Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Vacation Re-cap

You asked for pics. Well, grab a snack and settle in. I don't seem to have good luck with the slideshow things so I just added a bunch individually.

First, let me clarify something. This was not a big party trip. I went to Cancun in '01 with 12 other girls. That was my party trip. BTDT, ya know. And we won't discuss what took place during that trip and there won't be any sharing of pics. LOL! In spite of my very close relationship with my Bubba, there was no drunken debauchery this time. Sorry to disappoint y'all. This vacation was all about relaxation. The plan was to just lay around, eat and drink, and play with my two toddler traveling companions.

This is Mia, her mother, Christine and her grandmother, Evelyn, on the plane ride to Mexico. She will be 2 years old tomorrow. Mia was adopted from Guatemala. Adorable, huh?
This is 18 month old Arianna and her mother Lee Ann. She's also from Guatemala. These two were my roomies for the trip. The girls handled the travel very well. We were so proud of them.
This is our view from the restaurant. We sat here everyday and looked out at the ocean. Check out how the windows open to let in the ocean breeze. Ahhhh....heavenly.
I was spoiled every morning with my fresh mango juice with breakfast.
This was the view from our balcony. They had a gorgeous pool. The resort was not very busy the week we were there. It was wonderful. There were some days we nearly had this whole pool to ourselves.
They just make this way too easy. I mean just swim up and drink? Seriously? It doesn't get much better than this people.
This is my favorite bartender. I tipped him a few bucks everyday. Most people don't tip at an all-inclusive resort. My advice is that it's well worth it if you want extra special service. By the second day, he'd see me and Bubba coming. His first words would be "Margarita senorita?" Although I did alternate pina coladas every other day. But only cuz he made a great one. He took excellent care of me. My drinks were made with the top shelf stuff. He'd fill the Bubba and then let me taste test. His next words would be "Mas tequila?" and I would respond "Si senor!" It was our special little game. Gawd I miss him. LOL!
Arianna was a natural swimmer. This kid loved the water. She was fearless. By the end of the week she'd taught herself how to float AND hold her breath under water. She loved when her momma would dunk her under.


All that swimming can be exhausting! Is this not just the cutest thing?
Yeah you've seen this one already. But this is what Auntie K did while momma swam with her. Bubba and I'd spend some quality time together.
Here's all the chicas dressed for dinner one night. Trying to get the little chicas to both look at the camera at the same time was a losing battle this time.
This is Mia's fake smile she learned in daycare. If you point a camera her direction and tell her to say "cheese" this is what you get. She looks pained, doesn't she? Cute nonetheless.
More random cuteness. Love that smile.
This is the balcony of our room. The other girls were in the room next door. We'd sit out here sometimes and just admire the scenery.

Yes this was the scenery. Meet the entertainment staff. Every afternoon they'd line up here and do a little dancing. They'd holler up "Hola senoritas!" and we'd cheer them on. It was a little bit Chippendales but we loved it. Good times!
Here are the chicas in the matching dresses Auntie K bought them. Mia has her arm around Arianna. I just ate this up. So freakin' sweet. We were about to head out for dinner.
We spent a lot of time at the beach too. We loved it. There were several boats parked here because there is a reef that protects the beach. Makes the water much calmer. That's part of the reason we chose this resort. We thought it'd be easier for the babies to swim if the surf wasn't so rough. We didn't mind the boats.
Here's the fearless swimmer Arianna and I out in the ocean while momma was taking pics on shore.
Ahhh.... this is rough, huh? Hanging out under the palapas at the beach. What a life for little Mia.
I celebrated my 15 month LID-versary while in Mexico. I thought of my girl all the time. Spending so much time with the little chicas was so awesome. But it reminded me of what I'm missing. It was a little bittersweet. Now that I'm home I miss them terribly. And I've gotten a little depressed again about the wait. I'm sure I'll snap out of it in a few days. In the meantime, I'll just keep dreaming of the day when I'll take my own Mia back to this beach.
This is Chica Mia playing in the sand. That's her nickname. We call her Chica a lot. Which will help with the confusion when my Mia comes home. Small world, huh? Two little adopted Mia's in the same single mom's group.
You don't see this everday. Can you tell what it is? Three military guys decked out in complete army uniforms carrying huge freakin' machine guns just strolling the beach. Hmmmm..... I got up very early one morning to go sit on the beach and enjoy the sunrise. It was absolutely amazing. So peaceful. The pics don't even begin to do justice to the sheer beauty of it.
We rode the ferry into Cozumel one day. Here are the chicas just lounging in their strollers on the ride over.
We went over so I could swim with the dolphins. They had a special place to go to do that. Here's part of the pier where they were kept. This one was jumping up out of the water.
Here's Chica with her grandma checking out the dolphin lagoon which is behind her.
Check it out. This was pretty cool. I'd always wanted to swim with the dolphins but had never gotten around to it. Figured this was as good a time as any. Next trip to Mexico will hopefully include my own little chica. So I decided to do it now while I was still able.
This is the belly ride. You swim out into deep water and raise your arm out beside you. The dolphin swims up and puts his fin in your hand. You grab ahold and ride his belly while he swims upside down pulling you around. In spite of the look on my face, it really was fun! Just another random cute pic. I love this pose. Just chill-axin.
Those are pretty much the highpoints. I had a wonderful time. It was so nice to be away for a week with no schedule, no responsibility, just pure relaxation. I really needed a vacation. The girls did really well considering how out of their element they were. All the crazy traveling, the incredible heat, strange food, no schedules. We only had a few meltdowns and they were towards the end of the trip. I had a blast playing with my chicas. One word of advice for anyone traveling with a baby in an airport. Take a stroller and gate check it!! We never would've made our connections without being able to toss the girls in and run. It really was that close on the way down. On the way back, getting through customs was a nightmare. Thank gawd for the strollers! I got pulled out TWICE to be searched. Boy that was fun. But I finally made it home safely after a long 12 hour travel day. It does feel good to be home and in my own bed. Plus I realy missed my dog. Vacations are great but coming home is awesome, too.

31 comments:

kitchu said...

Man it sounds like it was paradise, and the little Chica's are SO cute, and oh my god a swim up bar? And swimming with a dolphin? Can we do Bodacious Blog Bash here next year??! And you look fabulous...

Anonymous said...

Ummmm..... glad you're back?

wzgirl said...

Yes, I get the chillaxin part. Good on you, SK! And, I had no idea that you were traveling with a bunch of families. How cool are you?

Love the pic of the bartender filling up your BubbaCooler! You crack me UP!!

Mamacita said...

Fantastic pictures! Looks like a lot of fun!

Middle-Aged Moi said...

Those kiddos are SO cute!

And swimming with dolphins? Too cool! I'll have to show my son tomorrow, it's one of his biggest dreams!

M3 said...

Wow... sounds like an awesome trip.

And you can never have too many Mia's. ;-)

Sincerely,
Monkey Toe Mia

Norma said...

Sounds like a great time - I'd love to try swimming with dolphins, too.

Unknown said...

These are absolutely beautiful, thanks for sharing these with us! Glad you had a great time!

Pixel Fairy Princess said...

I love the pictures and play-by-play! Made me feel like I was there ~ drats ~ I wasn't!

t~ said...

Darn good pictures. I love that you had a 'trained' bartender, you certainly know how to play it. I think you were searched twice simply because your a hot waiting mama or maybe there were some rumors of you smuggling that tequila in under the girls...?

Happy 15 months down.

Beeb said...

Looks like a fabulous trip. And the Bubba has me thinkin'...I have an all-inclusive MX trip in my future. good advice on fostering that relationship with the bartender.

Pug Mama said...

awesome pics. Looks like paradise. my kind of vacation.
you made me itchy for the beach!

Noemi said...

Love the pics! Sounds like you had a blast! The Chicas are just too cute for words.

You made me want to go on vaca soooooooonnnnnn!

OziMum said...

Wow. What a fantastic holiday! With great company too?! The little girls are just divine!

So glad you got to get away and have a break! Happy 15 months, too! Its 15 down, and hopefully not that many in front?

Kim said...

WOW!!!!
Looks like you had an amazing time...
The pictures are awesome..
The girls are adorable..
Happy 15 Months...
Have a Great Day...
Kim

~ Alison said...

What great pics. I need to go back to Mexico one day . . . & I also need a handful of those dancing men to get me going in the AM.

Glad to hear you had a fabulous time!

4D said...

Such wonderful pictures. Defo sounds like an amazing vacation. Just what the doctor ordered!

Keep smilin!

Daniella said...

Wonderful pictures - glad you had a good time and it was relaxing. Happy 15 months behind you.

C's Mom said...

Were you hiding bubba under your shirt? Why did they pick you twice to search?

I'd love to ride a dolphin...yeah, I just went ahead and said it.

Looks like serious chill time and it took the bartender no time to figure you out 'Mas Tequila' ;0)

The girls seem to have the chill concept under control. Get 'em started young!

Alas, no Oscar :0(

Anonymous said...

OK, that looks fabulous! Please tell me where this piece of heaven is. Maybe I need to go there for my getaway!

Colleen said...

You were sportin some tequila under the girls??? LOL....

OMG Connie just made me wet my pants with the ride the dolphin comment. BUT....I've done it twice and loved it. Those Dolphins are so sweet. Glad you got the chance to do it.

It looks like you had an amazing time. Love the bartender pic and those little chica girls?? OMG they are so sweet!!

My fav pic? The one of Waiting for Mia in the sand. Loves it.

Headmeister said...

Ok, I could comment on MANY of the fabulous pics here, but had to stop and only mention one: your "Waiting for Mia" made me cry, right here at work. It's amazing how much these babes are with us wherever we go... Hugs girlie, I miss you bunches... *smooch!*

Liene said...

Looks like you had an absolutely fabulous trip. I'm in need of one of those. And it looks like Bubba really was a great companion.

I've wanted to swim with dolphins for forever and I'm hoping that I get the chance to do it sometime in this life.

Shannon said...

Loved looking at the pictures. So many happy/content faces! Life under the palapas is so dreamy! Loved how you got to swim with the dolphins. Very cool. Let me know if you need another vacation partner...you know how to do 'em!

Shannon said...

Such great pics! And such adorable chicas!

GGHadden said...

Great pics....making me think I need some vaca time too. Back to reality now :(

Joannah said...

That sounds like a wonderful vacation. I'm glad to know it wasn't just you and Bubba, though! ;-) The beach there was gorgeous. Don't you just love the tropics?

~Kristen said...

Wow... now that was a lot of awesome photos!! Looks like an amazing resort and a fun, relaxing vacation.

Welcome back to reality!! :o(

TBG Happenings said...

Looks like you had a great time!! A little RR does a girl good:)

Maryellen

redmaryjanes said...

Love all of the pictures. Those little girls are the cutest! It just looks like the coolest place.

cougchick said...

Love how you trained the bartender. smart advice. I'll use the tipping next time I'm down south.
Excellent photos. my heart ached for you when I scrolled down to the "waiting for Mia" pic. She is coming! Hang in there.