The girls and Mexico...

If you would have asked me, before the trip, which of the girls was going to enjoy Mexico the most, without a doubt I would have answered Olivia.

Within a couple of days or so, it was pretty easy to realize how wrong I would have been. Olivia was clingy and whiny, and wouldn't hesitate to tell anyone who would listen that she missed her MeMaw (my mom), her toys, her clothes, and all of her shoes. The food didn't taste the same and she couldn't figure out why all of the cartoons were in Spanish. Worst of all, the toilet didn't flush right and the bath water was freezing cold.

Isabel, on the other hand, was in heaven. After every meal, she would exclaim how delicious the food was. On our second day there, she begged and pleaded to go spend the night at Jose's aunt's house, who she didn't really know that well at all. The entire time we were there, I think she only slept in our room two or three times. She loved playing in the dirt and bathing in the plastic tubs, and she especially loved all the little kids there were to play with.

Puerto Vallarta.

It wasn't a very long stay, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to Puerto Vallarta while down in Mexico. I was in complete awe the entire time; everything was so beautiful! The beach, the ocean, the moutains!! I could have snapped pictures all day long!

The only downside was that everything was very expensive!

At the recommendation of Jose's brother, we stayed at the Hotel Marsol. We tried to find somewhere else to stay, but it was 3pm on a Saturday afternoon and everything seemed to be pretty much booked. So, we booked one night (1060 pesos).

I regret not getting pictures of the room!! LoL, it was a sight. The first words out of Jose's mouth were: "Where's the TV?!" Nope, no TV. Just two wooden beds (covered in God-awful yellow blankets), a closet, a dresser, and a non-working fridge. The bathroom consisted of a tiny sink, a shower, and one dirty toilet with about 10 rolls of toilet paper stacked on the back.

We *did* have a balcony with quite a view!


The not-so-beautiful hotel room didn't bother me very much. We sure didn't spend very much time there, other than to sleep. We spent all Saturday afternoon, evening walking along the malecon and enjoyng the sights.

On Sunday morning, I knew I remembered seeing a Starbucks somewhere. We searched and search (and after asking a traffic cop, who told us it was right by our hotel!), we found the Starbucks.

Mmmm... I enjoyed a Cinnamon Dolce frappuccino, while Jose drank some coffee. There were so many white people at the Starbucks I would have sworn I was back in the USA! :)

Here are some more pictures from our trip. You can click on the image to view it full-size. If you have any questions about any of the pictures, feel free to ask!

We've been home almost a week now. I'm getting to the point where I really, really want Jose to go back to work. Its all nice and good having him around 24/7, but its slowly turning into a "too much of a good thing" situation.

In other words, he's starting to drive me bonkers.

Anyways... :)

The first picture I've chosen to share with you all is the bathroom. Yup, here it is in all its glory. I was not exaggerating.


Don't you love the lack of a toilet seat? And the barrels of water every where? You know what those are for, right? There is a small bucket inside of the barrels that you fill with water and dump into the toilet so that it flushes.

Nice, huh.

Me and Jose were discussing the whole bathroom situation, and it DOES have its good qualities. The room is only partially roofed. It virtually never, ever stinks in there. And, um... well, that's the only good thing I can think of, but I'm sure there is more!

Moving on...

The flowers were beautiful. I think they called my attention even more because here in Nebraska, the flowers have been dead for MONTHS. I was dying to try out the macro feature on my camera, so I took advantage of all the pretty flowers.



Sorry to cut this short... :) I'll share more pictures in a bit! Take care!

We're home...

We are home!! After the longest car ride of my entire life, we're back in Omaha! :) We just got done opening Christmas presents with my parents, and Jose went to visit with his youngest brother, Omar.

Tomorrow I'll be uploading all the pictures to share. :)