Our five day family reunion cruise was wonderful. What an adventure! It was great to be able to finally connect faces and personalities with the people I've been related to and heard of for two years. They were all thrilled to meet Jane and she enjoyed having 18 relatives ready to pick her up and play with her 24/7. I don't think she was put down to play alone all week.
Here's an upclose of our custom made "Family Tree" tee shirts. Each branch has a name... there's even a twig to represent Jane!
While on the cruise, Grandpa and Grandma Montgomery celebrated 48 years of marriage!
The cruise itself was amazing of course. Our ports of call were Catalina Island, and Ensenada, Mexico. Catalina was by far my favorite. 
We arranged for Aaron's parents to take care of Jane all day while Aaron and I went with his brothers and cousins on a snorkeling and jet skiing adventure. While we were on the water, her Papa and Nana took her on a tour of the island. She made for a very cute little tourist!
Snorkeling and jet skiing was a BLAST!!! In the morning we went snorkeling...which was a fun and unique experience for both of us, but it was COLD!! We rented wet suits as an attempt to keep warm...but it only helped a little. The weirdest thing for me, was to breathe underwater. My instincts just couldn't get around the fact that it shouldn't be possible. I would remind myself to calmly breathe through my mouth, but there's just something unnatural and freaky about it, and before I knew it, without thinking, I'd try to get a snort of air through my nose, (which was plugged) and because I couldn't get air that way, I'd automatically start hyperventilating, which of course made it all much worse. I spent most of the time in the water just concentrating on relaxing, breathing, and not thinking about being cold. Needless to say, I'm not cut out to be a diver. The fish we saw were disappointing. We mostly saw little grey fish and an occasional gold one. Yay. Oh, and lots of slimy greenish brown weeds.
Here's a snorkeling picture, of Uncle Dave and Aaron... (I did purposefully stay out of pictures while wearing goggles and other apparatus...)
Jet Skiing was SO much fun! Aaron and I shared one (and he even let me drive it some of the time!). It was terrifying.... but it was more fun than anything I've ever done. Even more thrilling than a roller coaster. For those of you who know my husband...and know how he drives his car... you can imagine that he was infinitely more....crazy.... on a jet ski. While were were flying through the air at lightning speed, the salty wind splashing our faces, I yelled out, "Oh no!! We haven't finalized our will yet!!" *Aahh* Vacation.
In Ensenda, Aaron's mom and Grandma and I did a "Taste of Mexico" tour, where we were supposedly going to learn how to cook a delicious Mexican meal. Supposedly. We made Guacamole, pre-made tomales andtostadas. I guess there isn't any need to comment, except for the fact that I already knew how to make them. But we walked away from the experience with a certificate stating that we passed the course and were now officially experts in cooking Mexican food. That's not a joke either. The chef signed it.
The tour was somewhat interesting, we learned a lot about Mexican history, we got to see the real "Black Pearl" ship from the Pirates of the Caribbean. Did you know that it is now docked in Ensenada?
Our favorite part of the cruise was the food. (big surprise) there is something very satisfying about being offered a menu with no prices because everything is already paid for (definitely not free) and we could have whatever we wanted, and however much we wanted. Aaron went on the record for having three appetizers, two entrees and two desserts in one evening. He was full. Jane loved especially loved the bread. She ate SO much bread while we were on the cruise! We broke it up into bite-size pieces and let her feed herself while we enjoyed dinner conversation.
I'm surprised how well she did sitting in a restaurant for at least an hour and a half each night. What a sweetie!
Speaking of Jane, she was a favorite on board the ship. Everywhere we went, people were making comments about her. The staff especially loved her. Our stateroom attendant (I can't remember his name) showed her particular interest. He is from Indonesia, and has a little girl who is just a month older than Jane, whose name is Neshua. Because of his job with the cruise line, he has not been able to see her for the last six months. If that's not sad enough, his wife is also on board the ship and hasn't seen her daughter for just a long! (Their baby is living with his parents in Indonesia) Everytime we would see either of them, they would always talk to Jane and tell us about their little girl. We were horrified that both of them were away from their daughter, but then we came to find out that this is somewhat normal for their culture. The grandparents take care of the grandchildren while their sons and daughters work to provide an income for the family, then when they get too old to work, they take care of their grandchildren while their children provide for them. I'm glad it's not like that in the US! I miss Jane when I've been apart from her for just a couple of hours!
She was so proud of herself- being able to stand up in her crib on the cruise...
We think that a cruise is the epitome of vacation. No work, no cooking, no cleaning...nothing. You don't even have to make your bed! For a week there are shows in the evening, lazy poolside reading during the day, delicious meals, shore excursions, and gorgeous scenery! We were pampered by very attentive and cheerful staff and got to sleep whenever we wanted. What bliss!
Here's another group picture, taken on "Formal Night"
And here's the Montgomery four generation pictures:
After our delightful family cruise we docked back in California, spent the night in a plush hotel and then made the long journey back to Kentucky. Our vacation was amazing, and now I'm invigorated and rested. For the last week I've been back in the "real world" with a fresh perspective, loving the home, husband and baby that are mine to nurture and care for, and reveling in the goodness of the Lord!
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