celebrate good times, part three!

we aspired to sit on the beach and read at our leisure while on vacation.

but.

our little third wheel kept throwing a wrench in our plans.  even though daddy tried his best to recreate the king-sized bed and air-conditioned conditions for the little guy.

somehow jonah could tell it wasn't quite the same.

frosty, fruity beverages served beachside.  what's not to love?

then again, being that little guy didn't get to drink the frosty, fruity goodness and had a sweaty head to boot would both be valid reasons to not love the beach so much.  but he sure did love being held by daddy.

but dipping his toes into the water?

that was cause for some mild trepidation.

yep, jonah and his lily white skin weren't big fans of this whole fun 'n sun idea.

probably didn't help that his squishy little legs didn't have much clearance...

so methinks it'll take a while before jonah and the ocean become friends.

alright, so i wasn't entirely truthful when i said we didn't do any excursions on this trip.  we did one.  we each signed up for a fifty-minute back, neck, shoulder massage and took turns going.  this was the outside part of the spa.  definitely good stuff.  so much so that phil came back raving (well, as much as phil raves about anything) about it and said he could see how people get hooked on going to spas.  heh heh.

meanwhile, young jonah was lounging in his favorite spot.

jonah actually did have his own pack-n-play bed to sleep in...

but more often than not ended up with us.  :)

well, it IS hard to resist this sleeping baby goodness, isn't it?

plus he'd distract us with his new tricks too.  guess who found his thumb!

even though adjustments had to be made with a little one along, it was still definitely fun to have him with us!

awww, last day of vacation...

and last meal of vacation...

really, really good times.

thanks for the memories, pv!

can't wait to come back again someday!

celebrate good times, part two!

ok, so i have more than a few vacation pictures i wanted to share, so there'll be two more parts to this recap.

like i said before, we did very little besides eat and sleep during our vacation.  but, we did venture into downtown one afternoon to take in the sights.  (i feel the need to insert the disclaimer that phil took most of the following downtown pictures and therefore i cannot take credit for them should they strike your fancy.)

it was a very colorful downtown.  but still so hot and humid even right next to the water.  no ocean breeze here!

so some people went to great lengths to create their own ocean breeze.

it was a bit concerning to walk right under these live power lines that were loudly buzzing.

we made it down the length of the boardwalk, browsed a few of the flea market shops, then decided it was time for lunch.  at the blue shrimp.

time for another version of ceviche.  oh my, so delicious.

and aguachile.

and jumbo shrimp cooked three ways.  see those bacon-wrapped shrimps?  yeah, i knew that'd get your attention.  and yes, they were awesome.  i seriously have never seen bigger shrimps (ha ha, get it?) in my life.  the other two were coconut shrimp and tequila shrimp.  all delicious.

after lunch, we did a little more strolling and browsing.  because my husband has an odd attraction to little trinkets of all types.

while i kept getting hotter and humid-er.  which may or may not have been exacerbated by the fact that a certain little person was strapped on to me.  and by the fact that phil kept getting stopped by every other person on the street wanting to sell him a timeshare.  and he'd politely listen to their whole spiel.  we managed to avoid the aggressive timeshare guys at the airport, but didn't realize every other person in downtown also had them to sell.  all the while, hotter...  humid-er...  crankier...

but a quick stop back at the hotel's mini bakery (again, todo incluido) for a chocolate frappucino and carrot cake and mama was a happy camper again.  whew.

and we got back to our room just in time for the heaviest downpour during our stay!  it rained pretty much every afternoon while we were there, but this particular day was definitely the heaviest.  but no matter, it was perfect siesta weather.

and then it was time to eat!  again!  ah, what a life.

the beautiful food kept coming out.  so we had no other choice but to keep on eating it.

it woulda been a crime not to.

cuz that's me:  law-abidin' citizen.

especially when it comes to desserts and this delectable chocolate pyramid.

check back for the final installment tomorrow!  :)

celebrate good times, come on!

alright, so the first week of july was a rather big one for us with moving (again) day,  then phil finally finishing fellowship two days later, then our ten-year anniversary two days after that.  it's been so crazy busy lately that i haven't had a chance to really process it all yet.

and we also celebrate lauren turning three this month, too!

whew, like i said, crazy busy.  but crazy good.

anyhow, those first two weeks of july was our time for work.

and last week?  well, that was our time to celebrate all the crazy goodness that God has poured into our lives.

by going to puerto vallarta!

it was originally going to be a second honeymoon of sorts, but ended up being more of a sleep-a-lot-eat-a-lot vacation because of a certain little stowaway who came along with us.  see him there on the red couch in the back?

no matter though, cuz i'll take a sleep-a-lot-eat-a-lot vacation any day of the week.

plus, it wasn't so bad having this little guy around.  he is kinda cute, after all.

even if his very favorite place to be was here, lying on our giant king-sized hotel bed in a nice air-conditioned room.

which meant we didn't really get to do any excursions or anything while there.  but no matter, we had a beverage fridge todo incluido at our disposal.

so while our little guy enjoyed a nap on the king-sized hotel bed,

we got to enjoy a lovely room-service meal, also todo incluido.

another perk of sticking close to our hotel room?  we got to spend a lot of time relaxing in our very own spa tub on our private patio!  (phil really does know how to pick a good hotel).

while we did our best to enjoy the view, too.

and okay, we did get out to enjoy some meals at the hotel's five restaurants.  again, todo incluido.  man, i was loving that todo incluido stuff.  incidentally, that right there was my favorite dish- coconut lime ceviche.  i ate it a total of four times last week.  and i would do it again this week if i could.  ;)

cheers!

phil's favorite was this mahi-mahi dish.  actually, his favorite part of the dish was the rice!  and he's not usually a fan of rice.  that's how good it was.

and we slipped in a little beach-front lounging, too.

jonah didn't know what to make of the giant ocean.  and it was really hot.  and really humid.  he wanted to go back to his king-sized bed in the nice air-conditioned room and pronto.

as for phil?  well, he took right to it like a fish to...  well, you know.

yes!  i'm finished with fellowship!!  and!  i'm in the ocean!!  on vacation!!!

strolling the hotel grounds was nice, too.

but mostly, the food was what i was there for.  oh, and the sleep, too.

eat-sleep-eat.  repeat.  for five beautiful days.

phil even ordered the escargots.  i had resolved in my mind that i would not be eating one when he ordered them.  but oddly enough, i did try one when it came out.  and it was good.  vacation does do funny things to a person's resolve.

so all in all, it wasn't too bad to have this little stowaway come along with us.

it was good times.

more vacation pics to come!

btw, in case you were wondering, our other three monkeys were having a great time at their grandparents' house for the week.  :)