Mexico Trip 2011

We are just a couple days past our trip to Cancun with the Harrison's and I have tried to narrow the picture field as much as I can. I think it is so cool when people can go on a week-long vacation and only pick like 10 photos from their trip, mainly scenery photos or local wildlife or something and have a beautiful blogpost with only a few cool pics...but, I just can't do that! I like my pictures with people in them. I just can't help it. But, I will try to wrap up our trip in a pretty little bow here with as few pics/words as I can muster!

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Kinley did great on the plane rides, had so much fun in the sand and in the pool swimming, took great naps everyday and slept pretty good at night, although she did end up in bed with me most of the week. The hardest thing about the whole week was trying to get this 2 year old mover and shaker to sit still for dinners. We ended up eating out of our condo 5 of 7 nights and although the food was amazing...that is hard on a toddler! She is just not used to sitting for that long and she is also just not an eater...so, I cannot bribe her with food to stay in her chair because she does not care about it. We tried everything from coloring books, candy, her itouch, the ipad, and even brought the DVD player to one dinner with all her DVD's to choose from. We did get talked about by the table next to us for busting out the DVD player. Apparently, that is not good parenting and totally unnecessary. Well, to each their own. We tried to avoid that again so as to not be threatened. But, I guess if going to eat dinner is the biggest struggle we had....then we had a great trip!

Our first day always starts with dinner at Captain's Cove. It is tradition and we never stray. There are crocodiles off the back porch there and it is always fun to see them. Kinley calls them "frock-da-diles" and she talked about them all night.

There was a little rain the first day and a half so we made do the best we could by painting some pottery, celebrating father's day, and watching some sea turtles! Kinley painted her turtle, Tom. She is pretty much an artist in the making.

Cute Father's day pics.....

And the sea turtles were seriously cool. I know it seems so weird to watch/post pics of sea turtles mating... but, it was so cool to see that! God is amazing and just seeing his creation au natural was pretty cool. The resorts where we stay are certified conservationists and each night/morning they gather any sea turtle eggs that a female lays and bury them for the gestation period inside a fence. There is a sign above each mound that tells how many eggs were found, what day, what time, etc. It is really so cool.

Very quickly, the sun came out! We swam and swam and made sand castles galore. Kinley's fav part of sand castle building is knocking it down. She likes to smash them with her hands or be like a giant and crush them under her feet.

I did bust out the bikinis on this trip. I feel like Mexico with only your immediate fam is an appropriate place for that while preggo. I don't remember who's idea it was for a profile pic of all our bellies..but, I def win that game.

We tried to keep Kinley covered in sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat as much as we could...but, she wasn't having it.

Her absolute favorite thing about the trip was that Mendy was there! She thought Mendy was her best friend and was glued to her like a little lost puppy. Everything she did, she wanted Mendy to be there too....push her in her stroller, build a sandcastle, wear her sunglasses, you name it. Mendy was a great sport and totally makes me super excited to be an aunt someday so I can spoil my nieces and nephews too!

The only bad thing about Kinley's week was when she slipped and fell on the tile floor (totally dry and with shoes on..I might add) and busted her lip open twice. Her top 2 teeth were like daggers to her bottom lip and when I saw her she was dripping blood everywhere. It was a little scary for a minute and I thought we might have to get stitches but so many security people rushed in and helped give her ice and gauze and she was asking to swim in no time. These were the best pics she would let us get.

More pics before dinner on our balcony...

Mid-week was Mendy's birthday and it was so fun to celebrate with her in Mexico! We opened presents, had a big buffet breakfast, got massages, had lunch by the pool, laid out and went to a great dinner. It was a fantastic day for everyone and we were glad Mendy had a birthday so we could all enjoy!

This dinner we learned that Kinley is a much happier camper if she can sit on a bench seat instead of in a high chair between Mendy and I. She just loved it.

Of course Kinley had to help her BFF blow out candles.

One day Ben, Gary, Mendy and Alex went deep sea fishing and Mendy caught the bait for which Alex caught this A-MA-ZING grouper fish. It was huge and delicious!

Alex ate so much, he thought his "food baby" belly could compare with mine...but, I totally beat him.

We always end every trip with dinner at La Conquistador. It is always delicious and we look forward to it all week but, it just means the trip is almost over. We rounded out with a few more family pics and headed out of town.

Until next year!