Mexico Day 7

Our last full day in Mexico was going to be an epic one! It was the kids 13th birthday so we asked what they wanted to do. They wanted to go on a big adventure. So that’s what they did. I booked a zip line adventure for them and Greg. I am less adventurous these days…especially since I get vertigo now so I was happy to let them go while I hung out at the pool reading.

They had to leave pretty early Friday morning to get to the marina. They took an Uber to the marina. From the marina they got on a speed boat that took them to a small village in Sierra Madre. From there they got on yellow Unimog truck to ride up into the jungle. After that they hiked a bit to a place that had some mules. There they mounted mules for a ride further up into the jungle. Greg had the biggest and most stubborn mule. Jayse said his was easy and he was in the lead of the pack. After riding the mules for a bit they reached where they’d start their first zip line. They went through a few zip lines and then rappelled down a waterfall. After that they went on a smaller zip line that splashed you into shallow water to stop. Then they went down a green water slide. Then they continued on a few more zip lines, down another waterfall, down a roller coaster zip line which submerged them again in water, an upside down zip line, a surfboard zip line and lastly down a large high water slide. The adventure they did was this one: https://www.vallarta-adventures.com/en/tour/outdoor-zip-line-adventure

By the time they were done with all the zip lines and waterfalls they ended up back where the Unimog truck was. They were given small snacks and rode a mechanical bull. Greg got pictures of Jayse on it but Jaelee fell off before he got any pictures. Luckily they had photographers there to capture this adventure! While everyone ordered their photos they snacked and rode the bull. Then they got in the trucks and headed back to the village, back on the boat and back to the marina. Greg said the staff was amazing! They all had them laughing and really having a great time. They took a taxi back to the hotel and they had the same driver we had a few nights earlier, the one we really liked!

Sounded like an epic adventure and they all said they had a good time!

While they were gone I had laid out by the pool the whole day! It was awesome. I brought my book down there and just chilled, rotating from the pool to a lounge chair. I ordered drinks and lunch – had the most delicious club sandwich and fries. I made it down to the beach for a bit but there was a loud talking woman there so I went back to the pool.

When Greg and the kids got back we headed down to the beach for some pictures at sunset. I had to have some beach pictures! I hadn’t taken the kids annual pictures so this was the perfect chance. I asked somebody if they would take a family photo of us, he looked at my camera like it was totally alien. I was able to communicate to him how to use it. I looked at the picture he took and Jaelee was kinda cut out so I asked him to take another one. This time it was kinda out of focus. I just thanked him and took some pictures of the kids. We tried to recreate a favorite photo of mine where Jaelee is kissing Greg’s check and Jayse’s face is smooshed into his but they are too big to make it work anymore. Still kinda like the pictures though. I set my camera on a ledge and got another family picture.

It was getting pretty late – 8:30ish so we headed to the marina and picked a restaurant pretty close to the entrance. It was called Splash. We ordered a ton of food. Even had guacamole made at our table. We asked the waiter if he had any cake – Jaelee really wanted cake for her birthday. He said they had ran out the day before…bummer. We knew of a pie place down the marina a bit that had cake. We had visited them a few days prior. We had a nice gentlemen serenade us to acoustic guitar and when we told him it was Jaelee and Jayse’s birthday he sang to them.

When we were done eating Jaelee and Greg went down to the pie place really quick to get some dessert for their birthday. While they were gone it was getting close to 10 so I checked to see what time the restaurant we were at closed and they had closed at 9! They never said a word. They didn’t rush us out and we had been there an hour after closing! I told the waiter we wanted our check and told him Greg and Jaelee had gone to get cake. I told him I’d just pay and meet them. He insisted we stay and let them serve us the cake and sing Happy Birthday to the kids. When Greg got back I told him the restaurant had closed but they still wanted to serve the cake and sing happy birthday to the kids. We both thought this was so nice of them. Our waiter brought us plates and forks. The cake Greg and Jaelee got was really small so they didn’t need to serve it. They did however crank their music up full blast and the three guys that were working there came out and sang the Spanish Happy Birthday song to Jaelee and Jayse.

I think it was a great way to end our trip and perfectly sums up how friendly and hospitable the Mexican culture is. Can not express enough how much we enjoyed our time there. Greg who I had to practically bribe to go was asking if we could go back in September by the end of the trip! It definitely left an impression on us and I would love to return someday!

Saturday we were flying home :(. We didn’t fly out until 3 but our driver was picking us up at 12:45 to take us to the airport. I had packed up all my stuff the night before because I knew I wanted to go back to the pool a bit before we left. Greg and the kids stayed in the hotel, packing and cleaning up. I went down to the pool and soaked up the sun and pool one last time.

We made it to the airport and through everything pretty easy. However, once we got to Denver it was HORRIBLE! A nightmare airport experience. Our flight into Denver was pretty bumpy, there was a lot of turbulence. There had been some big storm come through. Going through customs and getting your bags and then rechecking them and then going back through security was not fun. It took over 2 hours! By the time we made it through we were starving. We grabbed some food really quick because we only had a 2 hour layover. We got to our gate relieved we hadn’t missed our plane. We ate our food while waiting for the plane to board. We could tell something was going on though….turns out we ended up waiting another 2 hours to board our plane! The storm had caused major delays, not to mention our plane had to be inspected by customs & border patrol and the flight crew was stuck out on another plane in the landing strip. There was family with 2 boys about the same age as our kids sitting next to us and just as were finally about to board the younger boy threw up all over the floor! I felt so bad for that mom. Throw up is the worst. Turns out the boy was sitting 2 seats behind me on the plane! Luckily he didn’t get sick on the plane ride home. Also, luckily our pilot said he had them load extra fuel onto the plane and he was going to hit the gas and try and make up some of the time we lost. And boy did he! The flight is normally 2 1/2 hours. We made it in just over an hour! It was a great vacation but there’s nothing like being home!

Can’t wait for our next adventure!