Mexico

I was all ready to pretty much write a novel about our trip to Mexico, but I feel too overwhelmed to blog all the details. I guess I will just give the highlights. (But I'm kind of a long-winded blogger anyway, so we'll see how this "short version" goes.)

Right. Here we go then...

To celebrate Charles finishing up his MBA, and because we pretty much didn't see much of each other the whole time he was in school, we went here... for 6 nights... without the kids.


We're so lucky to have a mom living so near to us and who is actually willing to take on our kids for a whole week. (Thanks a million, Mom!)

It was really hard, but we left all of this May, Winter Wonderland behind...


...for this. :)


This was our "suite." It also had a living room and a huge bathroom. It was awesome.



We laid... in the shade (did NOT want to burn) and read a lot.


I also did a lot of "people watching." This guy was money. Unfortunately I missed the golden Kodak Moment. Right before I could get my camera, he had been lying there, skimpy speedo and all, with one leg straight up, resting on that tree. It was priceless. And I missed it.


This lady was our reminder of how much we did NOT want to get burned... and how much we loved the continuous spray sunscreen.


Right outside our suite there were these signs all around our building. "Privileged." We didn't like them. They made us feel ueber-snooty. But I told Charles I WAS going to get a picture of him standing next to one. He said he would NOT let that happen. When our friends from Texas arrived, I pretended I was just getting a picture of them arriving. Heh-heh-heh.


This is Joe and Kamille. Joe and Charles met on their mission in Italy. We all just happened to be vacationing around the same week, so we decided to go together. It was SO much fun having them around. We really lucked out! :)


So... on to the highlights...

We had LOTS of good food and drinks. We had Mexican... of course...


Italian...


Japanese... This dinner was my favorite. It was yummy and entertaining. We sat at one of those square tables where the cook makes your food right there in the middle. It was a first for me. He was quite entertaining with his all his cooking tool acrobatics. We watched him make fried rice, and then he threw everyone bits of egg to catch in their mouth... I was so close!

And Charles...

...well, you can see for yourself on the video. :)

One morning we took a bike ride down to the marina.


Holy crap it had been a long time since I rode a bike! But it all came back.

Side note: So I can't remember the last time I had been on the other end of a camera so much. I tell you, I struggled! I'm usually the one taking the pictures, and it was an ordeal to get any of me with eyes open, smiling, not laughing, or making some goofy face. I hate it! I'm happy to return to my post as "photographer" and not "subject."


Anyway we watched the dolphins for a little bit, checked out the shops and sat down for a free drink.


While at the Marina, the guys wanted to go Deep Sea fishing but they hadn't found a good price yet. They figured if we went and spoke to the people in person we could haggle a more reasonable price. It worked. A little too well. So well that Kamille and I found ourselves on the boat too. Hmmm...

Charles and Joe were so excited to go Deep Sea fishing. They'd been talking about it for months. Once we got going Joe grabbed Charles by the shoulders and said, "We're doing it man, we're doing it!"



I'm starting to feel sea sick...


So after about an hour or so of riding around, not catching anything, we stopped to do some snorkeling. They took us to a place that is known to have sea turtles swimming around, and sure enough... we saw up to 4 at one time. I was totally freaked out and I would jump onto Charles' back whenever they came near. But Charles actually fed one. Just as he held out the dead fish for a sea turtle, another one came swooping up under my legs to fight for it. It was cool... freaky, but cool. Joe actutally tried to ride on the back of one them, but didn't get too far. Kamille had a pretty sweet "ziploc" bag for her camera so she was able to get some good underwater shots.


We saw lots of schools of fish swimming near the bottom of reefs both out in the deep and at the shore of our resort.


The thing that I couldn't take was when they started to swim in a circle around us. I felt trapped. It really freaked me out and my only escape was to stand up and take off the mask. If I couldn't see them I was a lot more calm.


Then we got back into the boat for some more fishing. Well, we caught a whale of a fish! But then we let it go. I mean, where would we put it? In the mini-fridge at our hotel room?


Okay okay, we didn't actually catch anything. Instead we all got sea sick. You can kind of see Kamille lying down at the bottom. I was lying down on the other side of her. Joe is gripping the side of the boat and looks like he's about to lose it, but somehow, Charles was just fine.


Anywho, back at the resort...

...we saw these iguanas walking around everywhere...


...we did some archery...



... we tried out the spa. There was a Sauna, Vapor Room, and Water Massage Pool...


...I got a pedicure.


Y'know, one of my favorite things about meeting strangers (like the lady who did my pedicure, or people I sit next to on a plane) is seeing their expression when they find out my age. They gasp when they find out I am married, their eyes widen when they hear that I have graduated college. And they are in shock when they find out I have not one, not two, but three children. It's hilarious. It used to bother me, but now that I am approaching 29 next week, I don't mind being thought of as 10 years younger!

And of course there was a little bartering. I found this ring and I thought it was nice. Guess how much they wanted for it? $145. Not Pesos, U.S. Dollars. Yeah-freaking-right!


I got 'em down to $30. I was quite pleased with myself. That's like, what... 80% off? Although I am sure I could probably have found the same thing at Walmart for 7 bucks... Oh well, it was my souvenir!

However it has proved to be a much cooler ring than I expected.

#1 It hasn't turned my finger green.

#2 It seems to change colors. When I bought it, it was a pale blue. But I have seen it change to dark purple and a light pink, depending on what I am wearing. Not bad!

Anyway...

We swam and snorkeled in the Ocean. Charles was very proud of this particular find:


Unfortunately there was still a little guy living inside the shell, so after giving it a few days to just leave on it's own, Charles had to take matters into his own hands. And let me tell you when that sucker finally died it was stanky!

We also did some kayaking out in the Ocean...


...and in the Lagoon. Here's Charles picking up a sea creature that seems to resemble a member of the jelly family. Sick.


And here he is trying to catch a fish with is bare hands. That fish really liked us. It stayed close to us, swimming around, and in and out of our legs, over and over again. It was pretty funny... when I wasn't screaming.


They had 4 different pools, and 2 of them had the swim up bar.



Here's Charles humoring me with like the millionth "smile!"


We also went sailing. That was my first time and I loved it.


Charles has been trying to talk me into someday buying a sailboat over a ski boat. His argument has been that they are cheaper to buy, cheaper to maintain, no fuel needed, and can fold down relatively small so they would take less storage space.

I said they were slow and boring.

Boy was I wrong.


In the evenings the staff there would perform shows. They were all very good.


My favorite was not the historical reenactment...


...or the acrobatic circus-type one...


It was the "Divas Night." They "sang" and danced to J-Lo, Cher, Shakira, Cher, Madonna...


...Beyonce...


...Christina...


and... Brittney. What can I say... I'm a 13 year old girl at heart.

Man, if I could relive my life, I would so do THAT as a summer job. How awesome would it be to hang out at the pool playing games, dancing, teaching water aerobics, having competitions and playing sports during the day, and then performing as Brittney Spears at night!

Kay, so this "short version" didn't turn out so short, did it? Oh well. Just imagine how long and boring my novel would have been!

Our trip was freakin' awesome. We missed the kids towards the end, but now we're good. We're so ready to go back!