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Aidan and Allan's short afternoon siesta overlooking Catalina Island. It looks nice but it was actually super-windy and c-c-c-cold.

Shopping fun! I love these colorful places!

Aidan feasting on bread! He ate alot of bread!

We had been long awaiting this cruise and it was well worth it. Allan came away rested and Aidan got to add another new experience to his list. He's been to more places than I had been in the first 25 years of my life. And Aidan is such a people-magnet! Everyone wanted to talk to him!

Anyway, our cruise ship was the same one we were on during our Caribbean trip and our cabin attendant was the same guy that Mike and Victoria had! How funny! Our first stop after boarding was, of course, dinner. We were assigned second seating for dinner, meaning 8 p.m., and it was too late for us so we decided to head on over to the casual dining area. I tried to be good on my first day but after my first bite of tasty bread I decided to give myself a break. We dined once in the full service restaurant during the formal night but there really wasn't anything enticing on the menus. We were waiting for lobster but it never came. Plus, with a little boy in tow it's so much easier to skip the formalities and do the buffet thing. The food was abundant but we noticed some differences since the last time we cruised. There weren't any waiters pushing drinks and the midnight buffet wasn't as extravagant as before. Dining was definitely more relaxed.

Our first stop was at San Diego and the San Diego Zoo. I believe it was mine and Allan's third trip to the zoo and I'm not sure if Aidan really enjoyed seeing the animals. He seemed disinterested most of the time except for going on the Skyfari ride. He loved being high up in the air and seeing Daddy get scared.

Our second stop was Catalina and it was very windy there. We didn't see much of it...just the shopping area in front of the pier. It reminded me of Sausalito. We went on the glass-bottom boat tour which lasted only 30 minutes. It kept Aidan interested for about half of that time and I heard Allan snoring twice. In my mind, I thought the entire bottom of a glass-bottom boat would be clear but the "glass" was surrounded by walls that you had to look over. Even worse was that as I was putting my backpack down I dropped a pack of gum over the wall and onto the glass obscuring our view.

We saw alot of kelp and only about 6 different kinds of fish. I guess it was a good thing the excursion was so short. The rest of the time we just walked around and then we caught the tender back to the boat just in time for lunch.

Last stop was Ensenada and I know I bashed it before we left but this is where we actually had the best time. Shopping was fun. I almost bought this mirror that I regret I passed on but it was expensive and I didn't want to come away with only one Mexican piece that didn't match anything else in my house. There were a few children selling Chiclets but not as many as we saw before. And the roads were paved. We spent an hour and 40 minutes shopping and then we went to the Convention Center to watch folkloric dancing. It was really nice. We came away from Ensenada with some regalos, a watch for Allan, a guitar for Aidan and two magnets for the fridge.

Now we're really glad we're home because we love our home so much.