Friday, June 24, 2016

A Little Break

Last week I was in Mexico. Beautiful, gorgeous, sunny, hot Mexico. It was fabulous. A great little break. 

The trip was a Christmas present to LaVerne (my mother in law) from her children. Vernie loves hot weather and had never been to Mexico. Her kids thought it would be fun to give her this trip with her daughters as her travel mates. I am so fortunate that I have always been fully included in this family and treated as family from the moment I met these wonderful people. So many people dread being with their in laws but I just love mine. I am so lucky. The four of us had such a blast on this trip. Four women traveling together for 6 days and there were zero issues. So good.

We drove down to Chicago on Saturday and stayed overnight so that we didn't have to wake up so early on Sunday morning to make our 10 o'clock flight. It also gave us the opportunity to meet up with my nephew (my sister in law Kris' son) Nick and his girlfriend and have dinner with them. It was great to be able to catch up with Nick before he moved to Boston for an internship. Such a good, smart "kid".  It was a great way to being our trip.


The next day we caught our shuttle to the airport and hopped on our flight to Mexico. It was an uneventful flight (thank goodness) and we arrived at our resort just before 3 in the afternoon. We had two ladies to a room and the rooms were right next to each other. This was the view from the balcony.

We quickly dumped our luggage off and hightailed it down to the beach to check out a bit of the resort. This was our first stop. The first drink was a nutty monkey.  Yum!

We were VERY excited to be among the hot weather, palm trees, beach, and ocean. We had arrived!

A short time later we were sitting by the pool with more fruity drinks in our hands. We were at the pool again bright and early the next morning as well. This was our happy place.  

Michele and I had fun making friends with all the lizards and birds. They weren't quite as fond of us but they let me snap a few pics anyway.
We even got our pics with them. The sassy little bird next to me kept trying to take a bite out of me but I'm sure they were just love bites.  :) 

 We actually did make friends with quite a few other guests. Everyone was so friendly. Here were are having a little fun with our new friends (although they aren't in this pic with us) at one of the resort's nightclubs. Fun!

More swimming the next day. I think at this point I was sticking mostly to water.  :)

The infinity pool! It was gorgeous!

Playing around in the ocean. These ladies crack me up.

One of my favorite pictures from the whole vacation.

On our last night at the resort we went out to dinner and when the waiter found out that this trip was a Christmas present to Vernie he brought her a special dessert that said, "Merry Christmas!".  It was very thoughtful and the dessert was delicious.

It was a great way to end our wonderful vacation.
It was an amazing getaway. The resort was fantastic. Todd and I had stayed at this resort a couple of years ago and I knew we would all enjoy it. It is a great place. However, staying at the resort did make me miss Todd. It was odd being there without him. This was the first time I had been on a vacation without him and at a place we had enjoyed together previously. It felt very strange. And it felt like a LONG time being away from my family. I missed them terribly. WAY more than I thought I would. I knew I would miss them but it was much more than that.

Todd sent me pictures and updates of what he and the kids were up to.

Todd took the kids to the free zoo close to our house.

They had a Top Chef cooking competition at home. Points were given for nutrition, presentation, sportsmanship, and cleanup. A genius way to get the kids to make their own lunches and then clean up the kitchen.

They even went to Green Bay and toured Lambeau Field. I have to admit, I was jealous. I never had a tour of Lambeau!

I know it sounds ridiculous but I was a little sad. I hate missing out on family fun. I really, really missed my family.
And I think that is a good thing. My little break was a good way for all of us to remember how lucky we are. I came home so thankful to be with my family again. And they had missed me too. The kids said it just wasn't the same without me and Todd was very grateful to have me home again.

It was a fantastic little break and I'm happy to be back.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like you enjoyed a beautiful and fun vacation! Good for you! And I think everyone appreciates mom a little more when she's gone, so enjoy that!

betty said...

It looked like you guys had a fantastic time and everyone looked gorgeous! Honestly, I mentioned it before, but I think time alone like this is good just to appreciate what you have and for everyone to appreciate the "glue" you are that makes the family work (of course Todd is a tremendous help, but you know what I mean). I am super glad you did this and I hope if the opportunity comes up again in a few years you'll do it again!

betty

Stephanie Faris said...

That looks like SUCH a nice trip! I've never been to Mexico. My mom went as part of a cruise, but I don't think they got very far off the boat while they were there.

Bijoux said...

Wow! I can't imagine doing anything with my sisters in law! LOL....how lucky to have nice, fun ones!

That trip looks very relaxing! I have never been to Mexico. Maybe some day!i hope the nutty monkey was banana flavored......yum!

Mom24 said...

What a wonderful trip. I would have missed my family a lot too. Enjoy being home.

Words To Live By

Be grateful for each new day.
A new day that you have never lived before.
Twenty-four new, fresh, unexplored hours to use usefully and profitably.
We can squander, neglect, or use them.
Life will be richer or poorer by the way we use today.
Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could;
some blunders and absurdities crept in;
forget them as soon as you can.
Tomorrow is a new day.
You shall begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be
encumbered with your old nonsense.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson