Kenzie Family Cruise

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week. We have been on VACATION!!

This month is my Granny and Grandpa's 50Th Anniversary!

To celebrate, my grandparents took the entire family- all 13 of us- on a family cruise to Mexico! None of us remember the last time we were all together since we are spread all over the country (South Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, and Texas). And we had a good time!

The cruise left from New Orleans- and the Kenzie family took all forms of transportation to get there. Planes (Mom and Dad), Trains (Nick and A), and Automobiles (Granny, Grandpa, Lisa, John, Jason, Leroy, Matt, Lindsay, and Sara).

Nick and I opted to take the Amtrak to New Orleans and save ourselves the stress of driving. We rode in style in our own sleeper car.

On the way down, we ended up in the handicap sleeper car- which was awesome because it was the entire width of the train car, which was much roomier. We also had our own bathroom with a window!

Nick sitting on the pot looking out the window as the country rolls by!

We enjoyed a leisurely ride to New Orleans.

We got to New Orleans in time to get cleaned up and head out for a dinner out on the town. We ended up at Mulates- a Cajun restaurant down by the River Walk. Very yummy!!

The next morning, we woke up, looked out our hotel window- and TA DA- Our ship had arrived!! It was so big, it towered over the buildings and we could see it from several blocks away. The excitement was building!!

We dropped our luggage, tipped an undeserving porter, and made our way through the check-in process. We wandered around the ship while we waited for the rest of the family and ran into my Granny and Grandpa at the bar! As we continued our exploration, we found Lindsay up by the pool and she had already found a nice comfy spot on a lounge chair.

This was also my favorite hangout while we were at sail.

Our first stop was Porto Progresso in the Yucatan Peninsula. Mom, Dad, Nick and I had chosen to rent dune buggies (a.k.a. Mexican Ferrari) for the morning.

Nick was the driver since he is the best with a manual transmission.

We zoomed all around Progresso- and only took one wrong turn- which was fine because half the group followed us! Because of the red tide, we were unable to go swimming in the ocean like we planned (I pouted about this), but we settled on drinks by the ocean instead.

The rest of my family went on the 7 hour Chititenitza ruins tour. They said it was very cool to see- but also very HOT, which is why I was happy that I was able to spend my afternoon going between the soft serve ice cream machine and the pool. No worries on the ice cream- I more than burned off the calories with all the stairs that were required to get there.

Mom and Dad O. on the beach in Progresso.

Our next stop was Cozumel, where our activity for the day was riding Segway's and snorkling. We had a BLAST! It was so hilarious to see my parents with the helmets on riding the Segways! And we had a great time! Nick, Mom and I went snorkling while Dad ate some lunch and watched us swim. If you've never been snorkling, it is by far one of the coolest experiences I've had. I felt like I was swimming in a giant saltwater fish tank! My only regret was that I didn't have an underwater camera.

View from the boat as we came into Cozumel. Have you ever seen such BLUE water?

Then it was back out to sea- and more time by the pool with the family.

Granny and her kids relaxing by the pool.

It was a great vacation! And like any vacation, it had to come to an end... we all agreed that we shouldn't allow so much time to go in between our family get togethers.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Granny and Grandpa! I hope the memories of your family on this vacation bring you many smiles and laughs in the coming years!! I wish you many blessings and many more happy years together. We all love you so much!!



Happy Anniversary!! (Kissy, kissy!)