Viva Mexico!

In late September, Jeff and I were so lucky and excited to be able to escape for a week away on a tropical vacation. Our destination for this trip: tropical Cozumel, Mexico!

We stayed in a wonderful adults-only (woohoo!) all-inclusive resort on the island of Cozumel and it turned out to be a much-needed, amazing vacation. The place we stayed was a Secrets resort, and it was really nice. We ended up changing rooms after the first night, but we loved both rooms and enjoyed all of the great amenities.

Our first room with a HUGE balcony overlooking the ocean.

More of our room.

When we first arrived at the resort, we saw lots of cool creatures lurking around. This not-so-little guy joined us for lunch, ha!

One of our new friends at the resort.

But of course, our favorite part of the resort was the view. I could never get tired of waking up to this!

View from our resort.

Before leaving for our vacation, Jeff and I decided that we wanted to do a few excursions on the island during our week there. We had researched the options and cost but just figured we would book through our hotel after we got there. But when we arrived at the Cozumel airport, we were pulled aside by an airport official (or so we thought) to discuss the various options for tourists on the island. The airport guy, Luis, began telling us about all of these excursions we could do for a small fee if we booked through him. Oh, and it required a small time commitment to attend a breakfast at a nearby hotel resort. My inner alarm bells went off ("Sales pitch! Run for your life!") but somehow we were talked into signing up for this package of excursions.

Two days later, we found ourselves standing at the bustling ferry port of Cozumel catching a large ferry across the ocean to the city of Cancun, where our interesting day of adventures would begin.

Arrived at the city of Cancun in Mexico. Gorgeous water and beaches!

After we arrived in Cancun, we were taken by taxi to a huge Occidental hotel resort where we proceeded to have some breakfast and take a tour, followed by a little pressure to sign up for their vacation club. On the plus side, participating in this sales presentation did save us a couple hundred dollars on the excursions we were already planning to purchase. On the negative side, we definitely got suckered into a sales pitch that lasted well over the 45 minutes they promised. Lesson learned, ha!

In the lobby of the hotel resort with the dreaded sales presentation.

After we toured the hotel resort and turned down the vacation club offer, Jeff and I were finally on our way to our promised excursions. We were given some very vague instructions on how to get to where we needed to go, and somehow we ended up on a bus with locals, none of whom spoke English. I sometimes speak a little Spanish but not near enough to get by. I thought I communicated to the bus driver where we were headed -- the ruins at Tulum -- but when the driver called for our stop, we descended from the bus on a busy highway in the middle of NOWHERE! I kid you not, we felt completely stranded and lost. Jeff and I were standing on the side of the road looking dazed and confused and then laughing at the hilarity of our situation!

On the small but crowded mini-bus, just before being dropped off on the side of the Mexican highway.

Then we looked across the busy highway at what seemed to be a discreet entrance to some little shops. But it turned out that it was actually the entrance to the park in Tulum, which was exactly where we needed to be. We crossed the busy highway and made our way to the national park, a popular destination for viewing Mayan ruins from the year AD 564. So amazing!

We made it to Tulum, phew!

We walked around the park of ruins, marveling at how old it all was and how beautiful the area was. Everything was built high up on a cliff overlooking the ocean below. The Mayans definitely knew how to pick a gorgeous location!

One of the buildings of ruins.

The Mayans might have been a tad bit shorter than modern day humans, ha!



A selfie amidst the ruins and lush landscaping overlooking the ocean.

After our afternoon of touring the ruins, we managed to make it back to the ferry port in Cancun to catch our ferry back to Cozumel. On the ride back, we had a close encounter with a cruise ship. It's always amazing to me, those huge floating cities!

Cruise ship passing by our ferry.

One of the things I didn't realize before booking our trip is that apparently Mexico has a rainy season, so of course we happened to be there right in the middle of it! We were there for 7 days and it rained all but 2 of them. We didn't get as much sun as we hoped, but we still had a great time and managed to find other fun things to do. After we were upgraded to "club" level at the resort (for some room issues we experienced on the first day), we spent some time in the club room that was always stocked with snacks, drinks, and games. We put our word skills to use with a few games of Scrabble. Word to the wise: Jeff does not like it when you add an "s" to an existing word to make a new word. HA!

Scrabble King!

Also at the resort was a really cool bar that had working swings as the seats. It was the perfect spot to enjoy the tropical weather and a few adult beverages!

Swinging and drinking :-)

Probably our favorite excursion of the trip was when we rented a jeep and drove around the island for the day. Riding around in the open air Jeep reminded me of how much I love that feeling, and it made me miss my convertible days after college! While Jeff was driving, we circled the island, out-drove a massive thunderstorm, enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, visited the local lighthouse, stopped at a remote beach club, and even managed to get Jeff's very first tattoo!

Our ride for the day.

So fun!

I enjoyed this view -- Jeff needs a Jeep! :-)

My favorite picture of the trip. Here I was on the rocky beach and the edge of a massive thunderstorm!

Jeff's turn on the rocky beach, then we promptly jumped in the Jeep and outran that storm!

Back in the city, Jeff was prepped for his first tattoo.

There it is, his barbed wire tattoo. Don't worry, it was only Henna!

At another local park in Cozumel with more ruins and the island lighthouse.

At the top of the lighthouse. Such a pretty view!

Love the pics with my man! :-)

I thought this sign at the park was cool, showing various destinations and their distance from Cozumel.

Our favorite stop of the trip was the local beach club, Pepitas. We were told it was the prettiest beach on the island. We agreed!

Walking on the beach, Jeff found this perfect conch shell.

Another scenic stop on the way back to our resort.

Back at the resort, showing off his ink, haha.

Sunset dinner on the last night of our trip. Do we HAVE to go back home??

On the morning of our departure from the resort, Jeff and I joked about making the "walk of shame" with our rolling suitcases, past the pools and lounge chairs where other lucky couples in bathing suits were still sunning and drinking their fruity beverages while they watched us walk back to reality. LOL! It's always tough to leave paradise, but we were excited to see our kids and hear about their week without us.

While we were in Mexico, Connor and Kaitlynn were back in Katy with MeMe and Granddaddy who stayed all week and managed the crazy schedule and school homework. I am a listmaker by nature, and my poor mother had her work cut out for her with all the daily schedules and assignments to keep up with.

This is just a sample of the lists I left for my parents. Every day was a different schedule and checklist, ha!

Probably the quote of the week was when my sweet mother, who hardly ever has a bad word to say about anyone or anything, sent me a text saying, "I'm really shocked by all the homework!" Now THAT is a very diplomatic observation if I ever saw one -- but that's a topic for another blog post and another day, hahaha!!

I was a bit worried about leaving my parents with everything they had to manage during a school week -- football/cheer practices, daily homework / sight words / test reviews, maps and schedules for all the various events and activities. I never realize just how much it amounts to until I have to explain it to someone else!

But MeMe and Granddaddy managed it all perfectly and I think they were even able to enjoy some down time during the days while the kids were in school. They were even able to visit the kids during lunch a couple days.

 MeMe and Connor at lunch together.

Connor with Granddaddy.

Now Kaitlynn's turn.

Her sweet smile says it all: she loves having MeMe and Granddaddy at school lunch!

Probably the most hectic time of their babysitting duties involved the Saturday schedule of football and cheer before we arrived back home that night. They did a great job of getting the kids there with all the necessary equipment and even were able to enjoy their performances!

Connor was team captain for his football game.

All the captains lined up.

Kaitlynn cheered on the sidelines.

And here she was during her halftime performance.

When we finally made it back home, we were all happy to be reunited. And of course, the kids really enjoyed their gifts from Mexico.

A Mexican sombrero for Kaitlynn and a Texans wrestling mask for Connor.

It was a wonderful week for all of us, and we are so thankful to MeMe and Granddaddy for allowing Jeff and I some much-needed time together away in Mexico!