ohhhhhhhhhh mexico

thinking about mexico always makes me think of that james taylor song...

Oh, Mexico
It sounds so simple I just got to go
The sun's so hot I forgot to go home
Guess I'll have to go now

well the week of feb 12th started our annual trip to the riviera maya where my parents' have their timeshare. after the winter we've had here in chicago, i can definitely say i was SUPER ready for some sunshine. warm warm sunshine.
this year was a little different in that my brother couldn't come because he had to work. and so for the first time ever, i was able to invite a friend to join me and my parents for part of the week. since kyle is always game to jump on a plane last minute and sit on a beach, she flew in late tuesday night!

on wed, we drove down to akumal which is this great little town with a gorgeous area in which to snorkel. this is me and kyle snorkeling in the blue blue water.

after snorkeling, we love to go to la buena vida which is a really tasty restaurant with a fabulous location right on the beach. here's me and mom and dad.

me and kyle

mom and dad.

the restaurant has all these fun swings!

we spent most of the rest of our time on the beach. lounging. and having the various wait staff bring us our lunch. we were so lazy. occasionally i would go for a swim in the ocean... i also read 3 books down there! and watched the boys play beach volleyball. i won't lie. behind my sunglasses my eyes were definitely watching the shirtless top gun style beach volleyball games that happened every single day! for several nights during our trip, we drove in to playa del carmen for dinner. one night, we ate at this place called season bistro just off 5th ave - it was such a cute restaurant and the food was really good! and then on thursday night (which was also my parents' last night as they had to leave a day early), we went to the really nice restaurant at the resort, los murales. it was delicious!!! and it was decorated so prettily. we'd not eaten there before and i am so glad we did!

this was our dessert - we'd seen other people get the 'fire dessert' and so of course we wanted one too. we were all sitting down and the next thing we know, all these waiters had come over. well, kyle and i decided that we needed to hop right on up and get a picture with all of them!

a family portrait.

dessert on fire! fun fun! it wasn't bananas foster, but it was something similar. and super tasty!

me and kyle at dinner

and that there ends the family time. after hours, kyle and i met up with our new friends from the beach/resort. let me tell you, this resort is rockin'! the bar closes down technically at 11. but last call is always about 10:45pm at the latest. but don't worry, we still found ways to have too much fun!

i wish we'd taken more pictures, but alas we did not. this was our last night there (friday night). we'd eaten dinner at the palapa restaurant with our new friends, andy and mike, and afterward went to the circle bar.

where someone thought it would be a GREAT idea to do tequila and jaeger shots. they were huge!!

a group shot. not the best, but it'll have to do cause it's the only one i have. like i said, unfortunately i didn't take too many pictures. oh well. anyways. on the left is chris aka jersey shore (he lives in philly, but grew up in nj). then kyle and me. then mike (who lives in cincy) and andy who lives in pa. andy's & chris' parents have timeshares the same week as my parents and since it never changes, i'll see those guys over the next however many years. fun!

kyle and i thought we needed a picture in one of the water fountains. that friday night was a lot of fun and a great way to end the vacation. but i was sad to see it be over!! alas, isn't that how every vacay is?!