Viva La Mexico {Days 3, 4 & 5}

On day 3, we woke ourselves up early and hit up the gym. We had just missed the resort's 5K run. After some gym time, we went to the health bar which was fresh juices, smoothies and fruit for breakfast.

We headed back to our room to get ready for our excursion, only to find ourselves locked out. Yep. I had locked the main door, and we left out of the patio door which locks behind us. After many trips to the concierge to request help from facilities and about 45 minutes, Nick finally jimmied the dead bolt and got us in. Phew.

We made our transfer to Selvetica just in time. And wouldn't you know it, the only two couples in the van were from Omaha, so we spent the drive talking about people we knew in common.

Selvetica was awesome. I would recommend it to anyone visiting the Playa/Cancun/Riviera Maya area.

We ziplined in the jungle.

Rode ATVs through the mud. (I rode on my own. Aren't you proud?)

And took our covered-from-head-to-toe bodies diving in the cenote.

Then we had probably the best fajitas I've ever eaten back at the main building. I'm sure it didn't hurt that we were starving or that we had ice cold Coronas to wash them down with, but yum. We opted not to spend the money to get the pics (there weren't that many and I didn't need to stare at myself klutzily floating through the jungle), so the ones here are not us, they are from Selvetica's website. =)  And the staff, seriously, they made the trip. Funny, sarcastic, just the best sense of humor - they really sealed the deal on me loving this experience.

Back at El Dorado, I napped and Nick watched some basketball. Then he must've fallen asleep because we both woke up about 8:30pm just in time to make our 9pm dinner reservation at Rincon, the Mexican joint, for some tacos and tequila.  Afterwards the resort had an amazing fire show that was the perfect end to a great day.

Day 4 started off here.

Couples massages in the sky suites overlooking the ocean and back to the spa for pedicures.

Prior to our massages, they give us the full experience, which includes the hydro room. I generally don't take advantage of the hydro room when I do the spa day, but we tried it out here. There is a process: 10 minutes in the hot tub, a quick dip in the polar plunge (as you can imagine, it's ice cold water) and then into the hydro pool. It was quite nice.

We wanted a relaxing afternoon so we got room service and hung out by our casita pool. It looked a bit like this.

Not to mention the pool bartender kept swinging by our place and getting me drinks. Then they brought by little appetizers. Followed by real fruit popsicles. Seriously, I never wanted to leave.

And can I take a moment to plug the UE Boom speaker Nick got before our trip? It was amazing. Blue tooth, connects to both our phones and went everywhere with us on this trip - to the pool, the golf course, while we were in our room. Seriously awesome.

UE Boom Speaker

That night we decided to leave the resort and head into Playa to 5th Avenue and I'm so glad we did. The entire area was walker-friendly (walking on your feet, not with an actual walker) and covered in twinkle lights. We found a great little bar called Fas where we got an amazing seat overlooking the street (aka great for people-watching) that had a local band covering our favorite country music. This might have been my favorite part of the trip. Oh, did I mention before we headed back to the resort we got the biggest bowl of ice cream to share? That may have had something to do with it.

Day 5 was our last full day and oh so bittersweet. I wanted to leave because I was dying to cuddle my Cruzer, but I didn't want to leave. How could I when I was surrounded by the sun, blue water and basically what I would consider my heaven?

We slept in. Then put our rafts in our little pool to get some sun. Breakfast mojitos were on order before heading to Kampai for a late lunch.

After lunch we hit up the main pool and met a bunch of new friends. One of our favorites was the couple from Wisconsin who kept ordering "dog shit in the grass" shots. Thankfully I had the first one - and it was delicious - before they told me what it was called. And it oddly looked like its name. Gross, but good. I was so confused.

Then I schooled Nick in a couple games of ping pong. Ok, maybe it was just one game of ping pong and then he kicked my booty the rest of the time. How did I not know he had a table growing up?

In our sun haze, we strolled the resort so I could snap a few pics. I didn't want to forget this place.

Then we headed back to the room, where we were once again locked out. (Not me this time, I swear it was Nick) and laid on the patio bed while waiting for someone to help us get in. Well, we must've fell asleep and they must not have wanted to wake us because two hours later we both woke up with a note from the concierge on how to get in.  We sauntered into our room, laid on the cool bed in there and yet again fell asleep, right through our dinner reservations at Santa Fe - the restaurant we had been looking forward to going to the most. Eh. The sleep was glorious and the resort had room service so we were able to get something to eat before going back to sleep.

Seriously I have never slept that much in my entire life.

Day 6 was our travel day and started off with our last breakfast at Cocotal looking something like this. Chips, guac and fresh fruit to start my day. Yes, please.

Ahh, just recapping this makes me want to go back. It was by far one of the best vacations I've ever been on and spending some time with my main man definitely didn't hurt one bit.

So, there you have it. Have any of you ever been to Playa? Any other great tips for when we go back? Because we will definitely be going back.

Viva La Mexico {Day 1 & 2}

The old ball & chain and I finally took a trip, just the two of us, to a beach locale - the first since our pseudo honeymoon in 2009. Three months after our wedding. With five other couples.

This trip was long overdue.

And terribly amazing. Just take a look for yourself.

If you remember, Nick planned the trip last minute back in February, which to me was just perfect because it meant I didn't have wait long for it to arrive. Let's just get it out there, I'm not one for patience.

The El Dorado Casitas in Playa del Carmen Mexico did not disappoint. Seriously, I'm not doing Mexico again if I don't have a casita, private pool, bartenders & butlers catering to my every need, all-inclusive top shelf alcohol and some of the best food I've ever eaten. Kidding. Kind of. But he did spoil me and for that I am thankful.

The vacation started perfectly. Like as soon as I got out of the car at the resort. Champs in hand.

Chilling in our room when we arrived. You guessed it. A bottle of champagne.

Every time I walked through the lobby. More champs.

Everywhere and anywhere. Lots of champagne. Just what this girl needed.

My amazing iPhone photography didn't do this place justice, but it was phenom. Just trust me. Or check it out for yourself. I highly recommend it.

The first day was spent checking out the resort, chilling with a couple of honeymooners from Mississippi at the main pool before heading back to our pool at the casita and then to our little mini pool right outside our room. We tried to follow the sun.

Then it was nap time. I literally napped every.single.day. And I don't usually nap. And it was amazing.

That night, and the entire trip actually, we did a lot of eating and drinking. Wine with dinner. Great food. Good company. I can't talk enough about the food. I think they called it Gourmet All-Inclusive. Everything was delicious.

We ended the first day with that bottle of champagne and a dip in our pool under the stars.

On day 2, we found a nice little course to play some golf. I love golfing - I may not be good at it, but I love it. And I especially love golfing with Nick. It's one of those things, where I can actually keep up with him somewhat...otherwise let me tell you, he wouldn't take me.

We befriended the beer cart guy, he loved our Bob Marley music and we loved his cocktails. Since we didn't bring our own clubs we rented them there and bought 10 balls. Around hole 14, we had officially lost all of those balls and thus started our "adventure" driving around the course in search of grassy, tree stocked areas where we figured golfers weren't going to go after their lost balls. We found lizards and other creepy crawly things, but also more balls which meant we were back at it. Until we lost those and had to start digging in the pond. Seriously, we had to be quite the site, but we were determined not to buy more balls and to finish our round.

The moment we finished 18 holes and stepped foot into the van to head back to our resort, it started down pouring. So we started in on the champagne in the lobby bar. And the selfies. Isn't that what everyone would do?

We headed back to our room to wait out the rain while napping on our patio bed. That night we hit up the Bellini Bar for pre-dinner cocktails and convo (undoubtedly about Cruz) and then had dinner at Cafe D'Italia. We love us some Italian food and this was delish.

After dinner, the rest of our night looked a little something like this. Nope, we didn't hit up the discoteca and party it up- we are old parents, remember? -  we hit up the pool and patio back at our room. And it was amazing.

Stay tuned for the rest of our vacay... you know you want to!