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! :)

Mexico!!

I know that some of you want to see some of our pics from our trip to Mexico.. 

the next few posts will be about our trip! 

It was hard to leave Aidan for a week to go on vacation without him, 

but it was so relaxing too! :)

Dreams Villamagna.. Our home for the week! 

Okay.. obviously, I didn't take this photo, but I couldn't get a picture of all of the pools together!

Our resort was all-inclusive & beautiful! 

The only downside was the temperature, about 97 & VERY humid all week.

It was alright though, we had a bunch of different pools to choose from!

I loved the infinity pool, I could have sat out by it all day long.. 

except for the fact that I am extremely pale & would fry up! :)

Upon our arrival, we were greeted with hot towels & mimosas.. (!!!!)

I couldn't believe the lobby of this place, it was completely outdoors!

There were bars around every corner, 

we loved the one in the lobby, 

perfect for taking a drink back up to your room with ya! 

So.. we had our drinks, and finally made it up to check out our room!

Loved it! I really liked the bath tub though! :)

We also had a balcony with a jacuzzi too! 

We were so spoiled on this trip :)

We arrived kind of late in the day our first day, so we just hung around the resort & went to the beach, it was (yep, you guessed it) wonderful!

Here's my fabulous bartender, bringing me a drink! :)

And.. here's me doing NOTHING!!! 

(felt kinda funny to do nothing, I'm so used to running around with our 3 year old!)

We were bombarded by the locals constantly walking by selling their things.. 

loved this guy with all of his hats! 

They were so nice though & took our picture.. doing NOTHING together!!! :)

Okay, we're getting bored sitting around not doing anything, lets swim!

I'm not a fan of salt water, and people kept getting stung by jellyfish, 

so we didn't stay in the water too long! 

What to do now??? Hmm.. how about another drink & let's be lazy!! 

Yep.. we were real productive weren't we?? :)

5 Question Friday!

Technically, it's Friday.. but it's almost 2 am & I'm still not in bed! I guess I'm a a little excited about going on vacation with my hubby tomorrow.. we're going to Mexico! Puerto Vallarta to be exact.. 6 days away from our munchkin & I don't know if I should be sad or excited.. I guess I'm a bit of both. I am gonna miss that little boy!!! :(

Here's some 5QF for ya, I haven't participated in awhile cuz the questions have been sorta lacking.. but this week they are decent again! Here we go..

1. What do you listen to while driving? Ever heard of these guys? 

 They're only Aidan's absolute favorite ever! I swear, I can't get this music out of my head.. ever. Ugh.

2. What's your least favorite thing about fall? Raking leaves.

3. What does your dream house look like, inside & out? Honestly, my dream house is anywhere Tony & Aidan are.. ( I know.. corny!!) ..but I do really like our home. I just wish we had the money right now to update it, especially the kitchen! Oooh, and some extra storage space would be nice, and a wrap-around deck out front too!

4. Would you ever own a minivan? Funny story: Tony & I recently went car shopping, and were really open to the idea of a mini van.. until we sat in one to test drive it! I got in the drivers seat & had a mommy freak out moment.. not ready to convert to the mini van mommy yet! :) 

We ended up loving & buying a Chrysler Pacifica.. has just the amount of room we need!

5. Do you wash new clothes before wearing them? Yep. I think I may have worn a pair of jeans once without washing them though, but I hate how "stiff" new clothes feel, they have to be washed first! 

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

tiny talk tuesday

So.. this may not be a funny & cute "tiny talk tuesday".. 

but it was precious to us & had to share!

One of our kitties, LC, was unfortunately hit by a car Sunday night.. waking up to it on Monday, we weren't sure how to break the news to Aidan, if he would even understand it & let alone care.. but he was so heartbroken! :(

Anyways, putting him to bed tonight, he wanted to talk about LC..

here's some cute things he said:

"Mommy, I wish LC was like a monster, 

then she could have eat the car that runded her over.. GRRR!!!" 

(my typical boy talking here!)

"I want to go to sleep fast, so I can wake up & LC won't be died anymore..." 

(bless his heart!!!)

Goodbye sweet little LC.. you'll be missed!