Matt+Me+Mexico

Well we just got back from our anniversary trip to Mexico a few days ago, and I thought I should probably get blogging about it before I start forgetting all the awesomeness.  We arrived in Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday evening, right around dinner time.  We stayed at a great all-inclusive resort.  Right when we arrived we headed to the buffet for a quick bite to eat, then went straight down to the beach to play in the ocean and watch the sun set.

The view from our room

 

 

I forgot to take a picture of our room before we messed it all up, so I snagged this one from google.

 

 

 

That night we spent most of the evening at the beach, then got cleaned up and did some exploring around the resort.  The whole next day we were exclusively at the resort.  We slept in as long as we could, which didn't actually end up being that late.  It's hard to sleep in when you're body is so accustomed to being woken up by little people when the sun comes up everyday!  But we took advantage of the quiet morning and went for a long walk on the beach before breakfast.  I'm pretty sure all we did was hang out at the beach, eat, go back to the beach, eat again...take a nap...play some cards...swim in the ocean...read and fall asleep at the beach...do some boogie boarding...and eat again.  Oh, and somewhere in there Matt played a couple games of beach volleyball.  It was divine. 

 

 

Even though the resort had two really nice pools, including a pool that was exclusively for adults...we didn't set foot in either of them during the whole trip.  We both love swimming in the ocean so much...and we figured we could swim in a pool any old time.

 

The next day we went on a zip lining excursion, which lasted for about 6 hours.  It was so fun!  First they load a big group of us on a speed boat, and take us on about a 15-20 minute ride to this little fishing village.

 

From there we got on these huge trucks, and were driven through these remote villages high up into the mountains.

 

Then we got all geared up, and rode some mules even higher up into the mountains.  This part was hilarious.  My mule's name was Peperoni, and Matt's mule was named Macaroni.  The guides were these really fun, and they made the mule ride quite entertaining.  Then we reached the start off point for the zip lining.  They gave up instructions, and off we went...flying through the jungle, repelling down waterfalls, and even riding some water slides.  It was a great adventure, and I'm so glad we did it!   I won't post all of those pictures because there are so many.  If you want to see them all, I posted them on Facebook.  Here are a few highlights.

 

 Yes...we actually did one of the zip lines hanging completely upside down!  It was so freeing once I got over the initial terror :-)

 

When we were done, there was a cute little grandma at the bottom making fresh quesadillas, and we had ourselves a well earned snack.  Then we rode the truck back down to the fishing village, and rode the boat back to our starting place. 

 

The next couple of days were more lazy days at the beach.  We should have taken more pictures, but we were too busy enjoying doing a whole lot of nothing.  I read a book and a half, we both got a lot of sun, took a lot of walks, and ate way too much delicious food.  I think my favorite part was watching the sun set everyday while we either walked along the beach, or sat in beach chairs.

 

 

On our last full day, we took a taxi into town...and walked along the Malecon...which is this beautiful boardwalk along the coast in Puerto Vallarta.  It was a beautiful, happening place to spend our Saturday night.  There were tons of restaurants and shops, and a big beautiful old church.  We wanted to go inside and see the church, but there was a wedding taking place.  There were a lot of cultural activities happening that night, including a dance festival.  Then we took a very terrifying taxi ride back to our resort, in which I was sure we were either going to be kidnapped or die in an accident.  It was quite handy in the moment to be with Matt, who speaks fluent Spanish...and was ale to calm the situation.  I don't know why, but it seems like every time Matt and I visit a different country, we have at least one death defying cab ride!:-)

 

 

Overall, we could not have asked for a better vacation.  The resort was wonderful, we did exactly as much as we wanted to (although Matt was a little bummed about not getting to surf), and most importantly we were able to remember that we are people...and we have a relationship that is outside of our responsibilities as parents or anything else.  We were able to have space and time to reconnect in a way that I'm not sure we even knew we needed to.  And we came home refreshed and ready to get back to life as usual.  I wish we could do this every year!:-)

 

P.S.  A huge thanks to both of our parents who stepped in and took care of the kids for 6 days!  We couldn't have done it without you!  Muchas Gracias!!!