San Diego

Ahhhhhhh the view from my balcony

Ahhhhh boats in the marina

The Kona Kai Beach and Marina

Although I had signed up for this conference months in advance, I booked my flight just a day before. I received certification for Faith based travel and niche cruises. Niche cruises are small boutique type ships that are all over the world. There are barges on the Mississippi, a small luxury cruise on the Mekong from Vietnam to Cambodia, Australia to New Guinea, alot to Antartica, a bunch in the Med and yachts for anywhere!

The first night was invited to a yummy Mexican meal in Old town San Diego the Jolly something. The 2nd night I finally got to meet Michelle and Al after so many years of hearing about them. They have 3 adopted children, their first child Michelle lived on the Amazon for almost 6 months before bringing him home.

Cool Recipe, she made cheater enchiladas. Just pulled frozen Beef Tacquitos from Costco out of a bag. Put them in a dish and poured enchilada sauce over them and baked for 40 minutes sprinkled cheese on them and voila yummy enchiladas! I didn't know Costco had a cookbook for their stuff but try this. http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/creativecooking/

I stayed at the Kona Kai, it was a good choice for a woman traveling alone. It had a cute little beach and had a nice staff. It is 3 miles from the airport.

The cabins

Interior Stateroom v40

Oceanview stateroom U117

a category 12 Penthouse suite with large balcony U115

Carnival's Elation

The Dining area
Center of ship, sorry blurry

Did a ship inspection of Carnival's Elation. I am not the biggest fan of Carnival because of the demographic they attract. But, overall I enjoyed the experience, the ship was fine not flashy/gaudy as in the old days. This girl is 70 tons and passenger capacity of 2500. The food was really good, I was pleasantly surprised! The people were mainly families with young children and 30 ish couples. That is usually the biggest complaint is the wild crowd, especially on these short cruises to Mexico from California. I would take my gang on this ship.

The Dentist

Again, why buy kids expensive toys...

Chinese Cuties

While we wait for the older girls to get done in Chinese school, the younger girls run wild and have a grand time.

The elastic went

Jade did not look like this when she left for school. The elastic thing that makes the skirt fit better snapped.

Parenting Perks

Since I left for San Diego with only 1 day to prepare. I got home to find this on my dresser. It made me cry.