VIVA MEXICO DAY #1

MEXICO DAY #1

Hola!

Since I am a mind reader I know that most of you are thinking 1 of 2 things...

"Seriously!  Another vacation!?!"

or

"Do it now why you don't have kids"

Before I dive into the 7 wonderful days that we spent in Mexico, I first need to address these two comments. 

First, this trip was completely and utterly unexpected.  Many of you know that Clayton works for a phenomenal company called Edward Jones.  One of the things I like most about this company is that they are very focused on the family and the well being of the advisor.  You really don't find too many companies out there anymore with those two focuses.  Unless you work for the Church I guess.  Edward Jones sent us here and all we had to do was pay for the things we wanted to do, the excursions.  This is one of the benefits for working at Edward Jones.  Some people get a 401K match from their employers.  Some people get free health benefits.  Some get ping pong tables for their use and enjoyment at work.  Edward Jones allows their employees to earn trips.  Key word in that last sentence is EARN.  Clayton did not win this trip...he EARNED it.  He worked his butt off.  In fact, I'm surprised that he has any butt left at all.  He worked long days and late nights, met with stressful, frustrating prospects and clients, worried and thought about those same prospects and clients long after he turned off the light and shut office door.  He knocked on many doors just to have them shut in his face, made many phone calls to only be hung up on.  And yet he pushed through with more perseverance than I could even begin to imagine.  The result was him achieving goals and expectations which allowed us to take this fabulous trip.  So thank you Edward Jones and THANK YOU Clayton!  Others don't see your emotional roller coaster, how hard you work, how much you care, but I do.  I love you an infinity times over!

Second, please don't say "Do it now why you don't have kids" because you never know what is going on behind the scenes.  Kapeesh!?!

Okay back to the post at hand.  We spent 7 amazing days and 6 equaling amazing nights at the Grand Velas Resort and Spa in Mexico's Riviera Maya (45 minutes south of Cancun).  I can't even begin to tell you how nice this place was.  It was an all inclusive with 8 restaurants.  6 of these restaurants had a dress code.  No shorts, jeans or sandals.  That was not muy bueno with us so we chose to skip out on the fancy shamncy joints and opted for the more casual attired restaurants and a lot of room service (and I mean A LOT of room service).  Besides we heard that in the fancy restaurants you would be in there eating for 2-3 hours.  Sorry but we had places to go and things to do.  We weren't going to spend all our time eating.

I knew right away that we were in for a treat because when we went to check in we were greeted at the door with warm, moist towels and a 5 minute complimentary massage while our bags were delivered up to our room.

Our room

 

Our sweet jetted tub

We also had a nice walk in shower with a rain shower head. 

There was also a bed we could sleep on outside on our balcony.  This is also where we ate the fresh fruit, yogurt, milk, muffins, biscuits, occasional poached egg (Clayton went out on a limb one morning and discovered that he loves poached eggs), and granola that room service brought us up every morning.  In our robes.  It was awesome!

View from the balcony

We got to the hotel around 4 pm.  We got settled in, lined up our excursion to Chichen Itza for the next day and headed down to the Edward Jones Welcome Dinner.

After stuffing our starving faces, we took a walk on the beach.  It was dark and we couldn't see a thing, but we were in Mexico so who cares.

While we were living the high life for a week we did not forget to be frugal (kinda).  A mini bar was in our room filled everyday with alcohol (this is also the trip where we became drinkers...hahaha just kidding), water, soda, chocolate milk, juice, chips, pretzels, Oreo cookies, oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, M&M's, and Hershey Bars.  Everyday we would clean out the mini bar (with the exception of the alcohol and other drinks) and throw everything in the safe to bring home.  I wish I had a picture of all the loot we scored.  Okay so maybe "frugal" is not the right word...free loaders is probably a better fit.

Hasta Manana