anniversary trip to cancun

 To celebrate our 10 year anniversary we took a trip to Cancun! It was so great and just what we needed.  We left early (4:30am!) Sunday morning to head to the airport. Grandma and Grandpa Hopkins came to stay with the boys. We flew from SLC to Denver and then Denver to Cancun. We arrived in Cancun at 3:30pm. It made for a really long day of travel and by the time we got there, we were exhausted and HUNGRY!

Our resort was actually in Playa del Carmen, about 40 min south of Cancun. So by the time we got to our hotel, checked in and took luggage to our room, we were really starving. We chose to eat a brazilian restaurant. It was like Rodizio grill and tasted so good after a long day of travel. Then we of course had to walk out to the beach. It was beautiful, even though it was getting dark.

Our trip was so relaxing. Pretty much all we did was relax. We just relaxed at the beach and at the pool, it was exactly what we needed and was so much fun. The resort was all inclusive, so we would wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, go to the beach, eat lunch, go to the pool, eat dinner, and go back to beach. It was awesome! We read, listened to music, talked, and slept. Oh and our favorite part? People watching!! There are some crazy weird people in this world! It was so hilarious.

One morning we woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise. While we were waiting we saw them raking the beach. They do it with this tractor every morning and get all the stuff the surf drags in so the beach is pristine. It was actually pretty cool. We also saw the resort staff lining up the beach chairs perfectly and measuring with a string to make sure they were all perfectly aligned. They really go to a lot of trouble to make your vacation perfect. It was actually really neat to see. The picture above is from my beach chair, waiting for the sun to come up. Below is the beach tractor.

 Still waiting..... watching the birds dive for fish....

Here comes the sun!

 I know it seems like a lot of pictures of the same thing, but it was just so pretty I couldn't help it!

The sunrise was amazing. It was so quiet and peaceful, we were pretty much the only people awake. It was SUPER not while we were there. The humidity is crazy, so it felt really hot. One day I left our hotel room with my hair wet and it never dried!

 Our grounds at our resort were really pretty. And there were several areas where there was water and TONS of turtles! Our boys would have loved it.

One day we rented a car and took a trip to the ruins at Tulum. They are ancient Mayan ruins. It was really awesome to see. There were iguanas ALL over the place. Again, our boys would have loved it.

 We had a little tour and walked around the ruins. It was so hot this day, I thought I would die, it totally drains you of all your energy. Not to mention we both got really bad sunburns our first day there so we were really sore and tired.

 The most amazing thing about Tulum is that it sits right on the ocean. With the blue sky and the gorgeous turquoise water, it is an incredible place. It was so beautiful, I loved it.

 Look at that water!!!!! Seriously, it was incredible. And I don't even think my pictures do it justice. Plus the water was perfect. We walked down from the ruins to the beach to get our feet wet. It felt amazing. The water is just cool enough to be refreshing, but not so cold that you can't stand it.

 So, right before we took this picture, a girl was taking the same picture and got nailed by this giant wave. So that's why I'm making a weird face in the second picture, I could hear the waves behind me and I was sure I was going to get drenched. The waves were pretty big here and my pants got soaked.... good thing they were white! NOT!! So when we got back to our car I had to change into my swim suit shorts. :)

 Scott was our mexi-navigator. It was such a fun day trip. After Tulum, we drove down the coast a little bit and found this little "village" type town. It was right on the beach and had a bunch of hotels that were more eco-friendly type places. Lots of hippies :) But it was SO awesome. They looked like amazing hotels and little bungalows. Then we stopped at this beach called Playa Paraiso. It was beautiful too. And no one was there.

 Check out how clean the water was! Those looks like rocks in there, but they were little red plants. The water was so clear and pretty, we loved it. Except that we were dying of heat.

After our trip to Tulum, we just drove back to the hotel to eat and do some more relaxation. It was a perfect trip and we had a blast. We were missing our kids, but we were also grateful for the time away! We will definitely be making a trip back to Playa del Carmen again soon!