Wow, was the whole month of October just crazy!  As I'm busy writing essays, applying for college, and working, it's fun to remember the most relaxing vacation I've ever been on: Puerto Peñasco, México.
If you're going to visit Rocky Point, I highly recommend you stay at Bella Sirena Resort.  Although the other hotels are all right smack dab on the beach, this one is set back just enough to have several pools of varied temperatures.
 We spend almost the whole time either in the water or splayed out in the sun {or both, since the ocean was so calm we could take tubes out}.
 Vendors sold homemade tamales and jewelry and lime-sprinkled mangos carved like roses.

Whole schools of fish would pop out of the water, and I even had these two absolutely tiny fish {so clear that I could see florescent organs} that were unafraid and apparently fascinated by the bright color of my swimsuit, since they kept nudging me.  I literally sat there is the shallow sea for ten minutes as the pair refused to leave my side.
At low tide we would visit the tide pools, where boys caught sting rays in cups and I got pinched by a crab.  Rachel and I managed to rescue 10 starfish that had gotten trapped in shallow water and walked in the dark through the rather trecherous sea terrain to a deeper pool.
Our cousins were staying in the same resort, so Paige and I spent hours together in the jacuzzi or beneath the stars on the beach just chit chatting about life and making fun of drunk college guys who tried to hit on us.  That darn girl also got me hooked to Gossip Girl as we stayed up till who-knows-when on Netflix one night as well as a few other chick flicks.
Other adventures ranged from riding on the banana boat {where Sophie was so proud for not falling off when some of the older kids did} to venturing out to the city.  Little shops lined the streets with empenadas and clothing and trinkets.
My birthday is 10/10, the date everyone always says is "lucky."  Weird as it may seem, this year I turned 18, which means that I'm now terrified that I might get framed for some crime and thrown in REAL prison.  Fortunately, it also mean I can buy goldfish, I can give my own permission to get a massage, and I no longer have to abide by city curfew {as if I ever stay out that late haha}.  

the great thing about fall beach vacations is that you can go to the mall where the swimsuits are discounted to $2.97 a piece.  we bought so many it was ridiculous.

I asked my parents to wake me up early that day so I could watch the sunrise.  There is hardly anything more beautiful than the orange sunlight shattering on the sea with that morning breeze tickling your cheek... as we watched, my parents told me {again} my birth story of how, since I was the first baby, my mom had no idea she was in full-blown labor despite the awful contractions because the doctors sent her back home telling her she was full of it {sorry Mom}.
The biggest adventure yet?   We hopped on a boat and went parasailing over the Mexico coast.  I love heights.  How exhilarating it was to be practically flying, nothing below me but the salty wind and a bird's-eye view of the never-ending ocean and the city and the fishing boats with the hundreds of seagulls perched on their sails.   I had Lorde's Team stuck in my head the whole time, so I think I'll have that wonderful memory engrained in my brain every time that song comes on the radio.

that itty bitty shape below is in fact the boat

Birthdays are also a terrible excuse for so much junk food but heyyy it's vacation.  I was also shocked beyond belief at the gifts-- not only a gift card to get my nails done and another for a session with a makeup artist, but I got a new phone!   Thank you thank you thank you!
 
Seriously though, if you're wondering about a nice, relaxing vacation, I HIGHLY recommend Rocky Point.  Despite the rumors, it's safer there than in Phoenix and honestly, tourism is one of their top sources of national income.  I absolutely loved it!