August 2012: Week Five

After a 17-hour series of flights & layovers, we finally made it from Montana to Mexico to celebrate our 10-year Anniversary.  We were exhausted, but excited to do absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

 

When we arrived to the Cancun airport, we were a little delirious, so Shad actually agreed to this goofy photo.

As soon as we got checked in, I started to unpack & get us settled before we showered & hit the beach.

We stayed in the 'hotel strip' of Cancun at the Omni.  We had the lagoon-view room.
The other side of the hotel had the ocean-view.
 

We made our way down to the restaurants after we cleaned up & found this self-serve barrel of tequila.  Oh my!

Gorgeous.

One morning, I tried a juice they served at the hotel restaurant that had spinach & chia seeds. 
It looked gross, but tasted good.

This guy came & joined everyone for breakfast on the patio.
 FUH-REAK-Y, I say.

We made our way out to the beach & rented a cabana one day. 

It was perfect too, because it provided just enough shade (since someone forgot to pack the sunscreen - oops).



Shad spied on a few people with the zoom on our new camera.
We saw these two, a lot of wild tattoos, & several crazy thongs (not flip-flop thongs).

He humored me a few times & took a few photos of me.

And I caught a few of him trying to tackle the giant waves.
The water was absolutely incredible.
 It was the most beautiful shades of blue.

This was our hotel. 
We both had massages one night in the huts at the bottom of the hotel on the beach.
 

Shad captured a few fun pics of me attempting to 'cool off' while I attempted to avoid being swallowed by waves.

I certainly managed to have fun though!

And we both managed to cool off!

Then we headed for the little hot tub where you could sit up next to the little bar.

We attempted a little beach volleyball too. 

And we sat in the swings on the other side of the bar - such a cute idea!

One night after our massage, we went out to eat at the 'fancy' restaurant.
The actual restaurant was under construction, so they served us at a different location on the beach -- the floor was sand & we sat in beachy chairs.
The food was good, but it seemed that all the food we had was just 'eh' -- nothing was super flavorful.
Our faves: the quesadillas at the grill.

They had several little bars around the hotel that reminded me of the movie, "Cocktail" with Tom Cruise. 
 

If we weren't eating or drinking, we were sleeping on the beach in the sun.

More spy photos courtesy of Shad.

 

We did take one day for an all-day excursion to a park called, Xplor.
This is Shad outside our bus that took us there.
The park was an hour drive from our hotel.

The park was AH-MAZING.
It was all-natural for the most part: tons of jungle with underground caves & waterfalls, etc.
And of course, in order to make some moolah, they added some man-made features: ziplines, rafts through the underground caves, & tours through the jungle on amphibious vehicles. 

We did it ALL! 
14 ziplines through waterfalls & into underground caves under water, a raft trip through the underground caves, we did a 25-minute swim through the caves & we drove all over the park in our amphibious vehicle. 
It was a workout, but it was a BLAST!!!

I was so grateful for food that day after all the climbing we did to the top of the zipline towers.
I was MORE grateful that we were allowed to take our itchy helmets off for lunch. 
I hated that dumb thing.

Shad didn't mind wearing his helmet, but wasn't super thrilled about wearing 12 bracelets for the hotel, the park & the locker key.

The caves were unreal & so beautiful.

And a little SCARY.

The excursion was truly perfect & the trip itself was absolutely necessary. 
We have had an incredible 10 years of marraige together & having some time together to reflect on those years was perfect!  We look forward to many, many more!

 

I have no idea how many hours it took us to get home after our 5 days in Mexico, but thankfully Shad's travel schedule over the past few years paid off & our MVP status scored us some first class seats & airport lounge access during this trip.

 

This was such a blessing too, because I had eaten some caviar the night before we left (genius move, Nicole!  Who eats raw fish in Mexico?!  That's like drinking the water in Mexico) & I was pretty sick the entire trip home. 

 

As soon as we got back to Missoula, Cashe showed no interest in loving on Mom & Dad.  He was far more happy with his new BFFs, his cousins.

 

Shad & the boys (our brother-in-laws) golfed the day we got home.
Our sister-in-laws worked.
And I took all the kiddos up to Nana's to play!

After Nana's house, we went to Auntie Leasha's & one of the neighbor's chickens snuck into Alicia & Luke's yard so the boys chased the poor thing all over the place trying to rescue it.

In the meantime, Auntie Cole (me) was supposed to be watching Sage to make sure she wasn't putting rocks in her mouth.
Oooops.
Bad Auntie.

Sage wasn't allowed to play in the rock pile after that.
Dang.
Bad Auntie.

While we were in Cancun, Cashe stayed with Auntie Alicia & Uncle Luke & Sage for the first few days.
He & Alicia became best buds.

The second half of our trip, Cashe went to Auntie Shauna & Uncle Dyl's & their 5 kiddos.
Each night, Cashe snuggled up with one of his cousins in their bed & of course, rough-housed with the boys the entire time.

I got my Sage love while I was there too.
That girl loves her Auntie & I love how she always picks me over her Mama. 
(Makes my WHOLE day!)

While we were in town for the long, holiday weekend, we HAD to go to the first Griz game of the season.
We had a little breakfast beforehand & I think we were the ONLY ones in the restaurant NOT in their Griz gear.

Shad & I graduated 10 years ago & hadn't been to a Griz game since then. 
It was so neat being back on campus again too.

It made me miss my college years for sure.

Seriously, Blogger?!?!?!  Upside down???? 
You get the idea -- Alicia & I found a fun, little vendor selling Griz shirts on our way from the car to the stadium, so we bought matching shirts. 
Awe.

This part of the stadium wasn't there when we were in school, but I love it. 
It says, "We Are Montana". 

I HAD to have my pic taken next to yet ANOTHER port-a-pottie since I hadn't spent enough time in port-a-potties over the course of the month. 
I sent the pic to all my race friends to let them know I was thinking of them.

Our families rock the party that rocks the party in Missoula because they ALL had some serious hook-ups.
Luke scored us some Canyon Club box tickets at the tippy top of the stadium, so we enjoyed the game from up there.

The Nelsons. 
Awe.
We love these guys & miss them so much!

The day after the game, the guys golfed yet again -- this time, 27 holes! 
In the meantime, we took the kiddos to the park to run off some energy.

And lucky me got to see my BFFE (Best Friend Forever & Ever), Angela. 
She made the trip over to Missoula from Bozeman to be with her family, so we spent an afternoon together.

Alicia & Sage came too. 
Little beauties.

This was Sage's first time on a jungle gym.

And her very first slide! 

This cutie has mastered slides by now & was having a ball!

LOVE LOVE LOVE this girl.

After we had dinner with my Mom & Shad's dad & the boys, we ALL headed over to Angela's parents' house to see the girls & visit with her parents. 
Amara & Cashe chased each other all around that house while Sage & Keya cuddled up with all the parents & grandparents.

Gorgeous mama & bebe Keya.

Then we headed down the Bitterroot to Shauna & Dyl's so Sage could rearrange the magnets on their fridge.

And we had a little girl time too while the boys watched Storage Wars.

And these boys snuggled up for one last night before we headed home.

WHAT A WEEK!  It was absolutely N-O-N S-T-O-P, but it was SO much fun & such a blessing to have had that time away as well as time for Cashe to spend with his relatives when he normally doesn't get to living in southern Idaho.  He had a ball & so did we.  God is good.

Happy Anniversary to my sweet hubby!