Baja California Cruise, Part 2

Wednesday:
This day we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico.  Once we got off the ship in the morning we just wandered around the shops and then ate some lunch.

Michelle, Mom at lunch

Michelle and I shared a "Super Burrito" it was really big, that is only Michelle's half on that plate.  We were excited to get to taste some real Mexican food, but I'm not sure we picked the right place because there were hamburger's on the menu :)  The food was good, but nothing spectacular.

Mom, Michelle
Ensenada

The town wasn't at all like I expected.  It's pretty run down.   It definitely made me realize why the Mexicans want out of Mexico so badly.

Michelle, Mom, Me (in case you couldn't tell us twins apart ;)
This was a professional picture we purchased.  I took a picture of the picture to put on the computer  :)

The ship

Michelle
We goofed around a bit walking back to the ship to get on the bus for an excursion

Pose

Me
Pose

Michelle pretending trying to lift this huge anchor. 

After lunch, we had booked an excursion to a place called "La Bufadora" or "the blow hole". It was a place on the coast where when the tide came up it would create a bit of a geyser.  It was a beautiful area on the coast, but honestly not that spectacular.  However, I think we were just grateful to get away from Ensenada.  All there is to do in the town was hit the shops, and it seemed like most shops were selling pretty much the same stuff, and they are desperate for business, so all the shop owners are practically begging for you to come in their store.

The geyser behind us

Me, Michelle

Michelle
Pose

Me
Pose

Me

Geyser

That's where the water sprays up

Mom, Me

Beautiful coast

After the trip to La Bufadora we just headed back to the ship.  It wasn't supposed to leave port till 9pm, but we'd pretty much seen all there was.  We had dinner then wandered around a little bit, but we were pretty beat, so we crashed pretty early.

This was another professional picture taken on the ship.  We thought it was pretty funny.

Thursday:

Michelle, Me.
Reading on the deck.

This day was completely spent at sea.  So we had big plans to hit the deck, and relax with a book.  That pretty much went off with out a hitch, except Michelle and I got hit with a bit of sea sickness.  We hunted down some medicine, and that kept the nausea to a minimum.  We did manage another trip to the gym.  This time it wasn't busy, so I settled onto the treadmill and busted out some of the speediest miles.  It was SO much easier running at sea level as apposed to the altitude I'm used to.

That night after dinner, we saw another comedy show, and another dance/singing show.  They were so-so, but honestly we were just having so much fun spending time together, I think we could have been watching paint dry and still had an enjoyable time :)

Friday:
We had to be out of our room by 8:30am, so it was an early morning.  We ate breakfast than disembarked, went through customs, and headed to the airport.  We had no idea when we would be kicked off the ship, so we had booked our flights for the late afternoon.  However, we arrived at the airport at 10am, I got on an earlier flight, so I only had to wait 3 hours at the airport.  Mom and Michelle I think were hanging around the airport for like 5 hours cause it was too expensive to change flights.

Michelle
On the bus to the airport.  I don't know why she's so happy ;) 

Me
Much sadder having to say good-bye :)

It was nice to be home, and it appears as though Cam had everything under control with the kids while I was gone.

This is the dress I bought Lexi in Mexico.  They wanted to try the dreesses on as soon as they saw them.
She's also getting to be pretty photogenic too.  Here is her pose.

Abby's dress

Lexi just walked up to Abby and gave her a big hug.  She has been on a hugging frenzy lately, giving her hugs pretty freely :)

This was the shirt I bought Colton.

This trip was such a blast.  I'm so glad we went.  I would totally go on another cruise, but I definitely think I'll stay clear of any cruise going to Mexico, unless you like sea food, or getting drunk, there just isn't much to do.  The employees that work on the cruises are SO unbelievably nice and friendly.  They work hard to remember your names, and are helpful and smiling, that made the trip so much more enjoyable.  It was kind of a bummer going back to the real world and people aren't nearly as friendly (cough, cough, the airport, for example).

P.S I tried to put who's who in the captions.  Although I have no problem telling Me and my sister apart, I do realize we look very similar in most pictures.  We got asked constantly if we were twins the whole trip.

Baja California Cruise, Part 1

This last week, my sister Michelle, my Mom and I all went on a cruise.  It was so much fun!  We all had a blast and really enjoyed spending time together.  It was also a great chance to unplug (no TV, and very little cell service) for a week.  There are tons of pictures and tons to talk about, so I'll probably break it up into a couple of posts.

Monday:
This was the first day, which was mostly traveling.  I flew to LA and met Mom and Michelle there cause they flew in earlier from Denver.  Then we boarded the shuttle and headed to the ship.

We ate some lunch once we were aboard, and did some exploring till our room was ready.

The view from our balcony.

Our balcony/room is right behind the orange life boat.  At least we felt secure in knowing we'd have first dibs on a life boat in case of an emergency :)

Michelle didn't waste any time getting comfortable

This is our suite.  We stayed in a suite and it wasn't all that big, so I'd hate to see the size of a regular room :)

Each night there would be a different towel animal left on the bed

That night after dinner we wandered around some more till we stumbled upon some karaoke.  Although none of us had any intention of singing, it was pretty entertaining just to watch.

Michelle and Mom on the deck of the ship

Me and Mom

Tuesday:
Our first stop was Catalina Island just off California.  First thing in the morning, Michelle and I hit up the gym, which was packed.  After a little time in there, I went up to do a few laps on the jogging track.

The view from the track

Then we ate breakfast and got on the boat that took us from the ship to the island.

Me, Michelle
On the little boat headed to the island

The view of the ship from the boat

The view of the island from the boat

 On the island, we just looked around, checked out the beach, and did some shopping.

We saw this Armstrong restaurant and had to get a picture of Mom in front of it because her maiden name is Armstrong

Me, Michelle
The beach.  Michelle and I got to be really good at posing for the camera ;)  We took some tips from Abby and her awesome abilities.

Mom, Michelle

The city was so cool and pretty

Me
Shopping.  Doesn't this hat look so good on me ;) I decided against that purchase though.

There was a lady who would paint a name using animals or whatever you wanted so I got one for Colton's room.  I think it is super cute.

We had to be back on the ship by 4:30 that afternoon, so we just did some more relaxing and reading back on the ship.  In the middle of our relaxing we saw a huge group of dolphins swim right by the ship.  It was really cool.

The dolphins

That night we saw a comedy act, then caught a Latin dance show.  The comedy act was hilarious, but the dance show was a little long and repetitive, but we still had fun.

Michelle gets married

pictures stolen from Michelle :)

Easter weekend, Michelle married Ryan Davis.  He has 4 kids, and so together they now have 5.  We are so glad to have them join the family.

Easter weekend

Last weekend my sister Michelle and her daughter Kenna came to visit.  When they came over on Thursday we decorated some sugar cookies.

Kenna, Abby, Lexi (Michelle's new step-daughter), and Lexi

Lexi didn't see much need for the cookie.  The frosting usually went straight from the bowl to her mouth.

Doesn't that cookie look delicious ;)

It looks like Kenna is already on a bit of a sugar rush

Saturday night Kenna spent the night and then went to church with us on Sunday.  I tried to get a picture of the girls in their Easter dresses.  Colton was sick so he didn't get dressed up to go to church, Cam stayed home with him.

Goofing around with the camera

The other day, I was trying to get some pictures of the kids, and they decided to be silly.

Jump!

Lexi trying to jump

Shamrock 1/2 Marathon

Saturday was the Shamrock 1/2 Marathon that I have been training for.  I have been training hard for this race, luckily the cortisone kicked in, and I was able to kick it up a notch these last several weeks.  This was an awesome opportunity because the course was literally right in my backyard, and when you live where I do, not a whole lot happens out here, so I had to take advantage.

All week long I had been nervously watching the weather, because they had been predicting rain and high winds for Saturday.  And sure enough, they had issued a high wind warning that was to take effect 10am Saturday morning.  But if everything went "according to plan", I'd finish right around 10am.  My goal was to finish in less than 2 hours, which would have shaved 10 minutes off my old 1/2 marathon time.  The course was extremely hilly, with the majority being uphill, with little bits of down sprinkled throughout.  I was fairly confident I could get in under 2 hours, even with the hills, but if I had to fight the wind too, I was nervous it would zap all my energy, but unfortunately I can't control the weather.

Cam dropped me off at the starting line just a few minutes before the start, and he and the kids planned to come back and see me finish.  It was a little windy when I got there, but not bad at all, so I had hopes that it would be calmer than the weather people were predicting.

When the race started, I was near the back of the pack, which meant it was a crowded for a little while, but I eventually weaved my way through the crowd and found my groove.  My goals were to 1) stay at or slightly under 9 min/miles, and pick up the pace as much as I could on the downhills and 2) try to pass people as many people as I could (sounds cruel, but it was more of way to keep myself motivated than a need to "beat" people).

So I just kept an eye on my pace, and would focus on the person in front of me, and slowly reel them in.

I had so much fun!  I was holding a challenging yet sustainable pace, but managed to have fun too.  I was focused the whole time on staying on pace and just enjoying myself, I barely even noticed the wind.  I kept telling myself to just get to mile 10, then it was nearly downhill from there to the finish and I could really pick up the pace.  I was eating Swedish Fish every couple of miles for fuel, which worked, but man, when your running hard, the last thing you want to do is chew and chew.  So although it worked, I think I need to experiment with something less chewy from now on.  Around mile 9 my legs were really starting to get tired, but those Swedish Fish must have kicked in not long after that because I just kept going, no problem.  Just as I came over the last hill at mile 10, I saw my friend Marcy (who is an amazing runner, she could run circles around me, that is training for a 50 mile ultra marathon in May) who I have been doing some of my training with, she surprised me and came out to cheer.  It was so awesome, I was yelling to her and she was yelling and cheering for me, so awesome!  It was such a pick me up, and loved seeing a familiar face out on the course.

I cruised into the finish, passing a few last people, and was able to finish faster than I thought I could.  I'm not sure what my official time is but it's about 1 hour 55 minutes.  I ended up averaging an 8:45min/mile, and my last one was even sub 8min/mile.  Cam and the kids were there right at the finish, and it was so awesome that they came out and fought the wind!

Waving to Cam and the kids, coming into the finish (running pictures are never very flattering)

With the girls after I finished.  Notice the hair in the girls face, a testament to how windy it was  :)
Also, like my arm warmers?  They are actually a pair of tube socks I cut up to keep my arms warm.  I just had to wear green for the holiday, and this tank top was the only cheap, green shirt I could find.  So I had to improvise to keep myself warm, yet festive :)

After I finished, and got a chance to talk to Cam and Marcy, they both told me it was pretty windy the whole time, somehow I must have zoned out enough to not really notice how strong the winds were. :)

This was the funnest I've had at a race, and I'm glad I was able to enjoy myself, and cut 15 minutes off my half marathon time :)

Now I gotta rest my legs for a few days, then get back to running, because I've signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon in June!  I've wanted to do a marathon for years, but this darn hip has held me back.  So I'm hoping and praying that I'll be able to finish this training cycle, and finally get a full marathon under my belt.