When we found out our family reunion would begin at the LA port, I offered to take anyone who wanted to come with me to Universal Studios Hollywood. After all our trips to Orlando I couldn’t believe most of us had never been there. Michelle and Hubby had LL & work to stay behind for and Kate and Danny decided they had enough of theme parks for a while after our spring break trip so just Natalie and I went early. I think they missed out. USH is very laid back compared to USO and we easily did everything we wanted to do and more in a day and a half. There were two things N had wanted to do at Epic and couldn’t so our first priority was to ride Mario Kart (riding twice each day) and get a HTTYD Mac and cheese cone. They both live up to the hype! There are plenty of neat things they have in Hollywood that aren’t in Orlando like the tram tour, stunt show, and Secret Lives of Pets ride. And in Hollywood you can buy one day and get a second day for only $20 more. Our second day we were the first people to line up for rope drop and rode Mario Kart twice, then Jurassic World twice, ate lunch and rode The Secret Life of Pets ride before getting our luggage at the hotel and taking a Lyft to the port to join our family. They had already met up with other members of the family going on the cruise. Yes, our family reunion was a cruise.
Going on a cruise as an extended family was such a good idea. We had so much fun. You can do so much together as a large group on the ship such as eating dinner, watching shows, and attending trivia but can also go off and do your own thing like "If you know it, dance it." Port days were also easy because you could all do the same thing or go off in smaller groups. There were 20 of us in total but the only group photo we have of our entire group is missing our adorable five year old grandnephew because he was hiding behind his mom. So technically he is in the photo, you just can't see him. Every single one of these people are wonderful to be around for an entire week and I am so glad we got to go with them.
Our first port was Catalina Island and we absolutely fell in love with the place. Avalon would be a wonderful destination all by itself with Mr. Wrigley (of chewing gum and Chicago Cubs fame) putting so much into how the town was designed over one hundred years ago. We walked to the bell tower and heard it ring loud and clear at 11am. We headed to the magnificent Catalina Casino and watched a silent film that made us laugh, then Steamboat Willie, then 1950s news reels in the beautiful historic theater. We strolled through the tiny museum area where we were introduced to the 1958 song "26 Miles (Santa Catalina)," gawked at the ballroom upstairs and enjoyed being out on the wrap-around balcony with gorgeous views of the water and island.
After a day and a half at sea we arrived in Cabo, ready for a snorkel adventure that had to be canceled due to the all the jellyfish in the water. That was disappointing but spending some time at the beach and watching Mobula Rays jump out of the water made up for it. Seriously, after eating dinner back on the ship, I listened to an audio book and watched those rays jump until the sun went down. I won't bother posting a photo since they just look like dots from our 9th deck room but Danny was able to grab a great video from when he was on the tender boat.
Guess who celebrated their 17th birthday on the ship? My favorite son! I am so grateful for this boy and think the world of him. Yes, he is the reason for my gray hair but I absolutely love this kid and being his mom. Happy birthday, Danny. May age 17 and your senior year be even better than you can imagine. We love you so much.
Cabo Day 2 our big group went straight to the beach and it was the perfect day. We were so fortunate to have perfect weather this entire trip and it is a reminder of why people love to be on the west coast of the continent. One of the highlights was taking a banana boat ride, which is like going tubing but you are sitting upright like you are riding a horse. Kate and Natalie were not interested but our nephew, M, and niece, R, were game so we still got the party of 6 discount. So much laughter, some falling in the water, a lost pair of sunglasses (mine), and we all would have done it again in a heartbeat. Sometimes spur of the moment indulgences are totally worth the money. Also totally worth the money: the 5$ water taxi to and from the beach instead of walking two miles. It's like a mini excursion in and of itself.
After another days at sea (had to get in that towel folding class and sing and dance), our last port was Ensenada. Our kids are still a bit traumatized by our sea kayaking excursion that last time we went but we also remember how delicious the churros were at La Bufadora. Hubby, Michelle, Natalie, and I, along with our niece, C, and her son, G, all traveled back to La Bufafora and stopped at the Pai Pad Rescue on the way. Oh my goodness, I felt like we were taking a risk by last minute jumping on a third party excursion but it totally paid off. We got to pet a baby jaguar and feed capybaras and see all sorts of animals. The best part was being in a room with Capuchin monkeys jumping all over us and trying to steal Hubby's glasses and iPhone and successfully taking the Pop Socket right off C's phone. G was so happy he announced to his mom that they had to bring dad and baby sister back there. He was so happy at La Bufidora (a blow hole and cute market with the best churros ever) he said the same thing and he was a pro at telling the market workers "No, gracias" while riding on Hubby's shoulders. I am so happy we took the risk and had such a lovely day together.
All too soon it was time to get off the ship and say goodbye to our wonderful extended family. Since a late night flight would save us a lot of money, we ended up touring Hollywood as a family for the first time. We lucked out because after we checked in with Hollywood Bus Tours and stored our luggage for us they let us know David Beckham was getting his star on the Walk on Fame just down the street and we would have time to watch before the tour began. How fun to be in such close proximity to Beckham, his wife, Victoria, and Tom Cruise all just with some good luck in timing. I actually could only see Sir David's head since the other two celebrities are short but they had a big screen and speakers set up so you could see and hear what was being said. So fun to see Beckham on the same day we later saw a bit of the USA vs. Paraguay World Cup game being hosted at the BMO Stadium we had driven past that day while at the airport as we were waiting for our flight. Our tour with guide, Kenny, was quite fun as well. My men enjoyed seeing all the really neat cars driving around and Kate and I were more than happy to see celebrity houses in Beverly Hills. Michelle and Natalie seemed happy to just be along for the ride. You guys, I have seen the street that leads to Captain America's LA house in real life. You guys. Also so fun to see hear all our guide's stories about running into the rich and famous for over a decade doing the bus tours. Nice to know many of them are gracious and kind but according to our guide Jeff Goldblum in the absolute best. Not surprised to hear that after my sister-in-law met him and said the same years ago. This tour also provided us with our only photo of our immediate family, thanks to our kind tour mates. You may now sing Weezer's “Beverly Hills” on repeat. You're welcome.
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