Our Trip to Paradise

Lance and I just returned from a trip to Mexico with our best buddies Kurt and Emily.  We were both married in 2000, so we had 20 years of marriage to celebrate between the four of us :)  We have taken several trips with them, but most of them had the following in common:  1)High altitude 2)physical exertion 3) me being pregnant.  While hiking through waist-deep snow in the Rockies with an 18-week-old bun in the oven on our last big trip (we had gotten lost on a ski trail), I suggested that the next trip we took meet the following criteria:  1) Warm 2) Relaxation 3)Me NOT being pregnant.

Several years and three children later (between the two couples), there we were in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.  We snagged an UNBELIEVABLE deal on price-line for rooms at the Mariott right on the ocean, and we relaxed, ate, talked, ran on the beach, and played for the next four days.

By the end of the trip we were of course ready to return to real life and the little ones that we left behind (especially Emily, who had never left her 22 month old for more than SEVEN HOURS), but it was bittersweet to leave the beautiful ocean and warm water behind to return to the ice, snow and cold that were waiting for us in the Midwest.

The Red Snapper we picked out at a little shack of a restaurant along the beach.   Isn't it GORGEOUS?
Moments after the sunset 
On the walk back from the restaurant we cam across a group releasing baby sea turtles!  They do it just after sunset so that predators like pelicans can't see them.  We helped several of these little guys find the ocean.

Our yummy lunch made on the patio of one of our hotel rooms.  Tasty and cheap- that's the way we do Mexico!



I couldn't resist $2.50 for a coconut to sip out of.  Truth was, I didn't really enjoy the coconut water, but scooping out the flesh was delicious.

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