Three Peerys in a Pod: Hola de los tres ninos pequenos

I spent 4 days in Cancun at a conference last week (Thursday - Sunday). Fifi and Jerry came down to stay at the house and help Thomas and Layla out with the boys, and MaSha spent a lot of time around here as well to be an extra pair of hands and visit with family.

The resort in Cancun was beautiful, the water was so bright blue and gorgeous and it was nice to see some friendly, familiar faces, but it sure was brutal to be in a conference room looking out at tropical beach. The conference agenda was full and did not allow for any free time at the pool or beach. My mind kept repeating this phrase: so close...yet so far away! My co-worker and I did skip a few sessions on Saturday afternoon to get a little beach time and it was amazing. We also got a chance to go by the Cancun flea market (yes, that's literally what it's called and the sign on the building proves it) and I got these adorable kid-sized sombreros for the boys. It took some negotiation skills/haggling on the price and a lot of searching to find 3 that were the same. I also got some Mexican vanilla extract, which is supposedly awesome, for Fifi, MaSha and me.

Pictures of the boys with their sombreros once I got back. Stokes especially did NOT want to wear his and would take it off the second Thomas got it on his head. That being said, he wasn't really a willing participant for my little photo shoot. We gave up after several attempts. These are the best out of the attempts, if that shows you anything. Don't worry, amigos, I will try again on another day when Thomas and I both have some patience built up haha!

So we got to Cancun on Thursday and had a welcome reception on the first evening. After the welcome reception, a group of us went to a nearby seafood restaurant and had the longest dinner. It was a nice restaurant and the food was excellent, but they took their time between courses and there were several people at the table who had a hard time keeping their eyes open! No kidding. We didn't get back to the hotel until around midnight (which was 1:00 AM ESD) after a full day of traveling and networking that evening. We were all exhausted. Whew.

But guess what - I'm dedicated when I decide to do something! And I'd already decided that I was going to work out on Friday morning. Since I never work out at home, I've decided that when I travel for work, I need to make it a priority to work out. Pretty much all the hotels where I stay have gyms so it's just a matter of packing my work out attire. It didn't appear it be a good area for running on the beach (not due to sketchiness, but more like no packed sand - it was too soft until you got to the water and I wasn't sure how far I could go in either direction), so I hit up the resort gym. I got on the treadmill and the wall in front of me was all windows so I could look out to the beach and ocean. I saw a few people swimming in the ocean and it dawned on me how awesome that would be. I didn't have enough time to fit in a swim that morning, due to timing and when I had to be at breakfast, but I made a point to run down there and stick my toe in the water. Then I participated in a full day of meetings and went out to dinner that night. Luckily we got in much earlier on Friday night than on Thursday night.

So on Saturday, I woke up earlier than I had the day before, hit up the gym for a quick work out and then changed into my suit and went swimming. I'd tried to convince a few of the other girls to meet me out there, but they decided to sleep longer (which I totally get) and so I was solo, and that was OK. The water was pretty chilly at first, but I got used to it very quickly and it was so refreshing once I finally dove it and got my head underwater. I swam out to the floating dock and just laid there, floating in the current and closed my eyes. It was early enough that no one else was really out there and it was the epitome of peace and serenity. I did a little devotional and then swam back. I felt really good about it. It started my day off in the most perfect way. We sat through a morning full of meetings, but ditched out on afternoon sessions to spend just a little time on the beach (and saw plenty of other conference attendees at the pool/beach as well...just sayin'). I mean, it's seriously torture to be in such a beautiful place and not get to enjoy it at all. That evening, we had the closing ceremony and they had fire dancers for entertainment. It was awesome. There were 4 of them and they had different talents and different fire instruments and everything was set to the tune of some bongos these other guys were playing. I didn't take any pictures, but now I wish I had. I think everyone really enjoyed it! I called it a night early since I was leaving the next day.

Since I'd had such an incredible swimming experience on Saturday morning, I chose to get up extra early on Sunday, the day I was leaving, to get one more swim in. I made it down there before sunrise and swam out to the floating dock again. I was out there and got to watch the sun rise. Ahhh. I'm being taken back there mentally just thinking about it. I did another devotional and just soaked up the calming effects of the ocean and the complete and divine peace I had out there. I didn't want to go back...but I did, finished packing, had one more delicious breakfast and grabbed my ride to the airport. It was a great conference and I'm glad I got the opportunity to spend a little time on the beach. I'm even more thankful for those mornings by myself with the ocean and with God.

Views from Cancun

View from my room's balcony
Just look at that water!!!

View of pool and beach from balcony

Morning time selfie, post-workout on Friday.
Just dipping my toe in, no time to swim!

Ahhh...paradise
View from the hotel while I was going out for
my Saturday morning swim

The ocean was so calm! This was around 7 in the morning.
See that thing out there in the ocean? That's the floating dock!

Ready to begin a new day,
post-swim on Saturday!
Selfie from balcony

Playing hooky and went to the beach Saturday afternoon

There is a lighthouse near the resort. The story I heard is that our resort is on the Gulf of Mexico but on the other side of the lighthouse is the Caribbean Sea. The lighthouse was a short walk away, so I had to go check it out. These are all pictures I snapped during my walk.

Through a thatched roof cabana

The lighthouse

Ahhh, heaven

I walked over all the rocks to go to the other
side of the lighthouse so I could put my feet
in the Caribbean ocean. There wasn't any
beach on the other side, just rocks!