Mexico!!

I know it's been a while so I thought I'd come back with a bang-our trip last week to Mexico! We went with the entire Carter family and had such a great time. It definitely went by way too fast.
We went to the Grand Mayan Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. Here we are at the entrance to the resort.


The resort was AMAZING, and had so many things for us to do! There was a lazy river that circled around the entire pool area, a waterslide, and a wave pool. There were also a few restaurants in between all of this. Our hotel room was on the 6th floor with an ocean view. Here's our view from our balcony of the resort, and the beach is just within a one minute walk from there!


Another view from our room of the pool area:


Aaron and I on our balcony:


Looking in from our balcony into the living room/kitchen area of our suite. On each side of the room are doors that led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. It was so wonderful!


We really enjoyed the pool area--here's a few pictures of it, I'll be adding more that are on Dee's camera when I get them.
Lani with Landon on her back in the pool, and Aaron and Wes looking cool in their matching straw hats:


Wes (left) and Aaron (right) up on the fountain platform--they're such dorks when they're together


When we weren't just hanging out by the pools outside, we did venture out into the city for different activities. One of the days, the guys went golfing at a course nearby--Here's Wes, Jim and Aaron


Aaron taking a swing:


On another day, Aaron, Hillary and I went and did a canopy tour! It was so amazing to zip line through the trees, and some lines went across a canyon over a river! And don't we look awesome in our gear?
Aaron and Hillary, ready to go:

Here's me coming in:


Aaron pulling himself up:


Here's Hillary riding UPSIDE DOWN! The guides would offer to go with you, and while they held onto your legs, they let you hang upside down--I got to do this too but didn't get a picture of it:


In between each zipline would be a little hike to the next one, so it was actually really tiring, especially because it was super hot and humid! But it was all worth it for those amazing views.
The 3 of us:


While we waited for our bus to take us back from the canopy tour, there was a small petting zoo next door that we got to check out. Here's Aaron, holding this tube-thing that the zoo guide gave him--it had food in the bottom of it, so when we went to see these cute little monkeys, they would jump right onto you and go for it! It was really funny



On another day the whole family decided to explore other beaches in Nuevo Vallarta, and we found one that had some cool shops and restaurants nearby.

Here's Hillary and Aaron boogie-boarding, and Wes is off to the right surfing:


Aaron and I lounging:


The whole Carter clan: Lani, Wes, Landon, Me, Aaron, Hillary, Dee & Jim


We went to a different part of the city during the week and found this street that had tons of shops and restaurants on one side, and the beach on the other--it was beautiful! We got some really nice sunset shots there:



Another fun thing that happened in Mexico was Aaron's 25th Birthday!!! Wes and Lani couldn't join us because Landon wasn't feeling too great that day, but the rest of the family went to downtown Puerto Vallarta (about 30 minutes from Nuevo where are hotel was) and ate at Pipi's Restaurant. It was great!

Aaron and I decided that the chips and guacamole at Pipi's is probably the best we've ever had! Chips and guac is one of the main reasons Aaron and I look forward to going to Mexico :)



And since it was Aaron's birthday, of course the restaurant waiters had to sing happy birthday! But there was a little extra Mexican twist on it, not just the standard singing and leaving. They brought out this free flan dessert on a plate (which was AMAZING by the way), and instead of just leaving it in front of him, one of the waiters decided to stand right next to Aaron and SHOVE a spoonful of the flan into his face while they sang! Since they came in so fast, and was SO unexpected, Aaron didn't know how to react except to just take a bite when they served it to him! After he was rapidly fed a few bites, and while they were still singing loudly, the guy starting putting the whip cream on his face!!! Isn't that bizarre? It was SO funny, we all were cracking up, including Aaron--he was a great sport about it. We just couldn't believe that they actually were doing these things, it was so unexpected! It was definitely a birthday dinner to remember!


The fam at dinner:


The trip was amazing, we miss being there! More pictures will come, Dee has some good ones on her camera that I wanted to include too. There, I think I've made up some ground from my previous blog drought! :)