OCEANSIDE -- The Mota family had never taken a vacation until about a month ago, when it received a free five-day trip to Cabo San Lucas -- a "thank-you" to Staff Sgt. Nick Mota, who recently returned from Iraq after a 10-month deployment.

The all-inclusive vacation at the Villa Del Palmar Beach Resort and Spa down at the southern tip of Baja California was a way for the resort's owners to thank the military family for their service and sacrifice.

"We were so honored to even be picked," said Amber Mota, Nick's wife. "It's hard for me to put into words exactly how much it did mean to us."

Jonathan Schwartz, who teaches at Santa Margarita Elementary School on Camp Pendleton, arranged the trip while on a fishing trip down there in January. He was with the family for much of its vacation in June, taking pictures and arranging fishing excursions.

"It was cool to see it happen," he said about the vacation. "Military families don't get to travel like this."

Gabriel Mota, the family's youngest child, is in Schwartz's class at the school, and the family has gone on fishing trips with the teacher in the past.

"It was awesome," the 7-year-old said about the vacation in Mexico. "I was jumping off the walls (with excitement)."

Most of the trip was spent lazing by the pool, shopping and fishing -- lots of fishing.

Gabriel has been hooked on fishing ever since going out on the water with Schwartz and a few other students. He even asked for fishing equipment for his birthday.

Schwartz is a fishing enthusiast himself and occasionally takes students and their families out with him on local trips or brings his catches into class for hands-on lessons.

Amber Mota said that Schwartz had told her he was trying to set up the trip, but that they weren't sure it was going to come together until about a week before.

Before the trip, the Motas had never been south of Tijuana, she said.

Because most of the vacationers at the Mexican resort are from the United States, the owners thought it would be a good idea to show gratitude to some of the local military families, said Gerogi Bohrod, a spokeswoman with the Villa Group, which runs several resorts in Mexico, including the one the Motas visited.

"They deserve some sort of R and R as well," she said about military families.

This was the first time the resort has ever done anything like this, but Bohrod said she doesn't expect it to be the last.

"Now that they've seen how much joy, how much fun this family was having, they're talking about continuing it," she said. "It's a matter of families supporting families."

The company gave the Motas a suite and meals for no charge and even paid for four discounted plane tickets.

Amber Mota said living through deployments can be rough, but she never expected anything like this in return.

"I've heard of other families getting cruises and stuff," she said. "I always thought it would be so nice, but you just never expect that it will happen to you."

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 901-4009 or sbrandt@nctimes.com.