Puerto Penasco: Beach House

On April 9th Ethan and I packed up the car, grabbed the girls and headed to Rocky Point Mexico. I have never been to another country so this was a big deal to me. But thanks to Aunt Kay, this turned out to be one of the easiest vacations I have ever been on. Aunt Kay worked with the landlords on AirBnb and got us a beach house in Las Conchas, Mexico.
Rocky Point has turned into a very touristy area, but it was still very different than the US giving me a great first out of country experience. We owe so much to Aunt Kay and all her planning. We really couldn't have done it with out her.

Since our trip was amazing, I've decided to break it down into 4 parts to help my mind not get overwhelmed with all the documentation. Lets start with the beach house shall we.

I knew we were going to be on the beach. I saw pictures of the house and watched a virtual tour. I knew we were going to be on the beach. And then we pulled up to the house, walked out to the patio, and watched the waves crashing against the beach that was right outside, I couldn't help but think "holy cow! We are RIGHT on the beach!!!" There was nothing in between us and the beach. It was incredible. Obviously being right on the beach is awesome, but the best part about it was that when we wanted to go to the beach, we didn't have to pack up. We could just go. If we forgot something we could yell to someone in the house or heaven forbid, walk back in and get it. Madison could nap in the afternoons because with the baby monitor, we could all still pay on the beach and hear her inside. See where I'm going with this? It really was the best thing in the whole world.

This was literally the view from the back door!! This is at high tide so the water didn't always look this close, but this was the first thing we saw when we pulled up! 

The house itself wasn't the nicest house in the whole world, but it was perfect for our needs. It had tons of rooms, lots of space, and did I mention it was right on the beach becasue it was right on the beach. It was perfect.

Front view

 

Court yard

View from the front door

 

Looking out from the table/couch/ main walk way

 A few steps in and to the left

 The reading area as you head to the patio

 An awesome sea shell mirror and hideous sea shell hanging thing

 

Aunt Kay's room (I didn't photograph Sandy and Brian's room but it was just as cool)

 Our room (Kelsey and Ethan fought over who got the top bunk every night. And yes I took the queen? full? all to myself!!)

 

 One of the bathrooms. The second door in the way back takes you straight outside. We used that door alto to wash off the girls before they came inside. At the time, we didn't realize just how handy it was going to be. 

 Views down the street. Las Conchas is a nice area. I don't know if anyone lives there permanently, but it certainly was well kept and very clean.

I can't explain how peaceful it was to sit on the patio, even with the sun down and the tide out, and listen to the waves crash. Every night I would just sit out there and listen. I don't even love the beach and it was the greatest.

Water at night scares me more than anything in this world excluding scorpions. I hate that you can't see whats in the distance. Maybe is a control thing? Anyways, as scary as water is, sitting on the patio at night hearing the ocean was so relaxing.

This was not my first time at the ocean, but I don't think I have ever been to a part of the ocean where the tides are so drastic. When we first arrived on Saturday afternoon the waves were crashing against our tide fence. By the evening, the tide was about 200 meters away. It was crazy! I've never really seen that. It added a different element of fun because when the tide was away we got to on the coral, look for sea shells, and look for creatures in all the tide pools. I have to say, we also got very good at learning the tides so we knew when we could play  in the water and when we had to play on the beach. When the tides were out at night we would take flashlights and look at the tide pools. We saw crabs, fish, sting ray, sea slugs, a beached turtle :(, a jelly fish that got washed up on shore, and thousands of shelled creatures. It was such a cool and new experience for me.

This is the lowest the tide ever got. The "rocks" are the coral that we would walk on and look for things. When I took this picture I was probably already about 100 meters from the house. The tide was WAY out the first full day we were there.

My favorite part about low tide was the way the sand looked from the waves.

I knew Kelsey would love the beach becasue she proved that in California but I was really nervous about Madison having fun. The first day we when to the beach, she screamed the whole time. She was really scared. Then all of a sudden, seriously with no reason, she LOVED the beach. I honestly don't know what happened but she was in love. She would run to the water, sit in the waves, play in the sand, go out on the paddle board, etc, etc. She got to the point where she would see her swimsuit and let out a laugh of excitement. On the flip side, whenever we had to take her in she would scream. Even in the morning or evenings, when the air was colder and she was turning blue, she would scream when we brought her inside. If people were on the beach, she wanted to be there too. she even started getting into the sunscreen becasue she knew that if we had sunscreen on, we were ready to go.

Kelsey loved the beach. I don't really know if there is much more to say about that, but my favorite part of her whole trip was the fact that she could pee in the ocean. She LOVED peeing in the ocean. I don't know who told her that that was okay (because it totally is I just don't know who told her) but as soon as she heard that she was sold. She has never peed so much in her life. Literally the coolest thing she has ever done ever. When the tide was far, she would yell I have to go potty, and the next thing we would see is her running the 200 meters to get to the ocean. I seriously think she used the toilet like twice the whole trip. I loved seeing Kelsey so happy. She had so much fun being in the sand, and playing in the water, and crashing in the waves, riding the boats, and collecting sea shells. Like Madison, if she heard someone was going to the beach, Kelsey was putting on her suit to join them. Don't get me wrong, many outfits went in the water too, but most times we could catch her before she jumped in with her dress on.
We bought a little puddle jumper for Kelsey to wear so she could go in the water without as much worry from mom but we were so worried that she wouldn't want to wear it. Some how Aunt Kay convinced her that the purple puddle jumper with the duck was the coolest thing in the whole world since sliced bread and consequently we couldn't get Kelsey to take it off. I think she also realized that having it on was fun because it made you float but she loved it so much that at one point she held it in the air and exclaimed "I Love my life jacket!" Honest to goodness, it reminded me of Agnes on Despicable me when she holds the unicorn and goes "Its so fluffy I could die!"

 

Kelsey probably collected 20-50 sea shells a day

This was such an easy, relaxing vacation. Kay, Sandy, and Brian made it so much fun for us. They WANTED to be with the girls leaving me and Ethan "forced" to just sit on the beach. It was so much fun to watch the girls love each and every one of them. Brian would take Madison on a walk down the beach, while Kay would take Kelsey hunting for sea shells, while Sandy was in the house making them a snack. I seriously didn't know what to do with myself. And my girls loved every minute of it. 'Kelsey, want to go to the beach with me?" "sure mom, but is Sandy/Kay/Biran coming? We should probably wait for them." It was adorable.
We don't live near a grandma or a grandpa, but are there better fill ins? I mean really!  Kay, Brian, and Sandy showed so much love, attention, and kindness to our whole family, but especially our girls. They would each wake up in the morning and say "girls, where is my morning hug" or "girls, where is my kiss?" "Kelsey, we should go on a walk and look for ..." "Madison, go get a story so we can read" "Kelsey, can I tell you a story..." and so on. I was almost emotional with the attention and love that my girls got. I am so grateful for wonderful people in my life. I really married into the best family. 

 Rocky Point was such a fun trip. I loved every single second of it. Even the morning that Madison decided to wake up at 5:30 and forced me to watch the sun rise. Side note: sun rise is not as cool as sun set fyi.

Sunset

And because its my blog, here is my favorite picture of me!