Three Days in Mexico

 We just returned from another fabulous spring break trip to Puerto Penasco, Mexico.  We went last year and had a great time, and this year was even better.  We rented a house on the beach and D's parents took the train in to join us for the trip.  The kids spent the whole time on the beach and the grown ups relaxed a bit.  We're already talking about going again next year!

D's step-mom and dad came in a day early and the kids put them right to work grandparenting

The drive takes us about 6 hours (including a stop for lunch) and goes through the beautiful desert of the southwest and the Organ Pipe National Monument.  The kids watched movies and did activity books and the drive went smoothly

The house we rented had three bedrooms and two bathrooms and was just the right size for our family.  It was wide open, easy to clean and had a large deck looking out over the ocean.

The first evening we headed into town for dinner.  It's definitely spring break in Mexico so we went early to avoid the crowds

C and I

A gorgeous sunset

A little quiet time for me, alone with the sunrise

How we eat breakfast at the beach

A peaceful moment

The tide was out in the morning so the kids beach-combed for crabs and other critters

The mango sellers made a killing every time they came by the house!

A little quiet time while waking up from a nap

D brought out his kites and showed off for the kids

What could make this house even better?  A stack of old National Geographics to flip though!

D took the kids out paddling in the kayak on the second afternoon

D and his kitchen helper

 I kept the meals for this trip very simple: lunches were pb&j's or hot dogs on the grill and we bought fish and shrimp from a local market for the dinners.  One night we had shrimp linguine and the other we had these yummy fish tacos made by D and his dad (and Earth!)

Morning selfies

The whole family

There's the boys!

On our last morning we bought breakfast burritos and chiles relenos from a vendor on the beach.  D took the kids down to play one last time and I had a quiet breakfast with an old National Geographic

Can you see the kids, beach-combing one last time?

Squirliness (is that a word?  It is in our house, at least) set in just as I finished packing and D started loading the truck so I rounded up the kids for a game of hide-and-seek. 

Found you, Sky!

We got used to taking long vacations while we lived on Kwajalein- most people would leave the island for three weeks or more every year- but it was really nice to have a long getaway weekend.  All the planning and packing is so much simpler and no one was stressed from travel at the end of the trip.  I'm so happy that we've found some place like Puerto Penasco that we can escape to and we're already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Do you prefer short or long vacations?  Do you go to the same place every year or explore someplace new every time you travel?

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