This is basically what our yard/driveway looked like right before we were leaving. Driving to the airport was ridiculous because it was soo foggy-like 15 ft visibility, we couldn't see the freeway exit signs until we were right under them. So we weren't too sad about leaving :).
Can I say I had so little sleep before we left trying to get things ready. We were exhausted-me in particular!
My angel mother seriously entertained Alli the entire flight there (Ilene took a much needed nap since we had been up since 4 am to catch the flight!! Craziness) and at least half the flight back. Seriously the flights were great because of her help. She is amazing with kids and they loved having her attention! For some reason Alli is looking super thrilled-maybe this was towards the end of the flight when the novelty had worn off...
It was so great to be landed and be on the shuttle towards customs-only sad part is we lost our dvd case with the dvds we had brought with us :( still haven't recovered those... But we loved landing and being basically on the edge of the jungle and WARM!
Waiting for our shuttle to our resort. I loved when Alli told me she was hot :). Yep it isn't frigid and snowy here!
Checking out the lobby while we were checking in.
The ladies were loving our little Cam man. Seriously whether it was the lobby, beach, restaurant or cleaning lady they were constantly just loving on him-and he was hamming it up as usual.
The main part of the resort was walkways over shallow pools of water. It was cool during the day, but gorgeous all lit up at night!
The restaurant we ate a few of our breakfasts.
Hanging out on the beach our first full day there. We bought swim coverups from a vendor on the beach and we were getting our groove on at the kids show that night.
The next day we headed to the dolphins :).
There were manatees, sea lions, and then 4 different dolphin pools with a pool with some nurse sharks and manta rays in the center. After we were done with the dolphins we got to go snorkel in with the nurse sharks and manta rays. They were huge!
Our dolphins- Cielo and Dana
The giant iguana we watched just hanging out.
The sea lions we watched doing a show type thing while we ate our lunch. Behind the glass divider on the right side was the manatee pool. There was the most adorable 3 mo. old baby manatee with the mama!
The tigers we randomly saw as we were driving back.
Alli was ready to go go go all day long. At one point driving back from something (as we were all ready to sleep except for her) Ryan turned to her and asked "Alli, how do you have so much energy?"she responded nonchalantly "Dad, that's just how I was made." Ilene goes right along with her most of the time too!
So exhausted at night!!
Back to the dolphins.
Petting/holding
Getting a dorsal fin ride.
Doing the foot push-so amazing to feel these two dolphins just come up under your feet and push you!
Little water fight and then Alli dancing the one of the dolphins.
These little creatures-can't remember what they are called- were in the jungle part of the resort between the beach and the pool areas. We took to calling them the lemur/raccoon/monkey things and we fed them a few times. They were pretty cool to watch! One baby took Alli's ice cream cone out of her hand and ran off with it.
Tuesday Ryan and I left and went deep sea fishing out of Puerto Morales.
Again-so many iguanas all around the port. Oh and on the way our we saw a sign saying Caution Cocodrilos-apparently they have a lot of crocodiles in Puerto Morales.
Ryan with his first catch. It was so fun seeing him catch this fish!!
His second one-just a little guy compared to his first Red Snapper
Us with our great "captain". We had really nice, fun, helpful guide and captain.
Ryan with both catches.
Me kind of freaking out holding one of mine.
Dinner that night at the Teppanyaki restaurant-sooo yummy!!!
While we were fishing, Alli went to the kids' club and they had learned an entire routine to CATS and they performed it that night. They had incredible costumes, makeup, the full works. Alli LOVED it!!!
We stayed for part of the show after and Ryan and Ilene were just a little bit tired.
But Cam wasn't :)
And Alli was loving her fancy drink and popcorn.
Headed to Tulum, our little stud man! He was a gem pretty well the whole time-except when we left him to go fishing. Then he and Ilene were both fairly grumpy and woke each other up.
Headed to Tulum and the beach at Akumal
the cool little fort Alli had in the van.
Walking around Tulum
This tree is to show how the jungle literally took over Tulum. Apparently the trees had just filled in everywhere-all of the cracks in the outer walls and the buildings.
The beautiful view and ocean
Alli was actually throwing a fit in this picture. I think that was the first (and luckily one of only a few we had the whole trip!) meltdown. It was hot and she was ready to go to the beach and also get some food. The kids really were troopers going through Tulum, it wasn't so interesting for them, but it was really fun for us to see!
My handsome man!
The beautiful beach at Tulum.
Headed through the exit.
We did a little shopping before meeting back up with our tour guide and bought a cool Mayan mask (like the ones in the background), a magnet to add to my collection and a coconut for the girls to drink. My mom got a cool Mexican dress and a ceramic dish.
Mayan warrior about to eat Ryan and Ilene a little creeped out by it.
A whole group!
After Tulum we headed to nearby Akumal for some more beach time. Sadly it was really windy so we couldn't snorkel as much as we were hoping, but Ryan went out and just like we had been told there were sea turtles swimming about 100 yards off the beach. So he came back and went back out with me. They were cool to see, but I want to go again when the water is still like usual instead of choppy! I saw 4-5 different turtles and a manta ray.
I touched one, and Ryan swam down and grabbed onto one. He got a bunch of videos and he could have definitely stayed out swimming around with them all day long. Probably his favorite part of the trip!
Hanging out on the balcony with some coconuts we brought back from fishing
Our last night there :(. At the resort they had a great little shopping area with a carousel and some other yummy eating places-a delicious taco shop and a creperia/ice cream shop.
Alli had just enjoyed a crepe
The carousel and the giant horse by the carousel.
The Mexican band playing music basically the entire evening. Alli danced all around this front area. She told me "Mom, I could just dance ALL night!" and then a few minutes later as the band played a different style song "Mom, the cool thing about dancing is you have to make your dancing match the music".
The fish tank in one of the other restaurants.
A few pics of the beach and the grounds-which were totally immaculate!!
Outside the restaurant our last morning.
The kids' play place.
Yummy street tacos we had for lunch before leaving and the crepes and ice cream we had to get just one more time!
Right before we left to come back....until next time!!!
It was such an amazing trip, we loved everything about it! We loved our resort, the places we went-seriously everything!! I am so glad we got to go and glad we could take our kids and go together!
