Two weekends ago we went to visit David’s sister Jennifer in Wisconsin. Since Jen is an interior designer, she often gets gallons of paint for very cheap or free. I was so grateful when Jen offered to give us some paint for our apartment. She helped us pick some colors out, even mixed some paints together to create a few custom colors. What’s even better, is that she is going to try and come out to MN for a few days to help us get things set up and looking beautiful at our place. I was in shock when Jen took us out to see one of the houses she is currently working on. She does amazing work!

We also drove out to Chicago to see David’s grandparents. They took us out to lunch at a cute little diner and we also sat out on the deck and talked. It was very nice to meet them for the first time, they are both very sweet people. Later that day we went to down town Chicago to walk Miracle Mile. It was super busy and the streets were packed with people. After a long day in the city we arrive back in Wisconsin late and tired. It was a fun day though.

The next few weeks are shaping up to be busy and crazy. We have weddings to shoot for the next 3 weekends and then a one week break in October. My Birthday is on October 7th so we’re hoping to go up to the North Shore for a night before coming back in time for the Vikings game we have tickets for on Sunday.(they were a wedding gift from Shawn and Megan.) If only I could actually see the Vikings win for once. Never a boring moment here at the Drufke house.

Arrival in Mexico: Sunday July 20th- Monday July 21st

On Sunday July 20th at 10:30pm we boarded a plane to Mexico. After a 5 plus hour lay-over in Detroit we boarded another plane that would take us to Cancun. We got a taxi and drove the 76 miles to our hotel. The Grand Palladium Resort and Spa is an all-inclusive resort right on the ocean. It’s amazing! When we got to the hotel, we weren’t able to check into our room yet since it was only about 11:30am. We wandered around the resort, ate some lunch, walked down by the ocean… man was it HOT! It was way too hot to be walking around in black pants and a tee-shirt, so we grabbed our swim suits and took advantage of the showers they have in the lobby area. It was one of the top 10 best showers of my life! We eventually got to check into our room, but not before it started to downpour. Thanks to Hurricane Dolly, it started to rain and didn’t let up for the remainder of the day. By evening however, it was dark, cool, and windy which made for a perfect walk on the beach. It was late, we had a long day, but before we went to our room to get some sleep, we stopped by the theater to watch a show. Off to bed so we are awake and ready to have a fun time the next day.

Enjoying the Resort: Tuesday July 22nd

Today we really got to start enjoying the resort. We woke up in time to get breakfast. After breakfast we got our swim suits on and headed to the pool. First stop, the poolside-swim up bar. We hung out at the pool for a long time and then went down to the ocean. I got in the water, but the second I did, I saw two huge fish swim by. One of them actually touched me; I was out of there! I have a huge phobia of fish and sea life which I am completely unable to control. We strolled down the shoreline for a long time. We slowly walked to the salt water pool checking out every shell and all the cool things on the way.

After spending hours and hours at the beach, we decided to take a cab to 5th street in Playa Del Carma to do some shopping. I was glad we went there because David actually got to see a little bit of Mexico and not just the resort. David bought two really cool Mayan masks, and I bought a really pretty bracelet and a Mexican style dress. We had a lot of fun. We got back just in time for dinner at one of the buffets. Tomorrow we’re going to the Ruins for the afternoon. David is super excited to see the Ruins because he really likes that kind of stuff. I hope it turns out to be super cool, and not too hot.

Expedition to the Ruins: Wednesday July 23rd

On Wednesday we took a $20 taxi ride to the Mayan Ruins. By the time we got there the sun was hot and bright, and the place was busy with people all wanting to see the old buildings where the Mayans lived. The self guided tour started out with a 10 minute walk to where the ruins are. I thought it was pretty funny that massive amounts of people were boarding a train that would take them to the ruins. I just couldn’t believe how many people were willing to pay $40 pesos in order to skip out on a short 10 minute walk! When we got to the base of the ruins, we stopped by the bathroom… yikes! Let’s just say you don’t find bathrooms that dirty and gross in America. I was in and out as quick as possible. Haha! We paid the $48 pesos per person and followed the 100’s of other people towards the main entrance. Once we got there we wandered all around, reading the little info posters, taking pictures, and learning more about how the Mayan people lived. The ruins were very interesting; I just wish there weren’t so many people there. It was hard to even get a picture because there were so many people going where they weren’t supposed to and getting in the way. It was all very tourist which kind of took away from the natural wonder of it all. But, besides the blazing heat, and the large amounts of people, it was very cool.

After we got back to the resort, I jumped in the pool as soon as I possibly could. I swam over to the swim up bar and ordered a Miami Vise. Man those drinks a yummy! It is probably one of my new favorite drinks. We both walked down to the beach and started to stole down the shore line. For nearly the next 4 hours we walked along the shore and in the water looking at every little thing that moved. Some of the coolest things we saw were; crabs, hermit crabs, many different kinds of fish, shells, and coral. One thing that we don’t know what it was is this huge blob of white stuff. It looked like a huge jelly fish but it had a bunch of bones, and what looked like teeth. The coolest thing I saw, was a flat fish that totally blended in with the sea floor. It was amazing!

The night ended with dinner at Bamboo. They served Chinese food which was okay, but what was really yummy was the dessert we had! The dessert was chocolate pie with cheese cake and strawberries. If I had known the dessert was going to be so good, I would have just skipped dinner and had dessert twice.

Our Last Full Day: Thursday July 24th

Today we started to get sad because we knew that our time in Mexico would soon be coming to an end. We wanted to get everything in one more time before we had to leave on Friday. We went to breakfast and then came back to our room to start getting things packed up a little. Before long, we were back out at the pool enjoying the hot sun. We went down to the ocean and were very surprised at how much calmer the water was then the day we got to Mexico. Hurricane Dolly and made the waves and tide huge! Now, the waves were back to normal size and the water was calm. We walked on the shore again trying to soak up our last full day at the beach. Before we knew it, it was dinner time so we rushed back to our room to get dressed up. We went to “Rips and More” for a sit down dinner. I got the rips and David got a steak. David said that the steak was one of the best he’s ever had! We both got dessert which, in my opinion was the best part.

After dinner, we went to one of the sports bars for some drinks. The bar was dead and we got talking to the bar tender. He could speak English, but not great so it was fun to try and understand each other. I think he was trying to get us drunk because he served us up several different shots with who knows what in them. I think the last one he made was a little sweet for David. He was ready to get back to the room and lay down. Thursday is over and I’m getting more sad by the minute just thinking about leaving tomorrow morning. I wish we could stay here all Summer.

A Sad Goodbye: Friday July 25th

Today we woke up and was anything but happy to know that we would be leaving to the airport in less than four hours. I wish I could have paused time and stayed at the resort a lot longer. We had to pack up the rest of our stuff before we went to breakfast for the last time. After we ate, we went back to the ocean and walked around longer then we should have. By the time we got back to the room, we had less than a half an hour to get packed, shower, dress, and get down to meet our taxi.

During the 76 mile taxi ride back to the airport there were actually tears shed because of how sad we were to be leaving. We got to the airport with little time for waiting. After spending $2.50 on a can of pop, we boarded the plane bound for Minnesota. On such a sad day, it would only make sense that it was the bumpiest, loudest, most boring plane ride ever! David always gets the window seat, so he took lots of pictures our of the window.

My mom met us at the language claim which was nice and helped us get our stuff to the car. A half hour later, we were back to the love nest, and back to reality. But hey, at least Ringer missed us.

There are a few more pictures of the dam area, as well as Lake Mead, and Kristen and I in the slide show below:

Minneapolis Wedding Photography, Onsite Minnesota

David and I in the California Desert.

We’re back in Minnesota, what a change in the weather! We left Vegas where it was hot and sunny and landed in Minneapolis where it was freezing and snowing. I didn’t think we would be celebrating Easter with 6 inches of snow on the ground.

The last day in Vegas was totally insane! Our flight left at 6:00am on Saturday, so we decided not to rent the hotel room for Friday night. We woke up on Friday at 9:0am and didn’t sleep again for the next 30 hours! By the time our plane landed at noon on Saturday we were both exhausted, hungry, and ready to sleep.

Our time on Friday night was fun though. We got to walk around and see all the hotels and walk the strip. The people watching there is great! We noticed that the streets tend to get louder and louder as the night goes on. The later it gets, and the more people drink, the louder and crazier they become.

We are currently in the process of working on our 3500+ pictures we took while there. As soon as we get through them, we will be posting a bunch of the good, the bad, and the just down right funny ones.

Stay tuned for more great stuff from Vegas!

We will not make it to the opening ceremony tonight which begins at 6:00pm. We are both extremely disappointed to be missing out on Jerry Ghionis who will be speaking tonight at 7:15pm. Tear, sigh, sniff:( Hopefully the rest of the week will go a little more smoothly.

Here we sit, frustrated with the airline and more than ready to get on that plane and get to Las Vegas.