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Published: June 26th 2013
What good is the warmth of summer without the cold of winter to give it sweetness...
Ain't that the truth...I guess we'd never appreciate our old friend summer if we'd never had a cold winter to compare it to, and our spring wasn't much better...So HOLA summer and HOLA Playa del Carmen! (PS when I'm not writing about a trip I put my public name as Sally For Jusky so my personal info isn't up...so you might not have recognized my blog so if you get this twice it's due to the error!)
Anyhow, as I type this blog we we are lounging by the sparkling Caribbean watching the waves roll in. Yep, we are back in Playa del Carmen (Playa) for three glorious weeks to to soak up the sun, surf, seashore and sanctuary of this tropical paradise. We're staying once again at Luna Encantada, with ocean views and lots of space to relax in...
THANK YOU Tonya of Playa Beach Getaways who generously offered us up her beautiful oceanfront penthouse condo for nary a peso. It's been a productive year working for Playa Beach Getaways, and I've been handling her two websites content, along with her Facebook business page, and soon Pinterest which means keeping sites updated along with continuing to
write travel blogs for her company. I really enjoy the work, and specifically working close with such an inspirational, intelligent, classy business woman as Tonya Sarina!
When we were trying to book our flights here to enjoy the benefits of a free condo, of course the seat sales ended a few days before end of school. Last year we took the kids out of school a few days before since school is pretty well wrapped up for now. But this year Lara graduated grade 8. So we were in a conundrum as to what to do to book our vacation so Lara settled it. She suggested I leave with Rory and Ava and auntie and take advantage of the seat sale and her and dad would catch up after. I initially said no to the idea, but then Al couldn't get away till Friday anyhow, so he and my mom and auntie Cindy attended Lara's grad. (Thank you nana and auntie Cindy!) Once they offered to be there for Lara, I then decided to take advantage of the seat sale which determined if we'd even come at all and that saved us a lot of pesos! 😊 I was
feeling like such a bad mom and so torn about what to do but in the end we get a wonderful vacation and we took into consideration Rory & Ava too,and Lara will be here soon with Al...It was a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't, and I guess as long as Lara was good with it, I don't need to worry about what the heck anyone else might think. (sheesh when I was a kid there was no graduation ceremony for grade 8 but things sure have changed) In the end Lara was almost thrilled to have dad and daughter time and a quiet house to herself! Congrats Lara for making honor roll and a Student of the Month award after such a tough year health wise and to all her wonderful friends who I remember meeting in JK with their cherub little faces...I sure hope they continue the long friendships they've all enjoyed (plus we like Lara's friends' parents which is an added bonus 😊
Cheers to all you who're starting summer vacation too... It's probably safe to to say many of us are drawn to water whether it's the ocean, lake
or a river; it's synonymous with summer. For our family it's like there's some invisible magnetic force that pulls us towards the ocean, and we go willingly. The human body has almost the same proportions of sodium, potassium and calcium as the ocean so perhaps water is just kin to us...In my humble opinion it's just soothing to be by water...THE END.
Traveling to Playa in the summer means guaranteed sunshine and hot weather. While of course it's hot at home, there's no guarantee a) it will remain that way, and b) we won't be hit with a rainy few weeks during our holiday (been there, done that and complained about it (smile). And WTH is up with the mosquitoes this year at home that are like small aircraft buzzing around? Sheesh?
Playa is a place that we comfortably sink into like an old pair of worn shoes. The culture is so welcoming, the people so embracing and to get up each morning and feel the warm tropical breeze, hear the sounds of birdsong, and to walk the miles of ocean is such a treat we savour daily. To snorkel the reef and lagoons, to take day trips,
to enjoy the music, fresh food and people makes it all just a fantastic travel experience. I guess it's suffice to say there's nothing that we don't like about being here.
And to Sue & Cory and family who couldn't join us this trip, we MISS you guys! One of these trips we'll get you here. And I hope one of these years we'll get our families all here with us for a reunion. (This girl dreams in technicolor!) Kelsey and Casey our neighbors (17 and 19 years old) are joining us for 9 days which is great for the kids...And then after they go home Ray and Pat (Al's parents will be arriving for 2 weeks which we are looking forward to! Ray it's nice and hot & humid here the way you like it...!)
Without getting into the details, this has been an especially long year for us dealing with some challenges (health wise) and all I will say on this is what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger (and at this point, I could lift a tractor trailer darlin'😉. So this vacation is met with great excitement for us to get away as a
family, to rest, relax, rejuvenate and hopefully to be strong enough to deal with whatever the hell life has to throw at us next. And if there's any lesson to learn when you're faced with adversity, is to appreciate to live in the moment when the waters are calm.
So...back to me 😊 this "quicker-picker upper lady" is thrilled that summer vacation is upon us, school's out for the summer and the ocean, the swaying palms and many wonderful friends in Playa are there to greet us...
So far our first day here has been great; breakfast by the ocean (hands down the best omelette stuffed with spinach, onion, tomatoes & cheese I've ever sunk my teeth into), massages (Kelsey & auntie Marth), dips in the pool and good food ocean side...it's 41 with the humidex with a light lovely breeze. For those of you hating me for being here (you know who you are!), so far our air conditioning went out in our bedrooms, (being fixed), the lid popped off my face cream blinding me in one eye, the ice tray holder collapsed and 4 lbs of ice fell out and hit my toe, someone changed the
code on the safe and now we can't get into it and...well otherwise things are just swell. (hahahaha)
Sure hope you all have a wonderful vacation...For those of you with nothing to do, no big trips planned, then feel free to waste a bit of time hanging out reading my blogs...
As they used to say on the Beverly Hillbillies, you all come back now, ya hear? And feel free to put a comment on the bottom of this blog! It's nice to hear how things are with you!
Off for a dip in the pool 😊
Sal and her little band of merrymakers!
PS Below are a few pictures of our lovely luxury condo and what would be one of my blogs without food pictures 😊
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Susan
non-member comment
Hola from Ottawa
Looks like you are already having a great time. I'm glad you're missing us a little bit. Maybe next time, we'll get there. It looks like paradise! xo