Puerto Vallarta: Day 4

We met "Ronaldo" down at the beach for our snorkeling adventure. It was nice to break up our stay with this outing. It was only a 15 minute boat ride from the beach to the snorkeling spot. He pointed out a few interesting rock structures along the way (pics below). We managed to get there before the cruise's excursions pulled up. It was a very popular place, for good reason. Ronaldo fed the fish as we pulled up and all of the kids loved that part.  Luke immediately took to snorkeling and loved it. Emma needed some encouragement, but was then on board and swam around right by me. Ronaldo didn't have a mask small enough for Myles. Once we remembered we had a set of goggles that are more like a mask that would fit Myles, he loved it. He would take a deep breath, throw his arms back and plunge his head under the water. He would last a few seconds and then exclaim, "Wow! I see the fish!" It was pretty darn cute-even if it only lasted for 5 minutes.

Our guide caught his dinner on the way back to shore. The kids were very excited for him.

That evening, we took family pictures down by the beach. Always a relief to have those over with! After pictures Bryan wasn't feeling too swell (he was later hit with a round of throw-ups) and headed back to the room. There was a fiesta going on in the courtyard and they had fun carnival games for the kids. Myles was our lucky one and brought in the most tickets. Later, Luke combined all of our tickets to purchase ONE "classy" hat. I'll tell you how well that went over with Myles. After some convincing, Luke let Myles keep the hat. I kind of wish that hat didn't clear customs and stayed in Mexico. However, Myles loves it and he is just the cutest little nerd in it. His hat is safely put away in his closet at home.

We dined at the hotel's steak and seafood restaurant following the carnival. The food was a little disappointing, but dessert was a hit--ice cream. :) 

Puerto Vallarta: Day 3

"Day 3" looked a lot like "Day 2" which may explain my lack of pictures for this day. Luke was up in the middle of the night with the barfs. While not ideal timing, I did appreciate that all I had to do was pull the linens into the hallway and housekeeping promptly took them away and replaced them with a fresh set (a couple of times). There is always a silver lining--and this was a nice one! We planned to go snorkeling, but pushed it to the following day and kept it low key at the resort and beach.

Myles was getting pretty good at napping poolside. 

Puerto Vallarta: Day 2

We packed the day with hours of sunshine and bouncing back and forth between the pool and the beach. I think our friend's kid, Paxton, ended up in the double digits with his piña coladas. We all enjoyed the varying drinks at the pool and I loved watching the kids sitting at the pool bar. We were entertained with different games and activities the hotel staff put on. Bryan is still in shock that someone who called a gun, "the aimer," beat him at target practice. I won big with a guessing game so that helped lift him out of his outdoorsman's despair.
The beach's waves the first two days were fairly intense, but it didn't hold the kids back too much. Each kid took at least one turn of being tossed around in the waves. Their resiliency to get back in the waves was usually unaffected, unless sand ended up in someone's eye. Sand in the eye = game over.

Our hotel was surrounded by hills/mountains that were covered in trees (and a cell phone tower?). This particular area reminded us a lot of Hawaii. Although, we learned a little too late that our lovely beach had sand fleas! All of the adults were munched on, but the kids escaped with only a couple ofbites. By the end of the week, we counted 108 bites on just me!

Breakfast with a view. Oh this Emma--love her!

Myles, not to be out done demanded his picture, too. Love this kiddo.

Only drinks were allowed poolside. For meals we ate a cafe or buffet that was really close to the pool. The biggest hit was probably the soft serve ice cream that we helped ourselves to at all hours of the day.

Piña coladas at the beach? Twist my arm.

I convinced Myles to lay by me in the hammock and this was the end result.

I think this picture makes my almost 4-year-old resemble a newborn photo shoot. :)

Myles woke up with leg aches and needed some cuddles and medicine. How this boy loves his dad. There is quite the special bond there.