On March 8, 2009, we (Joel, Shauna, Haley and Sydney) grabbed our packed bags and flew to a little airport in Long Beach, California to board "The Mariner of the Seas," a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that was heading down the coast of California to the beautiful country of Mexico!
We loved our stateroom suite (#7500) which was located at the very front of the ship and had two large porthole windows from which we could watch our ocean journey.
This is where Haley and Sydney slept - Haley on the top and Syd on the bottom.
The girls did an excellent job modeling our lifesaving devices prior to the mandatory emergency drill before we set sail. Look comfy huh? Not!
We were a little bit surprised that it was so cold in California. Joel and the girls each brought warm things to wear just in case but it had not even entered my mind that I might need a jacket or something....I had to borrow Haley's sweatshirt!
Here we are on one of the top decks overlooking the pools below. We are so excited about the ship - it is huge! It has a rock-climbing wall, an in-line skating track, a mini golf course, a basketball court, a great gym, a running track, an ice-skating rink, a game room, an arcade room, a Johnny Rockets, a theatre for live shows, a theatre for movies, two pools, several jacuzzis, a dining room, several restaurants, a huge buffet, shops and of course a casino. There is always something going on on the boat, from games by the pool to live shows in the theatre. Fun!
Haley shows us how it's done (losing, that is) playing mini golf! She actually never finished her game....as hard as she tried, she could not get her golf ball to go into the last hole!
Look at the beautiful sunset! Sydney is in a skirt because it is Formal Night in the dining room. Since we don't eat until 8:30pm, we decided to play mini golf to pass the time. Of course the rest of us will change before dinner!
As we cruised down toward Cabo San Lucas, we tried to catch some sun by the pool. Sydney bravely entered the Ladies Bicep competition. She did not win but she showed off her killer biceps...who cares that she was supposed to be 18 or older to compete?!!!! She didn't know that rule! She was even featured for a fraction of a second on the cruise video at the end of the cruise! You go girl!
We loved the game room where we found a cupboard full of board games and cards! Throughout the week, we played Sorry, Uno, Scrabble and Phooee. It was really fun!
We stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and walked all around the pier while Mexicans of every size, shape and age tried to get us to buy their goods. We probably could have sold Sydney's sunglasses for a small fortune....almost everyone we passed commented on them or asked where she got them! She's stylin'!!
I'll take the blowfish with the yellow earrings please!
Haley and Sydney get a little cozy with a (ceramic) native!
A little bit of the old and the new plus two gorgeous girls! That is the Mariner of the Seas in the background. 
We found a Johnny Rockets in Cabo San Lucas and were about to eat there but when we saw the prices, we decided to wait and eat at Johnny Rockets on the ship where we only had to pay $5 each to eat as much as we wanted.
A view of our ship as we boarded in Cabo.
A view of Cabo as we sailed away.
Back on the ship, Joel used his cone-making skills learned as a youngster to create ice-cream masterpieces for us! Yummm!!
In Mazatlan we did our shopping. We went to the golden district and found Mexican vanilla, souvenirs and all kinds of stuff we didn't need!
The girls headed down to the beach and hunted for shells while Joel and I sat in a little outdoor restaurant and enjoyed real Mexican chips and salsa! Soooo good!
This is the little taxi that took us back to the pier. The girls loved that it was open. Joel's hat went sailing off into traffic though. We thought it was a goner but the driver stopped, backed up and we retrieved the hat! 
Beautiful Sydney glows in the Mexican sunset!
Stunning Haley poses for a glam shot....nice shades dawling!
Joel, doing one of the things that he does best, winning at the game of Scrabble (toothpick in his mouth and all)!
Sydney thought this baby pineapple in Puerto Vallarta was so cute she wanted a picture with it...I must say, it is pretty cute!
In Puerto Vallarta we went on some zip-lines. It was great fun zipping over the canopy of tropical trees! The longest zip-line we did was a quarter of a mile long! Even Joel did it and he doesn't like heights....good job dad!
Joel and the girls in front of an old church in Puerto Vallarta. This is right before we stopped to get pizza at a little pizzaria.
Every night in our stateroom, there would be a different animal made out of towels on the bed. The night before we finished the cruise, this monkey was hanging near the bed. When Haley saw it, she thought it was supposed to be a dead chicken and couldn't figure out why they would want to display towels that looked like a dead chicken! Sydney, on the other hand knew it was a monkey...partly because she's part monkey herself! (Yoou litttlllee monnnkkkeeyyy!)
We loved eating in the dining room partly because the food was so good and partly because of our fabulous waiters. Wayne (from Jamaica) and George (from Colombia) were the best! We ate dinner with two other families - Terry and Brenda from Canada and Kerry and Linda with their son Scott and his girlfriend, Kristen from Illinois. We didn't really learn last names but it was fun getting to know them. Although it was too cold to lay out by the pools for the two days that we cruised back to California, we had a nice time just relaxing. Joel and I did a lot of reading, the girls watched DVD's on Sydney's laptop and hung out in the jacuzzis and of course we ate a lot of good food. We had a great time...one we will not soon forget. We missed Sterling, Sarah and Madi and wished they could be with us but it just didn't work out since BYU has no spring breaks. Maybe next time....
