My oh my. Where to start on this trip?!
It was completely fabulous and just so fun. We hadn't taken a vacation like this in four years when we went to our friends wedding in Mexico. Two kids later after 5 years of marriage, we felt like it was a good time to get away and enjoy.
And we did just that!! A HUGE thank you to our parents because we couldn't have gone without them tag teaming and watching our kiddos all week. They are the best!!
Early Sunday morning we headed to the airport to fly to Cancun through Chicago. There were two wedding parties on our flight too- how fun!!
We actually went back to the resort we went to on our honeymoon, the
Excellence at Playa Mujeres. We debated and debated if we should go somewhere else, but we decided in the end this vacation was solely for rest and relaxation and knew how much we liked the Excellence before - so just went back. And I'm so glad we did!! It was so nice knowing the restaurants, where the pools were, etc.
When we got there, Jimmy chugged his champagne. Ha.
We went to the pool in the afternoon/early evening and I felt really sick and ended up throwing up (horrible) so we went back to the room and Jimmy ordered room service while I slept off the sickness. I now think it was the champagne that did me in after looking at this picture!
But the next day was a new day- and even though Jimmy wasn't feeling well on day 2 (what's wrong with us!??!), this was our view all day long.
Oh wait - then we moved to the beach.
We seriously did nothing at all. We ate. We drank. We laid by the water. We read. We floated. We applied sunscreen. Yep, that's it. Oh and we slept whenever we wanted to!
And then people screamed because they saw how pale we were. Ha. Sad, but true.
But I will say, all the hard work I did with the 21DF workouts and eating plan since January? Worth every ounce of it for this trip. I didn't feel self conscious at all walking around in my bikinis and I just LOVED getting to buy new swimsuits that I really felt good in. I rarely felt like that pre-baby, so I'm not sure if it's just working out...or I think it might be the fact that after having TWO babies in the last 3 years and knowing/seeing with a little hard work and some discipline in my eating how my body can transform into looking more like it did pre-baby and feeling so strong doing it. I really like having those babies and seeing my body transform, it just is amazing to me how women's bodies are and makes me love and appreciate mine so much more.
Plus the lack of muffin top helped.
That night we tried to go to the Japanese steakhouse that was on the resort, but even though we were there early, we weren't there early enough to get a reservation for it (that is the only place that requires a reservation), so we just decided to eat at the Asian place. The pad thai was not very good but the sushi was good. I really wanted a yummy dessert and what they had wasn't cutting it, so we walked around and found the WHITE PARTY. And guess what? Jimmy was dressed for the part.
And I made him go down there and he hated every minute of it. The upside was that we met a very interesting looking man that we referred to as "ceviche guy" all week when we saw him. We also eavesdropped on a large drunk table's conversation that had people on their honeymoon. Entertainment at it's finest folks.
PS Jimmy wanted me to add a picture of ceviche in case you had no idea what it was.
But they had an AMAZING violin player that played some great songs, so we found one of the beds on the beach and listened to him play and the ocean and it was heavenly.
Then Jimmy got sick. So went went back to the room and he went to sleep and I read.
Wah wah.
But he did take a picture of my dress that I got from Old Navy for $12! This was my one purchase I made for the trip besides new swimsuits and a cover up and I liked it!!
And if you didn't think one picture of me was enough - well here is another one at breakfast the next day. I posted this on Instagram and my friend commented that I looked "so relaxed" and I loved that. Because I was. It was crazy. No responsibilities, no cleaning, no cooking, no work. It was a strange feeling, but a nice break from reality for sure.
Plus how cute was my hat that I got at Academy Sports ? Ok - wait this was another thing I bought for the trip - sorry. I think that's it!!
Back to the pool just like yesterday. This time we ate lunch poolside with brick oven pizzas. Delish!! And look at that stud (and his sunburn!)
So we got burned - if you couldn't tell. Oh and the week before at my conference I was at, the conference swag was a selfie stick. I was so excited because it was perfect timing. And then guess what?? On the second night - Jimmy freaking broke it, so he tried to convince me that he could fix it....after I saw this picture - yep, we stopped using the broken selfie stick. Sad face.
This night's dinner? Oh yum. My favorite and I think Jimmy's too.
This was one of the restaurants we didn't get to visit at the resort for dinner on our honeymoon because it literally rained like 4 of the 6 days we were there in 2010. It's right on the pool and it was "The Grill" and it was awesome. The steaks were perfectly cooked and the sides were good too!
But the best part of this dinner? The desserts.
So we both ordered something - he got cheesecake with a blueberry thing on it and I couldn't decide between the chocolate chip cookie with coconut ice cream or the brownie with vanilla. I really don't like coconut, so I was going to go with the brownie, but Jimmy suggested I get the cookie and just ask for vanilla ice cream. So mad I listened to him. Not only because the cookie was so hard, but they ended up messing up my ice cream request - they gave me coconut and then for some reason put my vanilla that I was supposed to get on his cheesecake (weird!!).
But then Jimmy's plate came out and had that glob of chocolate on it as a decoration and apparently he didn't know it was chocolate and thought it was a spoon (?). Because we were laughing about how bad they messed up my request and he goes "The even better question is...what is this spoon for?" and went to go try to pick it up and realized it was chocolate. Probably a "had to be there" story, but I seriously am still laughing thinking about it!
The next day? Breakfast. Pool. Lunch. Pool. Work out. Shower. Dinner.
The third night we decided to be adventurous and our stomachs were both feeling better so we went to the Indian restaurant! I had only had it once when I went to London last year (and liked it) and Jimmy had never had it. We let the server order a variety of stuff for us and we liked it all. However, Jimmy thought it was an overkill on all the spices they had - because they were spices but not spicy. I agree, but still liked it!
Then? We went back to the beds on the beach and laid there again just talking and listening to the ocean and eventually Jimmy fell asleep. Again...like what is this life? It was surreal!
The next morning? Well it was our last full day at the resort and that meant it was SPA DAY!!!
So the spa is called "Miile" spa. Since we have (had) a dog named Milly...we just loved the spa from day 1. We went on our honeymoon and just loved it. So we went all out this year. I mean, we don't do this kind of kid-free get away often, so why not? I went to set up our spa services the day before and really had no idea what I was getting us into by ordering this service. But it was awesome!
It's just nothing compared to spas in the US. You do a whole aqua therapy treatment before and go in the sauna and then dumped in cold water, etc. So awesome. The best part was the disposable underwear they gave us to wear. I was SO confused and didn't wear it because I didnt' want to be uncomfortable the whole time. Come to find out, the service I got us came with a full body scrub before the massage and facial...so yeah. They gave me a pair in there and it was hilarous. They looked like scrubs and had underwear and a bra. Jimmy had on the underwear and when he took his robe off I DIED of laughter. It was amazing.
We were in the room for 100 minutes. Yes that is right. A whole freaking hour and 40 minutes and it was just amazing. Worth every penny. I'm thinking about how good I felt after that massage right now as I'm sore from stupid corporate challenge events.
We took it easy and went to the more calm part of the resort after that and floated around the lazy river, I found a juice bar and Jimmy creepily watched people.
While I took awkward selfies and finished my books....we are just perfect together people.
For our last night we couldn't decide where to eat!! We settled on trying the French restaurant, but to our dismay (and lack of reading the daily Excellence Times that came to our room)...it was one of the ones that were closed. So we hit up the bar until we finally decided to go to the Italian place!
And we ordered almost EVERYTHING. It all looked so good and we both wanted samples of all the stuff, so they were so awesome and brought us it all.
By far the best night of service. Kept our wine glasses full, kept asking if we wanted him to take our picture and then brought the chef out to talk to us. And the dessert he randomly brought me? AMAZING too. He got a huge tip from us and we loved it!
The next day was go home day. And unlike the last two times we came to Mexico, we scheduled an afternoon flight so we didn't have to get up early and rush off to the airport. However, while we had a leisurely morning...that meant we didn't get home until like 11:30...about two hours later than planned, but if that was the worst thing that happened to us (besides come home to FREEZING cold weather in May)...we'll take it!
Overall, we got super lucky with no delays (minimal in Chicago) and great flights and seats, etc. I had to make a pit stop to pump after we landed at Midway and OH MY. My mom suggested that I asked if there was a mother's room and I'm so glad I did. It was fabulous and just perfect for a quick pit stop for any mom - to pump, to nurse, to feed, to change a diaper. Super clean, has a plug, a nice chair and a sink. Seriously - check it out if you are mom traveling through Midway. in gate C!
My mom was waiting at our house when we got home (kiddos fast asleep) so we relieved her of the babysitting duties after a long week (but so fun!) and we couldn't wait for the kids to get up! Charlie was pretty confused when we came into his room in the morning after he woke up and called "Papa come get me!", but he was excited!
And I was supposed to play in corporate challenge softball game (ugh...) at 7AM, but luckily it was delayed because of wet fields and Charlie's first t-ball practice was still on at 9:30 and I got to go watch!! He did great with Jimmy. Not so much into following directions (as in, he wanted to continue running the bases after they ran them once...but such is life), but did good overall. Let's hope the next few practices are not that cold!! It was the end of May for goodness sake!!!!!!!!!
Overall, it was just such a good trip.
It was so nice to just relax and do nothing. And actually talk and hang out with my husband and not ask him if he has the diaper bag or cheerios or a sippy cup or do rock paper scissors to see who has to change Maddie's poopy diaper. We talked about how the first 5 years of our marriage went and where we see us and our family being in the next 5. It was grand.
And I cannot wait for the next 5 years with this guy!! It was so hard to be away from the kiddos and our parents were awesome facetiming with us and sending us pictures and videos of all the fun they were having, but it was worth a little time away to feel so much more connected to Jimbo. Sometimes life just gets so busy and each other is who we neglect and it's just so important to not do that...so if you can get away...do it!!!
And then you'll come running home and miss your kids SO much!
