Playa del Carmen Vacay

As I sit here on our 3rd snow/cold day off school and the coldest day of my entire life (no, really the wind chill was -38!), I realized I hadn't blogged about a much warmer time this winter...our trip to Mexico!  Matt and I went on a trip to an all inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen Mexico from Dec. 31-Jan. 5 in celebration of my 40th birthday last October.  It was heavenly.  We literally had NO responsibilities and could just relax and do whatever we wanted!

flying in

We got there on New Year's Eve, so we got to celebrate the new year outside in 80 degrees, a first!  It was a lot of fun, but we were so tired since we had to wake up at 4 am to be at the South Bend airport.

We spent time at the beach and pool.  It was a great time to go, not too crowded.

These little coati were EVERYWHERE!  They were rummaging around in the dirt and trashcans.

We spent an afternoon in town touring the shops and restaurants.

Our resort, Grand Sunset Princess!

We went ziplining at a really cool place in the jungle!

It was a lot of fun and even though it rained a bit, we had a great time!

waiting on the rest of our group to eat

We also got to go swimming in a cenote (natural sinkhole).

Our resort room was gorgeous!  It was spacious and the balcony overlooked the pool.

We went to dinner each night (usually around 9) and then just walked around the resort.  It was so nice being able to walk around even at night and not be cold or worry about bugs.

 Everyone was so willing to bring you drinks and help out.  Several employees were a little too insistent on us buying into the timeshare there and they kept asking us about it.  We eventually got smart and told them it was our last day, then they stopped asking!

It was a great week away, just the two of us!  We missed the kids (Emmy sent us messages about every day 😃), but it was nice to feel the sunshine and swim in the ocean.

Sunset on the way home

I turned 40!

My 40th birthday weekend was full of surprises starting with my lovely school picture :) displayed around my door and on all the bulletin boards down my hallway on Friday, my birthday.  There were balloons in my room and my favorite Heath bars from the best coworkers!  I love those ladies!  My students were also quite generous with gifts!  They were so excited to give everything they bought/made for me.  So cute! Matt had the day off so he got to come for lunch with me and the kiddos and brought a bouquet of flowers.

Every time we have a birthday in the family, the birthday person gets to pick a restaurant to go to.  I picked Colombo's.  They have yummy pizza and we hadn't been there in a long time.

Then on Saturday, I was under the impression that Matt and I were going on a date for my birthday.  He didn't tell me where we were going, just that the kiddos were going to grandma and grandpa's for the night.  When we got to the South Bend Casino's Kankakee Grill, the hostesses were having trouble finding our reservation for 2.  That's because all these people were there to surprise me:

We had a nice dinner together and then walked around the casino a bit.  A few of us played some slot machines.  Matt put a $5 in one machine and I ended up winning....

Then on Sunday, I celebrated at mom and dad's.  I certainly felt loved and everyone made turning 4-0 a little easier! ;)

Matt's 40th birthday and S.N.O.W!

This is the only picture I got of Matt on his big day.  The students and teachers at school wore Star Wars shirts or black to celebrate him turning 40.  His friend, Jamie, also made a slideshow of pictures of the birthday boy.  I'm glad we got to go to Las Vegas and celebrate early because I still didn't feel like going out to celebrate.

We've had some early snow and the kids have loved it!

They've been on the sled, built snowmen and snowforts, and enjoyed being outside.

Emerson built Mrs. Nunemaker so I could see her out the window and not be lonely!  She lasted a few days before melting away. ☃

Vegas, Baby!

Matt turns 40 this year and we wanted to celebrate BIG!  We talked about several different things to do and finally decided to go to Las Vegas over Fall Break.  John and Jessica came too and we had a fabulous time!  We left early from O'Hare Airport in Chicago and with the 3 hour time difference, arrived in Las Vegas Friday morning.  We checked in, upgraded our rooms, and went to walk the Strip.

We stayed at the MGM Grand.  It's about the Southern most hotel, so it took a LONG time to get down the strip.  Everywhere looks close enough to walk, but...it's NOT!

One of Matt's favorite comedies is "The Hangover" so of course we had to go to Caesar's Palace and ask someone if Caesar really lived there and if it was beeper friendly (lines from the movie! 🤣).  This employee was great.  She laughed along.  I'm sure those employees hear those lines all the time!!

The first night, we went to the Cirque Du Soleil called "Love".  It was a variety of Beatles music.  It was pretty awesome.  I'd never seen a Cirque show and I loved it.  Matt even said it was entertaining.  All the acrobats were amazing!

The next day, we rented a car (a mini red car with the smallest tires ever) and drove to the Hoover Dam.  It was an awesome site to see.  We walked the bridge across from the Dam.  It was a beautiful day!

Beautiful Lake Mead

Most places around Vegas and the Hoover Dam are desert so these big horn sheep come down from the mountains beside a local playground to eat the grass certain times of the year.  You can basically just walk right up to them.  It was pretty cool.

We had to try an In-N-Out burger joint.  It was really fresh, small menu of burgers, fries, and shakes, but really good!

The show Pawn Stars is filmed at a pawn shop in Las Vegas so we had to stop in there and see the place.

We walked to Downtown (Old) Vegas to see the original strip.  We saw the original casino (a little redone!!) called the Golden Nugget.  Overall, I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the strip (trash and people) But when we went to Old Vegas, I could see what people were talking about.  There were several ladies standing around to get pictures with very little clothing on.  We didn't stay there long!

We also had to go get pictures with the iconic Vegas sign.

All around the sign was a make shift memorial for all of the people who were shot during a country music concert a few weeks earlier.  A shooter broke out the windows in his Mandalay Bay hotel room and shot and killed 58 people.  It was really sad to see all of the memorial and the crime scene with police tape around it. #VegasStrong

That night we went to see another show, "Absinthe".  It was in a small tent with the acrobats in the middle.  It was neat to be so close to the action.  The show was adults only and some of the jokes were a little much, but the acts were really cool.  On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Bellagio to watch the fountains in front that are set to music.  It was really neat!

Our final day, we sat by the pool.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Matt played in a poker tournament for a few hours.  We just took it easy at the hotel.  We spent the whole day there playing slots, swimming, eating.  It was really relaxing.

We went to a fancy Italian restaurant where I'm sure the waiter thought we were ridiculous when Matt ordered two appetizers and John ordered a ribee!  We had a good time, though!

What a great getaway with wonderful friends.  Can't wait to do it again for another 40th birthday!