Playa Del Carmen: Phone pics and Wrap-up

Of course, I took a few pictures here and there from my phone and I thought it would be fun to blog those as well as wrapping up the loose ends of the trip. 

We had to be up super early to catch our 6:00 a.m. flight out of XNA.

This shirt was in the XNA Airport.  Gotta love ho we represent ourselves in Arkansas!

A picture of the entrance to our resort outside the van as we were driving by

The very first picture I took of the beach at our resort from the lobby as soon as we got there. 

Not sure how to caption this... Cory being cool?!? :)

Umm...me at the beginning of a tough day at the pool

The infamous chairs in the water we loved so much!

Beach pic

Self portrait

A friend let me borrow her Kindle to read the Hunger Games.  I was able to read book one and two while on the trip and I am currently halfway through book three!  Such a great series. 

Me with my "beach curls" that as soon as I walked out of the room the humidity zapped them back to straight!

Coast at Tulum

Ruins

There were several of these statues all over the resort

I have to admit that I very much missed Chick-fil-A and during our layover in Atlanta we got ourselves a chicken sandwich!

We got home around 3:30 on Tuesday and Lincoln was VERY excited to see us (Well, definitely Cory!).  He saw me first and said "Hi mommy, Where did daddy go?"  That evening we went to eat pizza and play games at Chuck-E-Cheese.  Lincoln loved having the four of us back together. 

Lincoln singing songs with the kids and Chuck-E-Cheese

And here is Emery in the stroller while Lincoln played all the games and had a blast.  She was "cool as a cucumber" in her seat just hanging out.  She is so laid back.  She gets that from her daddy, not her mommy! 

Cory's mom and stepdad kept the kids the first 2.5 days and my parents kept them the last 2.5 days.  Both sets said they did great while we were gone!  (But are the grandparents REALLY going to tell us anything other than they were "perfect"?  Probably not!)  :)  We were very grateful that they were all so eager to watch them so we could enjoy this amazing trip together!  It was so nice to have so much time to talk to Cory without being interrupted.  We made some great memories together and had many moments of great laughter.  It was good for the soul.  I am thankful to my amazing husband for planning this awesome trip!  It was the perfect gift for this 30 year old :)

Playa Del Carmen: Mayan Ruins

 On Sunday morning of our trip we decided to go on a half-day excursion to some of the Mayan Ruins in Tulum.  Our tour guide and bus picked us up at our resort at 8:00 and stopped off at a few other resorts along to way to pick up more people.  There was another couple on our bus from Texas who were also staying at our resort.  We befriended them pretty quickly.  The wife is a travel agent so we had fun chatting with her throughout the morning about other fun places to travel around the world.  We decided that the four of us would stay together throughout out trip because "there is power (and comfort) in numbers" plus we could help take pictures of each other.  

Once we arrived at Tulum our tour guide gave us an hour tour of the land and then gave us two hours of free time to explore on our own.  The ruins at Tulum are right up next to the coast.  Since the ruins are fragile then we were not able to walk on many of them.  The view of them up next to the gorgeous coast made for some awesome views.  We were also able to swim in the ocean if we wanted.  We did get in the water for a picture but we did not swim.  However, I wish I would have worn my swimsuit because it was VERY HOT and we were sweating buckets.  Cory was our photographer and I think he captured some great shots of the day.  

There was a shopping area outside of Tulum and they were selling tons of these Mexican wrestling masks. Cory bought one for him and his brother!  Crazy guys.

 

 

This excursion was something that Cory really wanted to do and I think the trip did not disappoint.  There were several other options to choose from to tour Mayan Ruins but this location was the closest to our resort and the only one that offered a half-day option.  Since we were not going to be our trip very long we weren't willing to spend a whole day away from our wonderful resort to go on an excursion.  In the end we were very happy with this choice. 

Playa Del Carmen: Us and food

Funny title, huh?  Well I felt like all we did was eat!  They had three massive buffets to choose from for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And at dinner they also had three restaurants open to choose from -- Caribbean, Brazilian Steakhouse, and French.  We tried out the Caribbean on the first night and the Brazilian on the second.  We never made it to the French one.  Here are some pictures of us as well as our eating experiences!

Caribbean Dinner

Our lobster dinner

Headed to the Steakhouse for dinner

Chocolate Mousse for dessert

Poolside fun!  These chairs were one of our favorite spots!

Writing in the sand

Beach at our resort

Love!

We had to wear these bracelets during our stay. 

We took this picture for Lincoln!

Our last night

Us on our last evening at the resort! 

Up next, our day spent exploring some of the Mayan Ruins!  It was very informative and there were some breath-taking views of the coast!  Stay tuned!