riviera maya part 2: what we did, a photo dump story

Our trip to the Riviera Maya was such a whirlwind that I feel like I already don't remember half of what happened... so I figured I should write down the half I do remember so that, well, I'll have some memories of the trip...

The first night we arrived at the hotel and ordered room service, because we could.

        

Above: me, extremely excited to be there, so I took my form of selfie in the giant mirror + our room service food, which I was also extremely excited about.

Then we went to the party at Heaven where everyone was meeting up. We didn't actually go to Heaven, just the bar/club called Heaven. So we really went to that heaven, although it wasn't really heaven. Don't get me wrong, it was really nice! Just not the real heaven. The real heaven club and bar, but not the real place..... oh, never mind...

The next day we had a big group mixer/salsa dance/scavenger hunt, followed by a big group lunch. Then we hung out by the pool and later there was a massive karaoke competition/dance-off/dress-up like rock stars/dance party that led to us all being super hungry and having a leisurely, long dinner at the Japanese restaurant.

     

 

 Top photos: me trying to be artsy with the wall/mirrors. 

Middle and bottom photos: the night club Heaven, complete with pools.

Thursday was the group outing to Xel-ha (or something like that) where we literally walked around laughing in our swim suits all day. It wasn't super warm out, but we did float the lazy river and zip line once. I managed to face plant in the water from the zip line. As Katie put it "Well, that was graceful." Or not so much.

Thursday night we all ate at the Italian restaurant. It was a three hour meal with a LOT of laughing.

 Top: the girls, looking slightly blurry. 

Bottom: the guys, looking very coordinated. (why so confused, Ted?)

Friday morning we had a couple's massage, then hung out on the beach with our friends Zach and Stephanie who we had met there. They are from Louisiana and the sweetest couple! We are hoping to visit them at some point in life.

    

Above: the tile on our balcony was so pretty, and I couldn't get over that blue color on the walls in the hallways and outside of the building. This is me ready to go hang out by the ocean, white wine in hand. 

Below: the paper that came on our tray when we ordered room service... I thought it captured the trip well, so I used it as room decor.

On Friday evening we went to the Brazilian restaurant with Zach and Steph, then headed over to the big group beach party that the company had set up, complete with twinkle light strands stretched over head, a fire dance/drumming show, then fireworks over the ocean. Then a wild dance party in the gazebo (is that the correct term?) you see below:



After that we headed over to Heaven (do you see now how confusing it is?) and danced the night away, as well as some of the early morning hours.

There are so many little details I want to remember, like the fact that our company did "room drops" every day while we were out, leaving an itinerary for the next day with a bunch of goodies.
Also, every morning I sprang out of bed around 7:30 (4:30 our time) so excited to head down to the lobby to get an espresso and grab some bottles of water. Then I would climb up to our private rooftop terrace (overlooking the ocean) and read my Bible with my shake and coffee.
We each had money to spend on various services, so Lane and I received a couple's massage and spent time in the beautiful spa.
The weather was cooler than we had anticipated, but we saw sunshine and aqua ocean every day. The people at the hotel were all so kind, our company spoiled us like crazy, and the other people we met in this business were all so wonderful and fun.

I missed our kids so badly, but it was such an epic trip and I am forever grateful.

PS one year ago- a cute spring centerpiece/ kid craft