Mexico!!!

Okay, I'm finally getting around to the recap of Mexico!  This is going to be a bit long so I don't plan on editing this post, I'll probably just type it up and hit publish.  We stayed at the Riu Palace Riviera Maya (which deceivingly is actually in Playa Del Carmen).  It was a great location!  Very close to Playa, right on the beach and close to the ferry that takes you to Cozumel!  The resort itself is an all inclusive which was great.  The food was hit or miss at the buffets for breakfast/lunch but the dinners were always superb in my opinion. 

The swim up bar is the best for obvious reasons.  You're in the water AND drinking!  :) 

The bartenders were always nice and prompt and would make you ANYTHING you asked for.  We drank countless amounts of pina coladas, miami vices, mudslides, margaritas, etc.  And they would whip up their own concoctions once you got bored of the above!  I think I lived the entire vacation in a constant haze of a buzz.  :)

We flew out there Sunday, March 18th, took a cab ride to the resort (about a 45 min drive from the Cancun airport) and immediately hit the beach.  Kyle lost his sunglasses 2 seconds after entering the ocean.  The waves were intense and I'm not sure we were prepared for that but we were drunk from our flight and van ride (the drivers will stop at the gas station and let you pick up beer if you ask and we totally asked) so we didn't care and jumped right in!

That night we had dinner at the resort's Japanese restaurant.  The sushi was just so-so but the shrimp tempura and chicken teriyaki I had was wonderful!  We ended up calling it an early night since it started raining and we were all a bit bushed from our flights in.

Monday was beach/pool day!  The bars don't open until 10:00 am (gasp!) so the ladies lounged around on the beach soaking up the scenery and reading as the boys waded in the ocean.  Once 10:00 came we hit the pool bar!  We were in there the ENTIRE day.  Water logged, drunk and pruney, we eventually got out to clean up for dinner.  We ate at the resort's Brazilian steakhouse that night.  The best way to explain this place is to compare it to Fogo De Chow.  Endless meats on sticks coming at you (that's what she said).  Again, very tasty!  We enjoyed some of the resort's night time entertainment (80's night!) and went to bed fairly early again that night.  We were exhausted since we'd been drinking since 10 am and, who are we kidding, we aren't kids anymore.  Day drinking is great but it rarely leads to all night drinking anymore!  :)

Tuesday Wade and I met up with our friends, Bob and Amy, who just happened to be staying at a resort down the beach from us at the same time.  We took the ferry over to Cozumel and rented mopeds for the day!  SO fun!  Bob and Amy are Cozumel veterans and knew all the good places to stop so we circled the island, which is fairly small, only 9 miles by 12 miles, and made several pit stops. 

Cozumel

Rasta bar

The best place by far was the Rasta Bar.  The view from there was unbelievable, the drinks the tastiest and the fish tacos were the best I'd had.  We stayed there for quite a while before heading off to a couple more stops. 

The scooter gang

By the end of our loop I was feeling pretty dang good (they do not hold back on the drinks they make on the island!) and I got off our moped only to stagger backwards and fall into Bob and Amy's.  Um, yeah, ow.  Mega burn from the pipe is now on the back of my right calf.  Hurts like hell.  But, I was in Mexico and wasn't feeling the pain at that point so oh well! 

We finally made it back to our resort but not in time to join the rest of our group for dinner so Wade and I just hit up the buffet.  I should mention the guacamole and pico here were un-freaking-believable!  I think I ate my weight in that alone.  Could be the reason I came back 2-3 pounds heavier.  Well, that combined w/ a massive amount of drinking.  Ha!

This evening we decided to take a walk down to one of the other Riu resorts in the area, since we had access to all of them with our wrist bands, and go to their disco-tech.  We watched a bit of their evening entertainment before entering the club and then wore out our dancing shoes!  So fun!  We finally made it back to our resort around 2:00 am so we proved we weren't always lame early nighters!

That's a lot of alcohol.

Wednesday we decided to walk into Playa to do some shopping and eat lunch.  Of course being the typical tourists we ate at Senor Frogs.  However, only because we got a coupon for buy 1 round of drinks, get your 2nd round free!  This would be the end of me!  We ordered our drinks and were surprised to see they ended up being yards!  I had ordered a sex on the beach so by the time we started in on the 2nd one I was toast.  We walked the beach back to our resort where I ended up taking a much needed siesta.  One could say I passed out, however I like to say I fell asleep for a bit. 

Dinner Wednesday night was at the resort's steakhouse and we all ordered their surf and turf.  The turf was wonderful however my surf was a bit chewy.  Although everyone else's seemed to be good.  We ordered champagne to toast our last night there and the wait staff was very nice to promptly bring it out.  We chugged that down and then hit the entertainment area for the night which just happened to be a compilation of Michael Jackson songs.  AWESOME.  :)  We danced and drank and drank and danced.  So. Much. Fun.

The whole gang

Ang, Kyle, Andrea and Matt left early the next morning.  Luckily Wade and I's flight was later in the afternoon so we got to sleep in a bit b/c for the first time of the whole trip I was hung over.  We had laughed earlier that we didn't think it was possible to be hung over in Mexico since we were all waking up fine, however I proved that wrong on the last day!  I think it just meant it was time to head home.  I missed my little peanut and was so anxious to see her!

Modeling her new Mexican shirt!

My parents were nice enough to come up to our house to watch her for our entire trip and my dad picked us up from the airport while my mom kept Charlie up so she could see us when we got home.  Her face when she first saw me was priceless!  I loved it!  A complete look of surprise/shock/happiness!  She squealed and ran over to me and then followed me around the rest of the night before she finally went to bed.  I missed that girl so freaking much!  Mexico was/is awesome but nothing compares to my little peanut!

But we did decide that an annual (or at least every other year) trip is needed.  It doesn't always need to be Mexico, but it does need to be somewhere warm where the drinks are readily available.  Those are my only 2 requirements.  I'm easy like that.

Sorry for the long winded recap!  I want to be able to look back on this trip and remember it since so much of it is hazy from constant alcohol consumption.   It was so much freaking fun.  I also decided we have some of the greatest friends ever.  I love you bitches.  :)  xoxo

Kel

Wordless Wednesday

MEXICO ladies!  I want to go back...

A post to hold me over...

We just got back from Mexico Thursday night and I haven't had time to get caught back up on life yet so until then, here are some adorable pics of Charlie.  She had a fabulous time with Omi and Paps while Wade and I were away.  And Wade and I had a fabulous time w/ our friends enjoying the beach, pool and unlimited food and drink.  I'm currently going through detox!  :)

Tickle time!

Showing me her "guns"!

Playing w/ one of the maracas I bought her in Mexico

Trying to climb up the slide

Omi helping Charlie go down the slide

Mommy & Charlie going down!

(Not) Wordless Wednesday

We had a busy and fun filled long Labor Day weekend.  I'll get a post and some pictures up soon hopefully.  In the meantime, here is a goodie from Charlie's birthday party a month ago. 

She's 13 months old now!  She has 5 teeth (close to 6) and still butt scooting along.  I think she'll be walking in the next month.  She's taken a few steps going from one person to the other without holding onto anything but they are more like lunging/falling steps so I don't want to say that she's taken her first steps hands free just yet but she's getting there!  Her new favorite food?  Fruit Loops.  She inhales them.  :)

Kellie

Also, can someone tell me if there is something wrong w/ my comment verification?  I haven't had a single comment in over a month.  Not that I get a lot or anything but I usually get at least 1 or 2 every other post or something!  I just find it weird.

Tejas

We took our first plane trip with Charlie over the weekend down to Texas. Wade's step-dad's family was having a reunion down in Seguin and we decided to crash the party. We left 99 degree temps to head down to 101 degree temps. Luckily for us, there was no humidity down in Texas and it felt incredible! Who knew that 101 degrees could feel cool? I hate MN humidity!

Charlie did really well on the flights. She fussed a little on the one coming home b/c she was so exhausted but we kept her from crying for the most part thankfully!

We had a dance competition Friday night. As you can see all the moves were pulled out. The robot, Roger Rabbit and the running man were the moves of the evening. We are totally awesome dancers. :)

Saturday's heat called for swim suits and sunscreen. We got out Charlie's ruffle butt suit and hat and she loved being in the water, plumber crack and all! The river water was warm and felt so good to lounge around in but Z-pa also rented us a speedboat for a few hours during the day. The kids had a blast tubing and some of us attempted to wake board. I just sat my ass on the front of the boat and went for a fast ride. Water sports and I do not mix. I always end up swallowing my weight in water and almost throwing up so I pass on it 99% of the time. :)

Cousin Kennedy is a huge baby lover and helped us take care of Charlie all weekend! She and Charlie had a lot of fun playing and if you saw Charlie you could guarantee Kennedy wasn't far behind. Aren't they just the cutest things ever?

You could say that Charlie got a little spoiled with all the family around. She ate it up and licked the attention plate clean. Can you tell she likes to have all eyes on her? What a ham!

Sunday the three of us ate at the Hula Hut in Austin before heading to the airport to catch our flight home. Awesome food and a great atmosphere. Also, delicious pina coladas. :) Charlie loved to look out over the rail at the boats and turtles in the river below. I think she had a great time in Texas and I know Wade and I did. Can't wait to go back!

When we landed in MN we were greeted by 99 degree heat combined w/ a dew point of 80. The meterologists are comparing our temps and dew point to the freaking Amazon. WTF??? I can barely breathe. It is pretty damn unbearable. So I wonder when we can go back to Texas???

And we're back!

Puerto Rico was AWESOME! Kara and Todd's wedding was perfect. Reverend Wade (yep, I'm married to a Reverend of the Universal Life Church, ha!) did a spectacular job on the ceremony. The best wedding ceremony I've ever heard! Kara looked gorgeous and like she should be in a picture in a bridal magazine. The weather was perfection at 80 degrees and sunny every day and the pina coladas were the best I've ever had. The only thing that was wrong was I missed my Charlie monkey. But it was well worth it. The smile I got from her when she woke up and saw me on Wed morning was PRICELESS.


We went on a tour of the rainforest and also kayaked into a bioluminesence bay (I'm 99% sure I spelled that wrong). It's the water that glows from algae when it is disturbed. Very cool! Other than that we drank a lot, ate some Puerto Rican food (Mofongo is delish!) and cherished the sun. Two hangovers in 5 days isn't too bad, is it? We even skinny dipped in the ocean and stayed up until 5 am on Kara and Todd's wedding night. Who says we're old farts now!?!?


So who wants to see some pics? I've got a couple hundred!

And now, to enjoy the high of 1 degree today. Man I miss that weather...

Adios amigos!