Family Trip to Mexico - Part II

After our day trip to the city of Playa del Carmen we really had nothing further on our to do list.  We discussed spending a day at Xcaret, which is a Mexico Eco-Park.  The best way to describe an Eco-Park would be the Mexican equivalent of a State or National Park in the States.  But, since we were only in Mexico for a total of 6 days, 2 of which were travel days, and one day was already used to go to Playa del Carmen, we opted not to spend any other days off of the resort.  Each Friday and Saturday were spent the exact same ways.  We would get up when we felt like it, got the girls ready and then went to breakfast.  Each of the girls loved the many choices for breakfast.  Maya enjoyed pink marshmallows and Jell-O, while Delaney loved the donuts and mandarin oranges.  Both girls each loved having pink (strawberry) yogurt with Fruit Loops mixed in.

After breakfast we took the short walk (about 10-15 minutes) to the beach.  Delaney loved just playing in the sand and digging holes.  Maya on the other hand loved going out deep with me and just riding the waves.  Maya and I spent at least an hour in the ocean just jumping up and down with the waves.  After spending about 2-3 hours at the beach, we would head back to the resort for lunch.  After lunch we would spend about 2-3 more hours at the pool just letting the girls swim in the pool.  It was a dream come true for our two girls, who absolutely LOVE simply being in the water.  Each of the last two full days the girls asked us to leave the pool to take a naps.  This wasn't just because they were dog tired from swimming the entire day, but because they did not want to fall asleep during the night time show that was put on each night at 9:30pm by the entertainment staff.  The girls were entranced by the dancing and music, it was adorable.  

The trip was just what our family needed after a long summer full of my training for the Ironman.  It gave us 6 full days of just being together with no other interruptions or distractions.  There were no other family members just Sarah, Maya, Delaney, and me, that's it, and frankly that's all it needed to be.  Maya and Delaney were the talk of the resort too.  Every where we went, every meal, every time we past a staff member, all we would hear was, "Que linda," or "How pretty."  Everyone was mesmerized by Delany's white-blonde hair and it didn't hurt that she had a few braids with beads in it either!  Literally everyone, anywhere we went on or off the resort would make a comment to Sarah or I about how well behaved our girls were and how precious they were.  We had a couple from England spark up a conversation with me about the girls about how they reminded them of their granddaughters back home.  

Every flight we took each and every one of the flight attendants would tell us how beautiful and well behaved our kids were.  Truthfully, Sarah and I could not have asked for better behaved kids for all the travel we did.  Spending 12+ hours of straight traveling, running all over hell with a 2 and 3 year old is not easy, but doing it with Maya and Delaney, sure made it easier than I ever imagined.  I will never look at a parent traveling with young kids the same again.  I will never get upset when a child cries or is loud on a plane, because, I'll tell you what, it ain't easy at all.  

So, here we are, back to reality.  Sarah goes back to work on Monday, and I on Tuesday night.  The girls passed the preverbal test.  They exceeded our expectations throughout the entire trip.  We asked a lot from them, whether it be running through the Houston Airport, through baggage claim, customs, baggage re-check, security, and across the entire Houston Airport via train to get to our new terminal...all in less than an hour to catch our last flight home to Milwaukee.  With how well behaved our girls were, it already has Sarah and I planning our next tropical family get away.  This trip was mine and Sarah's 4th trip to Mexico in 6 years and we absolutely love Mexico, but are now excited to try somewhere new.  We are looking at either Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, any suggestions?

Below are more photos from our adventure including some from earlier in the trip that were not included in the first post!

Family Trip to Mexico - Part I

Our post-Ironman get-away began immediately after picking up my special needs bags and purchasing any of my last "finisher's" clothing from the Ironman Store.  From there we departed for the Milwaukee County Zoo.  The weather was HOT, in the upper 90's, all I could think was, "Thank god, it was in the 90's today and not yesterday for the Ironman!"  After getting to the Zoo, we realized that not too many people go to the Zoo on Monday's in September, especially when it is hot.  There could not have been more than 20-30 total cars in the entire Milwaukee County Zoo parking lot.  We had the Zoo to ourselves, we were able to take our time at each animal, take pictures at each animal, and not wait for lines to see animals.

After spending the day at the Zoo we drove to our "Stay and Fly" hotel as we were flying out of General Mitchell Airport at 5:52am.  Lucky for us the two girls had been getting up staying up late and getting up early the last couple nights, so we were able to get them into bed by 7pm for our 3:30am wake up call.  At 5:30 we were boarding our plane and Sarah and I were praying that the girls would either sleep the entire flight or at the minimum be unnoticeable by the other passengers.  The first flight as a 2 hour flight to Houston and went without a hitch.  The girls were perfect.  After a 2.5 hour layover in Houston and then we were boarding our second flight.  The girls again were good.  Delaney had a minor outburst as we approached Cancun and they announced to turn off all electronics and we needed to turn off our iPad.  Delaney did not want to give it up and she made it known.  The outburst only lasted a minute or two and finally we were in Mexico!  After an hour ride to our resort and a total of 12 hours of traveling, we finally made it to our resort.

We've been staying at the Riu Tequila just south of Playa del Carmen in a small community called Playacar.  As we were checking in we were told that we would be getting a free upgrade.  I was a little skeptical  at first, but as we made our way to our room, which we booked as a standard two queen size bed room, ended up being a large family suite.  The room had a large living room, two queen beds, a foyer, and a large bathroom with a separate room with a toilet and bidet, and two sinks.  It was super nice and made us happy that we chose Riu hotels for the second time.  For the remainder of the evening we changed into our swimsuits and walked around the resort to scope out the area and then went to the pool before dinner.  The resort grounds was full of wildlife, we saw Coati (similar to raccoons) and an animal similar to a wombat.  The girls loved the animals.  

The next day we all slept in after a long day of travel.  We went to the breakfast buffet and then headed to some local shops which were a couple blocks away from our hotel and got the girls' hair braided. They loved it!  Then it was straight to the pool.  We spent the day poolside and Maya and Delaney made friends from England.  After lunch we took the girls down to the beach.  The girls LOVED the beach.  They loved playing in the sand and the continuous waves crashing up on the beach.  We made reservations for our first night at a Mexican themed restaurant.  Delaney slept right through dinner as she did not take a nap at all and Maya was a perfect dinner date.  After dinner, we went to the show at the outdoor theater.  Both girls were entranced by the music and dancing.

On day 2, we left after breakfast to go into the city of Playa del Carmen to 5th Avenue to do some shopping.  Personally, I absolutely love Playa del Carmen.  We spent the day shopping for various souvenirs and and such.  We had to stay inside a couple times due to heavy rains. But they would come and go and last no longer then 15-30 minutes.  It definitely put a damper on the day but it only really rained twice. After the second rain we were back in the streets.  We covered most of 5th Av. and got gifts for just about everyone in our family.  We stopped for lunch right on 5th Av. and had a man serenade us after lunch.  Delaney lvoed the music and demanded us to get her out of her chair and onto the floor so she could dance.  

Even though it's been a cloudy, wet, and rainy vacation thus far, its's still been a great get-away with just the 4 of us!