Mexico Vacation

We braved going south of the border for yet another year.  It pays to be the courageous types.  We had an amazing (and affordable) time and had the place practically all to ourselves.  It was worth every ounce of energy that I spent preparing, packing, list-making, online shopping for beach and pool necessities, and anxiously trying to puzzle together how we were going to squeeze everything into our minivan.  When the rest of the world was preparing for a chilly autumn (or enduring the AZ heat), we were “luxuriating” -- as Jake says, in perfect beach weather.

Once we got to our resort in Rocky Point, we might have been at a resort anywhere in the world, and you could’ve fooled me.  I really do love it there.  We had a two bedroom two bathroom condo on the ground floor with a huge patio that walked straight out to the pools.  We got the good out of all 14 pools.  And that isn’t counting the beautiful tide pools that form at low tide at the beach.  The only thing noticeably lacking there is the dining quality, which I honestly didn’t mind because we made all our meals in the condo’s full kitchen, freeing us of having to adhere to social expectations such as showing up on time for mealtimes, being quiet diners, and wearing clothes.

I can’t say that we accomplished much while on vacation (we didn’t scuba dive or explore the terrain and sightsee like back in the good old days), but I can say that we did what we wanted to, when we wanted to.  We unplugged completely (no phone or computer or blow dryer for that matter), which was heavenly.  We stayed up late… or went to bed early.  We slept in and ate in.  We spent most of our waking moments drenched in water and sunshine.  We left our stress back in Arizona to deal with another day… or better yet, for someone else to deal with while we were gone ;).  We took naps or let the kids nap while Jake and I snuck out our back patio to the pool for some much needed alone time (in fifteen minute increments).  We drank fruity drinks every day, Jake built sand castles, Gabe found real buried treasure at the beach (a stash of foreign coins from around the world), Liam dipped and sipped and slept, we all spent excessive amounts of time in the lazy river, the kids all learned how to hop waves, I rode a horse in the sea at sunset (*sigh*), we read long bedtime stories, and the little ones even got to watch the Disney Channel, which Bella may tell you was the best part of the whole trip.

 

Happy baby the whole time.  He loved riding in my lap on the lazy river, covered completely with sun hat, sunglasses, rash guard, swim trunks, and a good slathering of SPF 50 the whole time.  When he was tired, we just let him sleep in a wet shirt and a dry diaper in the shade so he could air condition himself.  Not one complaint out of this chubby one.

Gabe and Bella wanted to make friends with every person there under the age of thirteen.  They acquired a knowledge of their love for pina coladas from these new friends.

    

Bella was convinced that our massive patio was a stage for her and that the other condo balconies contained her adoring audience members.  Uh oh is right.

    

Going back for more.