The Baker Bunch: Mexico es Bueno, Fun on the farm, and Celebrating Zane's 8th Birthday

WARNING!!! Lots of pictures on this post. Lots to report. Don't say I didn't warn you! :)

Since the day we decided to plan a trip to Mexico, we have been counting down the days! And now, sadly, it's over, but we had an AMAZING time and have lots of great memories that we will cherish forever! Here's a photo tour of our trip!

In the Atlanta airport, waiting for our last flight to Cancun!

We have arrived!

After the long, long, long, long line at immigration in the airport, then dodging all of the people wanting to sell us stuff, I noticed this "Welcome Bar" as we were waiting for our ride to the resort.

But also noticed the sky...was hoping this wasn't how it would be each day!

After what seemed like an eternity (only because we were so excited), we arrived at our resort!

Gorgeous!

Our room!

Upon check-in, we found out that they had just experienced torrential rains - so much so that they hadn't had electricity for awhile, restaurants were closed, and the pool was closed. Usually, our luck would be that those types of things would happen WHILE we are somewhere, so we were pleasantly surprised to find out everything was on the mend and we would be able to have a normal stay! We decided that the best thing to do first was head to the beach!!!

First visit to the beach!!!

OMGoodness...iguanas are everywhere there! They remind me of squirrels! You will be walking along and suddenly see an iguana...or two. They seriously creeped me out!

This was my view...from my chair...who couldn't get used to this?

The first night we ate Italian. It was amazing! Our resort was all inclusive, so all food and drinks there were included. It was really strange to walk into such a nice restaurant, eat supper, and just get up and leave! It was not required to leave a tip, but we always did. However, just a couple of dollars, which also felt strange!

On our first full day, we again went to the beach, and when we came back to our room, we were greeted with this:

Champagne and cake (Chocolate on the plate says "Happy Anniversary")

Swans and rose petals on the bed!

Speaking of that first full day, we spent it on the beach and the pool. Strangely enough, we met quite a few couples from Missouri! I noticed an Iowa Hawkeye tattoo on one guy...they live about 15 minutes from us. I saw a John Deere hat on another guy. They are from Columbia. They introduced us to two other couples. One from Jeff City and one from Hannibal. We had a fun time hanging out with them at the pool! By the end of that day, after sitting in the sun and drinking fruity drinks all day, I was quite tired. So we headed to the room to nap before dinner. We woke up and got ready to go eat, got there, ordered, and I soon realized I wasn't sure I could eat. So unfortunately I went back to the room and Matt had to dine alone for the night! And I was sad, cause it was at the Mexican restaurant, which I was so excited to try! Matt said both dinners, his and mine, were great! And instead of Mexcian...I ordered room service (also open 24 hours...no extra charge!)

Can't get out to eat? Order in!

We decided we'd mix a little relaxation with a little sight-seeing. So on Saturday we took a trip into Playa del Carmen for some shopping. There was a "main street" full of stores...everyone ready to give us their best "deals..." As we left one store and began walking down the street, one guy said "Come over here. It's my turn to rip you off!" Well...at least he was honest!

Homemade shopping carts!

They had Senor Frogs there!

5th Avenue shopping

We were all shopped out...so decided to sit and have a drink...and there that's code for "here are some suckers. Let's get all we can out of them..." So this guy came up and asked if he could play us a song. I said okay...and when he was done he said "So...do you have a tip or something for me?" Wow...

And another guy came up to us, put these sombreros on gave us these huge bottles, and took our picture. A few minutes later he came back with our picture on a tequila bottle and another in a frame..."all for the low price..." I bought the picture only. Not really "us" but cute anyway!

After shopping, we went back to the pool for awhile, and decided to go out for supper with the other Missouri couples we'd met. We tried going to the Japanese restaurant for Hibachi, but they couldn't take a group our size. So we decided to go to the steak and lobster place instead. We had a really good time with everyone. We told them we were celebrating our anniversary, so awhile later, they came out and put these napkins on our heads and brought us a piece of cake. In chocolate, they wrote "Happy Honeymoon 10." So cute!

Celebrating 10 (almost 11) years!

Sunday was our second "beach day." We enjoyed it immensely!

I spent my time here (read two whole books while there!)

While Matt spent his time here!

We strolled the beach and wrote in the sand...

Matt got really good at taking photos of us!

Awwwww!!!

Gorgeous! Who wouldn't feel relaxed when this was your view?

So so so beautiful!

Another relaxing evening!

Monday we took a day trip to Chichen Itza. Many know them as the Mayan Ruins. This is now one of the 7 wonders of the world! Although it wasn't my first choice in how to spend our day...I am glad that I got to see it!

On one of our stops we saw Spiderman, so took this picture for Mason! (We also saw a Spiderman statue in the airport in Cancun. I took a picture, then all of a sudden had 4-5 officials hollering at me, and one even came up to me and made me delete the picture. Geesh!)

2nd oldest Catholic church in the Americas.

Inside of the church

Across the street from the church was a little park. I got a chuckle from seeing the ice cream man!

Our second stop was at a senote - a sinkhole full of water. It reminded me of a cave, but there was an opening. People were in the water swimming all over the place. At the same time, birds and bats were flying around, and we saw things falling into the water, right on the swimmers. We chose not to swim...

Swimmers

The pyramid!

Looks fake, right? Well it isn't!

Where they sacrificed people. See the skulls etched in there?

Part of the ball court. They played ball here.

Ball court

A 98 year old Mayan woman. Our tour guide, who was Mexican, couldn't even understand her. She only spoke about 15 words in Spanish. She was so small! I bought a cloth from her. She had a stack of them in her hand for sale.

Back of the main pyramid. This part hasn't yet been restored.

Church

Steam bath. Sadly falling in

Matt said "And Amy is done seeing the pyramids!"

Our Hannibal friends. We hung out with them that night.

Before we went home, we wanted to be sure we had lots of pictures of the resort. So the next few pictures are of just that:

Walkways to everywhere

View from the restaurant by the beach. Seriously. Amazing.

The pool. It was HUGE!

The other side of the pool

The plaza. This is where people would gather, listen to music, dance, etc.

Our last whole day there, Tuesday, we just wanted to soak in every minute of the beach possible. So that we did. I sat in the shade and Matt played in the waves. Heaven on Earth I tell you! Okay, so I might have gone in the sun for awhile...only about 20 minutes...without sunscreen...and I honestly got the WORST sunburn in the history of sunburns! It was bad. I was hurting. And Matt said I was moaning in my sleep. Not a smart move...especially knowing the next day I had to get on a couple of planes!

Our favorite...the beach!

You could relax in a hammock!

Or sit and swing at the bar!

Our room

Mini bar...filled every single day!

We got a kick out of Coca Cola Light

Bathroom in our room

View from our room into the bathroom

On the last night, we enjoyed another meal at the Italian restaurant, our favorite!

And toasted our time in Mexico (we faked drinking it...yuck...)

We don't want to leave!

So much fun!

Wednesday was our day to head home. We had breakfast and just walked around a little bit, enjoying our last moments. It was so sad to leave there! They take such good care of you...always wanting to know how they can help you. It was a great week of sleeping in, relaxing, and enjoying just the two of us!

Our first plane left around 2:00 and got to Chicago around 5:00. There were storms coming in, so we were trying to avoid them. Unfortunately, we got stuck in Chicago for quite awhile. We were supposed to leave at 7:15, but kept getting delayed over and over. We eventually left at 1:30 a.m.! We were just glad to be on the way home at that point!

Welcome home!

And while we were on our tropical vacation, the boys were on a vacation of their own...on the farm! Seriously, I don't think there's anyplace on Earth they'd rather be! We are so fortunate, and thankful, to have Matt's parents, who are always willing to take on three boys for a week and a half...and they even come back for more! Thank you, thank you, for allowing us to go on trips such as these without having to worry about our boys!

CHEESE!

Playing at the park

Biggest and Littlest brothers

3 sweet boys!

And in the sandbox. Apparently Bryce's favorite thing was to take the sand out and put it in grandma's flowers!

Farming!

Now that's more like it!

Slip and slide!

Whee!

So much fun!

Zane grew some corn! He really wants to take it home and show his teacher!

New helmets for riding 4-wheelers and the go-cart

Big stuff! Now that Mason can drive the 4-wheeler alone, the lawn mower is chopped liver!

Zane ready to race!

What a good dog...to let Bryce crawl all over him!

Bryce LOVES to swing!

We were very anxious to get home and see the boys! We missed them a ton! Zane and Mason came right up to us and gave lots of big hugs. Bryce wasn't really sure. He stayed with Grandmas for a while. He kept looking at us, grinning, smiling, laughing. He went to Matt first. Then he finally came to me. Then he wouldn't leave me alone! It was cute. And Mason was stuck to Matt like glue all...weekend...long!