Sun, Surf, Sea food, and Sleep. The four essential S's for this engaged couple. Between work, school, and planning a wedding we needed to escape from reality and just get back to the essentials of life. Fortunately we were able to find our essentials in the beautiful Mayan Riviera in Mexico with my family for a fabulous week. It was a little less than three months ago that we had been partying it up in Taninah with the Error's, but who honestly would turn down a vacation to Mexico....you would have to be crazy. After surviving the airport, not getting frisked at security, the long plan ride with screaming children, and the almost as long ride to our resort we finally arrived and the big blue was calling our names. Now for those of you who don't know me I'm not the biggest fan of water. A couple of near drowning experiences as a young girl will do that to you. Plus lets be honest, no woman really likes to get her hair wet, especially when it is as long as mine. But something got under my skin when I saw that beautiful stretch of ocean just beconning my name, I couldn't contain myself, I stripped down to my swim suit and ran full speed into the sparkling salt water. My family mosied along the shore looking for a good spot to lay out their towels, I kept hollering for them to get their non-fun butts into the water.

 No more than one minute after I said that a sharp electric and shocking sting radiated across the back of my leg taking my breath away, all I could think was, "get out of the water". As I was scrambling to get out of the waiste deep water Marc was finally heading in, he was met with a terrified face and painful sobs. It's just my luck, I finally gain courage to be adventurous in the largest body of water in the world and I get stung by a jelly fish. Trevin being his normal humorous self told Marc if he really cared about me, he would pee on the sting. I said that's ok, not peeing would show how much you cared about me. Some alternating ice and hot water, about 2 hours and the stinging finally subsided. I'm not going to lie I kind of enjoyed the battlescar, I like to think that I kicked him in his non brain filled head on my way out, but within a couple of days the scar was gone.

Like all resorts there was plenty offered for us to do, everything from early morning yoga, all you can eat buffets and nice restuarants, snorkleing, kayaking, sailing, scuba diving, guided tours, and of course sleeping. We endulged in a little bit of everything. Each evening we dinned in a different restaurant, in the early mornings we either hit the gym or enjoyed a walk along the shoreline. In the evenings the resort would play american movies in their own little theater, or they even offered a couple of plays...aka mild porn shows...wow, that was eye opening and hilarious. But probably one of the funnest and not so funnest things that we did was go kayaking. I was determined to overcome my fear of the sea and give it a second chance, so it became the battle of the couples to see who could row out the farthest and the fastest. Team Error Vs. Team Prince.....let the games begin.

Having never been kayaking before, I'm not going to lie.....we were pretty darn good. A tour guide took out a bunch of us gringos out into the middle of the ocean to either be eaten by a wave or a shark. It was beautiful. A slight...well large amount of anxiety was hanging just beneath my fearless expression....there was water everywhere and I was miles away from the beach with who knows what underneath us. Just as my anxiety slowly started to diminish and I began enjoying myself something else creeped up on me......nausea. Let's just say that I am so glad that Marc was sitting beind me so he couldn't see my "I'm going to hurl" green pasty face. We probably paddled back to shore quicker than we paddled out to the ocean....all in all Team Error won, with a little help from muscle power and vomit power.

There was a total of four different restuarants and a couple of sports bars that we could chose from for dinner, breakfast and lunch was served in a large open resturant that was an all you could eat buffet style. Marc finally got a propper introduction to my brother, the billy goat, the garbage disposal, the six plate man....yes that is right....six plates, and that was only breakfast. One of our favorite place to go offered sushi....my new favorite in the food world. We also enjoyed some italian, mexican, and french fare.

Look closely at this picture and you will see a happy family, all dressed up for the evening to enjoy a delicious meal. Look a little closer and you will see my brother sporting a pair of my mothers pants....yep my mothers pants. Shorts were not allowed in the resturants.....desperate times call for desperate measures...and Trevin was desperate.

When your in a foriegn country you need to be a little adventurous in what you eat and try, we couldn't be quiet as daring here as I have been in other corners of the country, but we still walked on the wild side a little bit....and acted a little bit wild at the same time.

Even though money was a little tight, and getting here was a challenge in itself, we decided to splurge a little bit and head off on a guided tour to the Mayan ruins, and to a zoo/park/scuba/snorkle paradise. The ruins were amazing, it's hard to believe that this was a little village, a town, where people lived and raised there families. It's also hard to believe that it was near tripple digits with a 100% humidity......thus explains the don't touch me you sweaty thing pictures. What was amazing was that the tour guides would be out there in long sleeve shirts and shorts and didn't even appear to be sweating....how do they do it....how? After exploring around the ruins we reached paradise.....the beach off the side of the rocky ruins. There was some amazing body surfing to be done. If we were to move to the coast I am certain that my husband would be a star class surfer....board or body..it doesn't matter...he masters it.

Once we were back in the slightly air conditioned bus we were headed off to the Mayan version of sea world mixed together with disneyland. Animals, rides, ocean, rivers, resturants, and plenty of fun. I am slightly dissapointed in myself that I wasn't able to overcome my fears and scuba dive with Marc back in April, but snorkeling.....snorkeling I can do....and I absolutely love.

I was unfortunately born with the innate desire to rise with the sun...this is my time...the time when the earth stands still, the air is the crispest, and the time that I desire the most. True love is getting up when you are not an early bird to watch the sun rise with the woman you are going to marry. We enjoyed a beautiful sun rise laying out on the beach and talking excitedly about our future and all the adventures that will soon be waiting for us around the corner.

Unfortunatley all vacations must come to an end....if they didn't they would just be known as life...or in our case heaven. And heaven can only be truely appreciated and loved when you get a small taste of it only on the specialest of occassions. Below are a couple of snap shots of the amazing resort that we stayed at.

And finally....my favorite picture of the entire trip.....I cannot wait to marry this man.