Five Years!

We celebrated our fifth anniversary this past weekend! I really can't believe it's been five years. It feels like it went so fast, but at the same time, so much has changed in our lives so it kind of feels like a lot longer.

On Friday night, our actual anniversary, we went to dinner at Hot and Hot Fish Club. We really like to celebrate, and for us, that usually means a lot of food. ;) We had appetizers, our entrees, *and* dessert! Everything was so, so good.

Emery was spending the night at my sister's house, so we got to pretend like we were dating again and go to a movie at 10:00. I totally fell asleep for a few minutes...I'm not as young as I used to be.

Since five years is kind of a milestone, we wanted to do something extra to celebrate, so we went to Orange Beach for a few days. We've never left Emery for more than one night, so we didn't want to be gone for too long. She was in very good hands with my parents, though. I don't think they wanted to give her back to us!

We left on Sunday morning and as I've mentioned before, to us celebration = food! We had ourselves a little breakfast appetizer at Krispy Kreme {sour cream cake donuts!!!!} and then had a Croissan'wich at Burger King. I seriously had a Croissan'wich almost every Friday morning before work when I was pregnant. :)

Now that is a great way to start a trip!!

Then we were on our way to Orange Beach! We couldn't check in to our hotel until 4:00, so we had planned to go to lunch somewhere and also do a little shopping at the outlet mall in Foley. When we got closer, we started seeing billboards for Lambert's and I knew we had to stop. I've heard all about how they throw rolls. Normally, I'm not really into people throwing things at me, but when carbs are involved, go right ahead. We placed bets on our way on how many times I'd get hit with a roll. We thought they'd just be flying nonstop, but apparently there are designated times for the roll throwing.

Daniel strategically sat against the wall so he could see them coming and warn me to duck if needed!

He caught two rolls for me! My hero! :)

Once we checked in to our hotel, we headed to the beach for a couple of hours before dinner. I just love the sound of those waves and that ocean breeze. There is just nothing like it.

We went to a restaurant called Cobalt that night. We really wanted to go somewhere that had outdoor seating and was on the water and this was perfect. They had a huge outdoor seating area with palm trees, lights, and live music. It was right on the bay so we got to watch boats go by. It totally made us both want a boat.

Monday was our only full day in Orange Beach, so we spent a lot of time on the beach! We rented chairs and an umbrella and took little catnaps all morning while we listened to the waves. It was perfect. We took a quick break for lunch and a quick walk around the marina, then headed back to the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

We had so much fun on Monday night. We went to dinner at The Gulf which was probably my favorite restaurant we went to on our whole trip. The whole place is outside with a beautiful view of the beach and they have lots of picnic tables and outdoor furniture set up right in the sand. We loved it!

There were piers really close to The Gulf, so we walked down one of the piers to watch the sun set and got to see a dolphin! I tried to get a picture of his fin sticking up out of the water, but that guy was too quick for me. It was really neat to see, though! You can just barely see it in this picture.

After a quick trip to Publix to get a couple of things for breakfast, we headed back to the hotel so I could change because we were going to race go karts. Yes. You read that right. We're really just big kids.

Too busy buckling up to pay attention for a picture. Safety first!

Daniel claims that he just had a slow go kart, but I totally beat him. ;)

It was pretty late by then, so we stopped by The Hangout for some midnight snacks and souvenir shopping. The food there was just okay, but it was a really fun place!

We had to check out of our hotel the next morning by 11:00, so we really didn't have time to go to the beach. Instead we slept as late as we could...which is about 8:00 these days and ate powdered donuts in bed while we watched Royal Pains on Netflix. Pretty perfect morning...

We packed up our stuff and headed to lunch at Lulu's. We knew we wanted to go here because we've heard a lot about it {and we've seen tons of those t-shirts!} and it was definitely a fun place! It worked out well because it was on our way home.

We were in and out of there pretty quick because we were ready to get home to our little sweetheart! We weren't even gone that long, but we missed her so much!! We got to my parents' house around 4:30 so we had a few hours to play with her before it was her bedtime. The little stinker teased us and didn't even act excited to see us for a minute or two. :)

She loved her little purse we got her at The Hangout and wore it for a while. When it would slide off her shoulder, she'd swing her arm so it would go back up! Haha!

We had such a great time celebrating five amazing years and can't wait to go back to Orange Beach with Emery later this summer!

  

Playa del Carmen Vacation 2013 {Part 2}

Vacation Recap: Part One 

Good morning! So, we made it through the mountains of laundry yesterday and I'm planning to head to the grocery today to restock our fridge. We ended up not cooking yesterday and went out for pizza instead. While we were in Mexico, we watched a rerun of SNL one night and saw this pizza skit with Melissa McCarthy. {Love her! SO hilarious!} We may or may not have reenacted a little bit of it last night when we were at Marco's.



Speaking of food, we were definitely slapped with the reality that we were no longer at an all-inclusive resort yesterday when we woke up without being able to walk a few minutes to a breakfast buffet with any breakfast food you could imagine. When we were on our honeymoon, our resort had these chocolate croissants that I just loved. I would eat *several* every morning. As soon as we booked this trip, I started talking about how I hoped so much that this resort also had them. To my great disappointment, I did not find any that first day at breakfast. I settled for a plain croissant instead. {First world problem, I know!!!} A few days into our trip, I spotted a croissant that had a little sugar sprinkled on top. I took one thinking that a lightly sweetened croissant was better than nothing.

I bit off one of the ends and thought it was good...although it did not fulfill my chocolate croissant dreams. Then Daniel stared at me and said, "Ummm... Jackpot!" I didn't know what he meant until I looked inside the croissant and saw chocolate!! I was so happy! It's the little things...

We ate at the same place for breakfast and lunch every day. There were several options, but we always went with the one closest to the pool. I loved this path that led to the restaurant. It was also neat to be able to look out at the ocean and hear the waves while we were there.

One thing I did NOT enjoy while we were on vacation were these little guys.

We saw tons of them every single day. Most of the time they would stay off of the walkways, but there was this one time...well, let's just say I made several resort guests snicker when they saw my reaction to almost stepping on one!!!

Speaking of reptiles {amphibians? I have to reteach that stuff to myself every time I teach it to my students!}, we did get to see something really amazing while we were there. Most nights, we would go down to the beach to walk.

The first night we were walking along, and I heard the sound of sand being thrown. Of course I freaked out wondering what in the world it was. Turns out it was a sea turtle! The beach was a nesting zone for them and every night we walked down there, we saw two or three HUGE sea turtles making their way up the shore to lay eggs. The resort had people down at the beach that would dig up the eggs and put them in a shelter.

Most of our time at the resort was spent right here.

{Click the picture to enlarge}

{Click the picture to enlarge}

This was seriously the biggest and best pool I have ever experienced. It was so nice that it was so big because it didn't get too crowded. There were these great little shady spots we could swim to when when we were getting too hot, and when we were ready for a break, there were plenty of lounge chairs in the shade. Our favorite spot was under a little tiki hut. SO relaxing!!

Our first morning there, we were relaxing under that tiki hut and one of the people from the resort activities staff came by and asked if we had any activities planned for that day. We had already talked about how we were NOT leaving the resort this time. On our honeymoon, we went on an excursion and after a bumpy, long, crowded van ride complete with Mexican techno music and a big snoring man, we said never again! So, it turns out that this resort offers "adventures" right there on their very own beach. I've always wanted to ride a jet ski, so we scheduled it. So, we're on this jet ski in the ocean {read: waves}, and I was just loving it. I did have moment of fear, though, and asked Daniel, "Can this thing flip over?" He assured me that no, the way that they're made makes it very difficult for them to flip over. I guess I should have been more clear because what I meant was, "Can I fall off of this thing?" Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, we're in the middle of a turn, a wave hits us perfectly, and we fall off. I immediately start yelling, "Oh my gosh, sharks!!" {Yes. Seriously.} No, I didn't see one, but the fact that I was in the middle of the ocean with all kinds of creepy, unknown swimming things that could eat hurt me seriously freaked me out. Oh, and did you know that when you're terrified, your muscles stop working? At least mine do, because I would not have made it back up on that thing if Daniel wouldn't have pulled me back on. Once we got back on, I hung on for dear life and said, "So, I changed my mind. I don't want to drive this thing." Daniel maintains that jet skis are a lot more fun in the lake and that I must try it again. We'll see.

{Click the picture to enlarge}

As I mentioned before, when we weren't at the pool or beach, we were eating. We may have even gone for a *second dinner* one night at 10:30. :) We went to a different restaurant every night for dinner and overall, the food was really good. {Although, the dessert selection was seriously lacking! :( Bummer!} This baked Alaska was not very yummy, but really cool to watch!

Here are pictures of us at some of the different restaurants.

L'Alsace ~ French

La Hacienda - Mexican

Hotel Entry ~ Caribbean Night

Mar & Tierra ~ Surf & Turf

Every night, they had great entertainment! We saw a Las Vegas show, a Michael Jackson show, a Mayan show, and a fire show. They also had a great band that played music in the plaza each night.

We had SUCH a wonderful time and are so thankful that we got to spend all this time together!

I hope y'all have a fabulous day!! :)

  

Playa del Carmen Vacation 2013 {Part 1}

Happy Monday! We got back last night from our vacation in Playa del Carmen, and while it's wonderful to be home, I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that I actually have to cook now. I'll probably make something quick and easy like this baked ravioli. It's a good "transition back into cooking" meal. :)

Our vacation started early last Monday morning as we headed for the Atlanta airport. We had to stop and get some morning fuel first, though. Cinnamon crunch bagels at Panera {my favorite!} and a Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino. Oh my goodness, that frap was SO good! It was like a chocolate cookies and cream smoothie with a hint of coffee. Not very "breakfasty," I know.

Once we got to the airport, everything was smooth sailing. I kept saying that I couldn't believe how perfectly everything was going. Of course, when our last vacation included running through the airport and making it to the gate just as they were about to stop boarding, almost anything would be better. We even had time for a leisurely lunch at Qdoba and some airport shopping. Had to get a king size Kit Kat for the flight! I'm telling you, when we're on vacation, pretty much anything goes. :) Even the flight was great considering the in flight movie was "Safe Haven." Love!

Here we are waiting for our ride to the resort once we arrived in Cancun. I just love palm trees!

We stayed at the Valentin Imperial Maya in Playa del Carmen and absolutely loved it. Once we got there, we took a few minutes to explore the lobby and take a few pictures.

No, we did not intend to match!

After we were all checked in, we headed to our room to find these these fun swans! The resort offered a class on how to fold towels like this, and I thought about going...for about three seconds. The pool was a lot more enticing, though. I'm sure there's a YouTube video for towel folding!

Another night, we came back to our room to find this cute little elephant friend. I had to realign his eye stickers before I took a picture, though. Daniel laughed at me, but they were crooked!! They still look a little crooked in the picture, but I promise, they weren't!

About two minutes after we arrived in our room, someone delivered cake for our anniversary. Listen, anyone who delivers cake is a friend of mine {especially considering I was on sugar withdrawal}.

Since we didn't get to the resort until late afternoon the first day, we spent some time exploring and enjoying the scenery. It was a HUGE resort which meant there was a lot of walking {probably not a bad thing considering all of the eating we did}, but it was absolutely beautiful. This is part of the lobby. I loved all the fountains.

This was the view we had from our balcony. There were two weddings at the resort while we were there, and we could see them from our balcony. {Don't worry, we were well hidden by all the palm trees and there was no way we could photo bomb any pictures!} We could tell when there was a wedding because they would park a cute little golf cart that had flowers on it by the beach path next to our building.

{Click picture to enlarge}

This was the main path to the beach. They even had several hammocks hanging between palm trees. We went to swing in the hammocks one night and while we were walking there, Daniel said he wanted to video me getting in the hammock. Mean! {He did help me get in, though...and no video.} I'm proud to say that I successfully situated myself in the hammock without mishap {however, not gracefully}. They were definitely the most uncomfortable hammocks ever, though! All that for nothing!

We liked these swings that looked out on the beach much better!

Well, that's all for today. We have mountains of laundry to get to! Stay tuned to read about our jet ski adventure nightmare, hundreds of iguanas, sea turtles, and LOTS of food!

Hope you have a great Monday!!

Vacation Recap: Part Two