Views

This view is of the elaborate pool area with the Banderas Bay to the right and Puerto Vallarta in the distance built into the Sierra Madre Mountain range.
This view shows the wave pool, the kiddie train tracks, and the canal area for boating or kayaking.
Around the pool area were these canopy beds surrounded by tropical vegetation. I thought it made a pretty neat picture!
Josiah and Mackenzie sitting in one of the lobby areas on a wooden carved crocodile.
The kids and me between the pool and restaurant areas at the resort.

More to come another night! That takes us through the first couple of days in Mexico!

The Grand Mayan Part Two!

This is our room with double tub in the room and the marble bathroom with dual vanities and shower and toilet straight ahead.
This picture is another angle of our room. It shows one of the nice TVs I mentioned earlier! The doorway just beyond the TV (on the right) leads to the kitchen/living area.
This is David and the kids checking out the huge balcony area with private plunge pool. Yeah, we actually had a miniature pool on our own balcony. I know, that's pretty crazy!! The kids LOVED it. They would have been content to spend the day in it, I think.
Here's Josiah and Mackenzie, among all the rafts and rings, in that private plunge pool.

This is Josiah, the day we arrived, inspecting the pool on our balcony!

I would highly recommend this place to anyone! Again, we are grateful for access to such a place.

The Grand Mayan

I decided since it took us a week to take all these pictures, it just might have to take a week to share them post-by-post! I seem to be able to upload only 5 pics at a time. Feel free to enlighten me if you know how to upload more than 5 at one time. Otherwise, I'll just try to update the blog daily this week! This post is about the resort itself. (More about our activities and the kids later.)Mackenzie in front of the kiddie area with the entire Grand Mayan building in the background.
Our "partial kitchen" which included everything a full kitchen would have except an oven. I was very impressed! It even has a toaster, blender, full sets of flatware and dishes, microwave, fridge, freezer, etc.
We had 3 bar stools in the partial kitchen area as well as this kitchen table between the kitchen and living areas. The table seats four. There is a big flat screen TV in all 3 rooms! The living room has 2 couches, both of which have a bigger-than-twin trundle bed underneath them. Josiah (who sleeps in a toddler bed at home) slept in a trundle in the living room. Mackenzie told some people on our flight home that her brother slept "under the couch." Nice. Several rows of people on the plane fell apart in a fit of laughter over that one. After I recovered from my own laughter, I attempted to explain that he really did sleep on a trundle, which pulled OUT from under the couch. HA. :)
This was Mackenzie's room! We were afraid Josiah would fall off the bed onto the marble floors. Otherwise, he could have used the extra bed! The huge wooden "closet" doors opened from the bedroom into the bathroom where you see dual marble vanities, a marble shower, toilet, and double jetted jacuzzi.
This is a closer view of the "kid's bathroom." Needless to say, we were shocked by the space and niceness (is that even a word) of the accommodations!!! Thanks to Mom & Mark's RCI week!!! :)


A Part Two is coming to show our room and the balcony...

Oh, and all of the rooms were connected which was a blessing with the kids in tow! The living and kitchen area is the middle room which lies between both the other two bedroom and bathroom areas.

We're Back!

Yes, that is a cruise ship in the background. No, we were not on a cruise! We were staying at The Grand Mayan in Nuevo Vallarta, which was fabulous! More to come about the resort in another post... This picture was taken in the marina area before we boarded a smaller boat for a two hour tour of the Vallarta area and Banderas Bay. The kids LOVED the parrots!

After being in Puerto Vallarta (well, Nuevo Vallarta, actually) from May 3rd through May 10th, we are home! The trip was fabulous, but we are tired. I am looking forward to creating a post with lots of pictures about our trip to Mexico, but for now...here are just a couple pictures. I will update you more in the near future! Sunsets on the Pacific coast of Mexico are absolutely gorgeous. I just LOVE sunsets!

Mexico!!!

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are very excited about our upcoming vacation to Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico. We will fly Knoxville, Houston, Puerto Vallarta on May 3rd. Our vacation will be a full week and the kids will be going with us. I think they will have a blast in the sand and pools and ocean areas. We have been talking about a beach vacation for over a year now, and it is finally happening! All the reservations are made, airline tickets are booked, and Josiah's passport is ordered. A dream vacation is becoming a reality!!!

The resort we will be staying at is called The Grand Mayan. (That is courtesy of my mom and Mark's RCI week!) We are very thankful to have two rooms with a partial kitchen area, which will make life with the kids easier and cheaper, too. :) I don't know much else about the area yet, other than the resort is in Banderas Bay and framed with the Sierra Madre mountain range. If any of you have been to the Nuevo Vallarta or Puerto Vallarta areas, we would love ideas and suggestions of places to eat, shop, or sight see.

That's all my update for now. Enjoy the weekend!