A few weeks ago the Hayes family headed down to Mexico for a little vacation! This was Tyler's first time on an airplane (Alex's fourth)! If you've traveled by air in the last few years, you know how difficult it can be for even the experienced traveler. Well, try it with two young children...
Flying from Columbus to Los Angeles is an all day event (especially when you go through Chicago and miss your connection). We arrived at our hotel in San Pedro around 9 pm local time (midnight when you take into account the three hour time difference). Needless to say, the kids were tired, cranky and falling asleep in the hotel lobby.
The next morning was a beautiful California day. Clear blue sky and bright warm sun. It was a welcome change from the grey skies of Ohio. We took a walk around the marina after breakfast and then headed over to the cruise port. We checked in and had a little wait until the ship was ready for passengers. The ship had been late getting into port that morning, so they were a little behind. Soon our butler, Putu, escorted us to our suite.The Norwegian Star is a beautiful ship. We had a nice room with a balcony. It is strange to comment on the bathroom, but I could live in there! The shower was glass and had all these jets and different shower heads pointing in all different directions. There was a window so you could look out at sea while you washed your hair. There was also a deep tub with a huge window looking out to sea (or which ever port you happened to be in at the time). They said it was one-way glass, but I pulled the blinds just to be safe. Our room also had this neat coffee/tea/cappuccino maker that came in handy each morning.
Anyway, we had lunch and then walked around the ship a little before heading back to our room to unpack. It took us one full day at sea to reach our first port, Cabo San Lucas, where we boarded another boat for the afternoon. The Eco Cat is a huge catamaran that took us out to do some snorkeling and whale watching. Alex had a ball dancing with this beautiful woman in a leopard print bikini. He is three not thirty-three, right? Wherever he goes, Alex always gets the ladies. Little did we know, this was just a warm up for tomorrow's performance.The next day we stopped in Mazatlan. We decided to take an excursion to Stone Island and have a beach day. After a relaxing day on the beach, we returned to the cruise port. Before getting back on the ship, I decided to have a quick 10-minute massage from one of the locals. Meanwhile, Alex decided to have a dance-off with some 20-year old guy. They were playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and he was up there dancing in front of everyone. I missed it all! I could hear the music and the people clapping, I just didn't realize there were cheering for my son!
On the last day we stopped in Puerto Vallarta and did the Pirate Ship excursion. Alex was so excited about this after getting a pirate ship from the Binky Fairy a few months ago (see previous post on this blog). This was a really fun day!
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