Vacationes en la Mayan Riviera

Well hello there!

I'm back from vacation dream land, and have the pictures to prove that we had an excellent time! I've got well over 550 pictures! I'm not posting all of them here, but I do want to share some of my favorites.

As you saw in my last blog post, we spent the week in Riviera Maya, Mexico, at a beautiful resort - Adventura Cove Palace. Halfway through the week, we transferred to another sister resort, Playacar Palace in Playa del Carmen to soak up some different scenery and try some other food. Both places were wonderful!!!

This vacation was long overdue!

Soaking up some rays was much-needed, especially for the paler of the two of us - ME ;)

The view from my preferred lounge chair.

Mr Jones didn't sit still long. He stayed on the move...

....while I switched from sun to shade and was very happy to read! Oh, and have a pina colada, or three. Or mojito, or margarita or Miami vice. Whatever I felt like, really.

Keith did water aerobics at noon. Hey, I gave it a try once.

Hey even stayed busy when the occasional rain storms would come through.

He snorkled almost every day.

And I joined him. Once.

Hey - I had books that weren't going to read themselves!

There were lots of cool underwater critters.

And Keith even held this poisonous version of an ocean porcupine - that's a technical term.

We enjoyed the kayak boats at the resort, too!

We did venture out for an excursion one day to XPlor - a zip-line, cavern, adventure-type place that requires a hard hat for the activities.

We rode one of these 'amphibious vehicles' through the jungle, through caves and waterfalls.

It was quite fun!

I felt pretty geological. My sis would be so proud!

The best part of this day? The zip line course!

Wooooohooooo!!

The views were awesome!

We zipped from tower to tower and became quick pros.

Even though we zipped pretty fast down the cables, we managed to snap a few decent pictures among all of the blurry ones. Even when this rain cloud came through, we kept going!

I took this pic as I was zipping into this waterfall/cave for a water-landing.

It was obviously fun!!

One thing I love about vacation is the lazy day on the beach (or busy day zip-lining) followed up by getting spruced up and enjoying a meal prepared by someone else. We had some great evenings!

This is me in my 'for a beach vacation only' dress. Keith also rarely sports the linen in Memphis :)

My handsome (tan) husband!

A trip to Mexico isn't complete without at least one romper outfit. Hah!

We also thoroughly enjoyed the beach over at Playa del Carmen. Simply gorgeous!

Vacation smooches!

The sun got me the worst on this day - and it was cloudy!

I also only used a hair dryer once or twice on this trip. Heaven!

This wonderful vacation that we so enjoyed would not have been possible without these people:

These are our friends, the Burrises. They are lovely folks that are fun to be around, kind, generous and have two of the most precious children I know. Ben is a great mentor to Keith in the dental world and has been very sweet to him and to both of us. They vacation regularly to Mexico and have a timeshare-style membership with Palace Resorts. Because of their awesome perks, we had the opportunity to tag-along on their family vacation and make a little vacation of our own.

So, Keith had William as a buddy in the pool when I was too busy reading, or napping in the sun.

And little miss Berkeley is just too sassy and cute for words.

It was really wonderful to spend most of our time on our own, but be able to check-in regularly with folks we knew, and enjoy some meals and pool time with this great family.

Oh, and we made pretty fast friends with their kiddos, too!

 

Berkeley and I even matched on our last day!

So, to conclude this vacation post, I'm signing off with some of my favorite images that I just may have to use as a new screen saver to get me by until the next sun-filled getaway!

I wonder if these birds know how lucky they are to have this view?

Electric lemonade and a mojito, my personal favorite.

The sign of a good time at the spa/salon!

I don't have photos of the kind staff, but they catered to our every need!

I read two great books! I owe you guys a book review post on what I've read lately anyway!

Love my husband's lobster trunks.

And yes, I wore earrings with my swimsuit.

I will miss the smell of this sunscreen!

Thank you, Keith, for being a wonderful husband! You put up with me this year when I was a huge stress ball and this vacation was the reward for both of us! I had such a great time relaxing with you and I look forward to all of our many more years of seeing the world together.

To the Burris family, THANK YOU! Without you, this vacation would not be possible. Thanks for understanding what it's like to be a student and providing lots of guidance and support to Keith as he navigates dental school. Most of all, we are thankful for our friendship.

And, for anyone else still reading this post, thanks for hanging in there! This was a long one! Recipes to come in the next few days!