family vay-cay

I feel very fortunate to have traveled to a couple of different places in my little life time. I have traveled some places to do short-term missions, sometimes to visit family and sometimes on vacation. I have visited a lot of really great places and yet I feel like I have barely seen anything. This world is so very big. As for vacationing, I can say my favorite vacation spots tend to have two common denominators.

warm sunshine.

the beach.

Hands down. The two very best things about a vacation.

A cruise ship is not necessarily, in my mind, what makes up a perfect vacation. However, somehow, of the four family vacations I have taken in the last three years, 3 have included a big ol' boat. When it comes to these "boat vacations" there is one common denominator.

clouds + rain.

However, much to my surprise and joy, I spent the last week on a cruising vacation with my husband and my in-laws to Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico and, it. did. not. rain.

Hallelujah, people! We had warm sunshine! In March!

And there was even a beach involved. Amazing.

I used an entire bottle of SPF 50, half a bottle of SPF 70 and spent upwards of 32 hours in the sunshine. I read two books, chatted with my sister-in-law, enjoyed free soft-serve ice cream and soaked in the rays of delicious vitamin-D. For four glorious days.

To add some other activities in the mix-

we ate the most delicious Mexican food,

we climbed to the top of a Mexican lighthouse to enjoy a beautiful view,

we drove around the Island of Cozumel (and I got to drive our open-air Wrangler due to the fact that I was really the only one in the family who knows how to drive stick. Thank you, Carolyn! Those pain-staking hours 8 years ago, of stalling-out at stop signs, were worth it!)

we saw wild native crocodiles,

we visited a mayan ruin, El Caracol, that stood about as high as my shoulders, (with great history though, great history...)

we saw authentic Mexican dancers... with gunned militia close by...

and, we even went snorkeling.

For about 45 minutes I struggled, I mean swam gracefully, through a coral reef. I was hesitant at first. I have snorkeled before, and enjoyed it, but as soon as I remember that I am not behind glass in the aquarium (which is freaky in and of itself) but rather in their natural habitat, I become mildly panicked. And when the tour guide says something like, "Don't worry about the crocodiles swimming into the Caribbean, the sharks scare them off..." it does not help. And those daggone flippers. What am I supposed to do with those things? And I swear my pointy nose doesn't allow the mask to tightly seal around my face and water always creeps in. Geesh. But, the beautiful purple fan coral, lobsters, and Dory-like fish just about made all of those anxiety-inducing factors almost completely subside.

Overall, I was so thankful for the break, time with the family... and that sunshine. mmmm, that sunshine.

Time for summer now, please.