I started out my weekend with a trip to Madison, Indiana for the Indiana Mayor's Assistant Conference. Drove there (4 hours) Wednesday afternoon and returned on Friday. Certainly a beautiful city, but I had been there once before. A nice getaway but didn't enjoy the drive. Came back and got to go to dinner with Lina. Good catching up with her. And on Saturday morning had to do some MYAC volunteer hours at Central Park (7 am) but left at 11 am so the kids/grandkids and I could enjoy the Blue Gold game at 2 pm. Joanna came up from Indy also. The weather was a little cold first thing (40's) but warmed up for the game into the 60's and sunny! Perfect. Always such a tease for football! We can't wait for this season! And of course, it was Lennox's birthday so we tried to make her feel extra special! This morning I continued my 5k training for Sunburst and did a nice Pilates workout. Gabi and I went to lunch, came back and she helped me do the yardwork. Enjoyed blizzards on the front porch this evening. Not ready to go back to work in the morning, but all good things come to an end I suppose.
Luke Combs put on an awesome concert at Notre Dame last night. He brought 3 other artists with him but only really interested in seeing Dierks Bentley beforehand and we made it just before he came on. The concert started at 5:20 pm, I got there about 7:15 pm and Dierks came on at 7:30 pm. He played for about an hour and Luke Combs came on just before 9 pm. Luke put on a show for a good 2 hours! It was so cool and he sounds just as good live as recorded. Great show at a great place!
Gabi signed up for one of the half marathons I have always wanted to do, but never got to...the Holy Half at Notre Dame. It's a race that is not highly advertised and is capped at 1700 people but fills up quickly since it is mostly run by the Notre Dame students. It was her first local half so many people came to support her. The weather was pretty much perfect...partly cloudy and in the 50's. My parents, Trenton, Tyler and his babies, Journei, Brit, Presley and several of Gabi's co workers came to cheer her on. And to top off this great race...she PR'd! She finished in 2:23 and did it with bad shin splints. Very very proud of her!
Working in the mayor's office in Mishawaka keeps me in the loop about special things the city does for our veterans, etc. And with my dad being a veteran, I decided to do a Hometown Heroes banner for him (for his birthday and Father's Day) this year. His banner will be put up every year in downtown Mishawaka from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I am having it hung on the Northwest corner of Front St. and Main St. (the place I turn every year going to and coming home from work) so I can see it almost every day. He loved it. Now he has a brick in Central Park and a Hometown Banner that will be hung.
I had quite a bit of comp time saved up that needed to be used and Gabi had a big chunk of days off so we planned a mother/daughter trip to get away and get some vitamin D! We were not disappointed at all and in fact, are planning another one next year! I had Good Friday off anyways, so I only had to use three days total. We decided on Haven Riviera Maya (a resort that Gabi had done a destination wedding to a couple of years ago, so she was familiar with it). We originally wanted to go to Puerto Vallarta, but the weekend we were planning to book, the cartel decided to cause some chaos. We changed to destination to Cancun at that point. We left early on Wednesday and arrived in Cancun around 1 pm. We checked out the place and got settled in. We were very tired from the trip so we didn't do too much. Just familiarized ourselves with the resort and ate at the buffet. Thursday was pretty cloudy but warm. I will take it! Especially over the 40 degree weather we have been having at home. We also knew the weather would be a little cloudy so we booked a massage for that day. We took our time getting up and did a quick little workout first thing. We laid by the pool for a bit and went straight to our massage. It was heavenly! The best I have had! We ate at the Mexican/Steakhouse and it was delish! The tableside guac making was pretty cool. Super fresh guac and chips! Later that night we went to a burlesque show and got some good laughs watching a little bit of "magic mike" moments. Friday morning was nicer so we laid by the pool all day! And in normal resort mode went up and got ready for our evening dinner at the Asian Fusion restaurant (Satsu) around 4 pm. We got plenty of sun that day and definitely looked forward to the next day - which was to be all sun! We also caught the mexican show in the evening and got pulled up on stage to do some dancing. Plenty of laughing! Saturday would be our last full day so we made the most of it. Laying by the pool again, getting more sun - a little burnt, but not too bad. The resort was at about 80 percent and it was perfect. Not too crowded at all. Ate at the fanciest place, Olio - Mediterranean. It was a beautiful view. We soaked it all up. We then went up to Limes (the bar) and just enjoyed the view outside from atop the resort. Below are some highlights from our trip:
-Rained on and off a few times, but alot like Florida. A quick little rain out of nowhere, but lasted just a few minutes
-Loved the breakfast bar. Gabi and I loved the avocado toast. She also loved the mango...me- the plantains of course.
-Met a cat we named "Whiskers" who made her way around the resort. She would find us alot and we enjoyed the greeting. We even fed her some sausage the last day.
-Met some pretty awesome bartenders, Eli and Misael. They made us up some pretty tasty drinks and kept them coming. Also Wilbert at Olios was a fave. He was just so happy about the food he was presenting. We loved it!
-Met some Canadians - Beth and Bob Bell. They loved to talk but it brought lots of laughs for us
-We loved the hammocks on the beach, but the seaweed was not appealing. We wished it was cleaner
-Seemed windy alot of the time. We wondered if it would have been calmer in Puerto Vallarta.
-We enjoyed working out in the gym but wished more of the equipment worked.
-Cancun airport was a zoo. Our connection in Atlanta was pleasantly easy on the way back. Minneapolis was a nice airport but we learned to not offer to "check our bags" especially when they were actually checked instead of handed off on the bridge in Cancun. It defeated the purpose.
-We would definitely do one more night. 5 nights would be ideal.
-We enjoyed the "chill" pool much better than the wild side. We also preferred to be on that side of the hotel as well. Easy walking.
-Saw three large iguanas...not many lizards. In fact, the only time we saw a lizard was when we were feeding "Whiskers" and she jumped on a tree to try and catch one!
-Favorite drink for me was the kiwi marg on ice with tajin
-Loved the cute little coffee shop to get a quick treat or ice cream
Below are pics from our trip. I would definitely recommend a mother / daughter trip for anyone with a daughter. It was just a beautiful time all around. And I felt like I grew even more as a person, doing this trip, just the two of us. Loved every moment. Made lots of memories.
