Mexico

In the middle of November (the 14th-21st), we went to Cancun Mexico with our family and the Ady Grandparents! Starting this year the kids now get a week off school for Fall break, so we took advantage of that and planned this trip. 

We were pleasantly surprised with how easy the flight was now that our kids are just a bit older. Boston will actually sit and do something for longer than 5 minutes, and the others enjoy watching shows and playing games on their ipads we give them just for trips. The airport in Cancun is always a mess, but we were fully prepared for that, so when we waited over an hour for our luggage to come it wasn't as bad. Our little umbrella stroller took another half hour and we almost left, but then it showed up. There was some mix-up with our transportation to the hotel but we got it figured out and took a big van to our hotel, called the Moon Palace. I had booked this place for the big water park and many activities that it offered. However, we didn't realize that there are three different hotels inside the "Moon Palace" and to have access to the activities you must be staying at "The Grand." We were quite frustrated about that, but decided to pay extra money to stay there. We moved over to The Grand and thought all was well. We got two rooms next to each other, or so they said, but when we took the golf cart over there it turned out the rooms were very far apart. Jeff and I didn't exactly want to split up, that's not what we had talked about! Anyways, they told us they had 2 rooms together the next day, so Don and Cindy took a couple of our kids that night and we made it through until we moved over the next day. It was frustrating, but great once we finally got settled!

Well, we got lucky with weather. Apparently it had been raining a whole bunch before we arrived. We only had one day where we saw the clouds roll in and decided to go eat lunch while it rained. We sat in the restaurant watching it pour and then when it was done, we went on out and that was it! The kids then had a blast jumping in all the "muddy puddles." 

This resort was really huge. It took a bit to find our way around, but once we did it was such a blast and had no shortage of things to do. There were 9 pools and we didn't make it to all of them, but we tried out a few different ones. The one closest to us had a swim up bar and a hot tub and wasn't too busy, so that became our favorite. The kids loved swimming up to a bar and ordering continuous drinks throughout the day, all by themselves. They ended up with red smile lines on their faces from the cups. Leo was especially hilarious with how he would order different mixes of drinks and one time swam in his life jacket holding two drinks as he came over to our chairs! He also made a friend and this family seemed to always be where we were. It was bizarre, but so fun. Leo loved having a friend, and once we got home we put a picture of him and his friend in his souvenir picture frame. It's really cute, but he misses him when he looks at it. One day there was a "Pirate Party" at the Sports pool so I headed over there with the kids and they had a big blowup obstacle course to play on, a dunk tank, and then a foam party at the beach afterwards! The beach was also quite close to us so we played there a couple of the days and the kids loved playing in the sand and finding seashells. It was a great beach. 

The water park in the middle of the resort was a huge attraction with lots of slides, a lazy river, and a bunch more little water parks to play on. There were also always activities going on in there like balloons and bracelet making. They also had an indoor center with climbing, arcade games, a mirror maze, and a big play place for the little ones. We spent a lot of time there on Sunday because we decided we wouldn't swim that day. We also rented some bikes and enjoyed a really nice ride alongside the beach, and mini golf was also a hit that day. 

One day we shopped at the little store there and bought each of the kids their own hats. They were so cute! We also got some cute cups and a mini football to play with. 

The food was incredible there! I loved having the app on my phone where you can book restaurants and we got into pretty much every restaurant we wanted. The Circus restaurant was the newest and most fun. When they let us in to go to our table, they made it like this whole show all the way to our table. Then there was a server that came around with dry ice popcorn and made a whole show with it too. There was an entertainer to watch that juggled amongst other things. They had interesting circus ways of handing our food to us, and then at the end there was a dessert buffet that was incredible! Jeff and I went out to the French restaurant without the kids one night (thank you Don and Cindy). The food was amazing and they even had an accordion player that came over and played music for us. We also enjoyed the Italian Restaurant, Steak House, Fish place, and the buffet with the kids. We got used to our breakfast buffet where Jeff and I would get omelets every morning. There was definitely no shortage of food!

The night shows were also really fun. I usually took the older kids out to watch them while Jeff stayed back with Boston, because he doesn't get as excited about them as I do. Jeff and I did see the magic one together though. The kids loved the fire show, glow show, and illusionist. They did a really good job with their entertainment!

One day Cindy, Bentley and I headed out to the spa at the golf course. We took a long, but scenic golf cart ride to this cute little place where they do princess pedicures. We all got robes, pink neck pillows, and Bentley got a crown. The pedicure was great and then they gave us some cute desserts that included macaroons and other things. It was a fun girls time! Jeff and I also got to go to the spa for a couples massage. Because of some of the mix-ups, it was free! They had a really nice co-ed pool area that we enjoyed beforehand as well. It was my birthday while we were there, so we kept saying anything we did together was "for my birthday." 

Another day Jeff and I took Bentley and Deacon snorkeling. Don and Cindy watched Leo and Boston while we took a boat out from the beach. It was a fairly long ride to get to the place we were snorkeling and the water was a little rough that day. I got a bit sick, but not too bad. The wavy water made snorkeling harder for the kids, and I wasn't as impressed with the assortment of fish than I have been in the past, but it was still a good experience. 

We really enjoyed the heat and the time together. The last night we were there we swam until it was too dark to see and then ordered room service! We had a lot of fun and I didn't feel ready to leave!!

The flight home was not great. We sat on the tarmac for over an hour before we took off, so it was very long, but we made it.