Above is Sommer and a few friends deep sea fishing in Ensanada, Mexico
Above is a picture of our ship taken from a boat tender headed to Catalina Island. The picture below is one of Sommer & Sydney's dances. Sommer is on top with her leg up and Sydney is the farthest left, holding her other leg. 
Our studio performed on the Carnival Paradise over spring break. It was so much fun! Our family didn't decide to go until about a month before, because we didn't know what Brian's health would be like. I am so happy we were able to go!! It was such a fun cruise! I would highly recommend going with 50 other people you know and especially bringing lots of friends for each child so they will never get bored. Each of our kids had a buddy the entire time to hang out with.
Our family got two cabins and they were across the hall from each other. Chloe, Sommer, Sydney and Hunter stayed in one and Brian, Lauryn and I were in the other. Our cabin had the view, of course, because we spent more time in there than the kids spent in theirs! The first night we went to karaoke with some of the other people from our studio. It was fun and so nice to sit and laugh. I love doing that. The kids were all doing their own things - the little girls were in the kid's club with their friends and the teenagers all hung out with their friends. The first night I was a little nervous with the older kids wanting to stay out later than us. Brian and I put the two little ones to bed and let the teenagers stay out with their friends. We kept our cabin door open until the kids got back at midnight. After that night we didn't worry about letting the older kids stay out late. There were at least 10 kids - probably more like 15 - that they were with most of the time!
The first stop was at Catalina Island. We got off the ship and let the kids shop around for sweatshirts and a magnet for me. It was fun and very laid back. Brian can't do a lot of walking so we didn't go too far! When we were headed back to the ship from the island the fog was so thick we couldn't see the huge cruise ship. It was so weird! And so sad for the people from our studio that paid for the whale watching excursions! Our favorite part of the day was dinner time. We loved sitting as a family and having a fancy meal. Our waiter was great and the kids had fun trying new foods. He would always bring us something we had never tried - and the desserts were so awesome!!
We had dance rehearsal and our performance on the day at sea. The kids had a great time and it was a terrific performance! What a neat experience for them!
The next day we docked at Ensanada. Brian and I had made the decision before we even set foot on the boat that we would NOT get off the boat in Mexico. We were paranoid. When the day came though, it seemed like a good idea. Hunter wanted to go with his friend and his friend's parents to Ensanada. They had served a mission there and knew the area, I guess. We okayed that one. Then Sommer asked if she could go deep sea fishing with a couple of the kids from the studio and their dads. That sounded like fun, so we let her go. We checked Chloe and Lauryn into the kid's club with their buddies and left Sydney with some of her friends at the pool, and Brian and I headed out. We went with another couple to the Blow Hole, which is about 30 minutes away. It was really neat. We shopped for a few more souvenirs and were soon headed back to the cruise ship. What a fun day! We met up with all of our kids at dinner that night. They all had a great time and have wonderful memories of their little excursions. Hunter and his friend came back with extremely large sombreros. They wore those the entire night. It was completely obnoxious - but so funny!
I can't remember what we did the last day. But I do know we had a lot of fun! Brian and I were pulled out of the audience to do a game on stage like the Newlywed Game. It was so fun and we actually won! The funny thing about this was it was videotaped and played throughout the ship on every TV monitor and on the TV's in each room continuously. We would get stopped in the elevator and when we were just walking down the hall by people who recognized us from the TV. It was hilarious!
Anyway, when the cruise was finally over, we headed on home to Arizona. But before we left California we stopped at Discount Dance and bought the twins new pointe shoes. We couldn't just drive by that place!!
We had such a great week!! We are looking forward to our next cruise as a family - and hope we can bring friends along again next time!!
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