Another Year Down…

I celebrated my 33rd bday on May 8th! (Yep, getting old)

The night before, I met this lovely lady (Casey Gerwer, quad mom extraordinaire) out for sushi…

 

 

…while Joe kept EIGHT kids at our house for a slumber party! BY HIMSELF.

 

While I was laying in bed Wednesday morning, I heard lots of whispering and scurrying around. I finally rolled out of bed to find my sneaky little men waiting for me in the dining room!

 

 

“SURPRISE!!!” ~ so freaking cute! I was laughing so hard. Joe made my morning so special!

The girls woke up a little later and joined the party!

 

 

I must admit, I had a blast celebrating with people who were more excited about my birthday than ME! LOL.

Kinley, Sav, Ethan, Carter, Sawyer, Drew, Maddie, Ben

 

 

Party on, party peeps!

 

 

We spent the entire afternoon outside, riding bikes and enjoying the beautiful day. This is my wacky, crazy Drew… love this kid.

 

 

That night, my hubby took me out to one of my favorite places~ The Reata in downtown Fort Worth.

 

 

 

We had a WONDERFUL, quiet, peaceful meal!

 

 

And then headed over to the Movie Tavern to see Iron Man 3. Gotta love this crazy kid.

 

 

Thanks Joe, for such a wonderful bday! LOVE you so much!!!!

 

Last Day in Paradise…

We had a “not-so-comfy” breakfast, as we were being attacked by birds! (Okay, maybe not quite so dramatic, but they were literally dive bombing people and taking your food! BEWARE!)

 

 

We took our party to the peaceful beach hut by the ocean…

 

 

So hard to leave this place!…

 

 

SO hard to leave THESE PEEPS!…

 

 

One more ocean view with my main squeeze…

 

 

…and we were on our way back to the states…a little darker, a little heavier, with our hearts as full as can be.

 

 

Welcome HOME!

What a U.S. Customs nightmare! It took us 1.5 hours just to go through this line at DFW. NuTs!

 

 

But it couldn’t rain on our parade…Seriously~ one of the best vacations we have ever had.

Sending out a HUGE thanks to all of the people who made it possible for the McNultys and Steeces to get together.

From the bottoms of our hearts, we love you guys~ Liz, Chris, Ash, Col, Papa & Granna! Thank you.

Happy 10 years Gen & Conor, so much to celebrate!…we look forward to many more with you guys!!! Love you so much.

PV Day 4: Fancy Schmancy

Loved it so much, we just had to go back to La Palapa.

 

 

Me and my bestie…

 

 

G enjoying some refreshing coconut water…while some crazy local photo bombs in the background… uhhhhh….

 

 

And my favorite purchase of the trip?…

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this ADORABLE little guy!!!

 

 

He shall be named Pedro…

 

 

Joe and his college buddies call themselves “The Donkeymen”… no, nothing political… nothing in reference to anything specific… just a long, boring, random story that “stuck” and its been going on 10+ years now…nerds.

 

 

One last pic with our main man, Roger. Best dude ever. Go to PV, go to La Palapa and ask for Roger. He’ll take good care of you.

 

 

The last night of our vacation, we dressed up for a fancy schmancy dinner at one of our favorite places.

 

 

The whole crew…

 

 

Crossing our fingers that we make it alive in the back of the Mexican cabbie!

 

 

After a beautiful & scenic drive up into the mountains… we arrived at the gorgeous, romantic restaurant: Vista Grill.

 

 

Uh-may-zing views…

 

 

The night couldn’t have been any better…

 

 

Love these peeps…

 

 

Best. Friends. Forever.

 

 

I should have taken a pic of our food! YUMMMMM…. But here is my favorite part--- The Flaming Mexican Coffee! HOLY COW. How incredible is this picture?…all the way down to the flame in the glass!

 

 

How’s that for presentation?…

 

 

Love. Love. Love.

 

 

Joe’s dessert…

 

 

Genny’s fresh fruit… looked amazing!

 

 

PV at night…

 

 

This is super blurry----but it is the pirate ship! All lit up at night…

 

 

It fires off fireworks!

 

 

Magical evening. Good food. Great friends. Would give anything for a do-over right now…

 

Coming up~ Day 5: Last day

 

PV Day 3: “The Day of Gen"

Day 3 of our vacay was easily my FAVORITE day!!! It also happened to be Conor’s birthday!

 

We took a cab to the other side of Puerto to spend the day at La Palapa. (based on Joe’s Mom’s recommendation~ thanks so much, Kate!)

 

 

This place was amazing! You could eat out on a private beach and spend the entire day there.

 

 

Nothing like the feeling of soft, cold sand in between your toes!

 

 

Mornin’ Birthday Boy! Conor~ with the lovely, newly opened Los Muertos Pier in the background.

 

 

I wish so badly that we could wake up and be in front of an ocean every single morning. SO beautiful and serene!

 

 

Ahhh…we are so refreshed, stress-free and happy in these pics! Ha

 

 

Naturally, the Mexican beach vendors began making their daily rounds. Joe and Gen just could not resist getting such a great deal on these…(cough, cough) “Rayban” sunglasses…

“Try it on…”

“just for fun…”

“almost free…” ~every beach vendor who passed our table

 

 

Our favorite amigo, Roger, surprised Conor with a bday treat! Loved it!

 

 

Time for a little tannin’ (this place also provided lounge chairs…we just LOVED it!)

 

 

We caught my darling husband “peacocking”…tee hee.

“Oh yah, babe! Work it. I’m feelin’ ya!” (He’s gonna kill me…LOL)

 

 

We call this day, the “Day of Gen” because she OWNED it!

 

 

Little Miss Activities…started the day off with some parasailing over the beautiful ocean.

 

 

Up, up and away she goes!

 

 

Crazy girl!

 

 

La Palapa had THE BEST fresh fruit ritas. YUM!

 

 

 

Joe and Conor enjoying the waves…

 

 

…along with their feathered friends on the bird boat

 

 

Next up on the itinerary for the Day of Gen?…

 

 

Jet skis!

 

 

The love of my life…

 

 

Loved this place so much, guess where we returned the following day!…

 

 

We made a stop at Daiquiri Dicks on our way back…

 

 

Happy Hour cracks me up. They bring you 2 drinks at one time.

 

 

I bought my man a new wedding ring… (how very appropriate, since we honeymooned in PV 10 years ago!)

 

 

Of COURSE I made him take a cheesy pic with me! Awww

 

 

Genny found a comfy seat in our hotel lobby…

 

 

Best picture ever? Quite Possibly…

The boys were feeling… “inspired” by the art.

 

 

Cute little Gen~ fits right in with her Mexican ancestors. By the end of the trip, people were coming up to her and speaking Spanish… they would look completely confused when G would reply: “Sorry, no Español”

 

 

Thursday evening was the first round of the NFL Draft, and you can imagine where the boys wanted to be… so, G and I had our own nice little romantic sunset dinner on the beach at our hotel.

 

 

We watched grown adults frolicking in the waves…

 

 

 

…and took lots of pics with the beautiful sunset!

 

 

We chatted until the sun went down…

 

 

…and then some…man, I miss this chick!

 

 

We met up with the boys later that evening…

 

 

Cracked us up when Jesus made Joe’s mudslide “extra fruity”. Oh, how I love this man…

 

 

Ummm, yah…. sorry babe. I’m really not feeling the tough guy vibe after you just finished a mudslide with 2 cherries.

 

 

Me and my Gen…LOVE her.

 

 

The adorable Macs…so happy to celebrate 10 years and 4 kids with them.

 

 

…and the cute little elephant waiting for us when we returned to our bedrooms.

 

What a perfect day!!! Loved every second of it.

 

Day 4: A La Palapa Repeat & Fancy Schmancy Din Din