Julia
Jack
Robin
Brad
Steve
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Volume 33 - Photo Addendum 3
Photo Addendum 3
Here is to the best son parents could ask for.
Christian is funny, he inisited on packing a variety of dinner attire. He said he needed to look good for the ladies.
He came up with this getup himself.
Here is to the best son parents could ask for.
Christian is funny, he inisited on packing a variety of dinner attire. He said he needed to look good for the ladies. He came up with this getup himself.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Volume 32
SUNDAY NEWS
January 3, 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR! December was busy and went buy fast. We realize that we haven’t issued any new editions of the SUNDAY NEWS since mid- November. We had a nice quite cozy Thanksgiving. Food, football, naps and movies ruled the day. Lori celebrated her birthday last month.
Karl got her an IPod Touch, which she can’t seem to put down. She is addicted to the game Bejeweled.
While we got news reports of recording breaking snow storms around the country, we enjoyed a non-traditional Christmas a
board a week long Mexican Riviera Cruise.
We have loaded a lot of pictures and stuff this week, so be sure to click on OLDER POSTS at the bottom right when you get to the bottom of the blog. Don’t stop until you finish with the Bonaventure.
The Splendor
Carnival Splendor is one newest and the largest Carnival ship. It has a retractable sky dome that covers the pool deck, which was perfect for our trip since it was a little cool on the days we were furthest north close to Los Angeles. The 113,300-ton Splendor is designed around the theme of "splendid things," a celebration of the magnificent, lustrous and elegant. Pink is thematic color throughout the entire ship. Everything is pink, even the wood banisters are stained pink. The girls really liked that. Lori seems to have the luck at seas. She won money again in the on board Casino.
Puerto Vallarta
Our first port was Puerto Vallarta and we really liked Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta enjoys over 300 sunny days a year with temperatures averaging right around 83 degrees. Puerto Vallarta is situated on the same latitude as Hawaii and enjoys a similar sunny and tropical climate. Because Puerto Vallarta lies on Bahia Banderas, the second largest natural bay in North America and has over 100 miles of coast line, it is a haven for anyone who enjoys any type of beach activity. The surrounding jungle is also beautiful. In fact the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, ‘Predator’ was shot just up the hill from the resort we visited.
January 3, 2010
HAPPY NEW YEAR! December was busy and went buy fast. We realize that we haven’t issued any new editions of the SUNDAY NEWS since mid- November. We had a nice quite cozy Thanksgiving. Food, football, naps and movies ruled the day. Lori celebrated her birthday last month.
Karl got her an IPod Touch, which she can’t seem to put down. She is addicted to the game Bejeweled.
While we got news reports of recording breaking snow storms around the country, we enjoyed a non-traditional Christmas aboard a week long Mexican Riviera Cruise.
We have loaded a lot of pictures and stuff this week, so be sure to click on OLDER POSTS at the bottom right when you get to the bottom of the blog. Don’t stop until you finish with the Bonaventure.
The Splendor
Carnival Splendor is one newest and the largest Carnival ship. It has a retractable sky dome that covers the pool deck, which was perfect for our trip since it was a little cool on the days we were furthest north close to Los Angeles. The 113,300-ton Splendor is designed around the theme of "splendid things," a celebration of the magnificent, lustrous and elegant. Pink is thematic color throughout the entire ship. Everything is pink, even the wood banisters are stained pink. The girls really liked that. Lori seems to have the luck at seas. She won money again in the on board Casino.
Puerto Vallarta
Our first port was Puerto Vallarta and we really liked Puerto Vallarta. Puerto Vallarta enjoys over 300 sunny days a year with temperatures averaging right around 83 degrees. Puerto Vallarta is situated on the same latitude as Hawaii and enjoys a similar sunny and tropical climate. Because Puerto Vallarta lies on Bahia Banderas, the second largest natural bay in North America and has over 100 miles of coast line, it is a haven for anyone who enjoys any type of beach activity. The surrounding jungle is also beautiful. In fact the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, ‘Predator’ was shot just up the hill from the resort we visited.
We started the day with an early trip to a Mexican Wal-Mart where everyone spoke Spanish and the prices were in pesos. Then we took a taxi from Wal-Mart down the coast about a half an hour to the Barcelo Mismaloya All-Inclusive Resort.
Mismaloya 
Mismaloya is a secluded bay and beach down the coast carved out of the jungle mountainside. There is a freshwater river that flows into and by the resort as it joins with the ocean on the beach. Brittney said the resort was the most beautiful place she has ever been. It would be hard to argue with that. This place exceeded our expectations.
Mismaloya is a secluded bay and beach down the coast carved out of the jungle mountainside. There is a freshwater river that flows into and by the resort as it joins with the ocean on the beach. Brittney said the resort was the most beautiful place she has ever been. It would be hard to argue with that. This place exceeded our expectations.
We had reserved a room for the day so Vayden could take naps. We were given room 218. This room was spectacular. It made it difficult to go back to our little rooms on the ship after spending time in this palatial room.
The room probably had square footage just shy of our house. It also had a great walk-in shower with water that cascaded down from the ceiling. The shower was about the size of our entire master bathroom back home. Both Brittney and Karl agreed it was the best shower either one of them had ever used. We are sure that Lori would have agreed, but she never used it. We tried to get her to take a shower just for the experience, but Lori said she didn’t need one. 
Since we were guests we were able to use the all-inclusive amenities. The resort had multiple lagoon-style pools with a waterfalls and a rock-garden islands sheltering swim up bars and spa tubs. There is also a family pool bordered by rock waterfalls and a children's pool featuring a waterslide. There is also a sports pool, and other spa tubs. We had access to snorkeling gear, boogie boards, and kayaks. We were able to use all the facilities including chairs, hammocks, towels and most importantly the Mexican buffets and all the on-site restaurants as well as ordering all the poolside snacks and tropical drinks we wanted.
Vayden fell in love with the ocean and the waves at this resort. She spent quite a bit of time in its gentle surf.
Karl and Christian snorkeled, climbed rocks and played with crabs. Lori, Shelby and Karl took a walk along the beach and saw a baby turtle as well as met up with a three legged puppy name Osso.
Since out ship did not leave until 10:00 p.m. we were able to have dinner there and enjoy the beauty of this place at night as well. We all agreed that we definitely need to go back to this beautiful place and stay. There were too many things to do and not enough time. Other recreational opportunities included such things as the use of bicycles and the many trails nearby, tennis courts, fishing, and volleyball both in the sand an in the pool. There was a playground on site for Vayden. There is also the opportunity to purchase banana-boating rides, parasailing flights, Sea-Doo and other personal watercraft rides.
Of note, there was a famous movie filmed here at this location in 1964 starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner called “The Night of the Iguana”. We visited what is left of the old movie set.
Los Arcos
Less than a mile up the coast from the resort are three giant offshore rock formations that comprise Los Arcos National Park where we went to snorkel. The name Los Arcos (The Arches) comes from the arching caves and grottoes that have been carved out by time and the pounding surf. The area is now a federal underwater park and eco-reserve. It has some of the best underwater exploring along the coast. These small islands and surrounding reefs, tunnels, caves, and arches are teeming with marine life. We saw a wide variety of sea life. When we first jumped in, our guide threw some bread to attract the fish. Some of the fish were pretty large and there were so many fish surrounding us that Shelby started screaming.
Less than a mile up the coast from the resort are three giant offshore rock formations that comprise Los Arcos National Park where we went to snorkel. The name Los Arcos (The Arches) comes from the arching caves and grottoes that have been carved out by time and the pounding surf. The area is now a federal underwater park and eco-reserve. It has some of the best underwater exploring along the coast. These small islands and surrounding reefs, tunnels, caves, and arches are teeming with marine life. We saw a wide variety of sea life. When we first jumped in, our guide threw some bread to attract the fish. Some of the fish were pretty large and there were so many fish surrounding us that Shelby started screaming.
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