Some of you have already seen pictures from our vacation on Facebook. So, this post is really for those who don't partake in such guilty pleasures or simply want a little more trip commentary.
Yes, Jason and I went on our first-in-seven-years trip without children. It was a challenge to make it happen, with many "but Bailey would enjoy the beach, too" thoughts threatening to discourage our couple getaway. But, when all was said and done, we dropped the kids off with my parents for the week and headed to good ole Mexico!
We went to an area of Mexico to which we have not been before...the Riviera Maya. Supposedly the further south you travel, the better the beaches. We opted for a more secluded all-inclusive resort (the only way to travel, if you ask me!) which required a bit of car travel from the Cancun airport. We had a nice driver, Jose, who toured us through some very dilapidated villages at 100 miles per hour. Jason and I also got to experience our first exercise in intimacy since we shared the front seat during that 90 minute ride...it's not as romantic as it sounds. :-)
When we pulled up to our resort, we let out a big sigh as it was everything we could ask for....beautiful and serene.....and safe, which was certainly something in the back of our minds about the current state of affairs in the country. We immediately scoped out the entire resort (it's small), changed into our suits, and headed for the pool. We were SOOO hungry, having eaten only breakfast very early in the morning, so caught the tail end of the lunch buffet and had our first islandy drink. I think Jason had a margarita and I had a mojito. I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it!
So, I won't drag you down the memory lane of each day we were there, but will instead rely on a trusty bulleted list to share some highlights!
The food was INCREDIBLE. Some people think you can't find good food at an all-inclusive. Either I'm super easy to please or that's simply not true. We even had the best Italian meal (yep, in Mexico) that we've ever had in our lives. We really tried to control what we ate, meaning we went into the experience trying not to be too gluttonous. We even did an hour of cardio in the gym each morning to try to counteract some of the calories. At that, our vacation diet simply couldn't hold up to the previous 1,200 calories per day we were eating (well, that's what I eat, I'm sure Jason eats a bunch more but he still watches it closely) and I'm now trying to lose the 4 lbs. I gained as a result of all the fun. Boo, hiss.Adults only resorts are interesting in many ways. We've never stayed at a place that doesn't allow children. However, when booking the trip, I thought "What the heck? If I'm not bringing my kids, why do I want other people's kids running around?" What I didn't really anticipate was how QUIET everything would be. Multiple times throughout our stay Jason and I wondered if the pool was open, as we could hear nothing but birds chirping as we walked along the path leading to it. Another interesting bit of info that I probably should have realized is that no kids equals topless women. There seemed to be quite a few Europeans visiting this resort, and we saw our fair share of boobs. The interesting thing to me was that this wasn't just on the beach or in a sunbathing chair. Nope, these women went to the bar, the pizza deli, the towel shack - you name it - without their tops. Weird. There was one girl who did water aerobics with the group activity leaders without hers. Jason got this on video, although I might get kicked off the internet for posting it, so I won't.Jason had his first ever massage and ate gelato for the first time. Both were wonderful! We upgraded our room upon arrival in order to get a renovated room with a king bed. Along with that feature, we also received massages, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries in our room, and a private dinner on the beach. The massage alone was worth the upgrade. The dinner on the beach was really fun, too. Perfect weather, wine, smoked salmon, steak, shrimp.....and now I'm hungry.I have freaky skin that repels the sun. So, after day 1 when I got absolutely no color from lying by the pool, I decided to ditch the sunscreen. I knew this was a bad idea, but thought I could rectify the situation if I got too burned. Well, while I'm sure I got SOME sun, I didn't come even close to burning. Jason would tell me that he needed to sit under the palapa because he could feel his back burning. But me? Not so much. Instead, I got a horrible looking heat rash on my neck and chest each day. I looked like I had the worst case of teenage acne you can imagine. This would clear up slightly when I was out of the sun, but I still ended up wearing necklaces to dinner to try to cover my chest as much as possible. I remember this happening to me once before, but it's been 10 years or so since it did. Now, a week later, I simply look like I always do....maybe with a few more freckles!You can't even be anonymous in the Riviera Maya. We ran into some people who live in Piedmont, which is just a few miles from our home. It's a good thing I wasn't topless at the time (just kidding!).I ruined our camera while looking for sea shells for Bailey. One day, we took a walk down the shoreline to pick up some interesting shells. I had the camera and my shoes in one hand, and a bunch of shells in the other. I had sand dripping down my arm, so I went to wash my hand off in the ocean. Just as I bent down to wash it off, an unexpectedly strong wave came over me and got both hands/arms wet....including my camera bag. I hurriedly dumped everything out on some dry sand, but the camera was already too wet. We were bummed to not get to take pics the rest of the trip, but equally as glad that the actually SD card was fine, as I have hundreds of pics on there that I would be heartbroken to lose. And, I got a new and better camera out of the deal....I realized I had a Best Buy gift certificate left over from last Christmas that 100% covered the replacement. What a deal!Being in the jungle was amazingly beautiful. It also brought some sleeping challenges. Every morning at 6 a.m. a devil bird would land on the balcony outside our door and make some noise I've never in my life heard before and can only describe as a mating call. In the distance we'd hear a return call. This would go on for about 30 minutes and then they'd stop (perhaps due to the mating?). In any case, it was hard to sleep in and I actually went outside and told him (her?) to cut it out a few times.
The couple time was awesome, but we did miss our kids! We called and checked in once each day, but only managed to talk to them twice. I think they were fighting with each other both times, which helped us focus on why it's good to get away! But, when we started our journey back home, all we could think about was their cute little faces! I wasn't supposed to get them from my parents house until the following day (our flight got in at 10:30 p.m.), but we started to conjure a plan to get them home that night. Coincidentally, my mom actually proposed this to us as an option because she had to work the following afternoon and it was actually less stressful to deliver them late than wait for me to get there the next morning. So, we had our cute family reunion at about 11:15 p.m. and the kids stayed up with us until well after midnight. It was a wonderful trip, but it is also great to be home. Enjoy the pics (before the camera/ocean episode)!
Jason said he probably would have written "Go Spurs" instead. What a romantic!
I called him Tom and fed him a banana.
I never had to get up with my official drink fetcher on hand!
This was on what we called the "serenity path." They had music piping through from somewhere in the jungle and we always felt like we needed to have on robes and be chanting something.
After one of our morning workouts.
Trying to get some sun. As stated earlier, my efforts proved only marginally successful!
This is what the kids did 99% of the time we were gone!
