20th Anniversary Mexican Vacation, Part 1

 We celebrated our 20th anniversary a few months early this year. May is such a busy month with end of school activities and such, and we thought escaping the winter weather in Oklahoma would be a good time for a beach vacation.

Since this is a milestone anniversary (Still can't believe we've been married 20 years!), we planned an all-inclusive resort stay with our anniversary buddies, the Shondelmyers. We've been on several cruises and decided to do something different for this trip. 

Through the help of friends and a travel agent, we decided to celebrate in Cancun at the Riu Palace Kukulkan. We flew out early Sunday morning and knew we were getting close when we saw this view outside our airplane window. 

We checked into our resort on Sunday afternoon and after an early morning of travel, our first stop was the coffee bar. 

We actually all ended up ordering milkshakes, but added espresso to some of them for an energy boost. 

We were all excited for a week or rest, relaxation, and pampering. 

After our snacks we unpacked in our room. The view was absolutely gorgeous! The prettiest ocean water I've ever seen!

Our room was beautiful too, so much more spacious than a cruise stateroom, ha!

We decided to take a walk along the beach before dinner that evening. 

The resort has a huge buffet for all meals, and also has four other restaurants. We decided to try the steakhouse for our first meal of the week. 

The steak was delicious, and I loved the ice cream sandwich for dessert. 

We were pleasantly surprised to see Christmas decorations at the resort. So pretty!

We headed to bed early on Sunday to catch up on some rest from our long travel day.

On Monday we had big plans- absolutely nothing, ha!

We grabbed breakfast and then camped ourselves in beach chairs for the morning. We all brought plenty of good reading and were ready to relax all day. 

Perfection!

We did take a walk along the beach and ended up getting rained on, so we headed back to the resort until the storm passed through. 

We ended up loving the coffee bar at the resort. Corey introduced us to their chai lattes and we ended up visiting more than once a day. They were delicious. 

After the morning on the beach, we found this sweet surprise in our room. We were spoiled the whole week with housekeeping and turn down service every night. 

After a full day of doing nothing, we showered and dressed up for dinner. 

I can't wait for 20 more years with this guy by my side. He has made all my dreams come true. 

And 21 years of friendship with this couple has enriched our lives so very much. Their family is a huge blessing to all of us. 

We dined at the Asian restaurant on Monday night, and we impressed with how much we enjoyed it. Mexicans can do a good job with Asian food, ha!

Tuesday morning we had the same plans as the day before, ha!

Sun, ocean waves, a good book, and a cold drink was absolute paradise especially after a crazy, busy Christmas season. 

The ocean was a little rough by our resort, but Tuesday it was calm enough to float, so we took advantage of it and spent some time out in the ocean relaxing. 

I'll be gushing about the ocean color for weeks to come I know. Absolutely gorgeous- clear, bright turquoise water. Amazing!

After a morning at the beach, we grabbed some lunch at the buffet and then walked over to a huge shopping complex a few minutes from our resort. 

We even found a Lego store and had to send a picture to the kids. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping and then walked back to our resort for dinner. 

The Week After Christmas

 The day after Christmas we planned to drive to Weatherford for the day. Unfortunately, Katherine woke up running a fever and feeling awful. We postponed our plans and enjoyed a quiet day at home. We did make a visit to Costco to try out my new Christmas present. We browsed and ate lunch before coming back to rest.

That evening we watched the Santa Clause 2 and took down Christmas decorations. 

Saturday morning, Katherine was still not feeling great, but we saw she was recovering, so we decided to continue on with the rest of our weekend plans.

We drove to Edmond Saturday morning to celebrate Christmas with Matt's family.

Katherine read Henry Heckelbeck books on the drive. 

We enjoyed an Italian Christmas lunch with the Baughers and then drove downtown OKC to ride the streetcar and play at a fun park. We all still couldn't get over the summer temperatures on Saturday.

We also stopped for an ice cream treat. 

That evening after pizza, we opened presents. The kids were all happy with their gifts. 

Nathan got some books about rockets, a spacex shirt, and some 3-D printer filament. 

Elisabeth was excited about this silly chicken versus hot dog game.

Katherine got a journal craft kit

I didn't get a picture, but Samuel got a scroll saw. He didn't ask for it, but Matt and I thought he would really like it especially after he got the wood burning kit. He was excited. 

After presents the kids played some handbells together. 

Katherine had to try on her new outfit. She's such a fashionable eight year old. 

Sweet cousins always play so well together. 

We attended church as a family Sunday morning and headed back home to Broken Arrow after lunch. 

We had very few plans on Monday and Tuesday. The kids enjoyed the break and getting to play with their presents. There was lots of crafting at our house that week. 

On New Year's Eve, we headed to the Shondelmyer's house per annual tradition. 

These girls were excited to spend the evening together. 

The Shondelmyers were hosting some friends from Houston, so we had a bigger crowd to ring in the New Year. 

We all made some delicious appetizers and desserts and settled in for a relaxing evening. 

We set the kids free with screens, and the adults played a few silly games together. We laughed too much!

Katherine cuddled with Bugsy for a lot of the night. 

We rang in the New Year Eastern time with the ball drop in NYC.

It was a quiet drive home. I think everyone was worn out!

Since we were unable to visit my grandparents the week before since Katherine was sick, we decided to make a quick trip to Weatherford on New Years Day.

We left early that morning to make the most of our time, and all the kids fell asleep on the drive. I was happy they were getting some rest. 

We drove to Momoo's house for lunch and one last Christmas present for each of the kids. 

We enjoyed a pizza lunch and chocolate cake, and I had a really great visit with Momoo. 

Later that afternoon we said goodbye to Momoo and drove to Granny and Grandaddy's house.

Unfortunately, Granny wasn't feeling well, so we didn't get to visit much, but I was glad I was there to help out with some of her needs since she was sick.

I sent the kids outside to burn off some energy, and Sam and Elisabeth collected a lot of pecans. They shelled some too and have big plans to sell them.

Friday morning we said goodbye to Granny and Grandaddy and drove to OKC for Elisabeth's basketball game. 

She had extra fans in the crowd since it was in OKC, and her team played so well. They ended up losing by two points, but it was such an entertaining game to watch. I was proud of everyone on her team. 

We stopped for lunch before heading back. Elisabeth abandoned us for her teammates. I'm thankful for the friends she's made through her love of basketball. 

We drove home that afternoon and rested Friday evening. Elisabeth had another game on Saturday and directly afterward we met some friends to watch David in the theater. Then it was home to pack and straighten up the house. We were almost in vacation mode!