Ahoy There

We have made it to our first port, Puerta Vallarta. There were several excursions that sounded fun but we decided to take a pirate ship adventure for the day. A little crazy to get off one boat to turn around and get on another but it was a pretty cool ship. Our adventure included a yummy breakfast and lunch and a trip to a beautiful beach for snorkeling, boarding, banana boat riding and treasure hunting. Ella and I wish Fish, our pirate!

Arghhhh!

Who knew he was a make-up artist, too! Ella thought it was pretty cool that he turned her skull into a girl one by adding a bow.

While sailing to the island, we got to watch a fun little pirate battle that included most of them walking (or diving) off the plank!

I wish I could remember the name of the beach where we went but oh well...it was beautiful!

Ella could not wait to get in the ocean! She ended up eating some sand a couple of times when the waves came in a bit bigger than she could handle but she brushed it off and kept on going.

She was only a tiny bit scared to ride the board. Scott had to help her get her balance at first but then she was great and never wanted to get off.

Her favorite part of the afternoon though was riding the banana boat through the ocean. I was really apprehensive to let her go. She had to ride in the front because she was the smallest and I was so worried that she would fall off out in the middle of the water and start to freak out. For the first ride, I was right behind her. I kept telling her everything would be ok. And she kept telling me "Ya mom, I'm fine" - like "Hello! Stop ruining the moment by being so over protective." After the first ride, she got back in line to head out again. Way to go, Ella, for being so brave!

Our time on the beach ended with a treasure hunt for the kids. I thought she would be so excited to do this. And at first she was. But then the thing we knew was coming but had been dreading happened - a breakdown! She stormed off. Wouldn't talk to either of us. And sat on her chair pouting or crying. Really?!? It took awhile for her to come around and by then the treasure had been found. Bummer! The ride back included another fun pirate show and some amazing scenery!

Ella in front of the Walt Disney Theatre - home of our night time entertainment.

You know those moments in life when you wish you would have remembered your camera?! Tonight was definitely one of those for me. It was tucked away in a drawer in our room while Scott was on stage in the Walt Disney Theatre making the whole audience laugh! Tonight was the hynotist show with Ricky Kalmon. Scott had been talking earlier about how only people with weak minds get hypnotized. I told him if they called for volunteers that he should go up to see if that was really true. So, when they did, he jumped up and headed to the stage. I didn't believe he could really get hypnotized. I don't think he did either. But he said when he got up there that he decided he was really going to concentrate and try to go under. It didn't a lot of instruction or Yanni music and he was out! His first task was to move seats when he awoke because the person next to him smelled awful! His face was hilarious as he sniffed around trying to figure out where the odor was coming from. After he was in his new seat, Ricky told us that he was going to give him napkins that he would think were $100 bills. He told Scott that he needed to hide these bills where no one could get them. As he handed Scott the first napkin, you could see his eyes light up. And even more when he handed over the second and third. Most people would probably put them in their shoe or pockets but not Scott. He started stuffing them up his shorts. Ella and I could not stop laughing - along with everyone else in the audience. After his money was all tucked away, Ricky told him that he now thought he was Hannah Montana and was performing for a sold out show. With a snap of his fingers, Scott was singing to a song that he obviously did not know the words to, dancing around on stage, and telling everyone that he loved them. Oh, to be famous! Once his concert performance was over, Ricky gave him his final command. When he tapped his microphone, Scott was to take off his right show and pretend it was Simba from the Lion King. Scott did not disappoint his growing fan base. The microphone was ever so subtly tapped and off came the show, on came the Lion King theme song and Scott was proudly displaying his Puma shoe as Simba for all to see. When he wasn't raising Simba to the ceiling, he was tenderly hugging him. I was in tears from laughing so hard by the time Scott came back to his seat and Ella thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen him do. He remembered everything he did and couldn't go to sleep that night. He was so happy and relaxed. He enjoyed a little bit of stardom after that as people on the ship would recognize him and ask if he was the one from the hypnotist show. One girl even asked him to sign her character autograph book. That didn't go to his head! But, I guess in the end he was right, only the weak minded get hypnotized! :)

Tomorrow - Cabo San Lucas!