pumpkin patch

On Aidan's birthday, we took him out to lunch to McDonald's 

& to our local pumpkin patch, Gull Meadow Farms.

With Aidan's birthday party being the next day, 

we decide that we had to do something fun & outdoors with him 

since it was so beautiful outside!

Going to find the perfect pumpkin..

He was very excited about these huge pumpkins!

Hmm.. which one to get?

Had to get a picture with him! 

So glad he was smiling & in a good mood with the camera out!

Back to the big pumpkins with Daddy..  we settled for 1 large & 2 little pumpkins!

The best part of Gull Meadow Farms.. the doughnuts!

Yum!

playing in the leaves

 We had fun the other day playing in the leaves. 

It was so nice out, not too cold & Aidan WANTED his picture taken! 

Of course, I took advantage of it! :)

My favorite:

 Aidan's favorite:

Happy Fall! :)

while we're away...

Aidan will PLAY!

Grammie & Grampie were outside playing with the sidewalk chalk with 

Aidan & took these cute pictures..

Aidan in a helicopter.. who knew Grampie was such a good artist?? :)

Apparently, Aidan was entertaining them with a stage show.. what a goof!

And, of course.. here's Aidan's FAVORITE phrase..

Old Lady!

Tony told Aidan to call Grammie "old lady" one day & it stuck.. 

he uses those words all the time now. 

We are trying not to draw attention to it, so hopefully he will stop saying it so much.. not today though, I asked him if he had to go potty earlier today & he responded.. 

"no way old lady!"

Las Caletas

 On Wednesday, we got up bright & early for a trip to Las Caletas.

As we waited for our boat to leave, we had fun watching these guys..

Pelicans were EVERYWHERE!

Who knew pelicans were so cute? Tony & I both loved watching them dive in the water, they're really quite large!

Okay, anyways.. back to the boat ride..

It was about an hour ride to Las Caletas from Puerto Vallarta.. 

but we were entertained by our VERY lively crew!

 It was awesome to see these guys enjoy their job so much, they were so fun!

Puerto Vallarta & the beautiful Sierra Madre mountains!

 

Halfway there, we came upon Los Arcos.

It is a small group of large, rocky islands.. blanketed by rainforests.

They were definitely large islands, and very beautiful :)

 We're here! 

There were a bunch of iguanas.. just lazing around, catching some sun!

Tony was super excited about all the wildlife!

Tons of winding paths & bridges to follow..

..that led us to the beach!

We took advantage of the snorkeling trip that morning.. so fun!

Hee hee.. love this picture of Tony!

He had never been snorkeling before, but he was a pro!

Our guide would stop us every 10-15 minutes to show us different sea life.. here I am holding a brittle starfish..

..it was so cool!

We tried to take a ton of underwater pics too.. but I think we were both too preoccupied with seeing all the fish, than with getting a good picture.. we tried though! 

These fishies were our favorites,

we had the chance to feed them & they were swarming everywhere around us!

After snorkeling, we had lunch on the beach, followed by a chance to get up close to some of the wildlife of Las Caletas..

Yep, Tony was super excited about the spider monkeys!

I wasn't too sure about him..

but loved the parrots!

It was so hard to leave this gorgeous place, we had a great time!

Puerto Vallarta

On Saturday, we took an excursion into Puerto Vallarta. 

We were actually staying in Nuevo Vallarta, which is basically just a town full of resorts.. 

so it was cool to go to the old town & learn about the history of the city.

I loved the cobblestone streets, and old buildings.. 

it was almost like we were walking in a different time. 

Less is definitely more here, and we felt VERY fortunate for the things that we have.. 

as many of the locals here have hardly anything. It was very sobering.  

Most Mexicans are Catholic and take their religion very seriously. 

We toured the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 

only after mass was completely over & the priests gave the okay! :)

Being raised Catholic, it was fun to see, and a very beautiful church.

Gold etched windows.. & NO pictures allowed inside!

On the next part of our city tour, we were let loose at the flea market district. 

Holy cow, there was every type of souvenir imaginable here! 

It was fun to haggle & learn more about pesos to dollars though! :)

After shopping, we were taken on a scenic ride in the mountains to our location for lunch..

 Las Cascadas,

a seafood restaurant with a waterfall view.. 

Tony was in heaven with the menu, I loved the scenery! :)

Tony's lunch.. red snapper, not very appetizing to me, but he loved it!

Here's our view.. 

 

 

I know, could this day trip get any better???

Why yes, it does! 

Last stop.. an old tequila factory! 

(Tony was SO excited about this!)

 

This factory has been in the area for many years, 

and all of the work is done manually. 

It was so interesting to see how tequila is made, 

and it tastes completely different from any "Americanized" tequila that we are used to! 

One of the owners was our guide, and he was great! 

Here he is explaining to us that the agave plant, 

where tequila comes from, 

 has to grow for many years before it is dug up for it's root, 

the source of the tequila. 

Now, you can't tour a tequila factory without tasting the tequila!!

I had never tasted such great tequila in my life.. there was flavored tequila (almond, orange.. coffee!!)  it had almost no "bite" to it like the tequila here does, 

we all had fun sampling together!

We also tried agave nectar, which I LOVED.. it is used like maple syrup, and is delicious! 

(Aidan likes it now too!)

We had a very fun filled day & were pooped by the time we got back to the resort. 

We also had a company dinner to go to that night & 

I think we were both fast asleep when we hit the bed that night! :)