we went to Mexico!

there's just nothing quite like ditching the daily grind for swimming, sand, sun, sunburns, and smoothies.

 un-highlights:
-M realizing that his passport was expired the night before traveling -us leaving the country without daddy
-the crazy anxiety that accompanies being in different countries than your spouse
-Mark needing to get a root-canal while in Mexico
-finding out that a member of the Canadian Mafia was killed in the Starbucks on our hotel grounds by a member of the Mexican mafia- as in, he came in, shot him three times, just three days before we got there. freaky scary stuff, people.
-Ellie thinking it was hilarious to splash us in the face (grrrr)
-some guy on the beach (who was from Orinda, actually) who made fun of my whiteness after discovering we were leaving the next day. his exact words: "i'd be so mad if i was going home from Mexico looking that white!" thanks a lot, jerk.
-7 days in paradise flying by wayyyyyy too quickly

 highlights:
-M being able to get a same-day passport, making it so he was only a day behind us
-being reunited with daddy safely and soundly on Mexican soil
-Mark getting to pay only a little over $300 for his root-canal (when he would have needed to pay over $1000 in the states)
-Ellie asking to swim 10,000 times a day just like this: "can we swim, can we swim, can we swim?? i wanna swim, i wanna swim, i wanna SWIM!" over and over again. seriously.
-a family feud over poptarts (i'm laughing thinking about it)
-Alice obsessing over "Pa-pa" (what she calls 'Grandpa'), and Ellie obsessing over Grandma...and Grandma saying "i'm drowning in Why's over here" (Ellie is going through a very inquisitive stage, to put it delicately)
-late night talks and laughs
-sunrise beach runs- my fave
-sugary cereal for breakfast (mega treat in our house)
-the most awesome Puerto Vallarta excursion: beginning with M & Jeffy buying they're traditional luchador masks, then impersonating wrestlers, and ending with exploring the city with a native and eating tacos and churros at the most delicious, authentic street vendor ever
-balloon hats
-Alice running straight into the ocean waves. every day. 
-a spa day, including an hour-long massage (aka: amazingness!)
-having the kid areas all to ourselves- made us feel pretty VIP
-practicing Spanish with all the cute little Mexican children (they don't care if you mess up)
-eating the most delicious Fajitas on the Rocks (Fajita Republic), and the even-more delicious (if possible) macadamia nut crusted Red Snapper (Mark's- fancy shmancy restaurant) followed by creme brulee. can you say H-EAVEN?
-Ellie and Alice making cute little friends at the pool
-drinking lots and lots and lots of Pina Coladas. mmmm deliciousness.
-the girls drinking lots and lots and lots of shirly temples/ eating lots and lots of cherries
-sunbathing in a cute new swim suit while reading about useless hollywood gossip in People Magazine
-seeing your little people happier than ever
-getting to spend 7 whole days in paradise with some of your very favorite peeps. it was blissfully wonderful.
-oh, and taking a butt-load of pictures to document everything in between. note: organizing vacation pictures and posts is always a bear, yes? and while it would probably be more organized and less overwhelming to do this post in phases, that's so not my style-- so be prepared to be overwhelmed with Mexican Photographic Awesomeness, Chapman style.

translation: an excessive amount of pictures ahead (and the truth is: i used my camera wayyy less than i wanted to. i'm a freak.)  

consider yourself warned. (about the pictures and me being a freak)

are you still there? 

remember, i warned you there were a lot of photos...

and guess what, instagrams and holgas are still to come (if you can handle it!)

anddddd though they're overwhelming to the masses, i'm so grateful for pictures to capture such a fun trip with my loves. ahhh, i could really go for a pina colada and a sunburn right now. mmm.

xoxo