(This post a long one. I'm keeping it that way for posterity's sake. Begin reading at your own risk!)
Woo-hoo! What a great trip! It was so hard leaving Grayson behind (much harder than I thought it would be), but we had a wonderful time recharging in Mexico. The first day was travel and activities with other employees, which only left us two full days to ourselves, but it turned out to be the perfect vacation.
Early Thursday morning we drove up to Don & Holly's to drop Grayson off for our long weekend. You'd think we were going to be gone for months to look at all the things I stuffed into his suitcase, but I wanted to be completely prepared for anything that could happen while we were away. And even though I'd been preparing myself emotionally all week long, I couldn't bear to leave him behind and started crying before I got out the front door. Wouldn't you know I left my pump in the house, though, and had to go back for it? Holly took one look at me and had doubts I was going to be able to leave a second time, I'm such a crybaby now. But somehow I made it out the door yet again and we were off to Salt Lake International.
This is going to disappoint Kory and her Soapbox, but we flew Delta and had an awesome experience doing so. Josh's work ponied up for business class seats on the non-stops between SLC and Cancun and we couldn't have asked for better service! I was simply amazed at how friendly the agents at check-in were. Seriously, they were so nice and good-natured, I wondered if we'd somehow ended up on a Southwest flight instead. The flight attendants cracked jokes with us, and one of them made me a dreamy fruit juice concoction when I asked for an orange-cranberry mix. We did get peanuts on both flights, but that was merely a precursor to full-fledged meals complete with salad, rolls, and dessert. The main entrees tasted pretty good, and there was plenty to fill us up. Overall, we were both very impressed with all aspects of Delta's service. Thanks for two wonderful flights, Delta!
A guy picked us up along with another couple, Ryan and Natalie from Colorado, and took us the hour-long drive to the resort. Josh knew Ryan from an upgrade he had helped with in St. George, so it was easy to strike up a conversation and chat with them during the drive. They left their 2-year-old daughter behind and Natalie is 30 weeks pregnant with a baby boy, so we spent the majority of the time talking about our children.
The resort was beautiful - it looked just like the pictures on their website. There was a big tree pruned into the shape of a Mexican hat outside our room and it cracked me up every time I walked by. I wish I would have taken a picture. In an exit survey they asked us to fill out, I listed the landscaping as my favorite thing about the resort. And our room was incredible, but again, I didn't think to take any photos. It had all the typical stuff plus a patio and chairs off the back door, ceiling fans and central air, large walk-in closet, a beautiful armoire holding the television, dvd player and stereo, and a fantastic bathroom. French doors separated the rooms, and the bathroom was nearly as large as the bedroom was. It had a jetted bath, separate shower, dual sinks, private toilet, electronic scale and cushy bath robes. My only wish was that they would have provided us slippers as well.
Thursday night was work stuff, but we skipped out a little early to call home and see how Grayson was doing. Holly said Grayson had had a great day with her little family and didn't fuss much at all. She was nice enough to tell us that Grayson smiled when he heard our voices on the phone, so we went to bed relieved that he hadn't already forgotten us.
Friday morning we slept in until 10am. No, that is not a typo - both of us really did get to sleep in until 10 o'clock in the morning. There was no 5:30am feeding. There was no 6:45am alarm waking Josh for work. It. Was. Awesome. I LOVED sleeping in, even though I was beyond engorged and leaking all over the bed when I finally woke up. But that was nothing a Medela pump and new bed sheets couldn't fix and well worth the extra hours of slumber.
We headed up to a late breakfast and came back to soak in the tub for an hour. I haven't had the time to take a bath since way before Grayson was born, and oh, I just loved it. We planned to go snorkeling and kayaking while we were on vacation, but it was so windy we weren't allowed to go out past the wave breakers. Phooey. I was really disappointed because those were really the only things I wanted to do while we were there. But we decided to get some bicycles and ride a couple of miles down to "5th Avenue" to do a little shopping.
We slept in until 10am again Saturday morning. This time we didn't mean to because we really wanted to go up to the breakfast buffet we had missed the day before, so we just skipped breakfast entirely and had an early lunch instead. The good news is that during this early lunch we ran into another couple there with our group, Jesse and Maggie. I love them.
Maggie and I could spend the next 14 years listening to each other's 'work widow' stories about our hubbies leaving town and/or working late, leaving us to entertain the kiddies or attend social functions all alone. Poor us. We ended up spending a great deal of time with them Saturday and it was so nice to meet new people and have real conversation with them (even if all we did was talk about husbands and kiddies). We had a wonderful time with them - eating, playing in the ocean before resort staff kicked us out, painting our pottery, and getting way too sunburned for comfort. My only regret is we didn't get actual photos with them - I only have them on video.
We had another excellent dinner that night, but everyone was too sore with their sunburns to go karaoke-ing again, so we went to bed instead. This is Josh and I at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the restaurant where we dined.
This is me on the staircase alone, because Josh thinks I'm pretty, even if I have a broken leg.
Don't let this happen to you. It may not look too bad in this photo, but it hurt so bad I cried in the shower Sunday and Monday. I have an awesome base tan now for Lake Powell, but trust me, it wasn't worth it.
Ouchy
Woo-hoo! What a great trip! It was so hard leaving Grayson behind (much harder than I thought it would be), but we had a wonderful time recharging in Mexico. The first day was travel and activities with other employees, which only left us two full days to ourselves, but it turned out to be the perfect vacation.
Early Thursday morning we drove up to Don & Holly's to drop Grayson off for our long weekend. You'd think we were going to be gone for months to look at all the things I stuffed into his suitcase, but I wanted to be completely prepared for anything that could happen while we were away. And even though I'd been preparing myself emotionally all week long, I couldn't bear to leave him behind and started crying before I got out the front door. Wouldn't you know I left my pump in the house, though, and had to go back for it? Holly took one look at me and had doubts I was going to be able to leave a second time, I'm such a crybaby now. But somehow I made it out the door yet again and we were off to Salt Lake International.
This is going to disappoint Kory and her Soapbox, but we flew Delta and had an awesome experience doing so. Josh's work ponied up for business class seats on the non-stops between SLC and Cancun and we couldn't have asked for better service! I was simply amazed at how friendly the agents at check-in were. Seriously, they were so nice and good-natured, I wondered if we'd somehow ended up on a Southwest flight instead. The flight attendants cracked jokes with us, and one of them made me a dreamy fruit juice concoction when I asked for an orange-cranberry mix. We did get peanuts on both flights, but that was merely a precursor to full-fledged meals complete with salad, rolls, and dessert. The main entrees tasted pretty good, and there was plenty to fill us up. Overall, we were both very impressed with all aspects of Delta's service. Thanks for two wonderful flights, Delta!
A guy picked us up along with another couple, Ryan and Natalie from Colorado, and took us the hour-long drive to the resort. Josh knew Ryan from an upgrade he had helped with in St. George, so it was easy to strike up a conversation and chat with them during the drive. They left their 2-year-old daughter behind and Natalie is 30 weeks pregnant with a baby boy, so we spent the majority of the time talking about our children.
The resort was beautiful - it looked just like the pictures on their website. There was a big tree pruned into the shape of a Mexican hat outside our room and it cracked me up every time I walked by. I wish I would have taken a picture. In an exit survey they asked us to fill out, I listed the landscaping as my favorite thing about the resort. And our room was incredible, but again, I didn't think to take any photos. It had all the typical stuff plus a patio and chairs off the back door, ceiling fans and central air, large walk-in closet, a beautiful armoire holding the television, dvd player and stereo, and a fantastic bathroom. French doors separated the rooms, and the bathroom was nearly as large as the bedroom was. It had a jetted bath, separate shower, dual sinks, private toilet, electronic scale and cushy bath robes. My only wish was that they would have provided us slippers as well.
Thursday night was work stuff, but we skipped out a little early to call home and see how Grayson was doing. Holly said Grayson had had a great day with her little family and didn't fuss much at all. She was nice enough to tell us that Grayson smiled when he heard our voices on the phone, so we went to bed relieved that he hadn't already forgotten us.
Friday morning we slept in until 10am. No, that is not a typo - both of us really did get to sleep in until 10 o'clock in the morning. There was no 5:30am feeding. There was no 6:45am alarm waking Josh for work. It. Was. Awesome. I LOVED sleeping in, even though I was beyond engorged and leaking all over the bed when I finally woke up. But that was nothing a Medela pump and new bed sheets couldn't fix and well worth the extra hours of slumber.
We headed up to a late breakfast and came back to soak in the tub for an hour. I haven't had the time to take a bath since way before Grayson was born, and oh, I just loved it. We planned to go snorkeling and kayaking while we were on vacation, but it was so windy we weren't allowed to go out past the wave breakers. Phooey. I was really disappointed because those were really the only things I wanted to do while we were there. But we decided to get some bicycles and ride a couple of miles down to "5th Avenue" to do a little shopping.
On our way to pick up the bikes 
We spent a lot of time window-shopping and just walking around, but ended up only buying some cooking vanilla, a cute beach bag, and a little dress for my upcoming niece. We headed back to the resort for a late lunch and just lounged around the rest of the evening until dinner. We ate at an Asian restaurant at the resort and the food was sooo yummy. Josh had the best grilled tuna steak I've ever tasted (my salmon was good, too, but that tuna was incredible). There was only one meal we didn't love while we were there, and it was the vegetable lasagna I got for lunch one afternoon. Seriously, though...what was I thinking?
We slept in until 10am again Saturday morning. This time we didn't mean to because we really wanted to go up to the breakfast buffet we had missed the day before, so we just skipped breakfast entirely and had an early lunch instead. The good news is that during this early lunch we ran into another couple there with our group, Jesse and Maggie. I love them.
Maggie and I could spend the next 14 years listening to each other's 'work widow' stories about our hubbies leaving town and/or working late, leaving us to entertain the kiddies or attend social functions all alone. Poor us. We ended up spending a great deal of time with them Saturday and it was so nice to meet new people and have real conversation with them (even if all we did was talk about husbands and kiddies). We had a wonderful time with them - eating, playing in the ocean before resort staff kicked us out, painting our pottery, and getting way too sunburned for comfort. My only regret is we didn't get actual photos with them - I only have them on video.
We had another excellent dinner that night, but everyone was too sore with their sunburns to go karaoke-ing again, so we went to bed instead. This is Josh and I at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the restaurant where we dined.
This is me on the staircase alone, because Josh thinks I'm pretty, even if I have a broken leg.
Don't let this happen to you. It may not look too bad in this photo, but it hurt so bad I cried in the shower Sunday and Monday. I have an awesome base tan now for Lake Powell, but trust me, it wasn't worth it.Ouchy
