The Aftermath!

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.  May your holiday be filled with joy that only comes from Him - the Savior born on this day!

Merry Christmas!

Gasket Blown

Arrrrr... Do you ever have moments where you're so utterly irritated that you just can't keep it in any longer? Well sadly, that was me today. I lost it. Totally mad at our neighbor's construction workers who are constantly parking in front of our driveway. The neighbors are renovating their kitchen and have been working on it for a few months now. I've been trying to keep it together and let it go and I just couldn't. I'm so mad at myself for going over to our neighbors house and telling him how frustrated I am. No, I didn't need to use the driveway. And no, I didn't swear at him. I just wanted him to be considerate of our space. The kicker was that his own driveway was wide open. What. The. Heck? I just have such a hard time understanding why people can't be respectful of others!?  To tell you the truth the noise they've been making day after day doesn't bother me one bit and there are plenty of places to park on our street. Why my driveway???  If you made it this far, thank you for listening, I feel better.  And I fully intend on going over there later to apologize for my behavior. I go feel guilty and kind of ashamed. I missed an opportunity to act like Jesus.

{Day 6} Mexico

Ok. I totally fibbed yesterday.  The morning that we took the Marietta Islands excursion was overcast.

 

These first few photos were taken on our way out of the river and into the bay.

I didn't wear makeup. What's the point since we were about to go snorkeling?  {Might I add that I am not a water person. at. all. Well, I was a swimmer in high school, but the diving area always caused me a lot of anxiety. Deep water freaks me out! Somehow in my mind I always saw shark potential in the deep end. I know, I know it's not possible and a shark could never survive long in chlorinated water! But it scared me!  So you can imagine my total apprehension for snorkeling.}  Drew was of course the first person in the ocean and I just waited until there were others in the water. My logic: if there are people surrounding me, then surely if a shark comes and starts attacking us then I won't be the first person it finds!  I also needed to use the same logic as I used when I zip lined. If I don't take this chance, I could be missing out on an awesome opportunity! I can't let fear run my life. So I took the plunge - literally.  The water was beautiful and we saw all kids of really cool fish and sea urchins and a jelly fish.  We even got to swim through a cave to a beach on the other side.  That hole {the one with the beach on the other side of the cave} was made by test bombs during one of the World Wars.  At this point I became nauseous and needed to head back to the boat for some fresh water.  That meant I had to swim by myself.  So I did, I was ridiculously freaked out, but I did it!  I ate some snacks and drank some water which totally helped me feel better.

Something else that I noticed was how extremely powerful the ocean is.  It was so amazing to watch the waves carry us all around like we were little... really we looked like a little school of humans fish just floating in the water.  I just can't compare it to Lake Michigan it is that strong.

the entertainment...

was....

entertaining!

The Marietta Islands

home of the blue footed boobie

We got to hang out at one of the islands.  It was basically deserted, but there were crabs: black ones and sand colored ones too!  It was nice to just enjoy the beach for a while!

perfect sand

that's Drew in the water

Drew laying on the sand in the water.

I definitely got some sun and I was still feeling kind of funny after being on the boat most of the day.  But it was fun and so worth it!

{Day 5} Mexico

Sunday. Day of rest before we went to explore the Marietta Islands.

 

Every day was sunny and in the 90's. It was really hot {for me}, so we hung out at the pool everyday in order to cool off in the pool when we started too warm. At around 5 o'clock everyday it became almost instantly overcast.  So strange how predictable the weather was since we're used to such unpredictable weather - that's Pure Michigan!

infinity pool

{Day 4} Mexico

Saturday, we headed to downtown Puerto Vallarta with our sweet new friends Jeff and Jill. We decided to split a cab and it worked out great!

 

This is so inappropriate, but funny. Obviously taken by the hubs.

Rock Sculptures

There were real guys in this "sculpture".  I can't even imagine how hot it was under all that.

I'm not photogenic so please ignore this photo of me.  Drew always looks great! 

So our neighbors who've been to PV several times said we HAD to go to PiPi's for guac and margaritas! It was hard to find because it was pretty much in a alley but so worth it.  I have to say the most disappointing part of our trip is that our all inclusive really didn't have authentic Mexican food except for one night.  However, when we travelled out of our resort we were NEVER disappointed!!

I didn't know how big these babies were until we got them.  May I point out the bowl of guac {which was made fresh at our table} compared to our margaritas.  Yep, they were huge and like my father-in-law says "we felt no pain" when we left{although Drew said he felt normal}. PiPi's also threw in a free appetizer and each couple split an entree. We were happily stuffed!

Creepy!  These were everywhere!

{Day 3} Mexico

This was the zipline, horseback riding, tequilla tour portion of our trip. They wouldn't let us take our camera on the zipline, so we opted for the video (we need help with this making it compatible with our computer if anyone is willing to help) and we had a blast.  Once again, when you're out on the line alone and the only thing holding you up is a harness, and a couple of carabiners you pray for God's hand to literally come up under you and hold you until you reach the other end. *Disclaimer: I used to be much more daring, and much less of a wuss. Having kids changes your fears - it gives you new ones and heightens the existing ones.* However, I choose not to let my fears cripple me.  And on this particular day I chose to fly through the air, 10 times. Once upside down, twice with someone else, but mostly all. by. my. lonesome.  It was worth every second!

 

You can see 4 lines here.  Most of them were higher than these and a couple lower!

Enjoying a mango pronounced "mon-go" {in Mexico} margarita after ziplining! 

Two littles we spotted horseback riding. One had undies on and the other had his birthday pants on (wink wink).  They were too cute and completely surounded by chickens and other farm animals.

Yep! We went through the river twice!

And we were serenaded by a mostly toothless man.  We gave him a dollar.

This meal cost us over $50.  We were out in the middle of nowhere with one paved road!  I can't imagine why this lunch cost us so much money?!  Maybe because we're from the US.

I needed, yes needed to hold this baby Valentine.  He was the owner's grandson and just sitting in the middle of the restaurant by himself.  So I asked our server if I could hold him.  I got a good 20 minutes with him and I was so thankful because I was desperatly missing my kids and he helped to fill my need to love on a baby!

blue agave

blue agave with it's leaves cut - looks like a pineapple or a pine cone

the pit where the "pineapples" are cooked for 2 days {I think}