Cancun

I have decided that every mommy woman needs a good vacation at least once a year. And if you are a mom, it must be without your kids! There is nothing like getting lots of sleep and relaxation that can re-energize you. I love my kids, but boy was it nice to be away from them for a few days!

View from our hotel room

Dan won a consulting excellence award for his work in 2008. His company rewards the employees who win by taking them on a trip. With the down state of the economy in early 2009, the company postponed the trip until this year. So not only was this a vacation to a beachy area, it was mostly free! (We just had to pay for my airline ticket.)
While this wasn't a leisurely, do what you want vacation, we still had a very good time. Being a company sponsored trip, there were organized activities for us. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and had a few hours to relax and explore the resort. That evening there was a welcome reception that was held poolside. There were buffet tables everywhere! Great, authentic Mexican food! There was mariachi band playing and then there was a local band that played. It was a nice evening (only chilly outside!) to eat and visit with some of Dan's co-workers. We turned in early as we had been up since 4:30 EST to catch our flight and we had a trip to see Chichen-Itza the next day (the bus was leaving at 7:30 a.m.).

We got up early the next morning so we would have plenty of time to have breakfast as I do not do well when I skip the most important meal of the day. And man, I'm glad we didn't skip! They had a HUGE breakfast buffet set up on the terrace. The buffet had everything from fresh fruit to quesadillas and refried beans with all the traditional breakfast items in between. Our bus left promptly at 7:30 and headed toward one of the 7 wonders of the world, Chichen-Itza. When we signed up for this tour, we didn't realize it was nearly a 3 hour bus ride one way to see it! I suffer from terrible motion sickness so I was not pleased when I found this out! I took my Dramamine and slept for the majority of the trip so it turned out to be an OK bus ride. Later that evening, the company had a wonderful dinner for us and brought in Cheap Trick to perform. Crazy busy day, but so much fun.
On Friday morning, Dan had a general session to attend where all winners were recognized. We had the afternoon to relax. It was too chilly to spend it at the pool/beach, so we did a bit of exploring and took a nap. I had forgotten how wonderful it was to take a nap! That evening was the big Gala dinner. We had a fabulous catered meal in the ballroom of the hotel and then Lifehouse performed. It was a night of great food, good friends, good wine, and good music!

Saturday we FINALLY had beach worthy weather! Dan and I had lunch at the beach front grill and then spent several hours relaxing in the sun and reading. I can think of no better way to spend a lazy afternoon! That night, we explored the downtown area with some friends. We found a little local taco shop in a back alley to eat. GREAT, authentic Mexican food. I am pretty sure I consumed more tomatoes in the 5 days we were in Mexico than I have in the past year! Nothing better than fresh salsa!

We woke up to anther beautiful day on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn't get to enjoy much of it as we had to catch a plane home. Overall, a fab trip. I wouldn't choose to vacation in Cancun as it is geared toward a younger crowd, but I'll go anywhere if it's free! ;)