Mexico Trip Photos!

Last weekend, we got back (to our chilly) home after a week in Mexico! About a year ago, my Dad told my sister's family and my family that they were going to take all 10 of us away for a week. Thanks Mom and Dad!! Here's some pics of our week there. There will be a few more pics coming tomorrow from my week of workouts in Mexico.

Brace yourself for lots of photos. (Mainly as a cute thing for my family to look back on.)

Bored in the airport at 6 a.m.


Old maid.


First airplane rides!


Selfie in the van ride from Zihuatanejo to Ixtapa.


Family selfie! (Mom and Dad were riding up front.)


The view from our hotel room! That's Ixtapa Island on the right.


Playing in one of the 4 pools! That dark blue area is an "island"
that's just a few inches deep. The boys loved jumping off that.




By the lower pool, with "Colores" restaurant in the background (where we often ate).


"Princesses and Superheroes" show in the evening.


Charlie LOVES Ironman!


Marvel vs. DC.


Bree and my Mom with some of the princesses.


A BOY IN HIS GLORY!!!


Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain (Latin-)America, and Thor.


There was a wedding on the beach shooting off fireworks at 9 pm our first night.


Running into the ocean for the first time!...


... and running away again!










Charlie found some sand in this big rock and declared that he had his own beach now.


Heading out farther with Charlie!


He loved it! But was wary of the waves.


Heading out with both fellas!




Holding Henry as a wave hits us! (As Charlie runs...)


The maid fixed up Henry's little cot and placed Piggy on his pillow. Henry loved that.


Watermelon marks at the Snack Bar!


A Diet Coke and a mojito. Life is good!


Watching these guys from the shade.




My wife and boys, and my Sis with her kids!

The afternoon of our 2nd day, my Mom, Sis, and I walked down the beach just past the pier (about 0.3 miles). We were going to get a massage in a little tent on the beach. They were $14/hour! I had 2 while I was there (day 2 and day 4). Here was the view farther down the beach while standing on the path that goes to the pier:

Umbrellas and restaurants for about 1/4 mile, then just beach.


My Mom and Sis in front of me after our massages.
We were all oily! And that's our hotel on the far left.




Now the dads and the kids!


My dudes.


We were scolded by the lifeguards 2 seconds after we tried to have a chicken fight.


Charlie fell in love with doing this.






With the sun setting behind Ixtapa Island.


Sunset over the pools.


Sunset selfie.


From our room.


Tired fellas.


Breakfast on day 3.


Breakfast selfie.

My Dad hadn't been feeling well (bad cold with lots of pressure), so he was going to hang out in the room as the 9 of us caught a boat out to Ixtapa Island. We were going to see how the kids liked snorkeling out there.

Goofy kids. And there's Ixtapa Island in the background where we were headed.


Ready to go!




Headed down to the beach with Grandma.




Selfie before the boat ride! (Dad walked with us and then walked back.)




In a bay on the far side of the island.


Henry snorkeling for the first time!

I headed out with my nephew to try out the deeper waters. Here are 6 pics from my sister as we were out there:

Heading out with Ian.


Our 2 heads out there a ways.


Ian and I out there. I'm waving. I dove down, and it was
15-20 feet deep I would guess. (Deeper than I thought!)


Coming back in. Ian on the left, and me swimming (arm up) through some rocks in the middle.


We made it! He was AMAZED by everything down there!


Back out later (not as far) with Ian AND Henry!

Then we hung out on the beach for a while. Back to my pics:

In our little bay.




The kids on the beach.


Just a bit past the sand was a second "beach" of mainly broken corral.


Found this little guy living in some dead corral.




The kids with my Mom on our walk back to the boat.


TIRED on the boat ride.


My Sis and Dave back on the pier.


I was curious just HOW big/small the island was. Here it is on the same
scale as my hometown (which is approx 1 square mile and 2200 people).
So it's a pretty small island. And look at the temp difference. :(


The boys loved the flowers and folds from the maid!


Napping hard. We ALWAYS had to wake Henry up!


Ready to go out for my sister's birthday!




Our Caesar salad dressing was made FRESH at our table. Never seen that before.


Cordon Bleu.


Peace.


My Mom ordered a "Spanish coffee," and it came with a SHOW as he burned off some of the booze.


She said it was good!


Happy Birthday Sis!!


A "food coma" selfie.


Family pic by the 2-story water feature in the hotel lobby.


Sis's family.




Grandkids!


Mom, I could crop this above Dad's knees and it'd look like he was wearing nice pants. ;)


The boys loved it when the lobby bar had live music. Charlie especially.






Bedtime stories. "Put your hand over Daddy's nipple so it's
not all about his nipple!" Yeah, that doesn't look awkward at all.


More ocean time to start day 4.


The Dads and kids.

These next 3 are a sequence of us hitting a "bigger" wave. ("Big" is relative to what we saw there.) It starts with Henry riding it up on the left, with cousin Ian hitting it on the right:

#1.


#2: Henry's been turned into a splash, and Ian's gone.


#3: the rest of us get hit!


Henry riding over a wave...


... and then the wave hitting Dave!


Charlie with his buddy Abraham ready to try the climbing wall!




Family walk down the beach.




The view from our table at the "snack bar" for lunch.


Lunchtime selfie.


Because my boys sometimes eat like birds, they had a second lunch upstairs at "Colores" an hour later.


View past the pier as I walked down there for another massage while the other 3 in my family napped.


Wide open Pacific.


Another great sunset. Every damn night.


Pool time before bed.

That night, my Mom watched the boys and put them to bed (they go down easily) as my cutie and I got a date. We went out to the Oyster Bar restaurant, which is way down a boardwalk on the south side of the resort basically over the ocean.

This cute thang. (That's our hotel behind her head.)


Ceviche first course.


Tempura shrimp and veggie salad.


The view straight down over the railing next to us. The ocean
was lit up, and those black spots are dozens of sea urchins.


Walking farther down the boardwalk after our meal.


Selfie in the hotel lobby before heading back to our room
around 10 pm. That was the latest we were out. #PartyAnimals


The start of day 5: that speck in the middle is Charlie in the pool.


Mini golf with Henry (with the ocean in the background). He sucks at mini golf.


Tasty beef tacos at Colores for lunch.


Henry LOVED all the tacos!


This time, the maid tucked Piggy in with Henry's blanket. :)


And Charlie could never wait to see what flowers were laid out!




A family dinner out at the Oyster Bar to end day 5, but 2 hours
earlier than our date the night before. So we'd get to watch the sunset!


That's the pier behind Mom.






There's a traditional Mexican "celebration" where men climb a pole, play music, tie a rope around
their ankles, and spin their way to the ground. We saw this a few times. Always amazing!


The boys after course #2.


There goes the sun!


Mom and Dad with the sun.




Dinner time!




The view 3 minutes later.


Trying to stay dry on the beach of a resort farther down
after our meal. Notice the floating dock in the background.


Surprisingly, no one got wet.




Day 6: parasailing!!


Running to take off.


Heading out to sea. I clearly saw some sort of ray (Manta? Sting?) below me
right around this point, but otherwise I was just taking in the views.


Landing 10 minutes later.


My nephew Ian going up!


"I'm a mud zombie coming for your braaaaains..."




The boys got to see lots of iguanas, and hold a few!

I went for a mid-day run as Sarah took them to see the iguanas, and when I got back, they'd had lunch and were in the pool. So I got my only quiet meal to myself that noon:

My "dad hat" and more tacos!


My view of the lower pool and the ocean from my seat at lunch.


Mama and the boys (talking to a REALLY tan guy) in the pool, as seen from my table.


I came to hang out at the pool after lunch.




Pool-side bingo!


My sister's family about to sail!


Taking off...


... and that's their sailboat way out there!


More hard naps after playing hard.




Charlie got good at swimming during our trip!


The boys also decided I was their own jungle gym...


... see?




A sunset selfie as we played.


Ice cream for dessert.


My sister and Dave had a date this night, so we took all 4 kids to supper.


Dancing with Mama before bed.

Day 7 started with me, my wife, my sister, her hubby, and their son going on a kayaking trip to the island while Grandpa and Grandma watched the other 3 kids for 2 hours. We didn't bring any cameras or phones, so we don't have any pics. But Sarah and I had a good time snorkeling out there once we kayaked over. We got back to the boys playing "dog training" where Charlie pretends he's a dog (named "Boney") and Henry trains him:

It's cute but weird.




On the big playground. (There were 9 slides.)


I always like seeing her in her bikini and/or bikini cover-up! I love her!






Classic.


The family about to hit the climbing wall.


Grandma went first!


She made it all the way up! (About 4 stories.)


Henry.




Charlie back with his bud Abraham.






Dave near the top!


Stringy Steve heading up.


A wave from the top.


Cousins chatting down the beach.






Back at the pool.


Running and jumping off the island!


A "Bahama Mama" with Grandma Connie.


Us boys went to an archery contest. Here's Grandpa Dale shooting.


Of the 12 people in our round, Ian and I tied for a spot around the middle.


Grandpa was 3rd, and Dave here was #1!


Pork tacos (sliced off a rotisserie and fried) and Zihuatanejo-style fish for lunch! A winning meal!


Henry fell in love with tacos on this trip!


Charlie eating more fries from the snack bar.


Showing the kids these days how to do a proper handstand in the pool.


Dressed up for a big meal and a Mexican cultural show.


Our family at the outdoor meal. (Charlie's ducking in the near chair.)


Waiting for the show to start.


This boy loves Papa Dale.






More of the hanging and spinning thing. Up close this time!


Walking back to our room well past bedtime.


Final playtime on day 8.


Soaking up the last bit of sun in her shorts and sports bra before heading to the airport.


We left daily tips for our maid (Elia), and Henry wanted to leave a note on our last day.


Airport bound.


Henry's awkward surfing photo at the airport...


... Charlie got into it a bit more...


... but Bree was the surfing champ!


Waiting around by our gate. The plane was late in deboarding
in front of us, and this guy was tired and board.


Our last breaths of warm Mexican air.


The first 90 minutes of our 4 hour flight home were pretty cozy.


We had Mexican-themed meals for a while after we got home. It was hard to say goodbye.


When my wife started our pack list, I told her to just write "ALL THE RACE SHIRTS" for me.
Doing laundry once we got home, you can see I had packed ALL THE RACE SHIRTS.

We were gone for the first kinda cold week 2 weeks ago, but then we were back for the POLAR VORTEX super cold week. Which is just fine by me because I would have been worried about the house/pipes if we hadn't been home for -30 temps. Everything worked out well.

We are quite literally planning our trip back for next winter. My wife (especially) likes to look forward to a mid-winter trip when things are cold and snowy here. Thanks for the trip Mom and Dad! And nice spending time with you Sara, Dave, Ian, and Bree!!

Back with just a few more photos (only like 10, I promise) of my workouts in Mexico tomorrow. It's basically warm landscapes, failed runs (not used to the heat), and sweaty pics of me. UPDATE: here's the post about my workouts while there.