Mexico!

What a fun trip we took with Grandma and Grandpa to Puerto Vallarta!  The flight there went surprisingly well and the kids entertained themselves the whole time.  They were in awe when we arrived at the Velas Vallarta resort.  As Daniel said, "Everyone here wants to treat us like kings!"

The first day was spent almost entirely in the pool.  It was impossible to get the kids out!  Daniel has always been a fish and Sarah proved herself to be even more of a daredevil in the water.  She probably spent half the time with her head underwater, swimming and jumping, and never got upset.  In fact, she was so brave that we're going to have t teach her to be a lot more cautious in the water.  Adam really surprised us.  He's been so afraid to put his head under water and was having a lot of trouble in swimming lessons.  In Mexico with his mask and snorkel, he was like a fish, too!  By the end of the week, he was putting his head underwater with no mask!  We were so surprised and impressed!

Day 2, the kids spent the morning at the pool and the beach with Jame and Jeff while Sharleen and I went to Walmart for groceries for the week.  We ate very well during the week!

Day 3 was a surprise for the kids - we went on a pirate ship!  They were quite nervous for about the first hour - those pirates were very realistic!  But, once they realized that they weren't real pirates, they had a great time.  We ate breakfast below deck and then went above to interact with the pirates.  The kids even got to sword fight with our "personal pirate," Pepino.  There was a great show put on by the pirates.  After about two hours, we arrived at a beautiful beach.  James was a little sunburned, Adam wasn't feeling overly adventurous so they and Sarah hung out in a shaded pool area and played in the water.  Daniel was feeling more adventurous, so he went kayaking with Grandpa and later went banana boating with Grandmand Grandpa.  He enjoyed the banana boat so much that he wanted to go again with Mom.  Our trip didn't go quite so smoothly, though - we were knocked off into the water.  Daniel handled it very well but he didn't like the salt water in his eyes and mouth.  Right after we finished our ride, we went right back onto the pirate ship for a yummy lunch and lots of dancing with the pirates.  It was a really fun day!

Day 4 was another day at the pool, I finally made my way to the beach and we ventured out to the marina for a walk.  It was really warm but, on the way back to the hotel, it started to rain.  Little did we know, though, that after dinner we would get to watch a storm like no other we'd ever seen.  It turned out that Hurricane Dora was passing by about 400km in the Pacific.  It was quite the spectacular wind, lightening and thunder show!

We were a little afraid heading into day 5, thinking that the weather would be terrible.  But we were greeted with another beautiful, sunny day.  We took the bus into Puerto Vallarta to wander around the markets and do some bartering.  The boys enjoyed seeing all the wares.  Adam got himself a wrestler's mask and Daniel chose a wooden snake.  They both also got Spiderman kites they had seen on the beach.  Sarah was quite happy with the purse that Grandma and Grandpa bought her - she likes her bags!  We weren't too adventurous with lunch, considering we were travelling with three picky kids.  We ate a pizza place owned by Canadians - it was very tasty and everyone working there were very friendly and the kids got to play with a parrot.

Day 6 was an adventure for all of us.  We went to the Aquaventuras Water Park and swam with dolphins!  The kids were very wary of the dolphin and didn't want to touch her or anything.  But after it was done, they seemed to have enjoyed it.  We thought it was really cool.  The dolphin, Athena, swam in front of us and allowed us to pet her.  Then we each got a chance to give her a "kiss" and shake hands with her fins.  It was really amazing and she was really cute.  After our dolphin visit, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the water slides.  The kids were able to ride most of the slides with an adult and loved it, even Sarah.  There were single slides and ones where they could ride with us in a boat.  There was a fun, shallow water park just for little kids.  A really fun way to spend a day and one we won't soon forget.

Our last day was spent at the pool again.  It was fun getting one last swim in but we could tell that the kids were ready to head home.  They'd had a wonderful time in the sun with their grandparents.  They loved the water, the fruity drinks we had every night and all the adventures.  They didn't even mind the heat!

Thank you so much, Jeff and Sharleen, for a wonderful trip!  We had a great time and have so many great memories.