Mexico Part 2

My favorite part of going on vacation definitely has to be the many opportunities to dress up and go to dinner!  I have so many dresses and there is not many times where Bryan and I go on fancy dinner dates during the summer that I can wear them.  So I love my evenings in warm Mexico being able to have dinner with my husband without any interruptions from little voices :) We tried out all the restaurants at the resort besides the Mexican restaurant.  Strange, I know, since we are in Mexico but I do not like traditional Mexican food so we decided that we would pass on that one.

My favorite restaurant was Portofino, the Italian restaurant. I went there twice, once with Bryan and once with Tammy since the boys wanted seafood and us girls did not.  Both times, I had the mouth watering fillet Mignon. I am not a big meat lover but I could eat this steak every day!

On our second evening, we were invited to an Apple Vacations Dinner on the beach. There was a raffle for a few different prizes and Bryan's name was drawn for Champagne and Strawberries.  Yumm!

I love Sushi these days so Bryan and I went to the Sushi Bar for dinner one night.  Bryan loved the fried calamari but I didn't think that the Sushi tasted the same as what I usually like.  I don't think their soy sauce was as great as in the US.

I'm not a big fan of seafood but the boys are so we went to Oceana Seafood restaurant one night. I enjoyed the buns for dinner while the boys had some interesting looking dishes.  Apparently they give you bowls with colored water in them after dinner called "finger bowls" which are for washing your hands.  I have never heard of this, nor seen this before.  Apparently, I need more training in dinner etiquette?!? It was a bit too fancy for me!

The Seaside Grill was a lunch/dinner restaurant. We ate lunch there on our first day in Mexico and I fell in love with their hand breaded chicken sandwich. It was amazing and we went back several times for it while we were there!

Towards the end of our vacation we made a day trip into La Playa Del Carmen.  We spent the majority of the day in town shopping for souvenirs for our families and ourselves.  Travis was crazy enough to get a tattoo in Mexico. It turned out very good but I don't think I would be brave enough to get a tattoo in a foreign country.

We also stopped at El Ranchero for a few appetizers about mid day since we were hungry. Little did we know that  2 appetizers could cost $50.00.  Expensive!  But we had a great time and brought back some very cute items for the kids including Dora and Hulk masks for the kids, dresses for Bryleigh and all my nieces, and Authentic Mexican Soccer outfits for Christian since he starts soccer this week.

I saved the best pictures for almost last!  Our dolphin swim adventure.  I have always wanted to swim with dolphins but the prices are always more than I want to pay for only an hour of time with the dolphins. But Tammy agreed to do it with me so I relented and paid the money for a once in a lifetime experience!  Valentina was our dolphin and we had so much fun! Dolphins are such awesome mammals! On our adventure, we swam with manatee's, dolphins, and also did a kayak tour with the dolphins!

I'm so glad that I was able to have that experience and that they allowed Bryan and Travis to take pictures since the pictures that the photographer took were outrageously priced!

As I had stated before, one of the aspects of the resort that we didn't much care for was the there was not a lot of nightlife entertainment.  We did attend 2 shows though that were fun.  One show was a Water and Fire Show on the beach and the other was a magic show in the theater.  At the magic show, we tried hard to find spots in the audience that would allow us to watch but not be volunteers. Well we failed miserably because Bryan and I were picked as volunteers because the magician thought we were Newlyweds!  Even after 6 years, we still look happy I guess :)

On our last night, we had a mini photo shoot on the beach!

Leaving Mexico was bittersweet!  I was definitely ready to come home to the kids but not quite ready to step back into the reality of work and school!

 I finally feel like we are getting back into a routine and this week will be a fun week since Bryleigh starts Dance Class tomorrow and Christian starts soccer on Wednesday!

Adios Mexico, until next year!