Philip and I had the most wonderful, relaxing, romantic getaway a few weeks ago! There are so many pictures and things to share. Let’s see if I can do my best to wrap up the trip in ten minutes with just my very favorite things…
We had our very first all-inclusive resort experience at Excellence Playa Mujeres. After our stay, I’d love to make this trip an annual tradition! I can’t recommend that resort highly enough! The accommodations, the food, the entertainment, the beachfront location, the hospitable staff…I could go on and on.
Our room was gorgeous and had a beautiful view of the ocean. We were greeted by these sweet swans when we checked in.
While unpacking, one of the bartenders from the poolside bar near our room brought us this cute coconut monkey with a mango mojito. Philip took one for the team and drank it for the two of us since this prego couldn’t!
What did we do while we were there? Mostly this.
The resort had these wonderful bed cabana things on the private beach. They were so comfortable and provided this pale lady with plenty of shade. When we weren’t at the beach, we lounged poolside, sipping our favorite drinks (mango mojitos and banana mamas) and reading.
We loved the food at the resort. Our favorite restaurants were the French and Indian spots. Although I couldn’t enjoy the alcohol of the all-inclusive experience, I most definitely DID enjoy the food! It was a prego’s dream!
We only left the resort once during our 5-day stay, and that was to go to Mass on Sunday morning. What a gift to be able to call up the concierge, find a Catholic church 15 minutes away, and get to attend Mass. The church, María Estrella del Mar, was a beautiful, beachfront open-air building surrounded only by glass on one side.
Before Mass began, the parish priest asked those in attendance if they could participate as readers. Philip read the 2nd Reading. The universality of the Church shone through when we realized that those in attendance represented many different countries, but we celebrate the same Mass throughout the world, so we were able to participate without hesitation with the same familiar prayers, gestures, and same Jesus in the Eucharist. What a gift!
After Mass, our taxi cab driver gave us a tour of the parish. As it turned out, our driver, Manuel, is a Catholic himself, and he knew a lot about the church. Here’s Manuel with Philip in front of a statue of Martín de Porres. (Manuel’s last name is Porres, too!)
In addition to driving his taxi, Manuel does some photography. He took us around the building and offered to take our pictures. Here we are in front of an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Up the hill from the church is another beautiful open-air area dedicated to baptisms. All of the chairs and pews are made of a saline-resistant wood.
In addition to enjoying our time eating, drinking, and relaxing by the water, we: watched different evening entertainment each night (pop star show, fire show, opera singers, traditional Mexican singing/dancing) and indulged in our first couples massage. It was such a treat to get to lay on my belly since the table had a special area for my belly. I’m usually a stomach sleeper, so that was awesome!
We spent little pockets of time throughout our stay working through a “Family Board Meeting.” We got the idea from this podcast episode of Messy Parenting. A “Family Board Meeting” is simply a chance to get away with your spouse to discuss your family’s goals for the year and beyond. The three key parts of a Family Board Meeting are 3 A’s:
- Away
- Alone
- Affirm
It was so nice to be able to spend part of our time alone and away discussing our family’s goals for the year and beyond. Our favorite part of the meeting was how we ended our time at the resort. Before we checked out and got into the car to go to the airport, we brought some frozen drinks back to our room’s patio. Then, we did the “Affirm” part of the meeting–telling one another all of the things that we noticed and admired the other person doing in the past year that we want them to know we saw and appreciated. It was the perfect way to end our time at the resort.
With the exception of some rain on our first night, we had nearly perfect weather our entire stay. As we wrapped up our Family Board Meeting and headed to the airport, the storm clouds were rolling in. It made it a lot easier to leave paradise with storm clouds overhead!
When we got home, we were greeted by a plethora of crafts, pictures, and dictated cards from the kids. They were *very* well taken care of by their favorite sitters and gave us the play by play of all of the fun things they did when they woke up the next morning. It was wonderful to get away for a bit, but it was nice to be home again with the little ones!
We don’t know if the kids were more excited to see us or the souvenirs we brought them. Harry especially loves his wooden snake!
