September and Girls Trip to Mexico

September means school is back in full swing and football season has begun!  The sweet Cole's gave us their tickets to the Tennessee game on Septmber 7th against BYU.  It was such a fun game and one of the most exciting I've ever been to.  Losing to BYU was rough to say the least but it was a really fun day on Rocky Top!

Towards the end of September my girls and I took our annual trip!  This was a tradition we started the year we turned 40 and it has continued on.  We look SO forward to this every year!!  We were planning to go back to Destin when Misty found a great all inclusive deal in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico.  We left on a Wednesday afternoon and drove to Nashville to spend the night and catch an early flight to first Atlanta (we gave Misty fits over this... bless her heart, she's not one for details LOL!) and then onto Cancun.  Yes, we drove 2.5 hours to fly to Atlanta (only 1.5 hours away from Chattanooga) but we chalked it up to an adventure.  

This year we had the added surprise of baby Henry joining us!  When we planned this trip in May we had no idea a little bundle was on its way.  Needless to say, Leslie and Sean were in shock and awe for a while but we can't wait for this sweet boy to get here in February!!  God's plans are always bigger and better than ours!

Dinner at Darfon's in Nashville and the Embassy Suites...

We were up bright and early the next morning for our flight.

We stayed at the Sandos Carocol Resort in Riveria Maya, Mexico.  It was about a 30 minute drive from the Cancun airport.  It was very jungly, full of nature and animals and so beautiful!  We saw all kinds of animals just walking around the resort. 

Iris and I shared this room...

The cenote behind the main lobby.  It was a fresh water spring that felt amazing.  It was really hot there and even the pools were warm.  We sadly waited until the last day to get in the cenote and wished we had discovered it earlier.  Leslie kept herself coated in bug spray and fought the heat the whole time we were there.  She was such a trooper!

We went up to see Misty's penthouse room and within 5 minutes of looking out over her balcony, monkeys came jumping through the trees and landed on her railing.  I screamed of course and ran to the other side, but they were so sweet and cute!

A peacock walked right in front of me on the way to the pool...

We were staying in the adult only section that had a beautiful pool.  We all grabbed a cocktail and took a dip while the rain poured down.  Next to the pool was our favorite restaurant on the resort a Brazilain themed place where we ate dinner and ended up eating breakfast there nearly every morning.

The first morning we woke up, we hit the beach.  Since we stayed in the adult only side, we had access to these beach beds which were fabulous.  We had spa appointments for a massage and facial that afternoon at the resort spa.  We lounged, ate, drank, read and talked all morning with this beautiful view...

Cozumel in the distance...

That afternoon after our treatments we enjoyed the spa pool before dinner...

Dinner at the Brazilian restuarant...

After the first day, we discovered these massage huts on the beach just to the side of our beach beds.  For $25 you could get an hour long message on the beach with the waves and the wind.  YES, please...everyday!!

The beach lady that does massages little girl.  She was precious!

The resort was really spread out, so golf carts would come get you to take you place to place if you called them.  We walked a lot but it was nice to grab a cart every now and then...

Our dinner at the Hibachi restuarant... such a cool place!

The last day before we left for the airport, Misty, Leslie and I swam around in the cenote while Iris and Jill got their last message on the beach.  The water was so cool and refreshing, it was just what we needed!

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  

A few drinks for the road...

Back at the airport, I bought Jimmy one of these shirts.  I couldn't resist...

The flight from Cancun to Atlanta was great but once in Atlanta we realized they had cancelled our flight to Nashville and bumped us to a flight that left 2.5 hours later.  We were already ill about having to fly and then drive home from Nashville rather than just head straightt home from Atlanta.  Leslie's car was at the hotel in Nashville, so I offered to stay and fly by myself to Nashville and let all the hard working girls that had to be back to work in the morning just Uber home from Atlanta.  I really meant it, but they refused and we all settled in to the Delta Sky Club to wait on our much later flight while Misty called all the big wigs at Delta and got us all $100 vouchers!  We got a little silly by that point because we were SO ready to be home and pulled out our sombreros we had bought our boys from the trip for a picture.  Lol!

I realized at 10:00 p.m. in an Atlanta airport bathroom mirror that I looked like I still belonged on a beach in my sundress, straw hat and flip flops.  It's hard to let that lifestyle go.  By the time we got to Nashville it was well past midnight and I drove us home praying I would stay awake long enough to get over Monteagle.  I pulled into my driveway at 3 a.m.  It was such a wonderful trip and I adore these girls so very much!

Back in the real world, homecoming dress up days are always fun... and stressful.

Disney day...

Traveler Tuesday...

Animal Kingdom day...

Character day (she was Jojo Siwa)...

Keatyn decided to try Cross Country this year!  She did SO good and improved her time so much over the season.  I was super proud of her.  Her and Emerson ended up making it to the State in the top 10 for our school as 3rd graders!  The season started off with the first run in the pourimg rain and then every meet after was literally 100 degrees outside.  I couldn't imagine running a mile in that heat and there were many kids that crossed the finish line in tears but she was always so tough and powered through.  By the time she got to regionals at Brainerd High school and to State in Knoxville, the temperature had dropped by about 35 degrees making it much more pleasant running weather!  

On to October and cooler weather!