As I was packing, Wed. night, around, oh, 8pm I went to get our passports from the file cabinet and for whatever reason I decided to read Kipp's. Hmmm...issued in 2000....that's funny, I thought they only lasted 10 years... YIKES!!!! It expired in Mar 2010.... I went to the closet where Kipp was joyfully packing...
Me: "We have a problem!"
Kipp: "What's wrong?!"
Me: "You're not going to Mexico!"
Kipp: "Whatareyatalkinabout?"
Me: "Your passport expired 3 months ago."
Kipp: "Well. All we can do is drive to Houston tonight, get a new one first thing in the morning and fly out from there tomorrow."
Me: "I'm not driving anywhere. I'm gettin on a plane tomorrow and going to Mexico!"
Needless to say, we found a few websites offering services and advice on these kinds of situations. I got on a plane the next morning and flew out by myself, while Kipp went downtown to the passport office and within an hour had a new one. He exchanged his morning ticket to Cancun for an afternoon flight to Cozumel, took the fairy, grabbed a cab in Cancun and was at the resort enjoying a drink by 8pm.... what a day!!!!
We thought we were in the clear for a sun-soakin-pina-colada-drinkin-weekend, buuuut, this crazy thing called Hurricane Alex had something else in mind for all of us! Even though it rained most of the first day, and remained cloudy and extremely windy the rest of the time, we all made the most of it. It actually worked in our favor for us all to spend some time together. Ben is a buddy of Kipp's from Parker. In total, there were about 70 people who went and 20 of them were all friends from Parker. Being spread out all over doesn't offer too much visitation as a group so it was definitely a good time! I hadn't seen some of these guys since our wedding in '08!
Kella thought it was pretty cool that her name was "on the beach" in Mexico!
Kipp and the groom, Ben!
I thought this was pretty funny. Great advertisement! It was definitely getting attention.
Cruise ship in the background. Probably a little more to do on the ship when it's raining that there was at the resort.
Enjoying some drinks in the infinity pool.
Inside joke of the trip. Ben had a little bit of a miss-hap at his bachelor party in Vegas a few weeks before. What will diving head first into a 4ft. pool get ya? 4 staples in the skull. Luckily, no serious damage was done. AND, he had a head full of hair for the wedding!!!
This is T.R.O.U.B.L.E.
W-i-n-d-y day! Check out the girl fighting her umbrella. Thankfully, the resort was prepared. They offered pots and pots of umbrellas everywhere we went. When I was first checking into our room, I wondered, "hmmm, wonder why they have so many umbrellas?" Now I know!
It really was peaceful. During the rain (really just some sprinkles) one afternoon, Kipp & I took advantage of these poolside, outdoor beds. It was awesome! (The nap, that is =D)
Before the wedding.
Just some of the other doc's on the trip.
Resort lobby.
Mariachi band at the reception. There's the happy couple, Ben & Krista!
These guys were great! Too bad my pics don't illustrate their dance moves!
Swing bar. We spent most of the time trying to figure out how we can add one of these to our backyard.
Please don't judge the muffed-hair-do! It was pretty humid and windy. AND I'm on VACATION!!! I was just happy to not be watching the clock, waiting for nap time, washing bottles or changing diapers!
Last night at dinner. We had Japanese with 3 other couples.
Soooo... now that I wasn't traveling alone, I thought the trip back to the states would be a breeze.... ummmm, NO! We had "technical difficulty" with our plane and what was supposed to be a 2 hour delay turned into over 7! With a gate change and bus ride out to the plane, we finally had a functioning plane that brought us safely back to Dallas. Due to the hurricane, there were several delayed flights all arriving back at the same time, so customs was a nightmare, but luckily there weren't too many obnoxious travelers alongside us. Funny how some people think this is only happening to THEM! I thought one guy was going to have a heart-attack, because HE needed to get home. There were several young children on our flight who had extremely patient parents making the most of the situation. Kipp & I couldn't help but feel slightly more sorry for them, rather than the hot-head, potty-mouthed, my-time-is-more-precious-than-yours, Dallas-ite. I'm just glad the storm turned from a tropical storm to a hurricane AFTER it passed over us!
The girls & Gibbie worked so hard on our "Welcome Home" sign, which was waiting on us in the garage! Mom said Kella wore her blue hair, pretty much everyday we were gone. I love that they added it to the collage. Along with a hot-air balloon, airplane, sunshine and smiley face (which was daddy, crying..?!?!).
It was raining the next day too, as we said our good-byes to Gibbie (sniff-sniff) I think she needs a vacation of her own now!
Of course we brought the girls back some goodies from Mexico. I thought Kella would get a kick out of the guitar, which we lucked out and snagged the last blue one!!! Now, she comes in and says, "Mom, you ready for the music?" You bet!
Our band wouldn't be complete without some maraca's. Each one got a set, they had some small one's which Ryan hasn't put down since we got back!
