Cancun

The long awaited vacation has arrived.

Ben and I have been planning a vacation like this for quite sometime. When we got married, we honeymooned in Arkansas, which was lovely...but we said for our 5 year anniversary we'd like to go to  the beach. Five years was last year...but we decided it would be fun to go with a group of friends..and it worked for various reasons for the trip to happen this year! We bought our tickets in December...prior to knowing there was going to be a little being inside of me...but no worries...we still went, and LOVED it!

We went with three other couples..the Buzzards, the Masons, and the Yoders.

Lot of laughter and good times were had!

This was the first time since our honeymoon we have been on any form of vacation by ourselves. I don't really call serving as MYF sponsors at the youth convention a "vacation". It was very different not having the boys with us...and as I missed them..I was able to truly relax and enjoy the time away! They were in good hands with Grandpa and Grandma..having the time of their lives :)

We stayed at an all exclusive resort at Maroma Beach. It was lovely. We were waited on by such nice people...and given these wonderful cold, damp, good smelling washcloths to cool ourselves off while sitting by the beach/pool...and fed food whenever we wanted...and had no major agenda other than to relax. And that it what we did.

 I took naps in the afternoon on the beach. Naps! Ahhh...it was lovely.

We alternated between the pool and the beach. Overall, we were in the pool more.

This was at the seafood restaurant one evening.

One afternoon, while we all were napping...we were the only ones out by the beach. It started to get overcast, so we thought we would go to Playa del Carmen. We didn't maybe realize how far it was...it ended up being QUITE a bit of a walk. We walked to the main highway (which was probably a 30 minute walk, via a jungle-like scenery AND feeling of humid-ness)...then we "caught" a bus that was heading in that direction...which dropped us off again along the highway, and we walked to the center of the town...I don't even know how many blocks that was...a lot. We went to a few of the stores...got what we wanted, and then it was time to head back. I was more than a little concerned our friends would think we just vanished..seeings that we didn't tell them we were going..and I thought we were going to be back in like an hour! We walked, and walked, and walked.....thank God Ben speaks Spanish. We were told, a couple blocks this way to the bus station (make that 6 blocks)...then at the bus station, "this isn't what you need...you need the van...a couple blocks this way" (make that several more blocks)...then at the vans that had VERY AUTHENTIC citizens literally hanging out of them they said, "no, not these...you need the other vans..a couple blocks that way"..it was at this point, I was done! I told Ben, I don't care how much a taxi costs, if I see one, we are getting it!!! Well, of course, as we walked ONE more block, we saw the right van that was supposed to take us. And they pile the people in until they are full! Luckily, there was a nice young man that was sitting next to Ben and he told the driver where we wanted off. It was funny how it took about 25 minutes to get down there...and only 15 or so to get back! We walked the final stretch to the hotel...ahhhh....but wait, we locked our key inside our room :( It was an experience!

It all worked out, and within an hour we were dressed and ready for supper.

We went to bed right after supper...we didn't get finished until 10 or so. And after another FULL night sleep..ahhhh...I was up early enough for the sunrise. So we walked down to the beach to watch it!

We ate breakfast (I always got a crepe with fruit) :).... and then relaxed by the pool. 

I normally would not have been awake that early, but it was nice just to rest whenever.

This was the "swimout pool" outside of our rooms. All 4 of our rooms were next to each other, so we shared this pool. It was quite handy. 

On Saturday, our last day there, the chefs from all the restaurants bring out food to the pool area. (There was a poolside grill that had buffet style food that we got every other day) It was pretty neat to see them all go around with their various foods..and the one got in the water on a kayak to serve mini cheeseburger sliders.

The group!

Our last evening we ate at the Japanese place, where they make the food in front of you. It was our favorite.

 We had such a good time.

I am a lucky lady to get to go with this guy! 

I'm sure we won't go on another trip like this in quite some time...but it was sure fun while it lasted.

And I am so thankful for Mom and Dad...for watching the boys, so we could have a peace of mind in just going and completely relaxing!!

Adios Cancun :)

Yellowstone {day four of trip}

We had a good night sleep at the Big Bear Motel in Cody. We were up and checked out by 10, and went across the highway to eat at "Our Place". It was a very SMALL eating establishment (49 was the maximum capacity) that we had to wait to be seated for 15-20 minutes or so. It was a very nice day, so waiting outside was no problem. The middle aged motorcycle rider couples that were waiting also, were entertained by Christian. They were seated before us, and as their name was called Christian was getting a little inpatient and hungry and said, "eeeat"..the one man said "maybe we should order for him". I think he would've they were nice folks from SD, but our name was called right after he said that. It was pretty good food, 25 cent coffee..so all in all it was worth the wait.

 We were then on our way to Yellowstone, 50 or so miles away. The river that ran next to the road was very full and fast moving...it was a very pretty drive.

Yellowstone...

A few of my favorite pictures of my boys...

We got to Old Faithful around 2:50, it was "scheduled" to erupt around 3:19..it was pretty much right on time. It was neat to see..Christian wasn't exactly impressed, it was pretty warm and the "bright sun" was shining on him. He didn't fuss too much though, he was in the child backpack and while we were moving he was very content.

  I didn't realize the extent of the paths around Old Faithful..we walked around the paths for another 1 1/2 hours. It was neat to see all the geysers..we would tell Christian "boiling hot water" because one the first one he acted like he wanted to reach out and touch it (even though he remained in the pack the whole time). So from then on, each of the geysers we saw he would say "boiling hot"..and of course threw in the occasional "REE -ee hot" (really hot). The only wildlife we saw was near the end, we saw a buffalo.

 My butt and legs were numb (I think from having Christian on the backpack) by the end. We stopped in the Yellowstone Lodge on our way to the car..it was AMAZING. The wood work from all the timbers that made up the entire thing was pretty fasinating. We stopped a couple more times on our way out of the park to let me look at the beauty and then second because traffic was stopped to look at some carribou at the side of the road. We had seen a moose lying in the woods on the way to Old Faithful, but we couldn't really stop due to all the other people stopping.

We then headed to Bozeman, MT. It was such a pretty drive..I know I probably will keep saying that this whole trip, but really it is just so pretty. This part of the drive was VERY green. And there was a river that ran near the road, also very FULL and moving pretty quickly. We had nice weather the whole way, a little cloudy and looked like it wanted to storm when we got into Montana, but it never did.

 We got to Bozeman around 8:30, Christian made friends with the receptionist and we went to find something to eat. We settled on AppleBee's since nothing else we wanted was open. It was actually probably the best AppleBee's experience I have ever had. After Christian was asleep, I did laundry and met some people that were traveling home to CA from being in ND near Minot. They were entertaining while I waited on the clothes. We had another good night sleep..thanks to Mitch for the Comfort Inn.

Cody & the Rodeo! {day three of trip}

July 2: Happy Birthday Carissa!!! We had a large continental breakfast at the Garden Inn, and then left for Cody, WY. It was a pretty drive and we stopped for a picnic lunch.

We arrived at the Big Bear Motel in Cody around 3 pm. Ben and Christian got in the rather cool outdoor (heated) pool while I enjoyed watching in the warm sun. It was a beautiful day, mid to high 80's.

We were there during the "Stampede" days, so the downtown was very full of people, shops, and festival type things. We ate at a place that served different kind of meat burgers. Ben got a yak burger, and I got an elk burger. They were good :) They also served meats like..alligator, kangaroo, buffalo and others I can't remember.

And then....we went to the rodeo!!! I was looking forward to this :) Christian wasn't too excited about it during the first 30 minutes because he was tired and the sun was starting to set directly in our eyes. So Ben and him went outside the arena and played on some tractors, and then we all sat together for the rest of the entire rodeo! He would say, "ahh, shoot"..I think he heard his mama saying that when the riders fell off. It was a good rodeo, I'm glad we were able to go and ALL enjoy ourselves!

Colorado to Casper {day two of trip}

July 1: In the morning, we ate breakfast at Pete and Kira's. Christian was entertained by the men cutting up the tree that had fallen in their yard while we packed up and headed out. Kira had recommended we stop by the Red Rock Ampitheater..and so we did.

The red rocks of Colorado...

It was CRAZY how many people were there working out, running the stairs. We walked down and then back up them, and that was plenty!

The person on the stairs with the child on her back is me. It was a decent workout with 25 extra pounds on my back.

Bye bye red rocks and Colorado...on the way to Casper, WY.

Entering the land of Wyoming...driving by a buffalo herd.

That evening we checked into our Garden Inn hotel, thanks to the assistance of Mitch and his Hilton connections. Christian had a blast running on the room, climbing on the luggage carrier, and pretty much exploring whatever he could. This was the start of a routine he established during the trip. He and I would go to the room, while Ben would load up the car on the luggage carrier. While we were waiting, Christian would run in the room, climb on the bed, play "catch me if you can" with me all the while he is giggling! When Ben would come back with the luggage carrier, he would climb on it whenever it was unloaded enough he could hike his leg up there..and then duck up and down saying "Hmmm?" because that's what I said to him...again just giggling! Meanwhile, I would unplug the phone because he really like to pick it up and say "hello....ring, ring....HELLLOOOO". It was quite the entertaining routine he did.

We went to an italian restaurant for supper, which was not exactly what we expected it to be..but it was good food all the same. It was still nice outside when we got back to the hotel, and there was a baseball field with a game going on across the street. We walked over there, and I asked Ben if he thought since it had a Garden Inn sticker on the both as a sponsor if he thought we got a discount. He wasn't going to ask..so I did. The lady looked at the other lady, and said, well I don't really know, but we'll say sure you can have these comp tickets and get in free. :) Well, that was nice of them. It was a minor league game. Christian was more entertained by going up and down the bleachers and making friends with complete strangers! I thought he was maybe a bit of a distraction to the people that actually paid to go to the game, so we went down to the grass part with the other kids. Without hesitation he joined another groups circle, and sat right in the middle of their blanket. They found him more than entertaining! Whose child is this anyway??

We went back to the hotel, tried out the freezing cold indoor swimming pool...and called it a night.