Anniversary at Sea

Crystal Symphony

Our 3rd and final port of call on our Mexican Riviera Cruise was Puerto Vallarta, which also happened to fall on our 3 year wedding anniversary.  Our day started out with an adventurous morning drive through the steep and narrow one way streets on the hillsides of Puerto Vallarta.  What were we looking for ... good question!  We were on the hunt to find the Cathedral of Our Lady Guadalupe which we had heard was beautiful.  My dad was driving and Caleb was trying to give directions off of a tiny map that has some (no, not all ... just some) of the streets and a few pictures of random tourist attractions.  Words with a pineapple truck, Dad asking for directions in 'Spanglish' and a scratched bumper later, we made it!  The inside was nothing compared to the Cathedral we saw in Mazatlan (pics in previous post) but the outside was much more impressive.  After seeing the cathedral Caleb and I split off on our own and ended up at a cute little bar called the Cheeky Monkey.  A drink, some grub and a shot of tequila later we headed out to explore the town ...

Tequila!



Awesome sandcastles along the waterfront



Local artist ... love!

Sbux in Puerto Vallarta ... it tasted SO GOOD! And we got to check our email :)

Cathedral

our ship!

Back on the ship, Caleb and I were excited to not have dinner reservations till 9pm, so we were able to relax, grab a drink of the day and take our time getting ready for dinner.  We caught an amazing sunset leaving port and even ran into my grandparents and Mom while we were enjoyin our daiquiris.  A huge perk of the cruise was the food, it was AMAZING, and we had heard that we needed to try the different restaurants onboard.  What better time to try a new restaurant then on our anniversary?  So off to Prego we went and since we didnt have reservations till 9pm we closed out the place which was fun - and they even brought over all the waiters (even a poor woman who was just walking by) to sing us a 'Happy Anniversary' song.  God my cheeks were red after that!  It was a very fun way to spend our Anniversary and I'm sure one we will always remember. 

We closed down the restaurant :) 3 year Anniversary dinner!

It was so cool that they had a shout out on the 'on board' station

Family & a Cruise Ship - part 2

Cabo San Lucas

Our first port of call - Cabo San Lucas.  My family and I have been to Cabo a number of times but Caleb and Susan had never been so we were excited to show them around.  Honestly, I could take or leave downtown Cabo ... but I love the resorts and the beautiful Sea of Cortes.  Dad rented a car so we could show the family the world famous Palmilla Resort & Golf Course and had an amazing lunch while taking in the breathtaking views.  Following lunch, we headed back into town and Caleb and I went off on our own.  We stopped by a tobacconist and picked up a couple of cigars, walked around the waterfront and through some stores.  It was a fun day but short since we were only in port from 12 - 5pm.  Back on board we sat out on our Veranda and took pictures of the amazing sunset over the harbor. 

We ate breakfast on the fantail every morning

The Pilots figuring out what they were looking at

Obsessed - seriously have like 200 photos of the coast of Baja on the Pacific side.

Palmilla Golf Resort - Cabo

Palmilla - they had the best fish tacos

Tobacconist

Cabo at sunset

Our next stop, Mazatlan.  No one in our family had been, and we soon learned for good reason.  We were in port from 8am - 4pm and honestly I felt like we saw everything we would ever need to see in Mazatlan.  But that doesn't mean we didn't have a great time! 

Mazatlan

Caleb and I really felt like we made good use of our day.  We did some shopping in the Golden Zone which was apparently the place to shop and had lunch at this cute little street side restaurant.  We figured the yummy food (specifically ceviche, my fav!) was worth the chance of food poisoning but luckily we were just fine!  After lunch we headed over to the cathedral in old Mazatlan and it was worth the taxi ride - GORGEOUS!!  They were renovating while we were there and I can only imagine what it will look like when it is finished.  After we finished at the cathedral we were looking at the map trying to figure out our next steps when a taxi driver suggested we go see the light house.  After some negotiation on the price (he was not too happy, but we were!) he took us over to what was suppose to be the lighthouse.  Basically he drove us down this long street that looked pretty shady and then pointed at this dirt path that led up a large hill (we actually couldn't even see the top.)  I thought for sure he had dropped us off some place that we would never return from.  Well, about 2 miles up a dirt 'road' and a zillion steps later (in flip flops I might add) we were at the top of this 'hill' and had an amazing view of Mazatlan.  Did I mention it was hot and humid? It was a great day, full of adventure and laughs and here are some photos from the day ...

shopping

Our journey to the Lighthouse

You can see our ship!  We are the little one in the middle.

"uhh ... do you see where we are suppose to go?!"

getting higher ...

about half way up it turned into switchbacks of stairs ...

... and higher we went ...

we made it!

2010 Recap? Overrated

2010 has been a mixed bag ...

I played around with the idea of doing a New Years Eve 'recap' of the year and then I decided that it would be more therapeutic to just move on and close that door.  It has been quite the challenging year for both Caleb and I, both for common and individual reasons.  There have been some awesome, unforeseen things that have popped up that on NYE 2009 we would've never guessed would be in our year - EFC Woodworking (Caleb's custom woodworking business) and Elyssa Freeman Photography (well, if I need to explain that title to you we need to talk.)  And there have been some lows (which I will spare you the 'boring' details.)  Last night, when it turned from 11:59pm to 12:00am I think Caleb and I both let out a huge sigh of relief and prayed for strength and hopefully a little bit smoother year.  So there you have it ... out with the old (2010) and in with the new (2011!!)

And what a GLORIOUS 2011 it has been so far!!  I woke up next to the man I love most in the world (and no, not Koda ... he is a close 2nd - heh!) and there is STILL snow on the ground - YIPPEEE!!!  Now, I am not sure who is more excited about the snow ... me?  or the puppies?  But either way, all 3 of us did our happy dance as I opened the door to let the dogs out to do their morning business.  As for the rest of the day?  Relaxing!!  Caleb is watching Football (I know, shocking!) and I am ... well, blogging, editing photos, working on EFP business stuff and doing stuff around the house ... Fun right? I sure think so!!  And tonight, Shelley and Dave aka Nana and Grandpa are coming up and we are excited to see them and exchange Christmas gifts.  I think the puppies might even be more excited cause they seem to love a full house.  Honestly, it really makes me excited for when we have kids (no, I am not preggers) that the puppies will love having more hands around to pet them and pull their tails and more people to love on them.

Goals for 2011?  Oh there are so many to list .. and I am still working on writing out my 'resolutions' for the year but I hate calling them that.  I feel like if you call it a resolution is only has a shelf life of like 4 months before you slowly or purposefully work it out of your routine.  Well, I will save New Year 'Goals' for another post ...

I hope everyone has a Safe, Happy & Healthy 2011! I will leave you with a few pictures (taken the other night at dusk) of our property in the snow!