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Adios Thanksgiving!

December 9, 2015

This year, Lacey and I decided to go a different route for Thanksgiving.  Instead of sticking around our home town of Boise, and freezing our asses off, we decided to leave the country and hit the beach for some R & R.  Being that we’re always ballin’ on a budget, we decided to go the very affordable, all-inclusive, Solmar Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  This place is insanely cheap.  From Boise (and I imagine most other cities) you can book a full week of all you can eat and drink (including booze) for about $1100 per person.  That price includes flight. Yeah…insane.  Anyhow, Lacey did a full review on the resort here if anyone is thinking about checking it out.

So this trip couldn’t have come at a better time for Lacey and I.  The weather had been getting colder in Boise, work had been going through a stressful patch, and we hadn’t been on a “do nothing” vacation in a LONG time.  We very much needed it.

My goals for this vacation were as such:

  1. Sleep 8-10hrs a night
  2. CRUSH food throughout the day
  3. Drink 6-8 Pina Coladas per day (sometimes substituted with a different fruity beach drink)
  4. Nap by the pool for 1-2 hrs a day
  5. Take a lazy 15 min. stroll on the beach at some point in the day (you know…gotta stay in shape and all)
  6. Hammer an enormous dinner and a variety of desserts
  7. Watch the sunset
  8. Repeat steps 1-7

We absolutely nailed these goals each and every day we were in Cabo.  Not gonna lie, it actually got pretty hard to keep up with this pace by the time we got to day 6.  I was feeling like an about to explode balloon.  ….but yet, I still powered through the last couple of meals even though I was nowhere near hungry.

Throughout the week, we saw some amazing sunrises and sunsets.  We caught a private boat to the famous Lover’s Arch.  We ate some amazing food…and some that wasn’t so amazing.  We set and broke our own records for blended drink consumption on a daily basis.  The main highlight, however, might have been the super awkward Thanksgiving buffet hosted by the Solmar Resort.

I still want to say thank you to the Solmar for going out of their way to cater towards us chubby Americans on our (eat-your-face-off) holiday.  They put together a solid spread of typical Thanksgiving foods.  There were performers playing what was seemingly a selection of Selena’s greatest hits throughout the evening…which Lacey loved.  I think the main thing that made this dinner awkward was the fact that there were only about 6 people there to enjoy it.  The restaurant is giant, so it seemed even emptier than it probably was.  When the performers finished a song, there was definitely a shortage of claps trying to fill the silence between songs.  Lacey and I were actually kind of dressed up, while the other 6 people in the restaurant were dressed as if headed to a Cousin Eddy look-a-like contest.  There was one 85ish year old lady rockin’ a Tony Romo Dallas Cowboys jersey, so I’ll give her some credit for at least wearing sleeves to the restaurant.  If you watch the vid at the bottom of the post, you’ll get the overall vibe.   AWK-WARD

Lacey and I had fun in Cabo, no surprise there, but would likely subtract a day or 2 from the trip next time.

We left Cabo on a Saturday afternoon and headed for Phoenix to catch a Collie Buddz (reggae) concert.  I’m guessing most of you aren’t familiar with him, but he’s really special to Lacey and I.  We first discovered him years ago on our very first vacation together in Hawaii.  Fast forward to last spring when we used one of his songs as our first dance song at our wedding.  All that being said, we were both really excited to see him in concert.  …we ended up being in the very front row.  It was awesome!  Check the vid on our instagram if you wanna see me killin’ it.

All and all…this was the best Thanksgiving of my life thus far.  I couldn’t be more thankful that I have a smokin’ hot and hilarious wife to spend it with.  We hope you all had a great holiday week as well!

…I’m not sure how X-mas is going to compete with this. Ha.

Additional good news, we put this entire vacation on our Citi ThankYou card and reached the 50k bonus point offer with these expenses.  These 50k points are going to transfer to the Hilton rewards program at a 1:2 ratio.  So thanks to Cabo…we’re getting 100k more points to use for some free nights at a Hilton during our next vacation!

Lacey Airport Cabo

Cabo Airport

Lacey Grand Solmar Cabo

Lacey Cabo Beach

Mat Beach Cabo

Mat-Lacey-Cabo-Waves

Land's End Cabo

Land's End Cabo

Land's End Cabo

Lover's Arch Cabo

Lover's Arch Cabo

Lacey-Boat-Cabo

Waves Cabo

Lacey-Beach-Cabo-Waves

Lacey-Sand-Writing

Mat Beach Cabo

Porch-Sunset-Solmar

Mat-Plank-Solmar

Lacey Cabo Beach

Lacey Sunset Cabo

Buffet-Thanksgiving Cabo

Lacey Thanksgiving Cabo Solmar Resort

Lacey-Sand-Writing

Mat-Toes-Pool-Solmar

Land's End Cabo

Land's End Cabo

Stormy-Sky Cabo

Mat-Waves-Funny

Holding-Hands-Beach

 

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Reviews Travel

Solmar Resort Review – Cabo

December 1, 2015

For Thanksgiving week we decided to ditch the normal cold weather and turkey tradition for getting a tan on the beach in Mexico! Yep, we are totally that couple from the movie Four Christmases. Except we were honest with our families what we were doing.

We decided to stay at the Solmar Resort for a number of reasons. 1. Affordability 2. Familiarity (several of the guests at our wedding stayed there) and 3. They offered an all-inclusive package.

Mat was especially excited about the all-inclusive, because that is the one part about travel that he struggles with-always being hungry. Well, I can assure you, that definitely didn’t happen this trip.

We got in pretty late at night, so all of the restaurants on the resort were closed, which meant we had to order room service for our first dinner. We found out that room service wasn’t included in the all-inclusive package. Bummer. But we found out that because we had the all-inclusive, we did get a 25% discount on room service. Not as bummed now.

I was so exhausted from traveling that I honestly don’t remember the first meal that night from room service. Is there such a thing as sleep eating? If so, that’s what I did.

We woke up refreshed on our first morning and were psyched to finally be on vacation! We of course went straight to breakfast. For my first meal, I had basically an ice cream cone with two mimosas. Not a bad start. The meal I ordered was actually waffles with a side of ice cream, but since they didn’t bring us syrup, I put the ice cream on top of the waffles. Basically a waffle cone.

It took us a couple of days to figure out which meals we liked and which we didn’t. By the end of the week, we were getting the same thing for breakfast and dinner each day. Lunch and mid-day snacks (hey, you can’t expect us to eat only three times a day at an all-inclusive) were a little trickier. We never did quite find anything that we liked well enough to order it again.

We aren’t going to lie, the food isn’t fantastic, but it’s not terrible either. And it’s available anytime between 6 a.m.-10 p.m.

We didn’t try too many different drinks either. Similar to the meals, once we found something we liked, we stuck with it. We had so many pina colladas and mimosas that I think I lost count.

I was impressed that they had fresh juice-but only two kinds: green and orange. And that was seriously the name of the juice. Green Juice. I’m still not sure what was in it (we think kiwis and cucumbers) but I really liked it. It was fresh and sweet at the same time.

The staff of the Solmar were all very friendly. We of course had a favorite waiter, Emmanuel. I’m not sure if we loved him because he was polite and attentive or because we saw him accidentally whack an annoying lady in the head with an umbrella. Either way, he was our favorite. We also loved one lady in particular out by the pool. I especially loved her because she told me that having children was like having a nightmare that lasts forever and you never get to wake up. We laughed so hard! I appreciate the honesty, Irene.

They of course had one “Activities Leader” that, well, led the activities. The resort offered daily Spanish lessons, water aerobics, bracelet making, board games, casino, etc. At the beginning of the week I was very excited and motivated to participate in all of the activities. But as the week drug on, I just wanted to lay in the sun and have Irene bring another round of pina colladas.

The day that there was a “tropical storm” (it was just rainy and windy-not deserving a tropical storm category) I did make a bracelet. The Activities Leader was very kind and attentive to all the guests. He helped me make a bracelet and gave Mat a “special drink” for winning some silly guessing game (guessing how many pages were in a book the activity leader was holding). I call it silly because I didn’t win. Mat now thinks he is a local legend, “El Mateo-Counter of Pages”.

The day it rained I also decided to try out one of the resort’s spa services. Since we had the all-inclusive package, that meant we got an extra free 30 min if we booked a massage. I of course booked a massage. The prices were ok, I guess, depending on what you are used to and what your expectations are. I got a 90 minute massage for $100. That seems pricey because you can get massages in town for $20 (or so I have heard). However I wasn’t in the mood to go traipsing around downtown Cabo looking for a place across the street from a bar called The Laughing Donkey. I also didn’t feel like being uncomfortable/unsafe during my massage, so I chose the lazy/more safe/more expensive option.

The massages are given in these adorable little huts made of what look like twigs at the end of the property line for the resort, looking out over the ocean. Sounds amazing and relaxing right? Well, yes and no. It is amazing if there is nobody on the beach and nobody in the resort hot tub, which is located right beside the huts. Lucky for me, it was raining so there weren’t many people on the beach or in the hot tub, so it was actually nice. The massage itself was fairly standard to other massages I have had in the states. Other than the whole armpit massage thing. And the ringing of some chimes. But other than that, pretty standard.

Overall, we enjoyed our vacation, but decided that maybe five days, not seven, of all-inclusive would have been sufficient.

See our ratings below, based on our four lemon scale:

Room/Grounds –

3 Lemons Rating

 

 

 

Food/drink-

2 Lemons Rating

 

 

 
Service-

3 and a half Lemons Rating

 

Porch-Toes-Solmar Resort

Porch-Sunset-Solmar Resort

Mat-Toes-Pool-Solmar Resort

Lacey-Breakfast-Solmar Resort

Breakfast-Solmar Resort

Lacey-bracelet-making- Solmar Resort

Solmar Resort -Beach-View

Solmar Resort-SuiteLacey-Patio-Solmar Resort

Mat-Plank-Solmar Resort

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Lifestyle

Make the Cake Party

August 2, 2015

Make the wedding cake party in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Radionphotography-266

Let me preface this post by giving you a little background on Mat, and me and funfetti cake. It is our favorite flavor (funfetti counts as a flavor!) of cake, and was long before we met each other. For Mat’s first birthday we celebrated together (six years ago!) I made, with help from my friend Rachel, a double-layer funfetti cake. Anytime we are asked to bring an item for a potluck, you better believe it’s either a funfetti cake or funfetti cupcakes.

When it came to picking out our wedding cake, we discussed how we usually don’t like the taste of fancy cakes, and desserts from Mexico are never sweet enough for me. We were bummed that we were going to have to spend so much money on cake that we wouldn’t even want to eat. We both wished we could have a funfetti wedding cake, but I doubt any bakeries in Mexico (or anywhere probably) specialize in a flavor that is from a box. That’s when Mat came up with the most brilliant idea-we should make our own wedding cake! Not only make it ourselves, but involve the wedding guests and make it into a party! A “Make the Cake” party.

My grandmother, who sadly wasn’t able to travel for the wedding, is known for her cooking and baking skills. She made my parents’ wedding cake as well as several other family members’. She let us borrow her cake plates, cake tiers, pastry bags and frosting tips, which made our wedding cake that much more special and sentimental!

Mat packed the boxes of cake mix and frosting in his carry on bag (which didn’t go over well with security) and we purchased the eggs and oil in Mexico. It worked out well because the kitchen in the villa had two ovens! We decided to do the baking the night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner. That way, wedding guests could participate in the party if they wanted. This turned out to be SO much fun, and the rowdiest party of the week!

Close up of Wedding Cake Mix

Lacey Stirring Wedding Cake Mix

Lacey Laughing Making Wedding Cake

Rachel helped me make a funfetti cake for Mat six years ago, and she helped us make our funfetti wedding cake!

Klena Sisters Baking Wedding Cake

Wedding Cake with Sea in background

Wedding Cake on table

Rachel Klena smiling with Wedding Cake

Mat and Lacey cutting wedding cake Lacey Smashing Wedding Cake in Mat's Face

  Mat and Lacey Kissing by Wedding Cake

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