Bowman West

Another reason I love October...

Our 2nd annual trip to El Dorado Royale. Adults-only, all-inclusive. Take your chances and book with Orbitz, Travelocity, or the like during peak hurricane season. It's very affordable! Oh, but be sure you get trip insurance just in case. :)

We went with our friends Brook & Amanda (same as last year). Here's Brook & Andy at the airport at 5:00 am (!!!) on the way there. Notice Brook's trip planner binder with the printed cover sheet. OCD. Look how happy they are. They weren't this happy on the flight home since post-vacation depression had set in.

The view from the lobby.

Where the magic happened. And by "magic" I mean the ordering and subsequent eating of many a late-night room service cheesecake and brownie. Yes, it's part of the all-inclusive. That's a dinosaur made out of towels on the bed.

We were also greeted by a snail and an elephant during our stay.

Pic of the beach. On the left is a beach bed. "What's that?" you say. It's just what I said -- a beach bed. A queen-size bed. On the beach. With a roof. And curtains. And pillows. Yes, it's awesome. They're scattered along the beach and surround each main pool.

Our view from the beach bed. This was Andy's view for most of the trip. He made it through two novels and many a Miami Vice (that's a mix of pina colada and strawberry daiquiri). Andy got up at 6:00 am to choose his prime real estate for the day where he would finish his morning sleep and wait for the rest of us to stumble to breakfast.

Andy at a poolside bed. Again, awesome.

You may be wondering what we did with Charlie during our vacation. Charlie got to spend some quality time with his cousins, Jordyn & Landon. This is basically what he did:

I called my sister, Misti, every day to check on Charlie and she always said how wonderful, cute and well-behaved he was. Although he is mostly all those things, I thought that was a little fishy. Later in the week I talked to my mom and she mentioned that she noticed that Charlie has a "little" temper. I knew Misti was sugar-coating it! While we were gone Charlie developed the skills of saying "no way" instead of just "no" and he's now obsessed with climbing on our dining room table. I knew Landon would teach him something new. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure Charlie taught Landon how to say "mine." I guess we're even. It was so fun to see Charlie playing with his cousins, especially since he and Landon are only two weeks apart. I can only imagine the messes they'll get into as they grow older.

All in all it was an amazing vacation but it's great to be home. It's just so hard to go back to the usual grind of ignoring the duties of cooking, cleaning, buying groceries, etc. I'll probably need another vacation soon.