Maldonado Cruise!!!!

At the beginning of January Pablo and I decided to take our family vacation during Spring Break. We decided to take the boys on a cruise.

It was a BLAST!!
AT the first they boys were nervous, Matthew was freaking out at one point that something was going to happen to him, but we talked to him and he calmed down.

We left San Jose Sunday morning and took the long way.......it was ice not being rushed to get there.
We went to Ruby's for dinner - never again, it was so gross!!! Our likes in food have definitely change this past three years. We spend the night at my brothers. He has a new Foosball table, and the boys loved it.

Monday morning we meet my aunt and cousin for breakfast and then we headed to the port. We paid extra to be able to board first (and disembark first, and leave the boat for activities first) it was well worth it. If you are going with kids the extra $45 is a most.

After we checked in, we decided to bring our own bags rather than to check them in. We only waited for about 30 minutes, then we were able to board the ship. Once inside our cabin wasn't ready yet so we went to have some lunch. The boys were so happy with the unlimited ice-cream and lemonade. Of course once they saw the pool and the water slide that is ALL they wanted to do, until they saw the mini golf area haha.

Once we were able to go in the cabin, we hanged everything and were ready to go explore.  Our cabin was in the front of the ship, and I feel like we spend most of the time in that area.

We played mini golf and walked around the ship. We had the emergency drill, we did not have to cary  the life vests (Royal Caribbena used to have you carry them) so after that was done, we watched the ship leave the port and we went to dinner.

The food was fantastic every night. We tried frog legs, alligator, and snails. We also had calamari, stuffed mushrooms, spring rolls, onion soup, strawberry soup, ceviche, and mozzarella and tomatoes.
For dinner we had stake, lobster, pasta with bacon, stake tacos, and sea food pasta. Everything was good.

The boys lived on pizza, chicken nuggets, hamburgers, cookies, and ice-cream the whole week. They did eat plenty of fruit and drank water, so I don't feel so bad!!!

For lunch Pablo and I had a variety of food from Koren BBQ to french food. Everything was good. I am happy to say that no one over eat!!!

The boys went in the pool but it was too deep for them so we only went for a little. They did love the water slides and the mini golf. The day at sea was too cold so we just watched tv, saw a show, played mini golf, and relax.

We had two stops along the way.
In Catalina we went parasaling. It was such a rush, the boys did great!! We would definitely do it again!!
In Ensenada we did the city tour. We had three stops. Fist stop was at the cultural center (or something like that) they gave us a little wine tasting and a free margarita, the boys had some coke. Second stop was wine tasting, we actually did not do this one, with the boys and all those wine bottles we choose not to be responsible for that lol. And the last stop was in the tourist area with the shops. Of course we went to Starbucks and I got our new mug. The boys for some luchadores masks, Pablo got new sunglasses, and I got a neckless.
Both stops were fantastic, and we were able to have lunch in the ship YAY!!

Zachary and I did start to get dizzy Wednesday night, Pablo thinks it was because we could see out the window while at dinner. It makes sense. We were dizzy that night and part of Thursday.

Overall the experience was amazing. Now we know that for next time we will bring motion sickness meds for everyone for the whole trip and take it just as a precaution. The boys asked to go on two next year lol. Pablo and I are already looking for a couple to do from the East side.

I highly recommend it, if you have never gone, go at least once.

The best part is that you don't have to worry what you are going to eat, where you are going to stay, what you are going to do, everything is in one place. You do not come back exhausted!!! it is a GREAT family vacation!!

Easter

Happy Easter!!!

We had a nice and relaxed day at home.
We woke up early, I actually only had about 3 hours of sleep reading Hunger Games again and for some reason I just couldn't put it down, the boys came to cuddled with me for a while after they got up.  :)
Eventually we made it to the dinning room. They were so surprised to see their baskets full and all the Star Wars toys (thank you Dante).

The spend a great part of the day, okay all day playing with the new toys.

After nap they went on a egg hunt. We hid the eggs inside the house, the sky looked so dark we didn't want to get wet in case it started raining. Their eggs were filled with stickers, batman tattoos, a few bucks, and some peeps.

No one felt like cooking so we took a drive to the MacDonald's drive through for lunch and had left overs for dinner.

It was a great day, I am so thankful for the many blessings we have!!

Last night the boys fell sleep while watching a cartoon, it was very cute. this hadn't happened in a very long time!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!!! (another fun spring break day...)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!

Pablo turns 30 today, yes the big 3-0!! 

sadly he spend the whole day working, but we did celebrate a week ago. The boys picked presents for him, gum, gummy worms, and a Lego "Lord Vampire" key chain. We had tacos and burritos (his favorite) and cake of course. The boys painted a nice sing and we  wrote Happy Birthday Daddy on it. We are very lucky to have him in our lives we love him and appreciate all the sacrifices he does for us!

We started the day at speech. Today Zach was assessed while Matt played with the iPad and I looked at pinterest ideas :)

Then we ran errands......I know what you may be thinking that is no fun, but trust me with the boys is an adventure. We made two stops. 1. Trader Joe's - I had told Zach that we were only getting regular rice milk because we had sweet cereal at home, ha, the joke was on me.. when we got there there was only vanilla rice milk of course Zach had a comment "look mommy no regular milk, yes only vanilla my favorite" we went in for milk and cam out with three boxes of cookies, one box of cheese space ships (like gold fish), bananas, a pineapple, and of course six things of rice milk. In case you did not know Zach prefers rice milk, while Matt is fine with either rice or cow, but if there is vanilla rice milk then he likes that. 2. Target - disclaimer in the car was that we were NOT looking at toys today, boys said it was okay because they have a lot of toys. We had a list of things to get and we pretty much stuck to the list, bread, yogurt, butter, cow milk, bagels, garlic bread, we did end up with two boxes of cake and two frosting cans (wanted to try a new decorating tip from pinterest). Then we headed home. 

Boys did surprisingly good at Target and did not requested toys, however they did make lots of toys comments, for our birthday we want......., for Christmas we want.........., can we get (inset toy name) when we have our own money. LOL people must have thought I was super mean not taking them to see the toys but come on we went to Target to see toys Tuesday and Toys R Us yesterday. I mean how many times can you see the same toys. 

After lunch we took a nap, I love nap time. Then we made a cake. The boys love maxing all the ingredients and using the mixer. The hardest time for them is waiting for the cake to bake and then having to wait for it cool, and then having to wait for the frosting to harden. But at the end they love it!!

On Pinterets I found a way to decorate the cake with regular frosting, you place the frosting can in the microwave and melt it for 15 seconds, make sure it is not to watery. Then you pour the frosting over the cake from the center in slow circular motions until the whole cake is covered. You let it harden for a little and then you re do the frosting until you get the amount you want. Then you decorate with sprinkles or candies etc. It was pretty cool and the cake looked really nice. We called it an Easter cake because it has pink frosting and sprinkles. 

After eating cake we danced....I am glad we still have the Grammy Awards on the DVR. We watched the performances and dance and signed. It was super fun. We were all so tired afterwards. For dinner we had bagels and milk (tea in my case). The boys took a short shower and are now in bed. 

I am so sad to see the week come to an end, but I am so blessed to have spend the week with the boys. Every year I say "next year we will plan a vacation somewhere" and yes it would be fun to go somewhere but it is also so much fun to stay home and enjoy the week, like it was a very long weekend. I know the boys are also sad to see the week come to an end. But there are a few days of in May, two weeks on June, and then four weeks for summer break. 

** Link to the frosting decorating tip - http://sweetcsdesigns.com/the-easiest-way-to-frost-a-cake-ever/