2016 - Playa Del Carmen - Day 4 Wedding Day

Wedding Day!  We finally have made to the day that brought us all down to Mexico.  We woke up excited for the day.  And, I think it turned out even better than Dustin and Kerri had planned.  The day was perfect with beautiful blue skies and a bit breezy.

The day started by me waking up early and finishing my blog from last night.  Following that, I looked into some work email.  By then, Denise was starting to resurrect and I could hear Dustin and some of his friends out in the hallway.  So we put on some acceptable clothes and headed off to the breakfast buffet.  The food here is quite good and tons of it.  So we ate pretty well.  Following our breakfast, we changed into our swim suits and head to the beach for a mid-morning swim in the ocean.  Following that, Travis, Michael, Josh, Brent and I played some volleyball.  A few minutes into it, a fellow from Montreal, Canada asked if he could join us and even the teams.  We said...'Sure'.  He balanced the teams and we played for about an hour or less.  It was fun.  The sun is intense here.  So it was tough for me to get to the ball and stay in the shade!  I was a true disadvantage to my team.  It was quite fun to play.  Following that, we headed back to the ocean for another dip in the sea and then headed back to our rooms to get ready for the wedding.  But before doing that, Denise and I stopped by one of the restaurants by the pool for some cool drinks and some finger foods.  We were not going to do lunch today...and heaven forbid that we would miss a meal!  

The wedding began at 2 PM.  The resort cleared a path through the middle of all the chairs and people out to the edge of the sea.  There were a few white chairs set up there and an arch with flowers where Dustin and Kerri would stand.  Dustin's friend Eric was citing the vows for them and was a bit nervous. They had music.  So when the music started, the wedding party descended from the pool area down to the beach.  Dustin was already standing there waiting.  Finally, Kerri appeared in her beautiful dress. She was escorted by a friend of her father's and Tammy that has been a friend even since the passing of her father.  It was pretty special.  Eric then cited the vows.  They kissed and the picture taking began.  It was a gorgeous setting.  After pictures were taken, we retired into the nice entry hall of the resort and went upstairs for some hors d'eurves and drinks (non-alcoholic, of course, for the Tiner's).  Following a nice visit, we all retired to our rooms to rest, to change and go to the pool or beach.  We had a few hours to kill.  Denise and I went to our room and  researched how we will get to the airport on Sunday.  I like to save Sheckles (pesos in this case) anyway I can.  And to use the city bus to the airport versus the hotel shuttle could save me $40.  So I'm probably going to take the chance and use that method to get there.  We'll see.  I also spent time looking at dives off of Cozumel.  There really are some nice places over there by the island.  I will be back to dive there too.

At 6:30 PM, we all met at the Steak House restaurant for a nice dinner to celebrate their wedding.  A few of us, seeing Lobster and Filet Mignon as two distinct dishes, ordered two plates.  One with Lobster...the other with Filet Mignon.  So good.  There we all toasted the new married couple and watched them cut the cake after dinner.  It was fun.  After dinner, we all walked down to the beach in a darkness of night all.  And under the light of many phone flashlights, Kerri and Dustin took their first dance.  It was really neat...a neat setting.  And basically, that was it.  It was done.  A group of the younger crowd planned to go to the Discoteque and dance the night away.  My eyelids will be closed then!  Anyway, Travis/Mackenzie, Ashley/Brent, Denise and I got together to play cards.  Actually, I'm writing this blog and they are playing.

One last thing, we decided to rent a car for tomorrow to drive to Akumal (to swim with sea turtles) and Tulum.  It should be a fun day. Brent wants us to hurry back so we don't miss a meal!  :-)

Some pictures of the day....

Ashley and Brent after working out.....

Denise beginning her workout....!!!

Some beach volleyball.....

Yes...you finally have hair under those armpits Michael!  Josh can barely look....

Two cute girls.....Mackenzie and Denise.

The wedding preparation.  Ashley did Kerri's (and few other women's) hair.  Way to go Ash!

The 'Preacher Man' and the groom.....

Best Man (Travis) and Maid of Honor (Deej)....

Kerri being escorted....

The vows being said....

Groom and Best Man....

The bride and groomsmen...

The Tiner's (less their better halves)....

The new couple and Travis\Mackenzie....

The new couple and Brent\Ashley.....

The new couple...Dustin and Kerri Tiner.  Welcome to the family Kerri!

A great day....

This is how Denise and I are going to go to our next Wedding Ceremony.  We will look good!

Brent...after polishing off a steak and lobster...headed to the buffet to top it all off!  Impressive!

Another great day in the books!

2016 - Playa Del Carmen - Day 3

The sacred day (other than Dustin and Kerri's wedding) arrived today....scuba diving in the beautiful ocean down here in the Mexican Riviera.  I was not let down!  I obviously could not sleep and when I did, it was cold again.  So asleep by 11 PM, awake by 4:30 AM.  At least my body was rested...just sleep deprived.  I was nervous and excited.  So at 6:30 AM, I got up and showered...just to wake myself up.  I repacked some things and then headed down the road to a hotel hoping a cab would be there.  There was one.  So off we went to the Diversty Dive Shop.  I arrived at the time told us and a young fellow was just opening the shop up.  We talked a minute and then I went back out to the street to watch for the kids (Brent, Ashley, Travis and MacKenzie).  They arrived 5 minutes later.  We spent the next 30 minutes getting wet suits fitted and organizing the gear on to a bike with a huge basket on it.  While doing that, our Dive Master and another young lady arrived.  The Dive Master was from Germany and the young lady (Megan) was from England.  She is certifying to be a Dive Master and she became my buddy for our dives.  Once we were ready, we headed down the street walking about 3 blocks where we came to a beach where their boat was waiting.  It had all our tanks and weights on it.  We just had to get the gear loaded...which the Mexican helpers did.  It was a cool morning...a bit overcast.  We moored out about a quarter to half mile, put our gear on with the helpers helping us and then a nice back roll into the beautiful warm sea.  The water felt so good!  One of my bucket list items was about to be completed.  We checked our weights to see if we were weighted well and then down we went.  Slowly of course.  It turned out that I was not weighted enough and struggled at times with my buoyancy.  They finally got me to about 20 lbs of weight...and all seemed good.  At one point, the Dive Master found a weight belt with all its wieights on the sea floor....so he used some of the weight to put on me!

We did two dives...one dive took us south as that was the way the current took us.  But it was not planned to be that way. The Dive Master thought the current was going north.  As a result, we did not see much of the reef system.  But it was a first good practice dive for me...I think all of us.  After the first dive, we were on the surface for about an hour visiting and talking.  And then we went down a 2nd time....this time a bit north from where we started the first time.  This time there was plenty of reef and marine life.  My buoyancy this time was perfect and I really did well keeping my neutral buoyancy.  Have a I said how much fun it was?!?!  :-). 

After diving, we walked back to the Dive Shop (albeit I think they replaced my shoes with someone else's!  I swear they feel so different.).  We hailed two taxi's...one for the kids and one for me.  I arrived back at Casa Almendra where Denise was all packed up and ready to move to the Riu Palace Mexico for the wedding festivities.  

The Riu Palace Mexico is beautiful...our room is so much better here at the resort.  It even has blankets for our beds which made a big difference on sleeping last night (yes...I'm writing this in the morning as we were up way past our bed time last night).  We finally slept warm...albeit in two beds since they just take two double beds and put them together.  And the sheets are so tightly tucked into the mattress....well I felt like I was in a straight jacket all night!  But I was warm!

It was so good to finally meet up with Kerri and Dustin.  This is their big event and things are going so well.  They found out the costs were going to be significantly less due to some things they had planned to do differently.  So that was good news to them.  Upon arriving our room was not quite ready, so we headed down to a Mexican restaurant for a quick lunch.  Really yummy it was...and Denise and I were in hog heaven having fasted at our BNB.  Ashley & Travis's BNB had a big spread laid out for them...Ashley knowing that I was getting nothing....brought me a breakfast sandwich to the dive shop.  I knew there was a reason Heavenly Father sent her to us!  So thoughtful...love you Ashley.  Anyway, back at our BNB, Denise woke up to a small scrambled egg, dry toast and a bit of juice.  She was still fasting unfortunately.  :-(   Oh...back to lunch.  I wish I had taken pictures of Brent....the man has died and arrived in heaven.  So much food, anything to drink...what else could this man want!  We ate like little piggy's then went back and got our keys to our rooms.  

Our room is very nice...quite big.  We are ground floor with a terrace off to a garden court yard.  Anyway...no one wants to hear about the room.  So off we went to find Dustin.  He was waiting at the pool with two smoothies in hand for his mom and dad.  What a good son.  I did not tip him though!  So good.  The sun had finally come out as I said when diving late morning and was still out.  It finally felt warm...like we thought it would.  We just laid around the pool talking to Dustin's friends and Kerri's family.  Trevor Moore is here.  Eric Ransdale...a Coast Guard friend.  And Riley Curtis...another long time friend from Utah.  Great to see these guys.

Dinner was held at the Italian restaurant.  They reserved almost the whole thing...27 guests.  The food was great and visiting was fun.  While we were there, Mike and Josh (Denise's brother and nephew) arrived.  It was great to see them.  They are going to be here into next week and have a few days of diving that they are going to do.  I should stay with them!!!  Anyway, after dinner, it started to sprinkle rain a bit.  But that did not stop us to go sit outside and visit.  Brent and others found the buffet...which contained cracked lobster tails I might add...and had a 2nd course in the buffet.  I think Travis and MacKenzie did also.  

To conclude, we all went to the 'show'...which was a 'game show' that required people from the audience.  Well...the audience that was selected mostly from Dustin and Kerri's party.  Dustin, Travis, Eric along with Kerri and her friend were participants.  It was a silly thing and I felt like I was watching some of the Spanish channels back home....the not so good ones!

Well...another very fun day in the books.  Now we focus on Dustin's wedding.  I'm so excited that their special day that they have been looking forward to is finally here.

Some scuba pics....a good one of me saying that I'm having a blast!  Thank you, Travis, for being a good son and being the underwater photographer.  You did AWESOME.  We all cannot wait to see all the footage!

The photographer and his wife (Mackenzie and Travis).....they don't need air apparently since they don't use their regulators!

Some big fish I found...Ashley and Brent!

The whole gang...we had so much fun together.  Missed Denise though!

Brent and Ashley in the foyer of the Riu Palace Mexico....we've arrived to Paradise.

Room decorations....

Pics of our room.  As I said it was large and nice....

Denise...like all of us...bellied up to the bar for unlimited, NON-ALCOHOLIC, drinks!

Pool side lounging...

Italian food in Mexico....Cassidy is actually in Rome, Italy and enjoying the real thing.  We miss both Karlie and Cassidy (and their husbands).  We wish they could be here!

Dustin, Trevor and Riley.....great friends.

Ashley, Michael, Denise and yours truly....

Even too much sugar can get you 'drunk'....look at these crazy ladies!

They happy couple...so glad to be here with family.  Makes the trip so much fun!

2016 - Playa Del Carmen - Day 2

Our second day was a really fun day.  The night of sleeping was pretty bad.  Believe it or not, we were cold all night.  We only had two sheets on us...no blanket....and we were cold all night.  But there is nothing that we could do.  No one lives here.  As a matter of fact, Denise and I are the only one's here tonight as I write this.  I've stayed in a good number AIRBNB places.  But the hospitality of the host is not a good one.  Their place is clean and nice...but when talking to our kids...who are having a great experience with their host....it is night and day.  Our breakfast...small glass of juice...a plate of fruit, Melba toast...and that is it.  No filtered water to fill our bottles up with anywhere in the house once the maids leave.  It is quite bad.  I've sent a few emails to the host...no response.  Oh well.  I will not provide a good review.  The kids...their host has rolled out the red carpet for them.  Great breakfasts, hails their cabs, gives them great info...really there to host and accommodate.  We are wishing that we were with them.  And they paid much less than us.  Our only advantage was that we are a bit closer to the ocean...one block.  They are maybe 3 blocks away...once they were given a key to a gate to cut through the neighborhoods.  One more night and then we are on a 5 star resort, which Dustin says is just wonderful.

After breakfast, we decided that we all could not fit into a cab.  So the kids caught their own cab to XPLOR park.  We walked down to a hotel a few blocks away and found taxi's there.  So off we went to  this amusement type park...which had basically 5 activities...zip lines (14 stops), Amphibious vehicles that took you all over this place and into underground caves, a raft float through caves, swimming a river that went through caves and a buffet...finally some good food for Denise and I.  Each of those things took about 1.5 hours to do.  We got started at about 10 AM and we left at about 5 PM.  We hit the buffet at lunch and for dinner...just before closing.  Pretty nice.  All of the attractions were a part of the cost...other than paying the entrance fee...no other costs.  Pretty nice.  And....it was SOOOOO fun.  Zip Lining was amazing.  Lots of spiral staircases.  Denise did amazing with her newly repaired knees.  I never thought I would like Zip Lining...but it was fun.  All of it was so fun.  The day went by so fast.  I'd recommend this to anyone who likes these types of adventures.

Upon leaving the XPLOR park we tried to hail a cab to take us to two locations in Playacar.  A guy directing Taxi traffic hailed a van that we all could get in.  He told us it would be 400 pesos.  It would have been 200 for each car if we would have jumped in two taxis.  So we jumped in the van.  As we pulled out the driver asked how much we were told it would be.  When I said 400 pesos, he hit the brakes and said he could not do it for that.  We said, take us back then.  So back we went to get into two distinct taxis....which we did.  So illogical...but apparently their rule is a van is 400 pesos and they can only make one stop...even though the 2nd stop is fairly close to it.  Oh well...we made it back to our BNB.

After a bit, the kids found a path to get to our place and we headed out to the beach in hopes to see Dustin and Kerri.  We booked these BNB's thinking they were close to his resort.  Turns out...we are not.  It is a lot farther than we realized...a good half to three quarters of a mile down the beach.  So we probably will be taking a taxi to their hotel tomorrow.  We did meet up with. Dustin and Kerri down the beach as the sun went down.  It was good to see them.  They had a good day sorting their wedding day out.  They found out that it is going to be a lot cheaper than originally planned.  So they are really happy about that.  All their guests are arriving with everyone being here by tomorrow night.  

After visiting with them a few minutes, we slowly walked down the beach and back to our BNB.  Tomorrow is the day we have been working for...at least us scuba divers.  We will make our first ocean dive.  We are all excited..yet nervous.  I need to get some rest tonight and stay hydrated.  We'll see how that goes.

Some pictures from today.....

Casa Almendra...where Denise and I are staying.

Quick little walk in the morning.  The 'road' behind me is where the kids went last night and jumped a fence.  It is actually not a road...but a driveway now.  But Google still thinks it is a road through.  Funny....

On the beach in the morning.....

Ready to go have fun at the XPLOR park....

A couple of the zip line towers.  14 in total.  On zip line took 80 seconds to traverse...pretty long...pretty fast.

A few of the zip lines ended in water....like this one.  You really got drenched!

Happy campers at the buffet!!!

Found this couple on the beach... Ashley and Brent enjoying the soft sand between their toes.

The group...Brent, Ashley, MacKenzie, Travis and Tim.

The whole group.  Kind of dark...the lady who snapped it was a bit far.  Oh well.  MacKenzie, Travis, Ashley, Brent, Dustin, Kerri, Denise and Tim.

The couple to be married with the grooms mother!

Great day.....

2016 - Playa Del Carmen - Day 1

Our trip down to Mexico for Dustin and Kerri's Wedding is finally underway.  It was a sleepless night anticipating our 3 AM wake up to get ready to be at the airport by the desired time of 4:25 AM.  We had Karlie and Neza stay the night so that they could drive our cars home at some point while we were away.  We appreciate them so much for doing that.

Since we all flew Southwest down...we were able to stay together for a few minutes in SLC.  But then Dustin and Kerri headed to Denver and then to Cancun.  All the rest of us (Brent\Ashley, Travis\MacKenzie and Tim\Denise) headed to Dallas, then to Houston and then Cancun.  For us the only flight full was the one leaving SLC.  The other two legs were not...so we could spread out a bit.

We arrived on time in Cancun at 5:50 PM...and then the games began!  We scooted through customs and came out to a driver holding my name.  Our driver was named Fernando.  He was quite gracious as we learned a bit about him and his family.  By the time we arrived in Playa Del Carmen, it was dark.  And, it was hard to find our one stop...our BNB.  But eventually we found it.  This was where Denise and I were staying.  And the others were in another set of condos close to where we were staying...or so we thought.  This shuttle company would only make one stop here and we chose our place.  So we entered our house and the kids started off walking to where they thought their place was.  After I lugged our bags upstairs, we explored a bit.  The room is nice.  We have a nice terrace to go out on to.  When I went into the bathroom and looked out the window...there was Ashley, Brent, Travis and Mackenzie.  The road that they thought they should take turned into a path that seemed to end up in someone's property.  The map software shows it as a 'road'.  Anyway...they did not know what to do.  So they came back to ask our home owner.  The lady told them it was ok to go through using that path and to take it until they get to their road.  Well...I'll have to have Travis or Ashley tell their story....but they ended up climbing over rock fences, being stopped by security guards who thought they were trying to break into the neighboring resort...all with their suitcases in tow.  I would have loved to see that.  And...the security guys did not speak English.  So Brent, being the linguist that he is, used his San Diego Spanish to try and communicate his way to the road they needed to be on.  They finally made it.  Then the next problem....where to eat.

I worried about the location I chose in Playacar.  It is away from downtown Playa Del Carmen but close to the resort we will be on Thursday.  The problem is that stores and things are fairly far from where we are and getting a taxi from our place...well...not possible.  So we are going to have to figure out how to get to the kids' place as they are on a nice highway where taxis are running.  Tomorrow we are going to XPLOR park.  We will need to figure the transportation thing out quickly.  But tonight, Tim and Denise are fasting.  The others called a pizza to be delivered.  We are learning.  Dustin and Kerri are eating like kings on the nice resort.  Live and learn....

Now one funny thing...kind of gross.  Our bathroom has a sign that says 'Thou shalt not flush toilet paper down the toilet!'  Really?  We are both wondering how that will work out if we were to put it ALL in the waste basket.  That is going to be horrible.  I'm not sure I'm following that rule.

Here are some pictures of the trip so far and our room....

SLC Airport...Kerri, Dustin, MacKenzie & Travis

Dustin & Kerri on their way....Dustin only uses one earphone...not sure why!  :-)

The road warriors.....Tim & Denise.

The group on their way to Dallas....

Cancun....finally!

The porter bringing the luggage up the small staircase...

Our veranda outside our bedroom....there are 4 bedrooms that they rent out in this house.

The 'tiled' shower.  The shower head is good for Rudy Gobert!!!

Tucked in and ready for the next adventure in our lives.....day one in the books!