Spring Break 2015- MEXICO! Puerto Vall(heart ya)!

This year Dane, Adler and I were invited to join my family in Mexico for my sisters’ spring break. I was so excited because my aunt and uncle have a place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and my whole family has been here a few times but I always got left behind because I was in college. I always was really in need of some nice warm weather and laying by the pool/ocean. 

We left the Monday after Adler’s birthday party in Utah. It was a short flight to Arizona and then to Mexico. Adler did great on the plane and when we arrived Adler was so excited to see his Grandma and his two aunts (Melissa and Amanda don’t get a Spring Break)! We made a quick run to Costco and then headed to their condo. It was just a cute little condo and the balcony was huge and had a great view of the ocean and pool. They shared the pools with the hotel next door but it was never overcrowded. The first day we played in the pool and then got ready for dinner. We went to this cute little restaurant called Fajita Republic and I got this amazing fish dish that was steamed in a banana leave. So good! The restaurant was also so cute and had a nice view along the river bank. After dinner we got gelato and went home and I fell asleep around 9. I was so tired.

Mexico Coke!

The next couple of days we laid by the pool, played in the pool, and walked/played in the ocean. My aunt has taught all of her grandkids to swim when they were really little so we thought it would be a good time to have Alder learn to swim. While we were there she gave him lessons everyday. She taught his to hold his breath and then we eventually would put him underwater and pass him to someone else. We also had him jump off the side of the pool to Dane and myself. We tried to teach him to float on his back but he hated it. Maybe this summer he will learn to like it. He started out not liking this so much but by the end of the week he wasn’t whimpering anymore and actually seemed to love being in the water and swimming. 

My aunt made us lunch everyday and everything was delicious. All of the food in Mexico was amazing! Driving through Mexico and seeing the town was so cool. Puerto Vallarta is very pretty. On Tuesday night we went to Vista Grill. The view was amazing and the food was yummy. I got Red Snapper and, in my opinion,  you can never go wrong with that!

Wednesday we went to Archie’s Walk. Once again the food was great and it reminded me of a restaurant we ate at in South Africa. After dinner we came back and watched Maleficent. 

Thursday after spending some time at the pool again we headed to the zoo. We had heard you could hold baby tigers and we were all on board with that! The zoo was about an hour away and when we got there we found out that we could hold/pet a 4 month old lion, a 3 month old tiger, two different kinds of monkeys, a lemur and a 4 week old white lion. We held and played with each one separately for a certain amount of time. The lion and tiger had lots of energy and wanted to play. It was so cool to pet a baby lion especially after seeing them in Africa and wishing I could reach out and touch them. The tiger was really cute but neither of them really wanted to sit still. The tiger licked Dane’s hand and Dane said his tongue was scratchy. Their tongues are scratchy because when they kill in the wild the lick off the fur of the kill so they can eat the rest of the animal. The lion and tiger both loved to chew on Courtney’s converses. The monkeys were very cute and very curious. One monkey was climbing all over us and looking in all of our pockets for stuff. It was really funny. The lemur had really cool feeling hands. They felt kind of sticky but they didn’t leave a residue. His tail was also very pretty and soft. My favorite was probably holding the 4 week old white lion. He was so little and so soft. I wish Adler could have gotten more involved with the animals but of course he couldn’t. :) We ate dinner at Si Senors that night where I got tasty coconut shrimp and then drove and got delicious crepes at a little hole in the wall place. We came back and watched Night at the Museum 3 (catching up on old movies since having a baby prevents us from seeing a lot).

Friday was my favorite day! I have been wanting to swim with dolphins for a really long time. My sisters had done this before and they said it was amazing. It was! Dane and I were the only ones to do it. We had two female dolphins that were 3 and 4 years old. We first got in the water with them and swam around them using a little motorized machine to help us go deeper underwater. Next we got to go out and get a kiss from the dolphin, hold her fins and dance with her. After that we got to go to the other side of the pool and swim underwater with the dolphins holding on to their fins. We did it first with one dolphin and then again with both dolphins. There was an underwater photographer and the pictures they got were great! The last thing we did was my favorite part and something I have always wanted to do. We propped ourselves up on boogie boards and the two dolphins pushed our feet which caused us to come up out of the water. I LOVED everything about it and it was an amazing experience. After that the dolphins did some tricks. Last, we got to take some pictures with sea lions and see some of their tricks. I loved it so much and I think everyone should do this once in their life. (I might do it twice!) 

We weren't allowed to get close and take pictures so my mom took these from far away

Saturday we spent our last day at the pool swimming and tanning and drinking piña coladas. You can’t go to the beach and not drink a piña colada. We went to dinner at Portobello, a yummy Italian place with a pretty view, and then we got more gelato and went back and played games. 

They had swings at the bar!

Sunday we went home and it was sad to leave. I love the beach and relaxing. Vacationing is different when you have a little one but it was still fun and great to experience Adler’s first beach trip. I hope we can get back there soon!    

After his haircut