley was in heaven!
This little guy was only 6 weeks old and sleepy. They laid him on Ashley and Taylor held his head as he was nodding off again.
We got a couple of pictures as he dozed away.
When we realized Jacob hadn't gotten to hold him we re-positioned him so he was on Jacob's lap and then he woke up. His crib is right behind us and he kept wanting to climb back in it.
Then they got a bottle out for him and the kids got to feed him.
In heaven!
They would never get to do this in America :)
Shopping was more fun than I thought because the people were friendly and not as pushy and desperate as they seem to be in Tijuana. We had some friendly banter with some of the locals and enjoyed it.
After shopping the kids were ready to go back to the boat but Jeff and I were up for more sight seeing.
Jeff and I went to the little local museum and checked out a historical building,
Then literally walked back across the street to the boat.
We spent time at the pool
(Taylor is sleeping in the background) and ate dinner that night in semi-fancy clothes. The show was good and Jeff and I even watched it twice because the kids didn't see it the first time and we knew they would like it. We had a really good day.
The next day was a bad day. I woke to Ashley knocking on my door. She said her and Jacob had been throwing up all night. (Even more of a reason to have two bathrooms!)
Jacob had a fever and swears it was food poisoning.
Ashley thinks her was sea sickness.
It was rocking pretty bad I was feeling woozy too. I think the reason was we were pretty much standing still in the open ocean. We had the day at sea but in reality it wouldn't take that long to get back to Long Beach if they were going a decent speed. Hence the rocking all day.
Most of the day was spent in bed for most of the family (so much for the all you can eat)
In the afternoon we roused Taylor to come to do a Bingo game.
Just like a lot of things on the boat it was a pretty quick way to lose money.
It didn't help that out of the 3 games the same guy won 2 of them!
The night all the kids went to bed early. By morning we were ready to get off the boat. We decided instead of navigating a buffet with all our luggage we would just hit a Denny's as we drove home.
It was fun to have a quick get away with the family but in the end I think I would reserve cruising for the longer trips and leave the 3 day ones to the Spring breakers and the Party crowd.
The rest of the week we spend closer to home. We spent a day at Huntington beach with Steve and Tahna and their family.
It was cool but it still was nice day to be out at the beach.
When it started getting later we moved up the beach and started a fire.
Hot dogs and chips are always better at the beach.
This was the last time we would get to hang out with JJ before he went up to school!
Jeff sitting on a mini-stool to roast marshmallows.
It was a great day with family at the beach.
Later that week my family met at Claim Jumper to celebrate Virginia's 40th birthday.
Notice the kids in the background taking pictures of me as I'm taking pictures...
And Ashley is taking pictures of me. Ha ha.
Easter Sunday was also General Conference Sunday so we got to hang out at the house and watch conference. We had a full house of family that day.
We had food and of course we had an Easter Egg hunt for all the little kids.
And an Easter egg hunt for all the big kids (they weren't past getting eggs)
There were tickets in some of the eggs and we had a prize table so everyone came away with at least something.
Confetti eggs were in the mix. When little girls get confetti eggs smashed on their head by dad and aren't too happy...mom gets dad back and the girls think its funny.
It was a fun day and great to hang out with family.
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