McGRundallness: April 2015

We had a fantastic trip to the Puerto Vallarta area for Alex & Aline's wedding on March 14. They got married at Villa del Cielo, in a lovely civil ceremony officiated by a Mexican civil official and translated into English by a friend of Alex's. The mariachi band entered just as the paperwork was notarized and the novios kissed. Audrey slept during the ceremony so that she could save energy for the dancing. Her strategy for finding dance partners was to stand next to and stare at her intended until they let her cut in. Alex and Aline did an awesome performance of bachata dancing, there was some line dancing that I missed out on while putting the kiddies to bed, and then the dancing really heated up so the bride and groom decided to cool off by jumping in the pool!

More wedding pics here.

We stayed at the villa with family for a week and had some fun adventures including a couple boat outings to remote beaches, snorkeling spots and hikes to waterfalls. One of the hikes was serviced by lots of horses for rent so Audrey and Grandma took a ride together. We enjoyed a few trips into old town Puerto Vallarta to visit some restaurants, check out the beach and malecon and swim in the river. The area of the villa was called Conchas Chinas and the beaches there were little sandy spots surrounded by rocky outcroppings that were easily hopped along to get to the next sandy spot, so that made for some fun exploring and playing.

After everyone else went home we moved along the coast to a resort in Bucerias. It was an all inclusive resort complex so it was very easy. We had a huge kiddie pool just outside our room and the beach was nearby. I got to go on a quick catamaran ride right from the beach. We took one big adventure away from the resort when we went to the sought after Playa Destiladeros, where I had the unfortunate opportunity to meet una agua mala, or jellyfish, other than that it was lovely.