oh, down in mexico

this is the blog about the cruise, which was nice. the best part was hanging out with ryan without a small voice saying, "MOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMYMOMMY. . ." (ava's newest talent--repeating my name without breathing until i respond or she passes out). we didn't really spend any time with anyone else, including dinner, where almost every night was spend at a table for two. it's refreshing for me to realize that we have spent an incredible amount of time talking and we still haven't run out of things to say.

the ship was nice, the food was good. sunday was our "cruising" day, when we were just out at sea (this means "parked" somewhere off the coast of baja california). ryan and i spent the first half of the day on the deck reading. i now have the most fantastic sunburn i've ever had and a hilarious tan line around my elbow, because my arm was bent to read the book. turns out i do have an attention span, ava just kind of cuts it in to tiny pieces.

in ensenada, we were planning on a hike but when we saw the pictures, it looked like the hikes we've had in southern california and we decided we'd do something else. we did this excursion called "taste of mexico" which involved some of our favorite things: history, food and getting lost.

the tour was so interesting. a woman named marta led our tour and fell in love with ryan after he spoke spanish to her. i think he could have asked for the keys to her car and she would have handed them over.

the food part was interesting because we took a mexican food cooking class. ryan was the most excited, i think because his most complicated dish is macaroni and cheese (from the box). that, and the food was really good.

the getting lost part was where we attempted to move away from the tourist traps and find a museum that ryan had spotted on the bus tour. we found it, but it turns out the museum is now a restaurant. but mostly it was fun to wander around and take pictures of things like the ladies room sign (or the stop sign, which look exactly like the american ones except they say alto instead of stop). being in ensenada felt like being in downtown los angeles, to be honest. i didn't really feel like i was in another country. there was english everywhere, americans everywhere and sure, a lot of spanish and a lot of mexicans, but that's what los angeles is like!

coming home was also wonderful. i had missed ava. when she us, she was giddy. she didn't know whether to hug us or show us something or play with us. being home beats being on a cruise boat, and the getting adjusted to house cleaning and toddler-watching has been difficult (especially after getting a taste of what it's like to read for hours on end) but having ava hug me twenty times in one day (sometimes a little too tightly) and sleeping in my own bed at night beats a luxurious cruise ship any day (having said that, i have already begun planning my next getaway with ryan, it'll be two years from now. i'm thinking the caribbean, but i've got two years).