This past week we were able to go vacationing in Cancun, Mexico! Thank you to my wonderful Dad for spoiling us with such a fun trip! We were in need of some family time with the recent craziness of Carey's work schedule. It was great to spend a whole week as a family (including my family) and enjoying some much needed relaxation!
Day 1: Traveling to Cancun!
We began day 1 at 4am in Kansas City. We caught our plane early that morning and flew to Chicago. From there is was a quick 3 hour flight to Cancun, Mexico! Believe it or not, Cancun is directly south from Chicago because the Yucatan juts out into the gulf. It was nice to stay in the same time zone! I would have liked to see the oil spill from the plane as we flew over the gulf, but it was cloudy during our travels.
Lucy being very good on the plane. :)
We arrived in Cancun at 12:30 and after getting through customs caught a shuttle to our resort--The Westin Laguna Mar!
Tired, but so happy to be here!
Our rooms weren't quite ready when we arrived so we had lunch out by the pool and ocean. SUCH GOOD FOOD!!! We had amazing tacos and quesadillas! Yum! The weather was perfect and the ocean breeze made it like paradise. Ahh....
After eating we went to our rooms to unpack. Then we headed out to the pool and relaxed the rest of the day! Lucy loves the pool and wasted no time chilling out with the rest of us.
Day 2:
Day 2 we woke up and enjoyed coffee and breakfast on our porch. We did this every morning for about an hour or so. It was so nice to wake up to the sounds of the ocean while sipping our coffee!
Our view each morning
After breakfast we explored the beach a little.....
We found some iguanas....
and beautiful views!.....
After exploring the beach we spent some time at the pool. After lunch we went across the street from our hotel where there are lots of nice shops. Most of them too expensive for our taste.....but we found some cool souvenir shops and a market where we got baby food, candy and coke---the essentials in life.
The shops are by the lagoon. It's so beautiful there! There were signs not to swim because there are crocodiles in the lagoon. But we did not see any. :)
After shopping we went back to the resort and relaxed the rest of the day. Hmm...I'm sensing a relaxation pattern.
Day 3: Pool, Beach, Fun! ---Basically the same as day 2. :)
We woke up day 3 and had breakfast and coffee overlooking the ocean again.
Then we decided to shake things up a bit and lay out on the beach. We got chairs under little huts and had a great view of the ocean!
We spent time swimming too....here's Lucy and Grandpa having fun in the pool!
All this relaxation can really wear you out.....
Lucy didn't nap well out by the pool. SO, Carey and I spent some afternoons enjoying the ocean from our porch so Lucy could get her rest. It wasn't so bad.
Day 4:
Day 4 we went exploring on the beach. We heard that people were finding Conch shells and we wanted to get in on it! So we walked a little way down the beach to a great big sand wall and voila!....tons of Conch shells! It was really a neat thing to see. Here are the shells we found. I only sneaked one back home since customs fines you if they find one in your bag. Yikes. :)
We also spent more time walking around the shops across the street. This time we got Starbucks. :) It was an Iced Caramel Macciato sort of day.
Lucy loves walking around in her stroller and was particularly happy this day.
Lucy makes friends wherever she goes. She must be cute or something. I don't know. :) Or maybe it's the bows. Everyone who worked at the hotel just loved her. Here she is with our concierge. Lucy helped make our reservations to go to Tulum the next day.
That evening Dad treated us to an amazing Mexican buffet! It was very authentic and so good! We stuffed ourselves! There were also Mariachis playing. Lucy watched them very intently the whole time....and they even played "Rock a Bye Baby" Mariachi style for her.
Day 5: Tulum, Mexico! Visiting the ancient Mayan ruins.
Day 5 was a lot of fun. It was raining like crazy. There was a tropical depression moving through and everything was very wet! So it was the perfect day to leave the resort and explore the surrounding areas. After a scary bus ride through lakes in the roads we arrived in Tulum. I had been there before as a teenager but didn't remember a lot. It was fun to go back and learn a little more of the history behind this ancient Mayan city. We opted for umbrellas instead of ponchos when we got there. Lucy discovered that this is maybe the best way to walk around....EVER. She couldn't stop laughing with excitement from walking with an umbrella. It may have been the highlight of her life so far. She never stopped holding on to it! It was so funny.
The ruins date back to AD 1200. This city was mostly used for the worship of their gods. They sure did pick a beautiful place!
On the way back we spent some time looking around the shops. Here's Lucy sporting a sombrero.
Day 6: Beach fun!
Well by the time day 6 rolled around I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of Lucy on the beach. So we got in our suits, got the camera ready and headed out! First we had to take her picture in the lifeguard stand.
Then we plopped Lucy down in the sand to see what she would do. AND, she cried. I think it must have been itchy and scratchy. She definitely was not thrilled with the whole experience. But she eventually warmed up to it.....a little. :)
Mommy had to comfort her....
I'm sure she'll like it when she's older and we can build sand castles! Daddy can't wait for that!
That evening Mom and Dad babysat Lucy so Carey and I could go out on a date. We got ice cream and walked along the beach.
Day 7: Last day in Cancun!
On our last day we decided to go to the flea market to get some good deals on souvenirs. This was quite an experience. First, we rode the bus and Lucy and Carey almost got squished in the door! The driver started taking off without them. And I was the helpless mother looking on in horror. Thankfully, Carey was able to keep the door from closing and jumped to their safety! Not a fun experience. Once we got into the market every vendor was in our face trying to get us to walk into their booth and buy their "junk" as they called it. Umm, last I checked I'm not into buying junk. But we did find a nice hand painted mug and Christmas ornament. We try to get an ornament for our tree from everywhere we visit.
That afternoon Dad treated us to parasailing!! This was very fun! Slightly terrifying riding the wave runner out to the boat though. I never thought I would have ever held on so tight to a random Mexican man. But you better believe I wasn't letting go! The boat ride made us a little sick from all of the rocking back and forth. But, when we got up into the sky it was awesome! It was so quiet up there and you could see all of Cancun. What an amazing experience!
That evening we went out to eat for our last meal in Cancun. Dad took us to a beautiful restaurant on the water called Thai. We sat under a little hut and it felt like we were in the jungle! Very cool!
The food was super yummy. Lucy liked chewing on cucumbers.
Having fun! We don't want to leave!
Day 8: Goodbye Cancun!
We didn't have to leave our hotel until 10am. So we got up and had breakfast overlooking the ocean one last time. Then we began our long trip home to Kansas City. The trip back was much longer than on the way there. Customs in the US takes forever! We were all exhausted....look at poor Lucy!
We had such a wonderful time and can't wait to go back! Goodbye, Cancun!
