Mexico, baby

In July, Ryan and I made plans to go to Playa Del Carmen with some friends of ours. We paid our deposit and started daydreaming about white sand beaches, ocean breezes and a week without any responsibility (no kids, no work....sounds like heaven to me). Dan, Jess and Ryan have known each other since their high school years at Platteview in Springfield, NE and when I was introduced to Jess we hit it off almost immediately! The four of us get along so well and we have been talking about taking a trip together since 2004 so it was long overdue. Forgive me if I go into too much detail as this was our first trip without the kids and our first 'couple' vacation in a VERY LONG TIME!!!!!!

We woke up at 2:00 am on Saturday morning to catch a 6 am flight to Houston where we met up with Dan and Jess and after a brief layover flew into Cancun. The flights were non-eventful and we arrived at approximately 1:30 pm. It was an all inclusive resort so food and drinks were unlimited and trust me, we took advantage! We went to bed at approximately 8:00 every night and woke up at 7:00 every morning. Our schedule basically consisted of the following: wake up, put on our swimsuits and cover ups, brush our teeth and head to breakfast at the buffet (usually Ryan had reserved our chairs at the pool or beach already), after breakfast, we headed to our designated spots where we proceeded to lay out/read/swim. Around 10:00 we ordered our first drink and leisurely drank until it was time to go get lunch at which time we usually headed over to the 'American' restaurant at the resort for their delicious chips, cheese, hamburgers, wraps and salads (and we were never disappointed). After lunch we laid around by the pool until it was time to go back to the room to get ready for dinner. We had 5 restaurants to choose from and after stuffing our belly's full of delicious food it was time for bed (no one said we were party animals) and then we woke up and did it all over again!

I think the boys got bored because Jess and I were literally content to read, sleep, eat and drink ALL day EVERY day! Our next trip will be to a nice warm place with beautiful beaches and plentiful food and drink, but will also include UNLIMITED golf! We are already planning our next vacation and I am very much looking forward to our next adventure with the Gochenour's! Thank you both for a wonderful trip!

A big thank you to Grandma and Nana because without them there is no way we could have taken the trip. They stayed with the kids so we could have some much needed 'couple' time and there are literally not enough words to express our gratitude. They handled each situation, crisis and routinely mundane things with grace, laughter and humility and from the bottom of our hearts we THANK YOU!