We had a lovely vacation, Graham turned two, we had a visit from Grammy Taub, Nick and I took a weekend getaway to Cambria to ring in the New Year, Graham had his first major stomach bug (that he graciously shared with Mommy and Daddy), Graham went to his two year doctor’s appointment, Graham hosted his best friends at his second birthday party, and Graham did some fun growing up that I can’t wait to share about.
So, my goal is to catch up on all those exciting events from the past month, but I’m starting at the beginning with our trip to Mexico!
Last year, we started a tradition of traveling to a tropical location for Graham’s birthday. We had so much fun in Hawaii that we wanted to go back but apparently, we are not the only people who enjoy traveling to Hawaii in December. By the time we got around to booking the trip, our favorite spots were already full so we decided to try something new.
We looked into a vacation in Mexico and decided on Playa Del Carmen (in the Mexican Rivera) known for its warm clear water and powder-soft white sand beaches.
From our research, it appeared that most tourists stayed in mega-all-inclusive-resorts and didn’t leave the resorts except for resort-run excursions. We decided to stay at a place called the Playacar Palace which offered all the amenities of the other resorts but was within walking distance of a ferry dock and the famed 5th Avenue shopping street (if we got stir crazy and wanted to leave the resort of our own volition).
Well, the location did not disappoint. The beach and water were absolutely stunning! The shopping street allowed us to pick up some souvenirs and get a feel for the local culture and our resort ended up being on the smaller side which made it feel more intimate and manageable than some of the larger resorts. We also (completely by mistake) ended up with a fabulous room with a huge balcony with 180 degree unobstructed ocean front views, a double size Jacuzzi which made for fun bath times with Graham, and not one but two fully stocked (and all-inclusive) mini-bars.
Our days were fairly routine. We had room service for breakfast each morning and then spent a couple hours at the pool and beach. After getting cleaned up we would have lunch then put Graham down for his nap. After the morning excitement, Graham would nap for between 3 and 4 hours while Nick and I took turns going for runs on the beach, enjoying spa treatments, shopping on 5th Avenue, or reading by the pool. Graham would wake up in time for dinner and an evening show and then a quick night walk followed by bed.
Now, onto the fun part… the pictures :)
Graham looking a little tired. Our flight left at 6:30am:
Once we were on the plane, things started to look up. Graham had fun with a roll of tape and we got lucky with the bulkhead seats so Graham was able to set up a play station on the floor when he got sick of sitting in his car seat:
First day at the beach:
Then off to the pool! The pool had a ledge that allowed Graham to do some independent play before needing Daddy’s help:
We enjoyed relaxing on the balcony at night with the warm weather:
The double Jacuzzi was big enough for play, in addition to bath time:
Daddy testing out the liquor dispensers in the mini bar when he decided to ‘season’ his margarita:
Graham up bright and early to push his stroller around the balcony before breakfast arrived:
We decided to check out the shopping street as a family, but that didn’t last too long because Graham wanted to be in the water during the hot mornings:
So, off to the pool for round two:
Check out the soft sand covering Graham’s legs as he did some beach exploration:
Graham was convinced if he had Mommy’s hat on, it would mean another trip to the ocean:
The day we have all been waiting for. Happy Birthday – Graham turns two!
We headed to the shops to get Graham a special birthday shirt and to let him pick anything he wanted for a present. He picked a little noise maker:
After his nap, Graham got all dressed up in his fancy new birthday shirt and headed to dinner:
At the end of dinner, Graham was surprised by a birthday cake made just for him:
After dinner, Graham watched a show and clapped along with the rest of the audience:
Then finished off the night with a bath (to wash off all that sticky chocolate frosting from his cake):
The next day, we were up bright and early for our one offsite excursion. We booked a trip to go to the Mayan ruins in Tulum. In addition to the ruins, Graham enjoyed the ride in the bus to get there, going through the tunnel that led to the ruins, the views of the ocean surrounding the ruins, and the abundance of iguanas roaming freely around the property:
But let’s not kid ourselves about what Graham really wanted to be doing. When we got back from the tour, Daddy and Graham headed right for the pool to get in a swim before dinner:
One morning, Daddy had planned to try and sleep in, but Graham had a different idea. I left the room for a second and then heard Nick calling for help. Graham had climbed on the bed and was sitting on Daddy’s head:
I had to take a video when Graham decided that sitting on Daddy’s head wasn’t enough and starting banging away. Don’t worry, as soon as the video was done, we had a long talk with Graham and let him know that he couldn’t make a habit of waking Daddy up by climbing on top of him and banging on his head:
On Christmas Eve, we ate dinner outside so we would have front row seats for the holiday show. Graham loved it:
On Christmas day, Graham spent the morning by the pool:
And then he dashed to the beach to see Santa arrive (by Jet Ski of course):
Once Santa settled in by the pool to hand out presents, Graham waited his turn but was VERY concerned and when we sat next to Santa, he cried as Santa tried to smile for pictures and I encouraged Santa to forget the picture and just give Graham his present. With present in hand, Graham was recovered enough to pose for a picture with an elf and was good as new by the time we headed back up to the room:
On an evening excursion to the shopping street, we got caught in a crazy rain storm. It only rained that one time our entire stay but boy did it pour! At least Graham was well prepared:
By our final day, Graham had the routine down. At the pool, he used his water float in the shallow kids' section so he could walk around and play independently and he requested his own big boy chair (instead of high chair) to watch the fire and drum show:
Our last day involved travel from first thing in the morning until late at night. We had to take three flights to get home and it was a LONG day! On our first flight, I felt good about securing us three seats together until I discovered that they were the back three seats in the plane. Because the last row does not recline, Graham (in his car seat) was pushed right up against the seat in front of him. When he stretched his legs (kicking the seat in front of him) the passenger spun around and informed us that she would not tolerate her seat being kicked during the flight. Well, let me tell you, when this mama bear felt like her cub was being attacked, she roared (and roared and roared) and I am pleased to report that the offending passenger was removed and my boy had an empty seat in front of him to kick to his heart’s content. The rest of the flights went better except for our crazy 29 minute connection with our last flight into Santa Barbara. Nick took off running as soon as the plane landed and I enlisted the help of some awesome fellow passengers to get me, Graham, and all his stuff to our next gate (which was not listed on any of the monitors – but that is a different story) while Nick engaged the airport staff in small talk to keep the plane from leaving. When we got on board, they had already given our seats away to some standby passengers but the people were really nice and got back off the plane without complaint saying that they were happy for us that we had made it in the end.
I thought this picture summed up our travel home. Graham looking tired and slightly tortured but still holding it together being the trooper that he is:
I think Nick and I both agreed that the setting for our Mexican vacation was absolutely stunning but we enjoy having more variety in our food options than an all-inclusive resort offers and we tend to like vacations that offer more opportunities for exploration beyond the resort grounds, so we will cherish our memories from this trip, knowing that we may not be heading back to Mexico anytime soon.
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