Puerto Vallarta dia tres

Day #3 started our excursions and we started off with the City tour:

Our bilingual guide Emmanuel started us off on the malecon, or the boardwalk which is the main hub of PV.  There are many statues there that represent various aspects of the city.  The dolphin one represents the connection it has with its sister city, Santa Barbara:

From there we visited the main plaza and the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, or the Church of our Lady of Guadalupe.  It was one of the most gorgeous churches I had ever seen:

There was of course many Senor Frog establishments along the way and some shopping where I couldn't help but snap a pic of Keith with a shirt he needs:

 

After the malecon, we headed up to Gringo Gulch where Keith met a few new friends and we got to see where the biggest scuba diving experience is in Puerto Vallarta:

 

From there we continued into the mountains and stopped at a tequila factory.  Here we learned about the process of how tequila was made, how to drink it like a true Mexican (there's a lot of breathing involved but it makes it more tolerable) and had a nice tasting table to try.  I'm not a straight tequila drinker but man did it taste good...and strong:

 

  

 

The tequila factory owns a riverside restaurant up in the Sierra Madres where we ate lunch at a true Mexican establishment.  We ordered the food while we were at the tequila place, so when we arrived it was freshly prepared.  We shared kabobs and each had a homemade margarita with the tequila we tasted:

 

The best thing about authentic Mexican food is that they use homemade pico - I love pico de gallo!!

After a ride back to the resort, we napped for a bit before going on a cruise to Banderas Bay/Las Caletas to go to the show Rhythms of the Night.  As we sipped drinks while sun set, we cruised along shimmering lights that scattered across PV.  Upon arriving to the island, we started to hear sounds that instantly relaxed us and prepped us for our fun night:

We headed over to the amphitheater where we were treated with an amazing show while darkness came over the island:

After the show we were escorted to a table for 2 where we dined at candlelight to food that actually was better than some of it at the resort.

 

At the end of the night, we cruised back with snacks and drinks back to the resort.  This time the cruise was an entertainment cruise so we had lot of music and laughs with everyone who went on this excursion.

This was also the first night it rained on us but luckily not until we got back to our room.  Fine by us because our great day wasn't ruined!

Come back on Monday for Day #4.  Check out Day #1 here and Day #2 here.

Puerto Vallarta dia dos

Day 2 in paradise:

We declared this day the pool/beach day.  Every morning we started out in The Market, where there was a buffet breakfast.  They made everything you could imagine there, including special breakfast smoothies which were amazing:

The rest of the day, I kid you not, was just exploring the beach and what activities the pool had to offer:

 

I have way too many pictures so if you want to see more, you should friend me on Facebook because there's just too many to post.

That night we had dinner at Ipanema.  It was brazilian food that was served to us Rodizio style, meaning you went and got your veggies and sides at a bar then they walked around to you with your meat and carved it right at your table.  We had sausages, chickens, fish, and steak served to us as much as we wanted.  If you were full, you put your little table marker to red; if you wanted more you kept it at green.  Then of course we had to try all the desserts:

After dinner we walked the beach at sunset:

 

then made ourselves comfy on the pool decks to watch the fire show that the resort put on that night:

Following the fire show we headed back to the Sun Bar to listen to a band the rest of the night.

I just love how much there was to do at HRV!

Be sure to come back Thursday for Day #3 and if you're curious about Day #1, check that out here!

Happy 3rd anniversary!

3 years ago, we said "I do!" in front of our family and friends.

♥ As you sit side by side through this roller coaster of life, remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loop the loops, and enjoy every twist and turn! ♥

Year #1 we celebrated in Chicago:

Year #2 we celebrated in Branson & the Riviera Maya:

 

and this year, year #3 we celebrated in Puerto Vallarta:

Cheers to many more years!!

Puerto Vallarta dia uno

Puerto Vallarta was amazing!!

We left STL on Sunday and had a layover in Dallas.  Gave us time to get coffee, bagels and settle in for people watching.  On the plane to PV, the airline "forgot" to fill their stash of customs papers that have to be filled out and told the entire plane, "hopefully there's someone outside the terminal with the papers for each of you."  Thanks American for the extra headache - luckily there was and luckily I carried a pen with me.

All that aside, we were in paradise and that's all that matters!

Puerto Vallarta is a vibrant city, very welcoming and always on the go.  They use the taxi and bus system for their city, so the resort picked us up in a taxi.  We then saw the above sign as we made our way to the resort.

We stayed at Hard Rock Vallarta.  One word - AMAZING!

I was super excited to see that our suite had a jacuzzi hot tub in the room and was not prepared to see a shot bar for our use.  We're not big shot people but I told Keith we had to do it to make our mark on the room.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the resort.  Keith really enjoyed that the entire resort was computerized so anything, and everything, you wanted to know was boards like this in the lobby:

Our first meal was at Ciao, the Italian restaurant.  Delicious and I will admit I had dessert every.single.night and I'm okay with that!

They ended the night with a Mexican show in the amphitheater and then live music in the Sun Bar.

What a great start to paradise!  Dia dos will be posted Wednesday!

Stuff -n- things!

1. I really need to blog about our paradise trip, so look for that next week.  There's just so much to share that its taking more time than normal to write.  But it should be up starting Lunes (Monday).
2. Last week I made 8 visits to 3 different airports - St. Louis to leave on our trip, Dallas for our layover, Puerto Vallarta for our trip, Puerto Vallarta to leave for home, Dallas for our layover, St. Louis to be home, St. Louis the next day to drop my parents off then St. Louis on Sunday to pick them up.
3. Cabo in 2016 - yes please!! (more on that later).
4. As for 2015, that's being planned too!
5. We had some issues with our return flight on Sunday from American.  We usually fly Southwest, even though my family has been working with American for over 30 years.  Anywho I wrote a complaint and got a $150 voucher to use within a year.  Where to go?!?!
6. I just saw the trailer for 50 Shades of Grey.  I doubt Keith will allow it to be our Valentine's Day movie, and I don't think any of my friends read the books but I will see it when it comes to Netflix just to wrap it up.
7. I haven't watched as much tv as I have in the past few days to catch up from last week.  But that's what summer break is for, right?
8. I'm sooo sick of the hotel.  Like I'm ready to mouth off at the people there.
9. And finally don't forget to go to McAllister's for free tea today - I'm going for lunch with Keith then there's another on my way to work, hmm might just stop again! ;)

Have a great Thursday!

Family baby shower

Before I left for paradise, I went to celebrate my stepsister Amy's soon-to-be newest arrival.  She is due in September and will be having the first boy for the family.  I currently have 7 nieces, he will be my first nephew.

Amy loves this place called the Hearthroom, its a little cafe where she had her bridal shower, so she wanted us all to gather there for the baby one.  It has amazing food and caters to your every need:

The colors are aqua, white and grey and she is going to do the chevron look.  So I thought I'd make her something for the room, or the door, or wherever she wants to put it:

Chevron is a hard pattern to make.  This took a bit longer than I thought it would but I was really happy with the end result.  I really hope that if she paints chevron on the walls, that she hires a professional only because its hard!

It was a fun day celebrating Jaxson Jude.  I don't think he'll wait til September to arrive but we will see!

All dogs go to heaven

When we got home from our vacation on Thursday, Dad broke the news to us that our buddy Durango had passed away at 23 months that Sunday.

He had gone to his favorite place, our property with Dad.  He was running around like normal until Dad and my brother realized he had run off.  They made their way back to the truck and found him up there, not fully breathing.  They doused him with all the water they had, thinking he was over heated.  They performed CPR until they realized it was too late.

They drove him back to the city and the emergency doctor said he had a heart attack.  There was nothing they would have been able to do.

My heart is breaking, mostly for my Dad.  Dad lost Copper, our other retriever, over 2 years ago and now his new buddy left unexpectedly. It was hard to sleep that night at my parents when Dad broke the news.  However I know that all dogs go to heaven and he's up there having the time of his life with Copper and Mom.

Love you buddy ~ you made our lives so very happy in your short time with us.