Puerta Villarta, Cont...

This was our view from our stateroom window as we pulled into Puerta Villarta @ 7am...Walmart & Sam's Club. You cannot believe how excited our girls were to see the "Kite Store!" in Mexico.

Our Pirate Boat excursion was @ 8:15am, so we hustled to breakfast (I needed my 4 cartons on milk, despite what my clothes were telling me) and we quickly exited the ship. As soon we left the security detail, we were bombarded by booths and vendors, which were booths lined up on either side of the exit, and they tried anything to get you to buy their shiz. We declined everything, and while we waited for our Pirate Boat wrist-bands, Becca & Mary-Gail petted this little donkey. The owner suggested we get a picture with them, which we did of course, and it was then that I learned he wanted $5.00 per picture. No. I'll pay $1.00 per picture, thank you very much. (Truth be told, I would have paid more, especially since I absolutely adore Mary-Gail's picture - she is definitely an animal lover - but I don't like being taken).

The owner said the $ would go towards the donkey shelter he ran...whatev

Lovey & the girls @ 8:30 am w/the Pirate ship and "the big boat" in the background

We boarded the Pirate Ship, then headed downstairs to the hold to have breakfast. The girls topped off with a Mexican-brand/style of Coco Krispies cereal. The milk label read "no refrigeration required" (I deciphered that from the limited amount of Spanish I retained from high school) so of course I had to taste the milk. I was evaporated milk! P.S. I l o v e evaporated milk. It was delish!

Aboard the Pirate Ship - just after they fed us breakfast

Loving Mary-Gail's furrowed brow. This is her "seriously?" look

And I love Mary-Gail's profile. This is her "I'm too sexy for your picture" look-away-look

(Puerta Villarta skyline as we sail to the beach)

OK, I guess I do have more than one complete family photos of us...

Mary-Gail loves to pretend she's dead. Tongue out and everything - awesome

Becca was laughing too much to actually be dead

Two pickers: Becca picking the skin on her top lip,

and Mary-Gail picking the sore under her nose

"But, Dad - I need to get in there! Pleeeeze!"

The Pirate Ship

The Pirate Ship dropped us off at the beach for a couple hours of play time. We body-surfed, explored, kayaked, and dug for buried treasure. Then we loaded back up on the speed boats and boarded the pirate ship for our return voyage home.

Poor Daddy is stuck in the stocks

and so are Mary-Gail & Becca


Mary-Gail gave up the ghost...

...literally

The Pirate cast did one final song & dance

We finally got back to the dock (the excursion was like 6 hours long!). We headed back to our room, had a little siesta, and then I decided we should go visit the Walmart. Becca & Mary-Gail weren't interested (they wanted to go swimming), but when we bribed them with gum, they quickly agreed. Becca became the line-leader and marched us through security and off the big boat. I loved this tree, so I begged Becca & Mary-Gail to "pretty-please stand in front of it so I can get a picture..."

speed limit sign on our walk to Walmart


hah - decipher this if you can


Cactus plant. I seriously wanted to buy a bag, or even just one leaf, but the big boat has silly rules about what you can bring back onto the ship. I didn't want it to be confiscated...

I love license plates. So just like any other vacation we go on, I have to snap a picture of a few.

Looking at the big boat from the Walmart parking lot

Thursday night we decided we'd go to the sit down dinning again. The previous nights we had just eaten at the buffet, but Wednesday we wanted a change and had a great experience @ the sit down dinning, that we opted for it again Thursday night. Our waiter, Mr. Edwin, was in love with the girls. He said he was a twin also -identical - and that in late October he will be transferring ships to work on the same ship as his twin brother. Mr. Edwin was really excited because he would also be able to be with his wife. Their contracts got mixed up and Edwin was assigned to this ship, while his wife and brother were assigned to a different ship. I asked Mr. Edwin what his wife did on the other ship, and he said she was a cabin attendant. Oy, vey - I understood that job very well from my days in Alaska as house keeping. We once cleaned a small, very small cruise ship and I hated it! (I didn't share any of that with Mr. Edwin, though).

Mr. Edwin brought the girls a special dessert: a brownie, vanilla ice cream, cookie "sandwich."

Thurs, Sept 2nd - Puerta Villarta

A little piece of heaven in Puerta Villarta...

Oops, wrong picture. Here's what I meant by "a little piece of heaven":

Private homes; private beach; warm ocean water; cold, fresh, mountain water

Lovey caught* this iguana and the girls were mesmerized

Mary-Gail & Becca raced across the cold, fresh mountain run-off probably 30 times...

...and then they discovered the butterflies

* OK, so Lovey didn't really catch the Iguana. Someone approached me with it and wanted me to hold it, to which I flatly refused. But Lovey held it and the girls were completely mesmerized. And then I learned that the man wanted $20 dollars for the pictures I took. Forget it!

More Puerta Villarta pictures to follow. We booked a "Pirate Boat" excursion which dropped us off at this paradise location. Mary-Gail & I went kayaking (Lovey's back cramped up on him and Becca & they had to return prematurely), but mostly we body surfed the waves and went exploring. More pics to come - like 30 more pics!

Wednesday, Sept 1st - Mazatlan

Becca & Mary-Gail at breakfast: two crazy, giggly, happy girls

Our little alarm clock, AKA "Becca," woke up right @ 7 am, and guess what the first words out of her mouth were? "Daddy, I wanna go swimming." That's what she said Monday and Tuesday mornings @ 7 am, so why would today, Wednesday morning be any different. I convinced Becca (again) that we needed energy to go swimming and we get our energy from food (and Vitamin D milk). We needed to have some breakfast first, and then we'd go swimming.

At 8:15 am we were back in our room, and 3 seconds later Becca was stripped down naked ready to put her swim suit on. I told Lovey that all we had to do was to mention the word "swim" and, poof! Becca would be naked. Sadly our swimming was delayed for 3 minutes as Becca had to sit in the corner for being naughty. Three minutes to a little girl waiting to go swimming is an e t e r n i t y.

Smiles again and we're off to the pool!

Yes...the clock in the distance is correct. It's 9 am

Lovey & the girls hanging out in the hot tub. Becca loved the hot tub; she didn't need her float because she could stand up and walk around. She felt very grown-up.

Lovey & I had no desire to get off the boat in Mazatlan, and that suited the girls just fine too since they only wanted to swim and eat ice cream all day (there was a self-serve frozen yogurt station just to the far right of this picture, open from 7 am - 11 pm. Perfect!) The pool was vacant. Perhaps it was because we were in port again, or maybe it was because it was 9 am and no one wanted to swim at 9? To answer that in Lovey's terms, "Don't know; don't care."

After Mary-Gail tested the water, she turned into the fish she was

We got a frozen yogurt cone, headed back to our room, changed clothes, and headed to lunch. Cruise = eating, remember?

A few pictures more, and then it was "siesta time" for a few hours

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Becca got a bloody nose. Mary-Gail accused her of picking her nose (which is how Mary-Gail always gets her bloody noses) but Becca got a bloody nose from the change in temperature: leaving the air conditioned inside of the boat to the hot, humid, muggy outside temperature. Crazy right? I thought so too. Lovey said he would always get bloody noses as a child; I never did, but I sure know how to stop them - with a "Pappy Plug." My Dadda gets bloody noses all the time and he stops them with a plug of tissue. So that's what we did to Becca's bloody nose, and as soon as I told her it was a "Pappy Plug," she let me twist it on in.

So humid outside - my camera lens kept fogging; Becca and her "Pappy-Plug"

We went through 2 plugs before her nose stopped bleeding

Becca & Mary-Gail with their "Great Samboni," their Daddy

This is what my belly and hips looks like now - after all that Vitamin D milk!

I love furniture like this - reminds me of my Great-Grandma Ruth & Grandma LaRae's furniture

Becca & Mary-Gail chased each other up and down the deck, and up and down the deck again

Becca holding on tightly to Mary-Gail - "I thought I lost you!"

I love this picture: Becca giving Mary-Gail a kiss on her nose

That's what Lovey does to me!

Hello cuties!

It was 6:30 pm, and time to depart from Mazatlan. We went to the Helicopter pad and watched the Captain maneuver the big boat out of the Mazatlan port. He had to turn the ship around 180 degrees and, according to the Captain, only had a 60-foot clearance on either side. Watching the big boat turn in such a small area reminded me of Jack & Carol's experience on their cruise to the Panama Canal. Carol said their cruise ship entered the Panama Canal's locks and had only inches to spare. Amazing.

Hanging out on the helicopter pad

Family photo - the only one that has all of us in it from our week long vacation!

Lovey's little baby

A "Mexican Monkey"

A present from our room attendant, Mr. Lukmann

8:52 pm

Becca & Mary-Gail waiting for Daddy to get his swim suit on. Daddy promised his girls he'd go swimming again, and they held him to it!