With a new year beginning, I can’t help but think about the things I want to change in my life. How can I live life to the fullest? How can I serve God and others to the fullest? How can I love my husband, and daughter to the fullest? Questions that I have asked myself over and over the past few days, but questions that I had time to think about and answer, thanks to a welcomed week away.
New Year’s day, Dan and I left with my older sister and brother-in-law and flew to Cancun, Mexico, where we spent a week in Playa Del Carmen at a beautiful all-inclusive resort. When they had first mentioned it to us, we thought eh, do we want to spend the money? That is always the first question, right? But the more we thought about it, we looked at each other and said “why not?”
So often we are willing to spend our money on frivolous things, things that invest in things that do not matter, if that makes sense. One thing Dan and I value deeply is our marriage. We knew that getting away was valuable to us, and our parents were willing to invest in our marriage along with us, by caring for Mazy. We committed to it, and what an investment it was! We always come back from vacation thinking “we need to do this more often!” We could not have asked for a better trip, better company, or a better experience!
I feel guilty saying this, realizing Minnesota was absolutely FREEZING when we were gone, but we had gorgeous weather! Mid to high 80s the entire week, with just a few raindrops here and there, for only a few minutes, and a bit of rain Saturday afternoon. We laughed til we cried, we relaxed, were refreshed, rejuvenated, and were able to explore God’s beautiful creation on the southern end. We did a small snorkeling trip, but otherwise, we stayed around the resort because it had all we needed! Hopefully these pictures give you a taste of warm weather…remember, summer really is coming!!
View from our balcony
Loved looking up and seeing beautiful palm trees swaying in the wind
Pool side! No, it was not this empty! In fact, there were quite a few people at the resort (80% were Canadian), but I was able to snap this early in the morning.
On one of our long walks along the beach
My sister and I – yes, we look like twins, and yes, we were asked a few times if we were. If only they saw our younger sister!!
First night out!
The love of my life!
It’s on these types of trips that we are able to look at each other and know exactly what the other is thinking! It makes us laugh when it happens, but we sure have this ESP thing down!
Oriental restaurant
We really are not twins!
Some crazy acrobats going on poolside one day!
Words just can’t describe the beauty!
We learned these are called coatis, and they roam everywhere!
Our building looked down this walkway, which led straight to the beach and pool.
I am not a fancy person by all means, but it was fun to get ready for supper, eat it warm, and not have to rush through it!
It was always fun to see what designs the cleaners made with towels! So creative! The staff was absolutely incredible at our resort! We had a lot of fun building a relationship with a few of them. They knew us well by the end of the week and was a blessing to see them everyday!
And this is what we came home to! We had to chuckle because when we arrived in Lansing, Michigan, the luggage door was frozen shut – even the plane had a hard time adjusting! As hard as it was to step away from the warmth of the sun and the beauty of God’s creation in Mexico, we were ready to step back into reality too, and hold Mazy again! Thankfully she did not forget about us! We have never done a trip at the beginning of the year, but we appreciated the timing of it, as it gave us a pep in our step for the new year!
So here’s to snowy and frigid winters, but also warm and sunny summers!