Our Outdoor Adventure in Puerto Vallarta

For our excursion in Puerto Vallarta we enjoyed the Outdoor Adventure. It consisted of a speedboat ride from the ship, a Unimog ride from a quaint little Mexican town, and then a mule ride up the mountain from the base camp. Once at the top of the mountain the fun really began. We enjoyed ziplines, 10 to be exact, 2 waterfall repels, one of which was 70 feet, rope bridges, and jungle bridges. One of the ziplines was down into the river. I somehow was chosen to be first on this zipline and my hand slipped off the rope where you break yourself and I did not get it back on in time to stop myself so I went full force into the river and ended up fully submerged! The water was freezing and since I wasn't expecting it I couldn't catch my breath but man it was exhilarating!

Unfortunately they do not let you take your cameras with you so we do not have any pictures to show for it except for the few below. I strongly encourage anyone who goes to PV definitely check this out. It was one of the best experiences of my life!

We took a speedboat ride about 20 minutes up to a Mexican village.

Here's a better picture of the speedboat.

Mexican village where we boarded our Unimog.

The Unimog took us from the village to the base camp called Vallarta Adventures.

Here we are suited up and ready for action. I have to admit that the gear was probably the most uncomfortable thing I have ever worn. It pretty much gives you a constant wedgie!

Three of the seven of our awesome guides!

Mariner of the Seas

On April 11th Chris and I embarked on our very first vacation without our boys. I was somewhat hesitant to go without them but knew once I got there I would love it. We found a super deal on the Mariner of the Seas seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera so we jumped on it. This particular trip included visits to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. We did this same itinerary last April with the boys so we knew what to expect. In Cabo and Mazatlan we relaxed on the beach. In Puerto Vallarta we did a very fun and exciting excursion called an Outdoor Adventure. (I'll detail it more in a different post)

We had a great time on the ship as well. We didn't get much sleep because we took full advantage of not having the boys and did EVERYTHING the ship had to offer including trivia and name that tune. Our waitstaff was the best we had ever had and we enjoyed seeing them every night at dinner. We spent a great deal of our time hanging out in the Viking Crown Lounge which is a quiet lookout point at the very top of the ship. You can watch all the fun happening in the pool or just gaze out at the ocean. I did NOT want to come back home. I know it's bad to admit but I really did not miss the boys too much. I guess it was a very needed vacation for us and for them.

The boys spent the weekends with Chris' parents and stayed the week with a very close friend of mine from Missouri and her grand daughter. They flew out and stayed at our house with them. I don't think they had time to miss us because they were always on the go whether it be to eat somewhere or play somewhere they were never home. I'm very thankful that I have people in my life who love us enough to take time out of their lives to keep our boys for us. Like I said, it was much needed!

Here are just a few of the many pictures we took. If you want to see the whole gallery email or comment with your email address and I'll send you a link to our pictures.


Our stateroom-this particular ship has a promenade down the middle with shops and things and our room had a view overlooking it. We loved our room location.

Looking into our room from the promenade.

The beautiful Mariner of the Seas.

A view up from one of the two atriums.

The beautiful three level dining room.

The pool area.

Not sure what Chris is looking at because I'm looking at the camera...

5 Going on 15 Part 2

Colby's new saying, "My bad". Chris and I nearly fell over when he started spouting that one in every other sentence.

And...

After picking Colby up from a friends house to go drop off Chris for an overnight work trip in Denver.

Colby: Why do I have to come with you?

Chris: Well, I guess you don't but I thought you would want to say goodbye to me.

Colby: Bye. Done.

I think we are going to be in for an interesting adolescent hood in several years, don't you think?

5 Going on 15

This is what I encountered on Colby's door Saturday morning. He's a little too young to have this kind of attitude, don't ya think?

Meat and Chips

Guess what!

I have been off of red meat and chips for over a month now! Well, except for two small incidents. One where I was invited to dinner and meatloaf was served-and it was delicious! The other was at a restaurant where they were served with my food and I didn't even think about them being tortilla chips and ate them. When I realized my slip up I was NOT happy.

I did not embark on this adventure on purpose but it ended up being really good for me. Chris and I are going on our first adult vacation in a few weeks and we both decided it would be nice to drop a few pounds before we go. The first thing was for me to quit eating those darn potato chips. Potato chips are my WEAKNESS and they always have been. If they are in the house, I will eat them. I'm proud to report that we have had the same bag of unopened Sunchips in the pantry for the last five weeks. A feat never before accomplished in our house. Before they would have been demolished in a mere three days or so. There have been a few times that I have wanted chips so bad that I had to call Chris and have him talk me off the wall but every time I MADE it!

Red meat was kind of an accident also. We both really love turkey sandwiches so we decided to try eating them for dinner along with a salad at least three or four nights a week. On the other nights we usually have some kind of chicken dish or pasta. The next thing we knew we had been red meat free for over a month. It's not like we eat a lot of red meat but we'd usually have some kind of hamburger at least two nights a week.

I have been working out 5-6 days a week since January 18th doing a mixture of step classes, spinning classes, weight training, and running but hadn't seen much weight loss doing all these things. As soon as I gave up the meat and chips the weight started coming off. It's coming off slowly but at least it's coming off now! Chris on the other hand started doing Wii Fit and is doing the couch potato to 5K program and has lost almost 20 pounds! I'm happy for him but man it makes me crazy because I workout twice as much and the weight is just falling off him. Why oh why is it so easy for men to lose weight, argh!

Now maybe if I could just work on giving up my chocolate...

Q and A

I found this Q&A on another blog and since my cute boys haven't done anything extraordinarily worth mentioning I thought I'd post this.

1. Share one item that has special meaning to you.
Probably a ring of my mother's that was given to her by my dad.

2. How old is the oldest pair of shoes in your closet?
I have some Ugg's that are at least five years old.

3. Did you buy girl scout cookies this year.
I didn't originally order any but they hit me up at the grocery store. I only bought two boxes, way down from the 10 I usually buy.

4. Do you know how to ballroom dance? If not, would you like to?
Absolutely

5. Were you a responsible child/teenager.
Depends on who you ask. I pushed the limits but doesn't every teenager?

6. How many of this year's Oscar nominated movies have you seen?
Up, Precious, Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, 1/2 of Inglorious Bastards

7. If you are going to have a medical procedure done, such as having blood drawn, is it easier to watch someone else have it done or have it done yourself.
Either one, I'm not squeamish unless it's my kids or husband.

8. What is your favorite day of the week and why?
Saturday, duh.

9. Do you miss anyone right now?
Absolutely! Miss my mom and all my family back in Missouri.

10. Do hospitals make you queasy?
You'd have thought they would by the amount of time I spent visiting them, but nope.

11. At what store would you like to max out your credit card.
If I had one it would probably be Pottery Barn/Pottery Barn Kids.

12. Are you true to the brand name of products/items?
Some

Pink Cows

I was informed by Colby today that chocolate milk comes from brown cows and strawberry milk comes from pink cows. Hmm, all these years I've never seen a pink cow. Wonder where they have been hiding.

I love to hear the things my boys come up with. They are very creative little boys!