Puerto Vallarta

Puerto Vallarta was gorgeous! I couldn't get over the luscious greenery and the misty-topped mountains. Wow. A beautiful place and we were thrilled to check it out throughout the day. Matt had been before and knew of a fabulous excursion up in the Sierra Madres called El Eden. You could do the zip line canopy tour, eat some fajitas, and play in the natural waterfalls and pond. It was also where they filmed Predator-oooohhhh. All good things. So again, we all crammed into a van and drove up this ridiculously steep and rocky dirt road. Talk about living on the edge! Fortunately, we made it with only a few close calls and all of us intact.

Here we are. Roman and Capri in front of some of the waterfalls:

First up, determine that the water was freezing cold, too cold for the kiddos. Tucker took the twins around the pond and hiked up to see the waterfalls. Then they ended up playing in a shallow spot just perfect for splashing around.

Next, the rope swing. It was there just waiting to be taken for a ride. Yet, there was no way I was going to get into that frigid water-not going to happen! Peer pressure, sisterly pressure, and the last bit of adventurous spirit from my youth, all worked to get me to do it...and I was so glad I did! It was such a blast that I had to do it a second time along with the rock-formed water slide. AWESOME!!!

Cheri and I gearing up to go...

Ready, Set...

And GO!

"It's not too bad in here after all!"

Here is the rock slide and Matt is ready to go-way to be the first one to go Matt!

Once we got our thrills in, we grabbed some food and the group with all the kids headed down while the rest did the zip line. We spent the rest of the afternoon at a resort beach. It got pretty chilly for us moms, but of course the kids were loving every minute. There was a canal feeding into the ocean which was perfect for the little ones to jump in and play. They found lots of treasures-rocks and shells-and even got new necklaces from a local vendor. Fun stuff and a great way to end our day in Puerto Vallarta.

My sweetheart all tanned up & looking good with our precious Koko:

London was seriously hamming it up for the camera-love it!

Roman not standing still for even a second!

Karoline loves the sand and couldn't wait to get buried...

These girls were cracking up and having such a great time!

Check out his new sweet dolphin necklace:

And Capri with another shell treasure:

What a day in Puerto Vallarta! We were all kind of bummed to have to get back on the ship. There was not much to do except EAT for the next two days, especially because we knew they would be cold! What did make it fun for us adults, however, was hitting the dance floor. Cheri, Ashley, Allison, Steve, Matt and I all joined the Mardi Gras party for some beads and line-dancing. As if that wasn't enough, Cheri, Allison and I then went to the club to dance for another 2 hours. We were hesitant at first considering we were old, married, had kids, and weren't the scantily clad type, BUT we ripped it up. Yeah, I just said ripped! The whole "dance like nobody's watching" comes to mind when thinking about that night. We didn't care what anyone thought and just had the time of our lives pulling out moves from college, high school, and even some good 80's stuff. Such a bonus for the trip!

The rest of the cruise consisted of hot tubbing, eating, playing cards, eating, laying out in the cold, working out (running on a treadmill on a moving ship is a whole new experience!), and more eating! What made the trip so much fun despite its challenges with the kids and weather on the ship, was the group we were with. Dinner was always great because we could simply chat it up with one another and enjoy each others company. Thank you Cell Again!