The Haas Family Highlights: Cruise to Ensenada, But not smooth sailing...

Have you ever had one of those days where everything was not going as you planned. Well, last Friday, October 17th, I had one of those days. I'm not sure when the unfortunate series of bad events started, maybe it was the lack of sleep, having a cold, and trying to pack. I know I should be grateful, I was going on a cruise with my sisters and my parents, but sometimes the process of packing, scheduling where the kids will go is so much work. You often wonder if all the stress is worth a couple days of freedom from everyday life. I hadn't been able to sleep well the night before I was to leave for my getaway with a cold, the stress and the excitement. I was loading up the car in the morning and I had a couple of gifts I had packed for my mother in law. When I moved the suitcase the bag with the present fell over and broke into two pieces. It was a beautiful leaf platter. Luckily, I had other gifts to give her for her birthday. I went to work and picked up the kids from school. I thought I had until 5:30p.m. to get to the port of Long Beach. But, I received a call from my sister informing me that I needed to be there before 4 pm. Like I wasn't stressed enough. I was in Sylmar by 2:30 to drop of the kids at Aunt Letha's and on my way to you guessed it...TRAFFIC. Nothing slows you down and stresses me out more than TRAFFIC. Anyways, I got lost and took the 710 north instead of the 710 south, went over all the wrong bridges in Long Beach trying to find out where I was going. Finally, after some help, a few tears and prayers, I made it to the right port. I realized after I parked, I couldn't have parked farther from the elevator. I had two suitcases and a case of water, a purse and a camera bag, It only took me 30 minutes to finally get to the elevator. By that time I was so sweaty, It must of been a combination of the sickness and the stress. I felt wiped out. I just wanted to go to bed. I got my luggage tags and followed the directions to wait by the curb until someone comes to get your bags. They all kept saying the same thing, sorry no more room on this luggage cart, ask the next guy that comes, and so the story was the same for the next guy too. After waiting for 15 minutes or so, I realized everyone was passing me by, so I moved by luggage to another line. I finally made it to the first check in point, where my sisters greeted me. I can't tell you how good it was to see familiar faces. So I pulled out my divers licence and birth certificate to check in. Somewhere between the first check in point and second, I LOST MY DRIVERS LICENCE. I don't know how I managed to do this. It must have slipped out of the envelope I was carrying. At this point I just wanted to break down and cry. I could feel the tears beginning to swell up in my eyes, I was trying to think logically, where I could of lost it. I asked around, but nobody had seen it. At this point I was thinking, Is someone trying to tell me something, am I not suppose to go on this trip. I ignored the thought and quickly decided I was going to have fun regardless. I happened to have a couple of expired drivers licences in my wallet, and they let me use it to get on the boat. Of course, I had all these awful thoughts that someone had my drivers licence and was going to ruin my credit and my good name. I felt awful about everything that had happened. Usually, I am very organized. I'm not one to misplace or lose things. It was just an off day for me. I felt awful for making my family wait a couple of hours for me to show up because they couldn't board the boat without me. Thanks for being patient and waiting for me. Hannah mentioned while driving in the car, if the boat I was going on was going to sink like the Titanic. I explained to her that was a long time ago and they have more safety rules and regulations they have to follow now. But, with how the day was going, I guess anything was possible. Once on board, we checked into our little room. Boy, was it little. Five people in a tiny space. But, I never felt crowded. It was around 5:00 o'clock when we made it to our room. By this time we were all starving and decided to go grab a bite to eat. Little did we know that it was time for the safety meeting. We tried to sit down and eat and they yelled at us and said to go back to our rooms and get our life preservers and go to our meeting points. So much for a hot meal. We ended up eating a couple bites of our cold hamburgers about 45 minutes later. Just not the same as a hot hamburger. Later that night they did end up finding my license, what a relief. We did have a fun time dancing, what a workout, you don't feel so bad for eating a lot because you can go dance the calories away. My sister Kenzie pampered us with hairdos, eye brow waxing, and applying our make up with her skills. Ensenada, I must say was depressing. All the mothers with their children just sitting on the sidewalks begging for money. I had this one little boy follow us for a couple of blocks, he just kept tapping my arm and moaning for money. My sister Megan started crying and wanted to take the kids home with her. We didn't realize at first that your not suppose to give the kids money. We gave one little girl a couple of dollars. My dad said the money doesn't help them. I took a couple of pictures of some of the families. But they don't look so bad in the picture. In person they looked so filthy. My kids pointed out that they don't look that bad. I tried to explain how sad it was to see this. We truly have so much to be grateful for. We saw a couple shows, a comedy show the first night hit the spot, It was about family vacations in station wagons. That was totally my life. It was so FUNNY! We got my dad to go on stage, We just couldn't stop laughing. Good food, dancing, relaxing, and hanging out, we ended up having a good time. But I just couldn't sleep at night with a runny nose and a cough. I would try and hold my cough in until my eyes started dripping out tears, since the room was so small, I didn't want to keep everyone up. The medicine I took kept me up most of the night. I usually never have issues with sleeping. Usually as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out! Anyways, We did see a guy who had a heart attack, that was scary and not something I ever want to see again. By the time I got home on Monday I just wanted to sleep, I just couldn't, I was getting so frustrated, I was beyond tired, I just couldn't fall asleep. Finally by Wednesday, I was able to sleep again. Thank goodness, I really do feel for those that have a sleeping disorder. One final note, I Just wanted to say thank you to Grandma Nelda and Aunt Letha for watching my kids. I'm not sure if I want to go on a cruise anytime soon, because for about a week after I got of the boat I felt like I was still on the boat, Very DIZZY!

The Paradise boat