Cruise Control

We surprised Ashley and Brandon by getting away and taking a family cruise.  Kevin came up with the great idea to get away from work and enjoy life, and it was such a great experience.  He started scouring various websites and noticed that prices were dropping as the embarkation day for the cruise approached and cruise ships wanted to fill their staterooms.  Between two to three weeks before February 19th, we broached the idea to Gaga and Papa to see if they might want to go, made the decision to request time off from work, and purchased tickets for a seven-day cruise at a ridiculous rate.

Since Ashley and Brandon had an entire week off from school during Presidents' Day week, we originally planned to enroll them in the Boys & Girls Club.  But as we both have been enduring chaos at work, decided that it would be good for us to have a mental-health week to re-engage ourselves, which was the best idea!

We left on Saturday, February 19th and surprised Ashley and Brandon with not only a visit from Gaga & Papa who drove in from Oklahoma City, but the news that we would be going on a cruise.

Gaga & Papa's boarding snapshot - capturing the moment

Kevin and I snuck past the photographers who chase you down to take your picture anytime you get on the boat, off the boat, or are on the boat.  However, Kevin and I were walking around and decided to check out the photos taken that we found my parent's on boarding picture.  We got such a good belly laugh from my dad's belt buckle being unbuckled that it just made our trip more memorable.


The ports of calls that Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) stopped at along the Mexican Riviera were Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan (questionable with safety) and Puerto Vallarta (my favorite). Ironically, the day we were in port at Mazatlan, we did not disembark and found out that there was a stabbing and Americans had been killed.  That was the last trek NCL took for the rest of the spring season.