MY WEEK IN PHOTOS: APRIL 10–17, 2017!

MY WEEK IN PHOTOS: APRIL 10–17, 2017!

A week on a family cruise down the Mexican Riviera with stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. A little cruise life, pictures of Mexico, swimming in the ocean, fresh oysters, and settling back in afterwards with family and friends to celebrate Easter.

Enjoy!

Good morning! Another day at sea. I woke up and tried to get over to the “no kids” pool as early as possible to get a lounge chair but at around 9am there weren’t chairs left. No people. But they came early to leave their stuff to “claim” spots. CUT. THROAT.
Eventually moved around a few chairs till we had two together. Rewarded myself with a mimosa.

View of the ocean
Lunch buffet chaos

Free slot tournament time!
I have never done a slot tournament, but you all have the same amount of time to just bash the “spin” button as quickly as possible and hope you have the highest total by the end.

Jeopardy trivia!

Went to the steakhouse for a fancy dinner (while it was formal night around the ship). We didn’t dress up, but boy did Zeen order the friggin’ biggest steak I’ve ever seen.

Amazed
We shared the mussel pot too cuz it’s a cruise
Mini-sampling desserts

Good morning!
Land!

We made it to Puerto Vallarta
We got to leave the boat! Hooray!

We signed up to visit the south part of the bay, to go snorkeling and kayaking and see a more typical fishing village.

So sunny and the sea spray felt so nice

Made it to our first stop to try kayaking and snorkeling.

It was jellyfish season and there were little floating jellies everywhere
Underwater pic attempt

Lunch on board
Then we arrived at Yelapa, the fishing village

We were guided through the streets of Yelapa before being led out to the beach where there was more of a resort style set up going on.

We spent an hour or so on the sand. Zach went swimming again, I read.

Cut to: the next morning!

We arrived in Mazatlan and hopped on a guided tour around the city

Lighthouse in the distance

Beautiful white rocks…covered in seagull crap

Danger danger

Cathedral of MazatlanCathedral of Mazatlan!

This beautiful cathedral basilica has an eclectic mix of architectural styles.

Then the bus stopped and we walked around the “Golden Zone”—which was mostly shops

Coconut-shaped baskets

Walked through a beach passage and found some fresh oysters being sold on the beach. Earlier on the tour the guide pointed out some oyster divers, and she mentioned that folks dive for oysters in the morning and shuck oysters on the beach in the day.

Also got a coconut!

Mmmm

Mazatlan’s Pino Suarez Market

Stopped for tacos in the market

Sweaty

We decided to walk back around and find our way to the boat

Some sights and patterns as we walked around

The homes were all different colors and textures the further away from the city center that we wandered.

We were parched and thought “Oh, a beer sounds nice.” We came across the only micro-brewery in Mazatlan by accident, and it was such a happy surprise.

Made some friends with some Ex-Pats from US, talked with the brewery owner and master brewer. Tres Islas!

Souvenir

Eventually found our way back on board

Went up to the upper decks.

Looked back over the city. Tried to point to where the brewery is from the cruise ship hah, but I definitely want to come back to Mazatlan someday.

More ship activities…following my mom around the casino aha and playing Monopoly Deal with Zeen.

Crab dinner!

Sunset views from the front of the boat

SUPER windy

But very atmospheric

More Monopoly Deal…I can’t win!

More game show activities

Good morning! This day we reached Cabo San Lucas.

We left pretty early to get into town

So beautiful—the arch of Cabo!

Rocks!

Husky!

Part of the tour we took involved a few hours at a beach club where you got 2 free margaritas and tacos.

The water was so blue and *clear!* So different from Los Angeles.

The water was actually CLEAR AND WARM!

Felt so nice to swim around and not be scared that I couldn’t see what was beneath my feet

Back on board with my bingo stamper ahah

Escargot!

Extra fancy-seeming menu in the dining room tonight

Looks like there will be a balloon drop

Went to see a magic/musical show…it was…somethin’

Caught the balloon drop moment

Grumpy on the second to last night

The next day we WON at trivia and got these giant foam hands ahha

We attempted to walk around the promenade deck, but it was way too windy

Gym instead

So happy I downloaded season 2 and 3 of Great British Baking Show to watch at the gym. So delightful.

Sat by the pool again for a bit

Then joined my parents for bingo and happy hour

Can’t stop me from ordering seafood

A Baked Alaska cross-section

Then we packed up to leave our luggage out because the next morning we had to disembark.

Last moments in our room! Bye room!

And just like that we’re back to LA

What a wonderful few days with my family. The highlight was definitely wandering around Mazatlan.

Back home for a second

Then went to pick up the doggos from Kiki and Ders. Brought her some simple flowers as a thank you.

They cooked me breakfast—I’m so spoiled

The boys are back

Got these in Cabo!

Played the Sims 4 a bit…but immediately my character died a fire. So.

Decided to hard boil my eggs for the morning (Easter!)

In the morning I’ll have to make deviled eggs.

Dungeons and Dragons time!

Starting a new book

And a new character in our squad

Good morning! Happy Easter.

Got to my cousin’s house early so I could hide the eggs I prepared.

Ehehehe.

Burgers!

Cutie chalk drawings

Easter egg hunt success!

She won the giant bunny and shared it with everybody after cutting it directly out of the box

Hangin’ with family

Stopped home to see Tubby

Then looked at exterior colors again with my parents.

But the night was not over! Zeen’s friend from high school was in town, and we went out to eat.

Beer floats

Katsu pizza

“420 fries”

And somehow had room for Thai Iced Tea icecream dessert….

Big week *whew*.

Much love friends.