Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Golf

I guess Spring is actually here to stay (but now that I say that, we will probably get a freak snowstorm)! John and Preston golfed for the first time this year tonight. They even saw an adorable little duck family!
The boys have already been asking about the summer golf class so I guess I better get them signed up for it!

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Kid-Free Vacay!

Guess how long it's been since John and I took a kid-free vacation? 10.5 years. Yes really. We haven't taken one since Preston was born. Now, we have taken a couple of "work trips" where I have tagged along with John for a conference, so it's not like we haven't had ANY time away from the kids, but this was our first actual strictly-for-fun kid-free trip (that we spent a lot of time talking business on, but that's beside the point).

John decided to surprise me for my birthday with a trip to Mexico. Archer did a good job of spoiling that surprise because he found out and didn't want us to go without him! So I found out on Saturday and told John not to book it. Sunday, the trip was booked. :) It was crazy and spontaneous. And much needed. We had SO MUCH FUN! I would never have taken the initiative to book a trip like that so I'm glad my husband does things like that. He even convinced my parents to come stay with the boys! 

So. Puerto Vallarta is a pretty amazing city. I am completely in love with it. The beaches were a bit crowded for my liking (although we did go to a beach south of town that was pretty quiet), but the town itself was beautiful. And they had so many delicious restaurants...I was so glad we weren't staying at an all inclusive resort so we could try as many as possible! We did tons of sight-seeing (and walking...the boys wouldn't have enjoyed our trip too much!) and fit in plenty of beach time and reading. Most of all though, we got to just do whatever we wanted without child-imposed time restraints - because even though our kids are older now and love traveling, they still have limits and the occasional sleep-deprived meltdown.

Day 1: we left super early and got in to PV mid-afternoon. 
The view from the balcony of our hotel room. We stayed at a budget hotel - The Emperador - but it was clean, the location was GREAT, and the staff were all helpful and friendly.


We walked the beach, and those crazy stairs, ate dinner and watched the sunset. Not a bad day!

Day 2: (my actual birthday!)

Apparently we are early risers in Mexico time. Despite the fact that PV is 2 hrs ahead of home! We discovered a coffee shop with yummy coffee and breakfast that we ended up frequenting throughout our trip. We did lots of walking around and sight-seeing in the morning, then had lunch at Coco's Kitchen which was DELICIOUS (and we ended up there the next day too!). We had an ATV tour booked for the afternoon which ended up being just so-so. It was super dusty and not that exciting. Probably more for people who are generally city-dwellers and don't have the opportunity to explore mountain trails very often. But we had fun and John got to jump off a cliff into a swimming hole. That evening we ate at Pancho's Takos. Amazing. I want to go back just to eat some more tacos! And then of course we walked around some more and watched the sunset.

Day 3:

We took a taxi south of town to Playa Gemeles (I think that's spelled right!). We lounged around, climbed around in some rocks and saw a few crabs, and John snorkeled. It was okay but it started to get busier and it's a small beach, so we took the bus back into town (which was an experience in itself!). We spent the afternoon at the beach by our hotel (Los Muertos) and then walked around until we found a place to eat.

Day 4: 
John woke up sick. He had a sore throat that started the day before but it got a lot worse. He was achy, and had a nasty head cold. He found some kind of medicine to take though, and was able to sort of function while we went to the shops on Isla Cuale. It was maybe a bit too much walking for him! We went back to the hotel, packed up, and headed to the airport where he proceeded to sleep until it was time to board...then he slept on the plane...and again after we made it through customs/immigration/security at LAX...then again on the (delayed) flight home. We ended up getting home around 1:00 am, and of course we were up bright and early to a little boy bouncing into our room at 6:00 am! (But we were excited to see him so couldn't be too upset!)

Now we are in the midst of unpacking while trying to get back to "normal" here...and today I woke up with a sore throat. 



Wednesday, April 20, 2016

QOTD

QOTD, courtesy of Preston as Archer is opening the car door for me:
"Archer will be able to find a woman to marry very easily. But then he's going to have to open doors for her for the rest of his life."