Dirty Thirty: Part 3

I'm finally getting around to writing about our last day.  We had the best last day.  We had breakfast and headed straight to the beach.   We all had books we wanted to read so we spent most of the day sitting on the beach, listening to the waves and reading.  It was perfect!

It was kinda overcast but I loved it.

I read this and loved it.  I'd just finished Tina Fey's Bossypants before I left and I loved it so I knew Mindy's book would be a perfect beach read and it was.

Brittany and Crystal were reading Gone Girl and I wanted to tell them what happened but I didn't.  I can't wait to see the movie!

I loved the swans on the property.

And peacocks!

And these birds.

That afternoon everyone went to the spa.  The other girls got massages on the beach so they had access to the spa.  I opted no tot get a massage and skip the spa.  Crystal joined me and we enjoyed the quiet pool.  They had these big swinging beds in cabana things.  I met some people at the bar from Pennslyvaina and I chatted with them for a while.  I learned something about myself...I like to talk to people.  I'm interested in other peoples stories. 

Some one getting a massage on the beach.

We got ice cream that day too.  I loved the ice cream! 

We headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.  We had reservations at 8:30 at the steakhouse for dinner.   Well we tried to catch a shuttle and he told us it was close and we could walk.  Well we ended up in the wrong place and then they told us another place which was also wrong.  We ran from one end of the resort to the other only to be told we were in the wrong place.  We finally found out where we were supposed to be and piled in a shuttle and made it.  We laughed because in that moment we learned a lot about each of our personalities.  I was definitely the "hot head"  I was so mad, and hungry.  Everyone else was more calm.  Crystal and Mallory just wanted to avoid conflict,  Brittany was the problem solver she was on the phone with the concierge telling them to hold our reservations.  Lindsey was always seeing the positive.  She smiled when I wanted to cry because I was afraid they weren't going to let us eat since we were so late.  She never thought we wouldn't get to eat.  After dinner we headed back to our rooms to pack up and get ready to head home.  I had some much fun with the girls but I missed my boys.
When we woke up Tuesday morning it was dreary.  I think Mexico was sad to see us go.  We got our luggage loaded and enjoyed one last breakfast at the resort before it was time to head to the airport.

Our sad faces because we had to go home.

Happy faces because we had a great time and we get to see our babies.
We got on the plane and there was a couple with a 4 month old baby sitting next to us.  She cried a little but her daddy was making her laugh.  She laughed and giggled and my eyes immediately filled with tears.  It was the first time I really missed Barrett.  I mean don't get me wrong, I missed him the whole time but that was the first time it upset me.  (It probably was a mix of anxiety of flying and just being ready to be home.)  The flight home was rough.  I had white knuckles from gripping the arm rest the whole time.  We landed in Atlanta around 3:00 and finally got to our car around 5:00.  Then we had to drive back to Birmingham.  It actually wasn't to bad.  After dropping everyone off I got home around 8:30.  I was exhausted and so happy to see my boys.   They had a great time without me.  I'm so thankful for Patrick, he used vacation days to take care of Barrett so I could enjoy the time away.  It took me two or three days to readjust to being in the real world.  It was just what I needed to recharge before the busy holiday season.

Dirty Thirty: Part 2

The next day we went on a little excursion.  Everyone wanted to go snorkeling.  I'd been snorkeling once before and I hated it but I didn't want to stay at the resort by myself and they told me I didn't have to get off the boat so I went.

We wore our adorable matching shirts.

Some of us get car sick and had to ride in the front every time.

This was our boat.

Mallory and Brittany

Me.

Our group on the front of the boat.  Which, for me, was one of the best parts of the trip.  I loved lounging while cruising through the water.

I decided to get off for the first snorkel stop.  I didn't see much because my mask kept filling up with water and I kept choking.  Snorkeling is just not my thing. 

Crystal and Brittany took all these pictures.

This is my pretending to be happy but really I'm mad at myself for not staying on the boat face.

These pictures are all out of order. 

My flippers before I got off the boat.

These group pictures turned out so cute!

I'm all smiles here because we're about to get back on the boat

This face probably describes my feelings toward snorkeling more accurately.

The boat stopped at another spot to snorkel and I knew I wasn't getting off the boat.  The other girls decided they'd rather hang out on the boat too.  We had fun lounging around.

The next part was the only reason I agreed to go on the adventure.  Which is kinda funny since it was only 2 minutes of the 6 hour adventure.

That's me swinging from the parachute.  I'm pretty sure it was the most unsafe thing I've ever done but it was so much fun!

When the boat got back we had chips and salsa at the little restaurant on site.  It was a beautiful view.  We all got a little woozy in the van ride back to our resort.  When we got back to the resort, we went to the beach for the afternoon and stayed out to nearly dark.  Then we headed in to get ready for dinner.  We went to the buffet again and it was pretty good.  After dinner Crystal, Lindsey and I went over to the shopping center to get some goodies for our babies.  I loved the little shopping center area at the resort.  I wish we would have spent a little more time over there at night.   This was one of my favorite days.  Even though I didn't like snorkeling I liked seeing everyone else enjoy it.  I loved the kite swing and then ending the day reading on the beach was perfect.

Dirty Thirty Birthday Extravaganza

I decided to break this up into a few posts.  
We've been planning this trip for a few months.  Since we're all turning 30 within the year we decided to take a trip to celebrate.  I was so nervous to leave my boys but I was so excited too.  I new Patrick and Barrett would be fine.  We started our journey early Friday morning.  When I say early I mean I was picking up my first passenger (Crystal) at 2:30am.  Crystal and I arrived at Brittany's to get her and Mallory and we were on the road by 3:00, right on schedule.  We decided to save money and drive to Atlanta instead of flying.  I was worried that it would be a nightmare and it really wasn't so bad.  We arrived in Atlanta right on time and quickly got checked in.  My suitcase weighed 50 lbs exactly.  I was pretty proud of that.  My favorite moment from the shuttle ride was when someone asked us where we were going and everyone just kinda looked at each other.  We weren't exactly sure because we knew we had transportation set up and didn't really have to know.  I'm sure the other people on the shuttle thought we were idiots.  For the record we went to the Riviera Maya. Here we are right before take off.  I don't like to fly.  I get really anxious mainly because I get sick and I didn't really want to throw up.  I usually have a drink before I fly but it was 8:00 in the morning and I wasn't ready to start drinking just yet.  I got a little upset when I called Patrick right before we boarded the plane but I after I talked to him I was better.  Before I knew it we were cleared for take off and away we went.  {A little background on these girls.  The top left is Crystal, we cheered together in high school and she still lives in Gardendale and we see each other a lot since her youngest is Barrett's age.  Top right is Mallory, we graduated high school together and went to the N'SYNC concert together in 10th grade.  Bottom right is Lindsey, we also cheered together but she is younger than us.  I hadn't seen her in years and enjoyed catching up with her. Bottom Left is Brittany, she was the common denominator in the group.} After our 2-3 hour flight and 30 minute van ride we arrived here! It didn't take long to park ourselves here!  I loved the beach set up because you could easily sit in the sun or the shade.  It was great because we could all sit together but still be comfortable. Brittany and I walked up to the front to make our dinner reservations and we were so happy to be there!  The resort was huge and we quickly learned that if we were going from the beach to the front we wanted a ride.

Most of the shuttles were just 6 passenger golf carts. But they had this one and we call it the zoo train.  We only rode it a couple of times.

On our way back to the beach we stopped for some ice cream.   We were all exhausted Friday from our early start and morning of traveling so we just went to one of the buffett's for dinner.  None of us felt like getting ready so we just wore our swim suits and cover ups and we were way under dressed.  Like afraid they were going to make us leave.  They didn't but we tried to dress appropriately for the rest of the trip.  Breakfast was my favorite meal each day. We quickly got our spot on the beach and I learned they will fill your water bottle with margaritas if you want.  It was a good day! We sat on the beach and talked and read and laughed.  It was so good for my soul. My team had a big game Saturday afternoon so I had to wear my elephant earrings and houndstooth hat to support them. Mallory missed the group picture that morning because she was at the gym. For lunch Brittany and I just went to the little snack bar at the beach and got a hamburger.  These animals are everywhere and they'll come right up to you.  On the left it was sniffing our table and then out of no where it jumped on the table and stole the top bun to my burger.  The picture on the right was my reaction.  Brittany captured it and I'm so glad she did.  We were laughing so hard.  

Animals were everywhere.  I thought this giant lizard was going to get my lip gloss.  Lucky for me Crystal was brave enough to get my lip gloss and take a close picture of it.  

Saturday night we had reservations for dinner at the Italian restaurant.  We got dressed up and it was delicious.   At dinner. Food at dinner. After dinner. After dinner.  I am a good 4 inches shorter than everyone else so I was the perfect height for the bottom, middle of the group selfie. After dinner we headed back to the room and hung out. Then this guy got in our room some how.  We waited outside for a man to come around so we could ask him to get it out.  We saw this couple going to their room and Brittany asked him if he was afraid of frogs and he agreed to help us, truth be told we didn't give him much of a chance.  I told him the only tool I had was a cup, he was like "Oh I don't need it."  Then he got close and saw it and said, "you still got that cup?"  We laughed, he got the frog.  We thanked him profusely and he avoided us the rest of the trip.   That sums up our first two days in paradise.  I'll be back with more...