Sunday, August 25, 2013

Mexico Vacation

We just returned from a wonderful 9 day family vacation to Bucerias and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We have so many wonderful pictures that I am not sure how to fit them all in this post! It is hard to choose only a few. Joel's sister Mara married a wonderful Godly man Niel Haggmark in a beautiful beach ceremony complete with a Mariachi band. The two families rented a hacienda so we had our own private pool, a chef, and a bartender. It was an amazing time catching up from family all over the world, meeting new family members, and making the most awesome memories. Our first set of memories (after 6 hours of flying and 4 hour lay over in Mexico City) was a day zip lining in the mountains!



Only Asher got to enjoy this adventure with us. I can't even explain the feelings of watching your 9 year old willingly go first, 300 meters off the ground, through ravines, upside down whooping with joy. This is something Joel and I always regretted not doing in Hawaii and are so thankful we got to experience with Asher and other family members in such a beautiful place.

 Our own private pool. Jesse's arm didn't hold him back one bit. He never once complained about it being hot or sweaty or too hard to swim with, or being too wet (and yes it got plenty wet...waterproof covering not 100% dependable). Only at bedtime would be he cry about the pain and after all he did with it, I am sure he was hurting.

Our chef had coffee ready in the morning and we got to eat family style breakfast and dinners.

 Our house bartender was plenty busy making smoothies for the kids!

They all 4 were so exhausted every night that they never complained about sleeping in the same bed!

 Sister-in-laws...Amanda, Mara (the bride), and Mary

Siblings...Joel with Caleb and Mara

The reason for the vacation...the wedding of Mara and Niel! I won't post pictures of this event because I know my photographer sister-in-law Amanda will be blogging her photos soon (and she is super talented!). The wedding was absolutely beautiful and Mara was the the most stunning bride. Her and Niel were super cute, all googly eyed and glowing the whole vacation, completely in their own world. It was a privilege to be there and experience their joy, and an honor to have our kids be part of the special day. But somehow I didn't get a photo of the 4 kids in their wedding clothes?! I was too busy stopping the little girls from ending up in the ocean :).

 See, the arm didn't slow him down one bit.

 And this kid was born to be in the ocean. 
He was so happy to back at a beach and never wanted to leave. 

Anna was pretty happy in the ocean as well until she got stung by a jellyfish on the last day. The ended the beach fun pretty quick.

 Good thing we had this super fun pool when we were done at the beach!

That is Anna with Auntie Amanda on the bridge headed for the super fast alligator slide.

Cheers to an absolutely unforgettable vacation!

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