Mexico 2011

We are back from our incredible adventure to Portugal!! I can not say enough how wonderful that trip truly was for both Oli and I! We both absolutely loved it! We were able to see my amazing family (my grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, and all of my cousins), tour beautiful castles and palaces, play so much on the beach, and overall spend time together. It honestly felt like it was our second honeymoon!! (We did celebrate our second year anniversary while we were there! It was incredible, and I love that man so so very much!! More on that in the next post) However our trip to Portugal in itself is going to take a HUGE post. You can imagine that we took a billion pictures while we were there, and they are all well deserving to be in our records through the blog. So I will be doing that post after this post on Mexico. I figured that I should probably catch up on our trip to Mexico that we took in January before I keep getting further behind. :)

Our trip to Mexico was also an incredible experience! We were able to go down with the Geary's and have such an amazing time! We went to Nuevo Vallarta and stayed at a GORGEOUS resort. The food was spectacular and the people there are amazing.

I have to admit that I am a traveling addict.That may seem a bit of a dramatic description, however I can not come up with any other word to describe how I feel about traveling. There is something so invigorating and intoxicating with traveling. There is always something to learn from watching other people and their culture. You can take specific characteristics that you have observed about the people home with you to help make you a better person. This is something that is irreplaceable. Traveling to me is a way that I can open up to a plethora of new things. The food, people, culture, and the many other things that are experienced through traveling is amazing. It is also a wonderful way to become closer to my family and especially, my Oli. Overall, traveling does my heart good. It doesn't have to be far either, it sometimes just simply needs to be somewhere outside of your home for a little bit. For me, that is all that it takes to feel revitalized. Oh traveling, I love you!

Well onto the pictures! There are many of course. For Oli and I, these pictures mean so much to us, and the blog is a way to keep track of these pictures just in case our pictures are not backed up, and of course for our records!

So without further ado... Mexico!

On our way to the airport, leaving the freezing January weather for warm Mexico weather!

Mexico!

The entrance of the resort was absolutely beautiful! It had large statues as you entered and a beautiful pond with candles surrounding it.

Waiting patiently for our keys to get into our rooms :)

And of course we had to take a tour of this beautiful resort and what it had to offer

The beach was my favorite thing it offered :)

On our way to eat-out before we went swimming

This is one of the MANY wonderful drinks we had in Mexico. My personal favorite is the virgin Pina Colata! Cue song: If you like Pina Colata's and getting caught in the rain...

After we got back from eating out, we figured out that both the pool and the beach were closed off at night. We simply resorted to swimming in the little pool on our balcony. I loved being able to swim in this pool whenever we wanted to with all of the little ones. It was a blast!

Getting ready to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in the resort! It was very delicious!

Don't let him fool you in the picture below, that is not a beverage :) That was one of the best desserts Oli and I had the entire trip!

The picture below is what resulted after a fun day at the beach, with minimal sunscreen application :)

Trying to cool off their poor sunburnt bodies! Oh my poor hubby and brother-in-law! Haha

This was where I caught Jack brushing his teeth one day. Haha what a cutie!

The pools were wonderful...

My sexy man!

Look at that cute watermelon bikini! :)

The boys playing a serious game of cards. This picture makes me laugh. It looks like a scene from a movie :)

Here we are eating at a really simple Mexican restaurant, Taco Break, which ended up being very delicious! The shrimp and beef tacos were awesome!

Oh goodness they were good!

On our way to a yummy breakfast buffet the next morning

Oli loved the food! The cheeses, bread, and the spicy hot chocolate were his favorites.

Iguanas that we saw on our walk!

I thought this picture below was awesome. Throughout our walk we watched this man cut off coconuts from the tree and then bring them all down. It was very impressive!

Here we are after a wonderful day at the beach relaxing as the sun is slowly going down

I knew I always liked volleyball :)

Oli calling to get into Jack's Grande Hotel that they created out of sand

Here Oli is receiving the tour of the hotel :)

Searching for crabs

I always love the designs that are created through simply using napkins or hand towels. This was a swan that was created for us one day.

Madi and Jack relaxing before we headed out to the Fiesta!

This was the night of wonderful entertainment. There was food, a band, balloons that were made specifically for you, and men that were hanging from a huge pole... all for our entertainment :)

Our fun balloons :)

Here the men are climbing up the large pole. Once they reached the top, they tied themselves up and then started spinning upside down from the top of the pole, while a man sitting on the top of the pole played the flute. It was incredible, and we still can't get over how much blood would be rushing to your head from being upside down for so long!

This was the band that played beautiful Mexican music for us that night

Then this man and his horse came in at the very end of the show. The horse was beautiful and would dance to the music and do other little things that made us ooh and ahh. It was great!

Then came the fishing trip! I absolutely loved this adventure. Ryan and Cora had paid for us all to go spend a beautiful day out on the ocean fishing. We all had a blast, granted some got a little sick, however overall it was a once in a life time opportunity and it was fabulous!

We started out catching the little fishies....

We also saw some whales and dolphins while we were fishing! It was so beautiful to simply watch them! At one moment when we were fishing, we estimated that there was about 100+ dolphins swimming past our boat at one time. (We were nervous that we might hook them with our fishing lines.) The baby dolphins would jump up out of the water with excitement just like you see in Sea World. I love the ocean life; it is incredible!

Below are the whales

And of course below are the dolphins. (I was pretty proud of that picture I got :)

This was a crazy happening while we were fishing! We kept joking with Greg, my brother-in-law, that he still hadn't seemed to catch a big fish. Lo and behold after a few minutes, this was what was on the receiving side of Greg's fishing line! :) The bird had swooped down once he had caught a glimpse of our fishing bait. After that, he was literally hooked, and we had to reel him in safely. Do not worry, the bird was not harmed throughout this catch. However this did cause for a good fishing story to be told :)

Some of our crew got a little sick on the boat...

And then the big fish started biting....

Ike helping me hold the pole while I reeled in my Yellow Finned Tuna. I have fished from the bottom of the ocean with catching Halibut, but Tuna fish were SO hard to reel in! Thanks to Ike for helping me hold my pole while I tried to reel in that bad boy!

Then Oli and I got dressed up for dinner. I do say that the restaurant we went to was very romantic! We loved it there!

Then the next day we went on a boat to travel to a private island. Throughout the boat ride, there was dancing, karaoke, snorkeling at our half-way point, and great company :)

Here we are getting ready to leave

On our way there..

Jack steering the boat!! Haha Oli and I were showing Jack around the boat, and then the captain of the boat simply asked if Jack would like to steer for a little bit. That was an easy question for Jack, and we sat him right up on the captains seat. It was wonderful! He loved it so very much!

Here are some pictures of Captain Jack.

Here Oli is getting ready to go snorkeling. That was a great experience for Greg, Oli, Ike, Doug, and I! The boat stopped at the half-way point to the island, and then we got our snorkeling gear on and off we jumped from the boat into the ocean! It was incredibly fun, however we were not able to see really anything at all because the water was not clear enough. It was still an awesome adventure!

Arriving to the GORGEOUS island! It seriously was breath taking.

The tiny boat we had to take to get to the island from our big boat.

It was Jack's birthday and Jess and Ike's anniversary that day.

This was the cake that Oli had made for Jack's birthday.

Jack even blew the candles out :)

These two look so much alike. It is great to have Jabin home from Boston- we always have good times when he is here!

Haha I loved this picture. The father and his sons (minus Ike)....

Here Jack is getting sung to for his birthday. Jack was so cute while they sang to him.

Oh gosh, those awesome Pina Colata's! I don't know what it is about that drink, but it makes you feel very relaxed and like nothing else matters! It is wonderful!

Grandma Loush holding an iguana!

The people that were showing off the iguana asked her to put it on her head, and she was a great sport and did so! We all got a kick out of this! :)

Then on the way back they asked Oli and I to karaoke. Oli is a great singer, however I am SO tone deaf. I bet it was a long boat ride for the others while I sang :)

It was a really fun experience though and I am glad we did it!

After our "entertaining" karaoke :) poor little Jack was exhausted.

Then that night, Dantzel got Jack a real birthday cake and we celebrated it in the room before their bed time. It was great seeing him and Madi take on the responsibility of eating the cake. :)

After Jack's birthday, Oli and I went to another incredible restaurant. (I will say that the whole time- they seriously all were very good, and they all had that romantic feel to them that made it that much better!)

(My forehead is starting to peel in this picture :)

Oli loved the vinaigrette that they had for their pizza's. It really was so delicious!

Our delicious dessert! It would be compared to like a dessert crape. Oh it was sooo good!

This was the last day that we were there in Mexico. Doug took us into Porto Vallarta, which is the older part of Mexico than what we were in, Nuevo (New) Vallarta. We went and toured all of the shops, saw a pretty church, danced, and overall really enjoyed seeing more of Mexico. It was wonderful to experience more of the Mexican culture!

This picture below is great!

Here we are in the middle of the square, listening to the band play beautiful music.

Oli and I took the opportunity to dance while the beautiful music was playing! I LOVED it!!

Then that night we went of course to another fabulous restaurant. :)

Here we are riding back in the golf cart that takes you to your hotel from the restaurant that you were just eating at! That was a nice commodity :)

The pictures down below are from the day that we were leaving to go back home. While we were waiting for our cab; we took one last stroll down to the beach. It was perfect.

Haha oh my Oli! I loved him even more after this trip!! :)

Overall it was an incredible experience and we absolutely loved spending more time with the family!