​After a rough morning for myself, I was somehow able to pull myself out of bed to go on a walk along the beach with Mike. The fresh air felt nice, and I was not feeling great but better than I did a few hours earlier. Both Abby and I had a rough go of the sickness and all that entails including passing out, but it passed very quickly. Still, I choose not to head to the beach with the others in the morning and spent some time resting in the room. At this point Abby was mostly over being sick, so she joined the girls and Mike at the beach and the pool. I came to the pool later to sit and relax and be out in the sun for a bit. We choose to eat dinner on the beach that night at Mezquite. It wasn’t my favorite dining experience. The food was mediocre but mostly I was still feeling a little off. The views couldn’t be beat, though, and we watched the sunset while we ate our dinner. 

​It was a beautiful morning for a run along the beach. Mike and I headed one way and then back the other way. We were able to get in 3 miles which doesn’t sound like a lot but running on the sand is not always the easiest. Then we came back to the hotel and got ready for breakfast with the girls at the Arbol restaurant. Abby stayed back at the hotel as she got sick early in the morning. We were thinking it may have been the pina colada from the day before. The buffet was absolutely amazing. We didn’t waste any time afterwards and got our swimsuits on and headed down to the beach while Abby stayed behind and rested. This time we grabbed some chairs with some shade for me and sun for Emma. Madeline and Mike were back and forth between the beach and the pool. Abby ended up joining us later in the day after she felt better. We got appetizers and such and ate on the beach. I splurged and ordered a virgin strawberry daiquiri. It tasted so good, but I would soon find out the next morning that by accidentally eating some of the ice I would be in for some real trouble. We all knew to drink only bottled water, but it wasn’t second nature to not eat the ice that may have not been filtered water. Either way, I enjoyed spending time reading a book and listening to the sound of the waves and just soaking up the sun here and there. We were all careful not to burn this early in our stay. After a fun filled day in the sun we headed to dinner at the Codex where we got to sit at a table right on the sand and enjoy the beautiful scenery next to the beach. Our dinner was even better than the night before. We dined on mushroom infadita, fish, pork and short rib. Our favorite dessert of the night were the chocolate truffles that were coated with exteriors that resembled eggs in the jungle. It was a beautiful array of something that did not even look edible but was. To add to the effect was a little dry ice at the bottom of the bowl. It was mysterious and fun!

​We left Mexico City in a private car and headed to the airport for our second adventure in Mexico to relax at an amazing resort near Puerto Vallarta called Conrad Punta de Mita. Since Mike had upgraded our room, there were many perks that came with that upgrade. One of those was a private car that picked us up at the airport and drove us to the resort. The next was the personal butler that we had access to during our stay. They took us to our villa via a golf cart and we were all amazed when we entered our very luxurious room. We had an awesome wrap around balcony with padded lounge chairs, a soaking tub, and the most beautiful view of the ocean. Inside everything was so nice and they had even set up a cute little tent for Madeline to play with during our stay. It wasn’t long after unpacking our suitcases that we put on our swimsuits and headed to the beach to play. Emma put on her running clothes to get in her run while the rest of us played on the beach. We didn’t play too long today since it was already in the early afternoon, but it was enough time to relax before showering and getting ready for dinner. We ate dinner tonight at the main restaurant near the lobby called Arbol. It was amazing and the views were stunning. After dinner we walked down to the beach to see the most beautiful sunset. Then we went exploring around the resort and ended up in the game room where we battled each other in air hockey. 

​Today we got up early and headed 30 miles outside of Mexico City to see the Teotihuacan Pyramids. It was a little chilly in the morning, so we made sure to bring our sweatshirts. There was nothing quite like exploring pyramids in Mexico. Our tour guide was awesome and gave us an interesting spiritual perspective on the ruins. We started at the south end of the Avenue of the Dead and went to the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (the Feathered Serpent) first. We headed up the many stairs to get to the top, some of the crew racing others to see how fast they could do it. This smaller pyramid was lined with numerous stone heads of the Feathered Serpent deity. After taking in the view, we headed north along the Avenue of the Dead and took a little detour west to explore the Patio of the Four Temples. We actually got to go inside some of them and see what they look liked inside. The area over at this section was quite stunning. After popping out back onto the Avenue of the Dead we headed north towards the Pyramid of the Sun. We stopped here only briefly before finishing the long walk to the Pyramid of the Moon. On the way we saw many vendors selling various trinkets. The girls and I were mostly interested in the bracelets. Annabelle used her awesome Spanish and bargained with the guy to give us 4 bracelets for 150 pesos. It may have been a lot of walking this morning, but we had a great time seeing something we didn’t expect to see in Mexico. As we headed back into Mexico City and to our hotel, we dropped of our bags and headed to eat lunch at Taqueria El Califa and ate tacos al pastor and then headed down the road to enjoy some churros. The tacos we had for lunch were delicious but not as amazing as the freshly made churros dipped in chocolate sauce. We took some much-needed time after to rest at the hotel before meeting the Holtoms at an Italian restaurant for dinner. The food and the company was amazing. We had such a great time touring around Mexico City with Kim, Brooks and Annabelle and we were super grateful for the time they took away from their mission to be with us. The goodbyes were a little hard for the girls that night, but we knew that soon enough we would see Annabelle again during the summer. 

​Since they close much of the main stretch of Reforma on Sunday mornings, Emma and I decided to venture out and get in a longer run. I had to run faster than I wanted to keep up with her. So, I only ran 6 with her and then she finished up on the treadmill after. There was a 5K on one side of the road, so it was very lively as we were running. We also saw an outdoor spin class which was awesome! We quickly got ready for church after our run and headed to the Holtom’s home ward which was in English. As someone who doesn’t speak any Spanish I really appreciated that. There were lots of expats in their ward which made me feel at home since that was the kind of ward I grew up in when living in Tokyo. 
 
After church we headed to the Holtom’s home and enjoyed some light snacks while dinner was being made. Brooks showed us the missionary board and when Peter called us from his mission he spent a little bit of time talking to Brooks. The rest of us enjoyed talking about family history stories as Kim shared a few things with the girls about some of their relatives. Everyone loved that. Then Myriam and Vonn Black came over for dinner and that was so fun to spend some time with them. We all went for a walk after dinner around the gated community before saying our goodbyes to the Blacks. They just got to the mission a month ago, but we will see them again in a year when they come return home to Colorado. Some of my favorite parts of today was seeing the girls hang out with their cousin Annabelle. There was lots of laughing and cuddling! 

​After sleeping in we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It may not have been a cheap meal but it sure was tasty. Most of us got waffles, pancakes or French toast while Mike took the spicier approach. There was so much food we ended up sharing with each other. Then we met the Holtoms in the lobby, and all piled into their van to go ride the boats at Xochimilco. This was an amazing experience. We had our own private boat with our own guide. Pretty soon after we headed out on the water we came across our first Mariachi band, and we invited them onto our boat to play us some songs. The day was pretty relaxing and entertaining as we watched other people in various boats along the river enjoying themselves. There were plenty of vendor type boats selling various things. We did stop and buy a flower headband for Madeline which she loved. We ate, we sang, we listened to Abby serenade us and we just enjoyed people watching. It was a great way to start our adventures in Mexico. After our boat ride was finished we decided to head into Zocalo Square and walk around. We walked through the square and into the cathedral. It sort of reminded me of Milan and the cathedral there. From there we went in search of gelato before heading back to the hotel for dinner. Since everyone was pretty tired, Mike went out and found pizza and brought it back to the hotel while the girls enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool. 

For spring break this year we decided to head to Mexico to visit Kim, Brooks, and Annabelle while they are still there as mission leaders over the Mexico City North mission. We flew into Mexico City and Kim picked us up at the airport and we got to witness the crazy that exists while driving in the city. While most of us rested at the hotel, Mike went out to explore the area around our hotel and met up with his sister. We met up with Annabelle and Brooks later that evening to eat dinner at Chapulin. The food was amazing. We ended our first day in Mexico by going to see Mexican wrestling at Lucha Libre. It was everything we thought it would be and we were all thoroughly entertained. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let me bring my big camera into the arena, so I had to check it into a guarded locker area which made me extremely nervous. Luckily it all worked out ok and I was able to retrieve my camera without any problems after the show. We were still able to take photos and videos with our cell phones. The biggest shock about being in Mexico was the fact that we had to be careful to only drink bottled water. I'm pretty sure most of us brushed our teeth with the sink water the first night. Oops. Luckily none of us got sick from that.