Ole

The ladies of the Christensen Family: Sharon, Celia, Nikell, Kate, Ally (adopted), and I went on cruise to Mexico a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you America, it was OFF THE HOOK! Seriously, I would recommend a cruise to anyone, we had so much fun.

We stayed in a beautiful 3 star hotel in Vegas (we drove to L.A.) If this hotel was 3 stars I do not want to know what a 1 star looks like. Yikes

Kate: It was the weirdest thing, on our way to LA we stopped and picked up Mischa Barton and stuck her in the back seat. She was so nice and even let me try on her "hip," "fashionable, "so now" hat. Isn't that great?

Emergency drill. Very cute ladies...and smiling man in the back.

Ally and I went exploring the first night and found something that would bring us much joy for the rest of the trip...KARAOKE!

It's a little frightening to look out into the vast sea at night.It's formal time ladies and gents. Thanks Deigo for the pic. and the inappropriate eskimo joke.A little trivia in the library. NBD

Some hippie lady wanted us to come out and dance with her, too bad we boxed her out. Sorry girlBartender!Percy rocked at towel animals. These things never got old, neither did someone making my bed twice a day.

Kate:  Becca, in her ferocious blogging stupor, so recklessly forgot to mention a key highlight of the trip. One name: ASHLEY! One word: YOWSA! He was very helpful while we were tendering, he so willingly divulged information such as, "Yes, I am single and looking," and last but certainly not least, he had killer dance moves and DJ'd at the club like a champ. Thanks Ashley! For making our cruise experience more... beautiful.

Stop #1 Cabo San Lucas 

Kate:  Our beautiful view from the beach. And that freakin' Disney cruise ship always riding our tail. Geez, I'd wish they'd get their own route.

Our cruise ship from the beach.

Kate:  I don't know about ya'll, but we think Cabo ROCKS!! I seriously thought it was so fun and so pretty. Para sailing, was such a fun, different experience that we will never forget. {See Scott & Celia's blog for pics of para sailing.}

"I never burn with SPF 4."

Ally and I trying to decide our next moves (I wonder why people think we're lesbians).Phillip and Ally with Mark's perscription glasses on (they had no lenses). It's amazing to me that when we are in the middle of the ocean we can still get NBA finals games. This is right before Richard (bandana boy) mooned everyone because the Celtics lost.

Stop #2 Mazatlan: we did a little zip lining in the jungle.

Kate:  Geez Al, stop stealing my camera and taking picture of inappropriate things like some amigo's butt! Grow up already!

They were all about tequila in Mazatlan. That cactus is a blue agave plant and somehow that makes tequila. Marco, our tour guide, kept saying "it's only two dollars for tequila. I know you don't drink but it's just one." Ally politely reminded him, "oh Marco, it starts with just one." His reply, "Ya, then it's five."

Kate:  I want to talk more about Marco for a minute. Now this cat gave us some great one-liners. When he was giving us his spiel about how he would drive us all over Mazatlan and take us wherever we wanted, and buy us soda and beer. He looked over at me(Kate) and Celia and said, "I have pequito(translation: small, for all you ignorant folks) beer, but I check ID... most of the time." With a little grin on his face. Cel and I both looked at each other and started laughing hysterically. First of all, the drinking age in Mexico is 18, second of all, I knew the checking of ID's was pretty much non-existence in Mexico, and it was very clear after Marco's little remark. But do Celia and I not look at least 18? Now, I realize that I am not the most mature looking person you've ever laid your eyes upon, but Celia at least looks 24.7-years-old, right? In fact, I had someone on the cruise tell me that I looked older than 21! BELIEVE IT! He might have been 16 and completely drunk, but nonetheless, he said it!!! Anyway, thanks Marco and drunk 16-year-old, for making our cruise experience more entertaining.

We went to a cute little Mexican town called La Noria and really got to see what their lives are like there. This man is making leather sandals. I couldn't believe how primitive everything was, most things are still made completely by hand.

Stop #3 Puerto Vallarta. Ally hates birds!

Very cool town with cobblestone streets.Crazy sand sculptures. There was one of a mom nursing a baby, who was way too old to be nursing by the way, but I'll spare you that one. You're welcome.

Kate:  Puerto Vallarta has some weird statues going on. This was my personal favorite. Just so huggable, right?! 

The ladies, probably between floors seven and eight.They played game 4 (?) in the movie theater on the boat, which was awesome. This is how much Kate and I hate the Lakers!Ally flew out of Puerto Vallarta on Thursday for her parent's surprise 40th anniversary party. I was sad to be all alone in our queen bed. Notice the monkey in the background. You nailed it again Percy.
Kate, Phillip, and I. I saved Phillip for the end of this post because he deserves a large shout out. Ally and I met him on the first night in the hot tub and he basically hung out with the fam for the rest of the trip. When we met him he told us that he was musical: guitar, piano, singing. So on the second night we convinced him to do karaoke. We were cheering obnoxiously for him, of course, and when he started singing he totally blew us away. Wow, there are no words to describe this guy's talent. He entered Karaoke Superstar (a competition onboard) and made it to the top 10 but apparently the ship is all about self-esteem building because they gave everyone in the top 10 a medal and didn't narrow it down anymore (totally lame in my book). Anyway, he would have won for sure. Dear Phillip, please come to Utah. Sincerely, The Ladies in the Back.

Nap time before karaoke. And yes he is wearing an 80's warm up jacket.

On one of the last nights they had open karaoke, and only a few people showed up so basically we had our own little karaoke time with Phillip, Mark, Richard, Phillip's parents, etc... Here is a little taste of what Phillip and Stephanie's pipes can do.

Ahoy.

A special thanks to Mom and Dad for funding most of trip. Thanks parents, this one goes down in the books!

*For more pics and such see Celia and Scott's blog, I'm sure she'll be posting about the trip sometime in the near future.