Cruisin'

A year ago my parents surprised us all with the news that they would be taking me, all my siblings and our spouses on a cruise to celebrate both my parent's milestone birthdays.  There were no excuses- they had given us an entire year to get work off and find babysitters.

Everyone keeps asking how our trip was.  It was SO FUN!  A completely different vacation than Ben and I have ever been on before.  We usually try to pack in as much sight-seeing and experiencing as possible in the time we have to vacation....so spending several days just hanging out in the middle of the ocean was different- but, like I said, so fun. 

The best part was just being with my family.  Its fun to have a chance to talk and be together and not be distracted by the 18 children we have between us all.  There were plenty of families on the ship with their kids- but we were all happy to have left ours at home. (FYI- infants under 6 months old are NOT allowed on a cruise ship.)

In Cabo San Lucas we went kayaking to Lover's Beach and did some snorkeling.  Too bad I don't have a waterproof camera.  It was so fun!

Then we still had a few hours to spare- so we decided to go Parasailing....and got in some bonus whale watching too!

We had a second day in Cabo- Ben went snorkeling again with most everyone else and a few of us went shopping for souvenirs.

In Puerto Vallarta almost all of us took a canopy zipline tour.  There were lots of ziplines, 2 rapels and we even took a mule ride to the top of the mountain.  Pretty adventurous for the Nilson's.

We all tried and tried to think of something special to do for Mom and Dad to say thank you....but nothing we thought of seemed good enough!  We had such a great time!  THANK YOU!