Riviera Maya- Day 4

Wednesday was our last full day at the resort and Mark woke up feeling sick.  Poor guy.  All I wanted to do was lay by the ocean all day, but if I had to do it alone, that would be no fun.  I decided to check on arrangements for checking out and getting back to the airport.  I bought all our souvenirs this morning, and hit the smoothie place for breakfast.  

When I got back to the room, Mark was feeling a little better.  He did not want to be out in the sun all day, so I found us a completely shaded cabana and a bed on the beach.

We literally laid on the beach, listening to the ocean for 6 hours.  It was amazing.  Mark even took a little cat nap.  

Since Mark was not feeling too hot, I walked around a little, doing things like this...

and snapping more pictures.  

We ended up having dinner at Kampi, which was pacific cuisine and it ended up being our favorite meal of the week. We took a few more pictures along the ocean and the beach that night.  

We went back to this area of the beach to see if we could see any traces of the huge turtles from the night before.  You could see the trails (very wide) in the sand heading back to the ocean, but you could not even tell where they had buried themselves the night before and laid their eggs.  It was so crazy!  

Instead of hitting the late night entertainment we called it an early night and headed to our room to get everything packed up.  The week went by so fast and we could not even believe it was coming to an end.  All the planning and anticipation leading up to this trip was awesome, and it was over so quick.  We loved it!  We had a great, relaxing week, but missed our girls and were ready to be home!  We don't know if we will do anything for our 15th but we are planning a trip to Hawaii for out 20th (with the girls we decided.  They will be 17 and 14....no way on earth we are leaving them alone at home!)  Besides, we really want to take the girls to Hawaii so it will work out perfectly!  

Riviera Maya- Day 1

Sunday around Noon we arrived in Mexico.  We found our shuttle bus easily and were to our resort within an hour!  We could not check into our room right away, so we grabbed some lunch and walked around the resort, snapping pictures like crazy.  We could not believe how beautiful everything was!  

We had lunch at Jojo's.  It is an open air restaurant right next to one of the big pools.  It overlooks the ocean and is also next to one of the big bars.  I told the waiter I wanted a fruity drink and he brought me a Mango Tango.  This ended up being one of my favorite drinks of the week!  

The resort was gorgeous.  It was very hot and humid all week, but as long as we cooled off in the pool or the ocean, we were fine.  

Tons of palm trees, everywhere.  

After we got checked in Sunday afternoon, we hung out at one of the big pools with a swim up bar (where all the people are gathered, of course)  

We enjoyed several drinks...I kept up with Mark on Sunday (I had as many drinks as he had.)  That really did not turn out well...I was lightheaded, dizzy, and had a headache the next morning.  Drunk and hung over.  But, relaxed and having fun!  

I had fun with an app on my phone.  I took a picture of every drink I had this week, then had fun with the pictures.  

Our room overlooked the ocean, through all the palm trees.  The hammock was on the patio, which was nice.  

There were so many places to lay around the resort.  Next to the beach, ocean, or pool. Not just your typical lawn chairs at this resort.  

Dinner that night was at the Mexican restaurant.  We both enjoyed wine and a great dinner.  We hit the nightly entertainment, which was a great band and Karaoke.  It was a ton of fun!  

Even at night, the resort was gorgeous.  We enjoyed the nightly entertainment and enjoyed walking around the resort after dark.  It was a great first day in Riviera Maya.  

Surprise Trip to Chicago!

Last week before we went to Mexico, we made a stop in Chicago to see a Cubs game.  We flew out Saturday morning from KCI and landed in Chicago before 9:30.  We were able to do some sightseeing around the city we absolutely love before heading up to Wrigley.  

Our hotel (Palmer House) was in the Southern part of downtown, one block off Michigan Ave. It was a short walk to the Art Institute and Millennium Park.  

We strolled through Millennium Park enjoying all the art work all the people.  

The famous bean...

Next, we headed up Michigan Ave. looking for a local deli for lunch.  

We walked all the way up to the river and found a great deli.  Perfect for lunch.  We cooled off, had lunch and then walked along Michigan Ave. a little longer to catch the red line up to Wrigley Field.  We realized we did not have our train passes and ended up wasting $20 on more passes (the train machine did not give change...ugh)  

We hit one of the local bars for a beer before heading into the Stadium.  It is such a fun atmosphere all around the ballpark.  It is a true  love of baseball up there.  

The view from our seats.  Behind home plate but way up high!

Then we decided to walk around for a while...

and found new seats....

Then we went and got a snack..and new seats again!  Mark said that was the most fun he had at a Cubs game.  Wondering around looking for new seats.  It was a fun game with a Cubs win!  

With the use of our phone and the train map we can get around Chicago very easily.  

We noticed this steakhouse when we headed up to Wrigley and decided to try it out for dinner.  When we walked in it was packed, and they did not have any openings until 10:00 that night!  They said we could sit at the bar if we wanted...so we did.  Then we noticed were were completely under dressed and steaks were $75.  Ouch.  But, we were able to find something less expensive and enjoyed a great dinner.  

Then we headed back to the hotel to crash for our early flight out of O'hare in the morning with our final destination of Riviera Maya, Mexico.  

The next morning we caught the Blue Line up to O'hare.  It was crazy how dead the city of Chicago is at 4:40 in the morning.  But, I could not believe how packed the Blue Line was.  Full of travelers, and employees for the airport.  

I took these pictures and sent them to the girls Sunday morning.  Early morning flight, tired parents, coffee in hand, destination Mexico.  It was a great day!  

507 Pictures Later

4th of July, Chicago, Riviera Maya, and the wedding...this one is by far my favorite picture of all the pictures taken this past week...

Easter Sunday

10 Years

April 6th, 2002 Mark proposed to me and on March 29th, 2003 we got married.  The proposal was amazing.  Mark had a fabulous day in Chicago all planned out.  Mark proposed to me in my living room of my town house, still dressed in a robe, just after getting out of the shower.  I was completely surprised!  I returned from the gym with roses on my stairs, a note that said "take a shower and get ready.  We are spending the day together."  Then, after I got out of the shower Mark was at my house, with a dozen roses, down on one knee proposing.  I still have that old robe!  He flew me to Chicago.  It was so cold when we got off the train.  We stayed at The Drake Hotel.  We had dinner at an amazing French restaurant on the top floor of a building that overlooked the whole city.  We drank a bottle of wine.  We took a Limo back to our hotel.  We stayed at The Drake Hotel.  We flew back the next day.  It was so fun.  

Then we started planning the wedding!  We had a 5:00 wedding at the church I grew up in.  The bridesmaids were black dresses, and carried red roses.  They day went off without a hitch and everything looked gorgeous.  

When I found my dress I did not really like it on the rack, but when I tried it on it looked perfect and fit perfectly.  It did not need any alterations (except hemming of course) and it was beautiful.  

We had a huge wedding party with tons of friends.  We still keep in touch with almost all of them. 

This is one of my favorite pictures from the wedding.  Walking out to everyone blowing bubbles.  The photographer did an amazing job of capturing this moment.  

Our reception was at the Royals Stadium Club and was perfect.  We surprised everyone by being announced from the Royals dugout and from the field!  The night included a huge buffet of food, pasta bar, wine, beer, dancing, cake and of course a KU win!  I will always remember watching the KU game at my wedding reception.  It was so fun.  

We danced.  We drank. We partied.  We had so much fun with our family and friends.  The next day we flew to St. Lucia and stayed at a Sandals Resort for a week.  We were in heaven.  

The past 10 years has been awesome.  I have grown to love Mark more and more with each day and each year that passes.  Mark is an amazing Husband and Father.  We see eye to eye on almost everything (money, goals, dreams, future plans, kids) and that is why there is no doubt in my mind that this marriage is forever.  We communicate well.  We talk things out.  I get my way a lot, but I know when to back down and let Mark "win" a few times :)  

This summer we will celebrate our 10th anniversary at an All Inclusive Adults only resort.  That trip can not come fast enough.  I can't wait to hear she sound of the ocean, the waves, the sand in my feet, a drink in my hand, and the sun all around.  But for now, we will celebrate at our favorite restaurant the weekend, The Melting Pot.  

Happy 10th anniversary Mark.  Love you!