Snorkeling and Senor Frogs

I have a germ-a-phobe husband. Ok, Ok he isn't that bad but there is no way he would have us go on a Snorkeling tour in a different country without our own gear. Ryan and I already have our own since that was my present to him when we got married because we were going to Cabo then too. We got each of the kids their own color and snorkeling gear and now they can use it on any of the trips. No way would we put our mouths on the same mouth piece as a million others. The one plus though if you don't want to buy your own gear because you don't snorkel a lot you can buy just the mouth piece on the Cruise Ship for 5 dollars that you can throw away later.

Jack

My four teens

Cassie and Ryan

We love snorkeling. Its so neat to really see deep down. Ryan and Cassie are usually the ones diving down deeper to see more.

Jack selfie

Ryan Diving

Its pretty neat to go on a Snorkeling Excursion from the ship though because they boat you out to two different places. While you are headed there you are told all about the scenery and history too of Cabo. That is the main reason I wanted to do an excursion so its educational also.

Lovers Beach

This is Los Arcos Behind us. A very well known rock formation in Cabo. We usually snorkel at Lovers Beach but there were so many people we went out to two other places.

Los Arcos

Los Arcos Cabo

My favorite all time part of this Snorkeling Adventure was holding the puffer fish. I never even knew you could do that. The guide brought it to us and when we let it go it was neat to watch it shrink down back into its original form. Holding it so delicately and looking at its amazing features. They are so cute!

Puffer Fish

Ryan

Cassie

Rae-Rae

It was an amazing trip and we had a lot of fun. It was kind of over cast that day so we started to get a little cold by the end of it.

This is after the Boat Ride Hair (Josh)

Jason and Josh

Jack and Ryan

 The kids were starving by then so we decided to go to Senor Frogs a famous restaurant in Cabo. Its kind of a party place but its more of a restaurant. I liked it because they made it fun for the kids without any alcohol. They have great food and the servers are really friendly and fun.

Yummy food

After dinner we had an hour before getting on the ship so we walked the strip and bought some gifts for our nieces and nephew. The kids got to see some pretty neat people.

I was happy that they didn't have the little kids out that are always trying to sell you Chiclets. I personally think its horrible to have your 4-7 year old working. We never bought from them the last time we were there but we did buy them ice cream and give it to the kids. They have a new thing of kids not working there so that was nice to see. I think the kids should be playing not working to get money for their families.

The day was a great day. Snorkeling is something everyone should do. The only tips I have are make sure you spray your sunscreen on your backside really good:) If Ryan had a tip it would be buy your own equipment on Amazon. Its nice,inexpensive and worth it.

Josh

Jason and Ryan photo bomb

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Mom and Daughter Snorkeling

I'm Back! Did you miss us?

Our 7 day Carnival Cruise to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta Mexico was AMAZING!!! Our first REAL vacation where we weren't visiting family. I have decided for the next seven days to write about a different thing we did on the cruise and our excursions. LOTS OF PICTURES! I will start tonight but as you all know when you go somewhere for 7 days with 6 people....you come back with a lot of laundry! Going to finish that....get into my ZEN zone and post, post, post, post away! Here are just a FEW pictures to keep you wanting more though. Missed all of you!

Plus our winners for the 10,000 challenge is Laura Lian and Kristen Gunnerson! Email me at Cushingscountrygirl@gmail.com and I will send you your 20 dollar E-gift card to Starbucks!

Get Ready...Get Set....GO!

With four teenagers nothing is ever really that simple. Going on a Vacation is included in this. We are pretty excited because we are going on our first cruise as a family. All 6 of us are going to have 7 days of glorious sunshine (fingers crossed) on the way to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta.

Ryan and I have been on two cruises before. One was our honeymoon and the second was this Christmas when all the kids were at their other parents house. We didn't want to sit at home with no kids on Christmas and be super sad. The one good thing about having a blended family we are finally on the schedule were we have all four of them or we don't have all four of them for Christmas and Thanksgiving. We are lucky they live with us full time but its still hard to not have any of them for Christmas. Anyways...being a mom and having that oh to normal feeling of "Mothers Guilt" I felt so bad they weren't with us that I booked another Cruise for all of them to go this year while we were on our Christmas Cruise. Hey its the only way I could have fun without feeling so guilty.

The cool thing is we are going back to the exact same destination. We love it anyways! The great thing however is going on a cruise with the kids that you have already been on. We already know the destination so it becomes more cost effective. We know the places to go or not go and the excursions to go on or not go on. We are even going to be on the same ship although we did get a free upgrade to a Ocean Balcony Suite for our two rooms which we are SUPER excited about.

The kids don't even realize what fun they will be having yet. Are they excited..yes. Do they really know how excited they will end up being...no. Since we aren't going during Spring Break and are going two weeks later on the cruise we have to do Independent Study for the kids. They will be out a week and so we got all their work to do. The teachers were nice enough to give it to us a couple days early so we can try and get it all done. Its funny though because one of the teachers has all our kids. She told us that we aren't allowed to vacation together anymore because she had to do all the work for all four of them. She said it jokingly of course but it was funny. So after school for two days the kids have come home and sat to do their work for hours. They are complaining a little as they have just gotten out of school but they wont be complaining once they have a week off and not have to worry about it. Plus....we don't want to have to bring all those books onto the ship.

I am very thankful that my Mother in Law is going to watch our animals for us. We invited her of course to go but with her vertigo she decided to stay back to help us out by watching our house and the animals. I love my mother in law because she is always so selfless. We are going to have to take her on a vacation on land sometime soon though for all the hard work she does for us. She will probably need one after watching all the animals anyways.

Tomorrow we are off and on our 11 hour drive to the port. We will spend the night there and get on the ship the next day. I am still packing even though I started a couple days ago. Have to Iron the formal wear and I think I will be done. I loathe ironing! So much so that I got a dryer that has
"dewrinkle" as the kids call it. For formal night though I will become Cinderella and iron. Did I say I LOATHE ironing! :) With 6 people there is a lot to iron. Then there is my husband who packs an hour before we go, always ends up having everything he needs while I am checking down my checklist that the kids and I have everything we need. I tried packing for him but he knows what he wants better than I would.

So we are off! To Cabo. I will try and post another blog before we actually leave but then Everydayraerae will be silent for the week. Silent because I am going to be listening to the ocean sounds and relaxing while hearing my kids say "thank you for taking us on the most magical vacation in the whole wide world". Ok I can dream. It will be fantastic though and when I get back you will be overwhelmed with fun pictures! We are going to be snorkeling and swimming with the dolphins. Its going to be the best family vacation! Hope you all have a blessed week. Say a little prayer that these Baby powder looking legs don't get too burnt.

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Spring Break Part 1

When you have a blended family of children Spring Break is always a difficult one. This year Jackson and Jason went to their moms. Joshua decided to stay with Ryan for the week and help him at home. Cassie and I decided to go from California to Washington to see Betty. Betty is this amazing person who has been in my life and the kids life since they were born. To her I am her daughter and these are her Grandchildren. She has been this positive influence in my life and always thinks of the kids. We decided to finally go visit since it had been a long time seeing her face to face although we talk on the phone weekly.

Cassie and  I on Road trip

The drive was amazing, slow but amazing. It took 11 hours to get there but Cassie kept me entertained with her 11 hours of music that never replayed a song. She is forever going to be my DJ. I was thrilled that we could have some girl time. With four guys in the house it was nice to just get out the two of us. I wish all of my boys could of come but this worked out anyways.

Bye Bye Adin

 A bittersweet moment though was on our way up Betty got sick that day. We decided to stay in a hotel that night. Bitter because Betty was sick but sweet because we ordered Chinese food and laughed a lot at the hotel. The next morning we decided to go to Coeur d' Alene Idaho which was only an hour away and see the sites. We had a great time! We stopped off at this coffee shop and Cassie asked for a large. These things were HUGE! No way I could drink the whole thing but it was yummy.

Biggest Coffee Ever!

Coeur D' Alene

Girls just gotta have fun

Once we were at Bettys she was thankfully feeling better. We talked and talked and caught up as people do. It was nice to see her in person. We were able to stay there a couple days and really catch up. My favorite part was hearing some of her stories of her life in the past. She also gave us the most AMAZING quilts that she had made and stocking caps for the kids. They even won top prizes at the fair. I love quilts. To have something someone put so much time and effort into becomes my most prized possession. We had a good time visiting, playing games, watching American Idol together which I never have time to watch. It was a good visit and I am glad that we came. Next time we all will have to come up. Was sad to go.

Cassie and Grandma Betty

A positive light in my life

One funny thing while we were there was Cassie. I do this crazy thing where I always brush her eyebrows with my finger just to annoy her. She hates it but its kinda our thing. It because a laughing thing eventually and I always say that If I died she would miss it. So one of the nights we were there I took a picture of me doing that in her sleep. Showed it to her in the morning and she told me she was going to get me lol. I had to buy her love with another huge coffee ha! She loves it! I wont stop doing it  because now its kinda become our thing.

She tried to take this cat home. Hat made by Betty

HAHA got ya!

Our first half of the week was a great visit. We decided to travel 6 more hours to see all of my family after that. It was impromptu so I was calling people left and right on the way up there. Before we left though we were able to see Cassies Aunt for lunch on her Dads side. It was a super quick visit but fun all the same.

Cassies Aunt Nina

6 more hours of driving and we were off again.....Still had 3 more days of vacation and what came next was definitely interesting. Read Part 2!

6 more hours to go

Look at that view

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