Into my bones

Last day.  How is it the last day?  I feel that relaxation has seeped deep into my soul.  

8 days in paradise.  

Heat.  

Humidity.  

Sleep.  

Food.  

Ocean. 

It's soaked in.  

And now my arms feel empty.  I need hugs.  I need slobbery baby kisses.  

So today I savoured every moment.  I lazed by the pool.  I swam in the ocean multiple times.  I finished my second book of the week.  I shopped.  I ate delicious food.  I sombrero'd it up.  I'm exhausted from relaxing.  I will sleep in this King-sized bed and enjoy heading to the airport tomorrow.  

With a plan to come back to Mexico for sabbatical.  I could definitely live here.  

When reality is better than you imagined.

The plan today was to enjoy the beach and the ocean for a few hours before the weather turned on us.  It was a great plan.  And even better than the plan for the day was the reality of the day.

We started down at the beach as planned.  Got a few chapters read with my feet up. 

The surf was so calm today.  And barely a breeze.  The ocean called to us...and we answered.  Yes. 

We swam.  Floated.  Laughed.  Walked.  Loved it. 

I insisted we play in the sand, even for a few minutes because it's the beach.  

We collected seashells.

Clouds started rolling in, so we moved up to the pool (in theory to rinse off)

The clouds rolled in...and then rolled out again.  So we stayed by the pool.  

Ate guacamole. 

It was fantastic.  But my few minutes out of the shade to build my sand turtle and collect shells was a few minutes too much and I ended up with a wicked burn on my legs...that appears to be getting more wicked as the day wears on.  

We finished the day relaxing in our room; going to the gym; and finally out to dinner.  

Casa Tequila.  It was delicious.  We shared the Mexican platter and enjoyed Tacos (beef and pork), quesadillas, enchiladas, stuffed peppers, Mexican rice, Limonada, and guacamole.  Finishing with coconut ice cream.  I will miss my Mexican food.  

So a plan for beach and ocean turned out to be good.  Better.  Best.  

A day in Paradise

Today was definitely a day in paradise.  A day where you finish it exhausted and happy and fall into bed.  

Each day in Mexico has been beautiful and relaxing with nothing to do except eat and lay by the pool.  It took me a few days to get used to relaxing and I constantly felt like there was something I should be doing that I wasn't.  But I was doing exactly what was expected.  

But even relaxing can get tiring.  So today we made plans.  Plans feel good.  Especially when the plans consist mostly of relaxing...

The day started earlier than most as Tyler had to chair a meeting at 7am.  I tried to sleep longer but it just wasn't happening, so I got up and headed to the gym.  

Run! I'm so proud of myself - however I realized today that I'm running at sea level here and when I get home the elevation is much higher.  Bummer...

Our plan for today was to head to Akumal so Tyler and some of his friends could go diving.  We rented a van and headed out once everyone's morning obligations were taken care of.  

It's about an hour and 20 minute drive.  So we laughed and chatted all the way there.  Then the group went for their dive and Karen and I sat on a new beach to relax, read, visit, and drink fruity drinks.  So it was mostly the same plan in a different location but it was nice to have a plan.  

We were on a tight time schedule since everyone had work dinners to get back to but we grabbed a few tacos to go before leaving Akumal.  

We came back to the hotel to enjoy a beautiful Mexican sunset and a visit with our kiddos

Then it was our dinner at El Moterro with Tyler's Calgary team.  It was a restaurant we were wanting to try so we were excited to go...

Food was average.  Company was good.  And I had garlic shrimp which I enjoyed.  

And guacamole.  Can I live on guacamole?  Is that a valid life choice?  I'm seriously considering it...

Plus they had Mexican serenading band:

We finished the night with a walk through downtown so we could get some Haagen Daas.  

A great day.  Now I have fallen into bed exhausted and am looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow.  

With guacamole.  

Even Steven

I went for a run.  Burned off some calories.  As many as I was willing to burn on the Sabbath.  

And then I went for dinner.  

I wish I was less willing to eat calories on Sunday too... Not so.  

I'll even have dessert...

Ice cream...while Tyler salivates over tres leche cake and churros...😒

Tension free

I ran like crazy.  My soul wanted to run more but my body wouldn't allow it.  So I took my sweaty self across the street to do some shopping.  

Bought me some chips for snacking and water bottles for rehydrating.  And maracas for a sweet Seth who like to shake things that make noise.  

My back aches by the time I was done so I came back to the room to change into my bathing suit and to spend some time relaxing by the pool.  

Lunch.  Today I was practical and had a Caesar salad for lunch but was immediately disappointed that I didn't choose fajitas.  When in Mexico, people!  When in Mexico! 

Shower.  Relaxing.  Meeting up with Tyler after his conferencing.  

There was a conference linger session out in the courtyard.  I stood on my feet for far too long and had to excuse myself to our room to relax my back before dinner.  

Too much relaxing is what's giving my back fried!  It's not used to all these loose muscles.  Where's my anxiety to keep me in check? 

We had dinner with 17 of Tyler's work associates at Mocambo (a seafood restaurant next door), where we enjoyed Piña Coladas and Limonada, guacamole, shark tacos and fajitas.  

I have to admit that it is one of the only work dinners I've been to that I actually enjoyed.  That's because we were sective of the 20 people who got an invite.  And we sat at the fun table.  

We keep eating dinner at 7:00 or later and it makes it hard to settle down for sleep anytime before midnight.  At least there's nothing pressing tomorrow.  

Let me look at my schedule...oh yes.  More reading.  More sunning.  More fruity drinks.  Sounds like a busy day. 

Breakfast with a view

Tyler's in conference all day today.  

Paying for the trip I guess

So I'll have breakfast with a view

And head to the gym. 

A pictures worth a thousand...pesos?!

We had epic rain yesterday afternoon.  Hot heavy rain.  

And then we got a text from our bishop asking if we were alright...yes...? 

Apparently the biggest hurricane in recorded history is headed for Mexico.  It really is terrible.  Fortunately for us it's headed for the West Coast and we are on the East coast and nowhere close to its projected path.  

We went to Carlos and Charlie's again last night.  I was less enchanted with all the shenanigans and wished the waiters would just hurry up and bring me my food.  I guess someone was a little bit Hangry.  

On the way we were stopped by characters outside the Coco Bongo.  They offered to take our picture with us.  Sure!  We didn't have a camera the night before, so why not?!  

7 dollars is why not.  After a few minutes of overly friendly 'characters' standing too close for comfort, they insisted on a tip and we didn't have small change so they made off with $7.  That was supposed to be our tip money for the guacamole chef at Charlie's...I really love that guacamole.  

Hangry?  A little bit.  

So enjoy these photos bloggy-world.  They're worth a lot.  

I felt better after sharing fish tacos and some carne asana and shrimp fajitas.  And a beautiful creme brûlée for dessert.  Hangry turned into happy.  

A Satisface Day

After a full day in the sun I have a full days Mexican sunburn. 😒. Oh well.  What better place to recover from a sunburn then Mexico?  Guess I better be more wise with sunscreen application.  

This is how we rounded out our day: 

swam in the ocean - very salty, big waves. 

Got sand in between our toes

Showered - uninterrupted!!

Had a FaceTime call with the kiddos - who claim they miss us terribly but didn't stay on screen longer than 20 seconds...hmm.  

Went for dinner at Carlos n Charlie's where we ate until we were in pain and enjoyed all the shenaniganizing of the waiters and waitresses.  

Walked around downtown Cancun.  A lot of inyourface vendors.  

After we had been inyourfaced more than enough times I commented to Tyler that it must be a hard life to have to live like that.  Working at night because that's when tourists are around, haggling to get a few bucks, knowing you have fairly similar wares to sell as the next guy.  There was one man painting beautiful landscapes with spray paint.  He was clearly very talented.  But it looked like he had his 3 kids sitting with him on the side of an alleyway, just waiting.  

We continued our walk.  Just before we got to our hotel there was a woman with a blanket laid out with all kinds of beaded key chains, bracelets, necklaces, toys - not much different than anything else we'd seen.  But she had a sweet little tiny girl strapped to her back who was fast asleep.  So I stopped to talk and look at the woman's wares.  She offered me 3 for 50 pesos (about 5 dollars), which worked out perfectly for me since I had been contemplating souvenirs for my kiddos.  We picked these:

They're little bobble-headed figures.  She makes all of the items herself.  I asked her how old her daughter was.  She's two.  Told her I had a one year old at home.  We paid her 60 pesos and said goodnight.  As we walked away Tyler said: 'as soon as we saw that lady I thought, 'we're going to buy something here...''   I may be soft-hearted and maybe she brings her daughter because it increases her sales...but she was tender.  She tried to show me everything without being pushy, she was far away from the hustle and bustle of downtown - maybe so there's less competition, but probably also because it's quieter and her daughter can sleep - and when I asked about her daughter there was softness in her eyes and voice.  I think she's just trying to be a good mama.  And I miss my kiddos who never want for anything...

It was a good Mexican day.  

And, to lighten things up, we have some mini-bar humour:

Welcome to Cancun - Welcome Home

This is how I vacation:

This is how he vacations:

I think one of us is doing it wrong...

Silly business-vacation.  

Our driver yesterday kept saying, 'welcome to Cancun! Welcome home!  

  

I had fajitas for lunch with real guacamole and pico de gallo...and a piña colada - welcome to Cancun - welcome home!  

The morning view

Slept in until 9:45 this morning.  

Woke up to an amazing view.  

Looking forward to a day poolside with my book.  

Viva la Mexico

It feels like it's been a long day of not much happening.  We started early this morning (getting up at 6:00am) after finishing late last night.  

The day was full of adventure as Tyler had discovered his TA had borrowed his laptop charge cord and adapter and hadn't returned it.  Two things that are very necessary for this 'business trip' to Mexico.  

He ended up with an upset stomach on the way to the airport and we came screeching into the airport so he could rush to the bathroom while I parked the car.  

Then we found a WestJet agent who could help us purchase a charge cord at the airport.  The Apple Store was in a different concourse than where we needed to be, so we didn't have access. We ended up back and forth through airport security 3 times between dealing with broken ATM machines, Apple stores and not emptying a water bottle...

Kathleen (our WestJet angel) was very helpful and we ended up boarding just a few minutes after finally sitting everything out.  What else did we have to do with our 2 hours of time...

We weren't seated together for the flight initially but were able to switch seats with another gentleman and it worked out.  There were a few babies and children surrounding us on the plane and it made me miss my kiddos.  

Watched San Andreas in the plane.  It was cheesy and predictable but it passed some of the time.  The I attempted to nap for a bit and watched some more.  A 5 hour flight is pretty boring.  And I'm undetermined if it feels longer when you have nothing to do, or when you're wrestling kids the entire time.  

After checking into our beautiful hotel we showered and headed for dinner.  So far it's proving a challenge to find and explain 'gluten free' in Mexico, but we're working at it.  We had a beautiful dinner beachside 

And once I had a piña colada and let me feet touch the ocean, I finally felt like I was on vacation.  

Plus this nighttime photo gives the illusion that I have a tan.  

I think Tyler and I don't really know what to do without the busyness of dealing with kids so there's been a lot of 'now what?!'  I'm sure we'll get the hang of vacation and relaxation eventually...

Now I get to go to bed when I want to, and wake up when I want to.  And hopefully my anxiety will allow me to sleep well.  

Boy I love my kiddos.  

Viva la Mexico! 

Summer staycations

This is the summer of staycations.  Mini trips and fun at home.  

Tyler's been away all week at YMs camp and so as per usual I've tried to cram as many activities into the non-nap times to help the week go faster.  It's been a ton of fun...and my bones hurt from this go-go-go attitude.  So today is Saturday.  Dad is about 5 hours away and we're sticking close to home today.  Relaxing.  Groceries.  Cleaning up.  But the rest of the week looked like this:

Tuesday:

A slurpees/milkshake run in the afternoon after a trip to Canadian tire to get some pots and plants for Grandma Janielee's birthday.  We painted the pots and filled them with pansies.  Then we headed to Jason and Ali's for a birthday party for Millie and Grandma.  

Wednesday: 

Canada Day celebration at Cochrane Ranche! 

Ice cream truck

Drummers

Sparkle tattoos

Flag waving

Mini-golf

We dressed in our patriotic red and got hot dogs and icecream cones.  It was a fun afternoon.  

We finished the day watching Brother Bear and having a picnic

Thursday:

Park

Movies

Mall

This was our busiest day yet.  And by the end we were all tired.  

Friday:

Cochrane pool.  We had a great time swimming the afternoon away and then went to grandmas to play and have dinner.  

So much fun.  Now it's Saturday and we're ready for dad to come home.