Una semana en Mexico

Last week Chris and I were able to get away for a trip to Mexico with some friends. It was a wonderful vacation..one that we really needed and definitely enjoyed and appreciated!

The group we went with were initially Chris's friends, but through the years have become my friends too. There was a couple on the trip whom I had never met (and honestly wasn't even sure how to pronounce their names!)and by the end of the 5 days it was like we had been friends since childhood. It was a perfect mix of people and personalities. Never had any disputes over where to eat, what to do, etc. Most just did what they wanted and met up with the group afterwards!

Here are some highlights:

Arriving in Cancun. We left Minneapolis at 6:20 a.m. so it was quite an early morning for us. Once we touched down in Cancun and the layers of clothes started coming off and the sunglasses starting going on, I knew it was going to be great. The shuttle service was right on time and no one had any trouble getting through customs.



Rooms: Because they are having some trouble getting people to go to Mexico these days (you know the whole people getting their heads cut off thing..) and it's an off-peak time to travel, they gave us 1500 points to use on the resort. We were able to use some of them for a room upgrade and it was definitely worth it. Here's are a couple of views from our room.




Service: The service at our resort (Moon Palace Golf and Spa) was outstanding. These people (who made $8 per day) would do absolutely anything to make us happy. At one point my heart broke because Chris asked for a cup of coffee after dinner and the waiter ran to get it. Literally ran. We tipped better than ever. I even got to speak some Spanish and was pleasantly surprised at how much came back. I could tell the Mexican people were appreciative of my attempt and they even taught me some new words!

Spa: We were able to use 300 of the points for the Spa and my wonderful husband graciously gave me all 300 to use. If you get jealous easily, please don't read the rest of this paragraph. In one day I was able to get a body scrub, holistic massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. My bill (after the 300 points) was $14. We even got to use the sauna, steam room, and hydrotherapy pools before the treatments. (well...the other girls did the sauna and steam room. I got claustrophobic in the first 2 minutes and had to exit:)



Golf: No pictures of golf yet, but Chris and the guys got a chance to golf on the resort (again with resort points) From what I hear it was an amazing golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus. One of the highlights were these monkey type creatures who would jump on the cart and try to steal food when you went up to hit the ball! I know one of the guys has a couple pictures so if I can get them, I'll post at another time.

The food. It was unbelievably delicious. We had sushi 2 nights in a row because it was so good and enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Italian restaurant on our last night. The freshly squeezed OJ was the highlight every morning.




The drinks: Every fruity drink you could ever imagine was available to us. I didn't even know some of these drinks existed! Check this one out. It was called a Bob Marley and we discovered it late in the trip...which was probably a good thing:) Another favorite was the Miami Vice which was half a strawberry daiquiri and half a pina colada. So yummy! I have never been one for fruity drinks (gut rot) but for some reason I didn't have any trouble in Mexico! Must be the water:)



Tennis: No pictures of this either, but Chris and I enjoyed a couple mornings of tennis. We did not bring our own racquets and balls so we had to rely on their equipment (which was sub-par) but it was really fun to be outside hitting again. The second day we played we actually had to quit because it was too hot and the sweat was dripping in my eyes. not kidding.

Hanging at the pool: We had great weather while we were there. There were a few clouds and sprinkles on the first day we were there, but other than that it was mid-80's with a light breeze! Here are some other favorite pictures from the trip.





the seagulls were crazy there too and one pooped on Chris:)



Another highlight of the trip was getting home to see the kids. (I was pretty excited even though there was a 100 degree diffence between the Cancun airport and the Minneapolis airport) I had some anxiety about leaving them for 6 nights, but they did great thanks to our wonderful parents. They spent the first couple of days in Minnesota with Chris's parents and then went to Decorah and then to Dubuque with my parents. We talked to them once and it didn't go very well, so we just spoke to our parents from then out and it was much better! Mya was so happy to see us she gave Chris a 5-minute hug. Max was a little overwhelmed. After the hugs he retreated to his room to build legos because he wasn't sure what to do! After we got back and gave them their presents and Max asked "Is that it?" and Mya asked "Did you get me a baby?" I knew we were back to normal:)