My in-laws just treated my husband, me and our 2 children to a 5 day cruise to Mexico, which was very generous. It was also very stressful.

Ok, I admit it, I'm not good at vacationing. I don't enjoy being away from home and I don't enjoy being with my family 24 hours a day for days at a time. I have always enjoyed my "alone time", but on vacation, you rarely get "alone time". I also think I miss my sewing machine and my computer...a lot.

We did see some wonderful things, though, and had some amazing experiences as you may be able to tell from my photos. One thing I didn't get enough of was just sitting on one of the decks and watching the ocean go by. I think I had a grand total of about 10 minutes doing that.

This was my third trip to Mexico. The first two, I took before I was married, with a girlfriend. We were more like exchange students then, living with a non-English speaking family, and going to school to learn Spanish for 5 days each time. I would be afraid to do it now, but what an amazing experience that was! It was one of those things that I did on a whim. My friend couldn't believe that I said yes when she asked me the first time and when she asked if I wanted to do it again a couple of years later, I jumped at the chance. This was "real" Mexico, not tourist Mexico. We were in a little town called Cuerna Vaca. We went to class during the day and out on the town at night. I probably learned more Spanish in the bars and in the zocalo than I did in class. My friend and I made such an impression in one of the bars that the waitstaff still knew our names when we walked back in 2 years after our first visit!

My son was impressed when I got the chance to use a little bit of the Spanish I had learned when we were shopping in the market in Costa Maya, but I wish I remembered more.