get comfortable, this is a LOONNGGG post

'Uno, Dos, Tres, Lupita'
Those were the words to our resort's theme song and I've been singing them since we got back to the U.S. last night. Vacation was incredible, as usual! We did a whole heck of a lot of laying by the pool, laying on the beach, laying in a hammock while reading our books. Since we were staying at an all-inclusive, we didn't venture too far from the resort and we didn't partake in any excursions. Why venture out when you have all the food, drinks, and entertainment you need at your finger-tips?? :) Mike didn't even dive on this trip...but I can't decide if he really didn't want to or if he was too nervous leaving me by myself for a 1/2-full day. Guess I probably need to jump on the band-wagon and get certified to dive. Hey - if my dad can do it, certainly I can too, right? :)

On our first full day, we walked 5th Avenue(the main touristy street) in Playa and ended up doing a couples massage. It was a great way to start our vacation and relax from the LONG day of travelling the day before. (at least I think waking up at 3:30am makes for a long day!!)

We did participate in a few hotel games ~

• Bingo ~ I even won the first day we were there! I got a nice little certificate...and I got the "you look like Nicole Kidman" comment again. Something about Mexico I guess - someone told me that when we were there in December. I don't see it at all but hey, I'm not going to complain if someone would like to call me Nicole Kidman. ;) I think it's just 'cause I'm blonde, blue-eyed, and pale as pale can be. :)
• Paper airplane making ~ I thought mine would for sure go the farthest but it kept boomer-ranging back to me so I didn't win. Mike's wasn't so great either.
• Mr. Riu Lupita 2010 ~ Mike participated in this and participated in the different games for points. Games included stuffing balloons in the mexican 'pajama's' he had to wear, a race to do 5 push-ups and drink a glass of beer through a straw, a type of simon-says army style game where the leader would call out a phrase and the participants had to do the "motions" to the specific phrase(last man standing without screwing up won that round), had to impersonate the different sounds of their favorite animal(Mike picked a Wolf), and finally...a lap dance. Unfortunately, Mike was not the winner but I've never laughed so hard - he represented the U.S. well. France won, which seemed pretty obvious because France outnumbered U.S. resort guests probably 50 to 1 so I could only cheer so loud for my American. :)

• Sand Volleyball ~ We played sand volleyball which was fun, but like I said before, most guests at the resort spoke French so it was hard to cheer on your teammates when you don't speak each other's language. But hey, it was still fun and I'm pretty sure our team won!
• We watched the Riu Lupita "olympic games," watched water volleyball, and water polo. The funniest rule of water polo that the men couldn't touch the women when she had the ball but the women could jump, tackle, punch the guy if he had the ball...how does that sound fair?
• Each evening, the hotel had some type of entertainment and we always enjoyed some or all of it.

• The resort was swarming with these little guys...they are called different things in different countries but in Mexico they are called Coati's.

It amazes me each time we go to Mexico how the hotel staff explains all the activities in Spanish, then in English, then in French. It's also interesting that the majority of Americans speak only English, while most other countries speak at least their native language plus English, and sometimes a third language.

We are anxious for the rest of our 2010 travels ~ Oregon coast w/ Mom, Vegas w/ a group of friends to celebrate a 30th birthday, still trying to convince Mike we should go to Cape Cod-I don't think I'm going to convince him. :( Then off Puerto Vallarta around the holiday time with Mike's parents!! Hopefully there will be some camping, hiking, a few trips back to Nebraska, and maybe a few weekend trips in there as well. I think I was born to travel...I love it and I love reading and hearing about other people's travels/recommendations/etc. I enjoy my current job but I think my dream job would be to travel. Maybe we could have a show on the travel channel??!! Or maybe we could win the lottery and use the money to travel?(guess that means we should start playing, huh?)

Hope your summer is filled with some vacationing and fun experiences!

P.S. Would you believe that Mike and I packed all of our stuff into one suitcase?? Take that mr. airline!!