Missing this...

Was our last full day in Mexico really a week ago?? I miss this!

Fun with the Girls!

Yesterday morning, April called to see if I would watch the girls so she could go shopping. Well...of course!! I didn't get to see them on Christmas, so I was happy to spend the morning/afternoon with them! :)

It's a little hard to take pictures with four kids 7 and younger, so I let Janae take some for me! Didn't she do a good job? She took all of these pics, except the one of her. Isn't she talented!?? :)

We had a lot of fun and they were so good for me!! Adria is quite busy and into everything...she is very quick too. Jacinda is so sweet and fell asleep right in my arm. Janae and Brenna each got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, so they played with those for a while. We also printed some pictures for Janae for her new scrapbook.

April found some good buys....great day for everyone!! :)

Thanks girls for coming over...I had so much fun with you!

Christmas & Birthday

Tonight we had Christmas with Brian's side of the family. Talis & Linda and Andrew and Katie came to our house for dinner and presents. Today is also Talis' birthday, so I made him a cake to celebrate too! :)

Brian and I got Red Lobster gift certificates from Andrew and Katie. Brian also got a real nice shirt..and his favorite...a Wii, WWII game! I got two different Willow Trees. One is a figurine and one was a Memory box! :) I also got a tart burner, but it's electric, not by candles. I love it....it is literally smelling our whole house with the scent of Mulberry as I type! Mmmmmm!! :)

See where Graw is laying on Linda?? It should be noted that she is NOT a cat person!! Doesn't like their tails. :) I told her she could put him on the ground, but she just let him lay. She's too sweet!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!! Happy Birthday Jesus!! :)

Christmas morning...

Anitra and Seth had us down for Christmas morning. They always have a birthday party for Jesus with pancakes and we read the Christmas story. Then we get to watch the kids open gifts...Always fun! :) Senica got a hair salon and Ty got a dump truck.

Christmas Eve Christmas

April had all of us over for our annual Christmas on Christmas Eve! :) I will just let the pictures tell the story...the kids got lots of gifts and I think they all were very happy!! :) Somehow, I missed Papa...he was holding the trash bag for all the wrapping paper.

Super powers

The resort we stayed at had many different colors of bracelets. Different colors with different meanings...Pink = honeymoon, Purple = Children, Silver = Palace Premier Member and Black = Palace VIP member. There were many other colors and meanings, but that was what we saw the most of. Anyway, we were black thanks to Dr. P!! :)

We loved the hotel and the service was amazing! We have mandatory customer service hours that we have to get every year at work and I told Brian, I think they should send everyone who has worked 5 or more years at the hospital here to learn about customer service. :) We were treated so great we felt like we had super powers! :)

The only negative thing we had was upon check-out...after the band was cutoff our wrist. Apparently, when we arrived, our guy who gave us the welcome packet was supposed to also give us a time to be at the front desk for our ride to take us back to the airport upon departure. I saved everything he gave us and nothing had any time on it, except that check-out was at noon. So, at 11:40, we get a phone call saying that the shuttle service is there to take us to the airport and will only wait another 5 minutes. So Brian and I hurry and get downstairs and they have already left. So we went to the customer relations desk (our bands are now cut off) and explained that the shuttle left, but we were never told a time to be there...at this point, it is still before noon. After a few phone calls he tells me, sorry, nothing I can do for you. Take a taxi to the airport....it's $25 us dollars. Well, we had left all our money in tips for the maid service, so we had to go to the ATM, which charged us $9 just to use the service. UGGHHH! I was really upset. But, we took a taxi to the airport...and I calmed down.

Once we got to the airport, we had 2 1/2 hours to kill. Then, we checked the flight board...and yup, delay! :( So, we went to Bubba Gump's and had a late lunch. It was a really nice airport...and clean! :) The nicest airport bathrooms I have ever seen!

The was our only real flight delay. We were a little late leaving Minneapolis, but got to Chicago at our scheduled time. By the time we got our luggage, found our car, dug out our car, and drove home....it was 5am Christmas Eve.

The collage shows you how our day started...to how it ended! :)

Overall, we had a WONDERFUL trip!! It was a beautiful resort...with amazing food, awesome accommodations...and really, for all but the last day at check-out, AWESOME customer service!! One day by the pool, Brian and I planned how we could come back with my family! They had really, really neat things for kids to do too! :)

I asked Brian if it was better than our honeymoon?? He said, he liked the location of the USVI better, but hotel, service, food...WAY BETTER! Snorkeling in the USVI was better, but I think it was because we didn't go on the snorkeling excursion.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Dr. P!! We had such an amazing time!!!

Last Day...sniff, sniff!

Today was our last full day in Mexico! I'm a little sad to leave this beautiful place and wonderful weather...but I miss my family, and really want to be home for Christmas. :)

So today, Brian went and played in the waves...and played and played! The red flag was up every day we were here, but today they let you go out a little further. Brian was so excited...but he did get the whistle a few times.

Aren't those rope swings so cool? I just loved them! I sat there and watched Brian in the waves. It was so much fun. After the big day at the beach, I decided to treat myself to a pedicure. :) I had a 80-minute, hot rock pedicure. It was AMAZING! I was so relaxed, I almost fell asleep! She did the normal pedicure stuff and then she rubbed my legs with oil, then took the hot rocks and rubbed them up and down my legs. She put them on the bottom of my feet too! I had one of those bean things that you heat up and put on your neck or back...yeah, I had one on my neck. After the massage, she wrapped my legs in warm towels and my feet too! It was so nice!! :)

Mexican Dinner

Tonight was the first night that we actually ate Mexican food. Brian had the habit of putting "Mexican" in front of EVERYTHING!! "Addi, did you taste those Mexican french fries?" "Addi, did you see that Mexican this or Mexican that?" Hence the title of this blog. :)

Our waiter made our guacamole right at our table and it was DELICIOUS and I don't like quacamole! I had fajitas and they were WONDERFUL!! There was a lady at a table behind us hand making every single fajita. She had a little hamburger press and then a little fire with a pan on it. They were so good!!

Tulum and Xpu-Ha

Today we went on a tour to the Mayan ruins of Tulum. The ruins are located on a 40-foot cliff right next to the Carribean Sea. They said that the ruins were created between 1200 and 1450. The walls were built as protection again invasions. The pictures don't really do it justice...they are so beautiful! Our tour guide (in the white) is Mayan and had so much knowledge. On one of the walls, they built the stairs and then at the top, a window...that on the first day of winter, at 6am, the Sun is perfectlly center in the window!

After we went to the ruins, we stopped at another Palace Resort. Xpu-Ha...my husband was singing all day....Shooo-Paaaa don't bother me! Ugh! They had a place that you could snorkel and kayak. We didn't kayak, but we both wanted to snorkel. The water wasn't as clear because it was a man-made pond...but with salt water. Anyway, all of the sudden, there was this massive manatee! He had to have been about 5 feet long! The guy snorkeling next to us when down and touched him and the manatee could have cared less! It was so cool. The top right pic is of him, but obviously, our under water camera didn't work out to well! :( So, here is a pic of what we really saw...just couldn't capture it ourselves. :)

Theme of the night: Fire

Tonight we ate dinner at the Hibachi bar. :) Brian really wanted to go for the food and I really wanted to go to just watch them cook. I think it's so neat how they toss and flip all that stuff while they are cooking. I knew from going to Hani Yori's that the volcano was going to have a fire, but wasn't expecting the fire to get as big as the one in the top right pic. Yikes! You could definitely feel the heat! As you can see from the pics, the food was just as good!

After dinner they had a fire and drums show by the pool. It was really neat and put on by some very talented people! That top right picture, those girls are hula-hooping while doing a heal stretch. They never dropped the hula hoop! The guy in the bottom middle picture sang and had an amazing voice and then did a bunch of gymnastics. I was very impressed!!

Hungry??

Every night when we get back from dinner, there is some kind of food waiting in our room. One night, we had this note for a Honeymoon dinner with a plate of chocolates. I didn't feel right going since we really aren't honeymooners, although, I was very curious as to what the dinner would be. We were honest though and took the card down and told them, we weren't on our honeymoon.

Another night, they brought us those olives in the top left and some kind of creme-puff dessert with strawberries in the middle...as you can see in the pic right below that, they were really good. :)

We did order room service one night because we were tired and didn't feel like "going out". Brian had that rice plate with chicken, beef and octopus in it and the sushi plate and I had that delicious steak, mahi mahi and veggies.

Glad I brought my sweats to travel home in...I don't think anything else is going to fit! :)

Beach time

While Brian went golfing, I went to the beach. :) The waves were so huge, so the red flag was up again. No one was really at the beach, so I had to whole deck to myself. It was so quiet and relaxing...another great day!

Golf day!

Brian had his golf day today. A van picked him and some others up at our hotel this morning drove them about 20 minutes away to the Moon Palace where the golf course was at. Brian golfed with a couple from England and another man from Nebraska. Brian said they saw a bunch of wildlife on the course...the alligator, lizards, Mexican raccoon and lots of different kinds of birds.

He said he didn't golf too bad and that he had a fun time with his new "friend", Lee. (The guy from Nebraska) After dinner tonight we went to the gift shop and this guy in the store says - "don't let that guy in here"! I held out my hand and said "you must be Lee" He just started laughing. I am glad that Brian had so much fun. Thanks Dr. Poovendran!!! :)

Didn't Brian do a good job taking pictures? I was so proud of him! :) Look at that clubhouse! Beautiful!!

Isla Mujeres

Are you sick of me yet? I know it's cold and snowy at home, I hope this pictures can bring you some warmth just by looking at them! :)

This morning we boarded a bus to go to the ferry to take us to Isla Mujeres. The boat ride over was very entertaining! Dr. Poovendran had warned me about them taking our picture and then telling us to kiss and taking our picture and then trying to sell it to us. So I was prepared! :) When we got on the ferry, they were playing the theme song to Titanic. The guys dressed up and re-enacted the scenes from the movie. They had everyone laughing! They had optional tours or you could just relax at the hotel. We chose to relax. I am so glad we did...it was VERY relaxing! ;) The top collage is all pictures of the Isla Mujeres Palace resort. :)

I LOVED laying in the hammock and taking in the scenery. Isn't that such a cute picture of Brian too? I took that from the comfort of my hammock. :) The bottom pic of me is giving a thumbs up for my ice cream! It was so delicious!! :)

After relaxing at the hotel, we got back onto the ferry and they took us down to the flea markets. We got some souveniors, but didn't shop too long. It was a great day! We both had a lot of fun. Brian and I would definitly do it again! :)

Tomorrow is Brian's big golf day! :) Dr. Poovendran got him all setup for a round of golf and he is thrilled to say the least! He said that he is kinda nervous, but I am sure that he will do great! Thanks to Seth who is letting Brian borrow his clubs and golf bag. Brian said this is the first time that he will golf where he doesn't have to lay down his golf bag and pick it up because his doesn't have a stand. So Thank you Seth!

Day 2

This morning we got up and had breakfast and spent most of the day at the pool. It was pretty busy and we have some good laughs just watching other people. It rained for a short time yesterday and this beautiful rainbow came out.

Tonight we went down and had dinner at the Steak house. Last night when we ate dinner, it was raining so we ate inside at the Steak house. I had surf and turf and Brian had Prime Rib. Both were delicious!! So, tonight we ate at the steak place again...but we sat outside. It was buffet style and then you just tell them what meat you want and they grill it for you. Tonight we both had T-bone. Yummy! Anitra said we were gonna gain weight this trip....and she's probably right! :)

After dinner we went for a walk on the beach. We were surprised that we were the only two on the beach. Not one other person. VERY peaceful!

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to Isla Mujeres. We take a boat to the island and then we will spend the morning at a sister resort there and the second part of the day, they take you to the flea market. They say it's one of the best tours...I'll post about it tomorrow night. :)

Hope all is well back home...we miss everyone, but not the snow!