We are back from our vacation! It feels like such an accomplishment that we managed this trip at this point, with the pandemic still going on and Adam still being a bit unpredictable to travel with. Now that we are back and everything worked out pretty well, I have to say I am so glad we took the chance and made this trip happen!
It started Thursday, the 18th. Our flight was leaving at 10pm so we had all day to get ready. It was kind of nice to not have to hurry away in the morning, we actually had time to relax a bit after packing before we had to leave for the airport. Getting there and checking in to our flight was perfectly smooth, the plane left on time, trip was off to a good start! Nathan fell asleep almost right away, Adam took longer but he wasn't upset. Lynsey didn't sleep at all, but thankfully she's old enough to manage her emotions and not cause any problems:-/. I dozed a bit but it definitely wasn't a quality sleep. We knew taking a night flight would have it's downsides, but I think it worked out okay for us.
Our flight actually landed early, but it didn't do us any good because we had to wait quite a while for a gate. With Customs and everything, it took until about 7am CST to get to our hotel room. Let's just say we were thrilled we paid for that Thursday night so we could check in as soon as we got there! Our rooms were so nice, we got connecting rooms so we had lots of space. It was a gorgeous hotel - I could not have been happier with it.
We all rested for a while in the morning before heading to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Nathan had some steak tacos that he was quite enamored with - they did taste really good! Everyone enjoyed their food - our first impression of Mexico City was pretty positive overall!
After lunch, we went for a walk in the big park that was close to our hotel. We found out quickly that we would need Pesos, so we found our way to a bank machine and got some. We explored an old castle which was pretty neat. It was a lot of walking and everyone was pretty tired, so everyone was happy to get back to the room and rest for a bit.
The hotel pool was VERY warm, so we all went for a swim after we got back, even though the sun wasn't really out anymore. Our dinner was okay, although everyone agreed that the lunch place we had been to was better. Noted. It didn't take long for anyone to fall asleep that night! Day 1 in Mexico City was in the books!
We made sure he didn't have quite as much meat in one day from then on! Saturday morning, we ordered room service for breakfast (which despite the relatively high end hotel, was actually pretty reasonably priced!) and decided to do our swimming earlier in the day so as to catch some warmth from the sun (Mexico City was not as warm as Cancun with highs in the low 20s C).
After swimming, we got an Uber to head the historic downtown area of Mexico City. We didn't know that Saturday was a major holiday in Mexico, and a bunch of roads were closed due to a parade:-/. Traffic was a nightmare, and our Uber driver was struggling a bit to get us there. He didn't speak English so it was a bit challenging to communicate with him, but he was so great - he zig zagged around trying to get us at least close enough to downtown to be able to walk. At one point, he stopped at a road closure and said something to the officer standing there, who proceeded to open the barricade and let us through! At that point, we were cruising on almost completely empty streets, I think we somehow got let onto the parade route or something lol! He did tell us (via a translator app) that he had lied to the officer to let us pass:'-D. Whatever he did, we were grateful to get downtown at the end of it!
It was a gorgeous city center, with lots of beautiful old buildings. There were lots of street vendors on some streets, it was an interesting walk. We stopped to have a little snack when the kids needed a break from all the walking, but I have to say I was so impressed with how all the kids did on this second day of walking around a city. We did get an Uber back to the hotel later that afternoon, but we did have to walk a ways out of downtown to get one. That evening, we went back to the hotel restaurant that everyone liked to eat, and relaxed in the room in the evening. Our flight was going to be pretty early in the morning so we got to bed at a reasonable hour.
I was so worried about this Mexico City portion of the trip, and it ended up going really well! The kids were great and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. A stop well worth making!
Our flight was leaving at 11 am the next day, so we got room service breakfast again to simplify things. Checking in to our flight was pretty smooth, thankfully most people spoke English at the airport so we didn't have any communication barriers. It was a pretty quick flight over to Cancun, and actually getting our shuttle to the resort was pretty easy as well. I had heard some horror stories of people waiting for hours to get on a shuttle, but we were on a shuttle within 10 minutes of arriving there. Our resort was the Grand at Moon Palace. Checking in was a bit overwhelming (as I expected it would be) but not terrible. I was able to fend off the high pressure sales people trying to get us to do a sales presentation without much trouble.
We get to our room(s) and discovered the King room Brian and I were supposed to sleep in was much warmer than the kids' room. Turns out the A/C wasn't working:-(. They were able to get us another room in the same building (the Daveys were right next door in our first room, but our second room was just downstairs from them so still close). The worst part of it is that they didn't tell us it would take several hours for our new room to be ready so we were sort of waiting in limbo. We got room service for supper and didn't really get out of the room much that night. Our new rooms were ready after 9 pm, and I was so ready to get unpacked and get settled! They did offer us a free sailing tour to Isla Mujeres for the inconvenience which was pretty good, I actually didn't think we would get anything. Brian and I were both pretty grumpy by the time we got our new room, but settling in really helped. It's always tough to relax when your first impression is a bit negative, but I was trying my best to make the most of the situation! In the end, the tour was a lot of fun and I'm really glad we did it, so the room problem was really a blessing in disguise:-D.
Monday it felt like our Cancun vacation really began! We got breakfast at one of the buffets in the lobby and made our way to one of the pools close to us. It was a quick walk to the beach, which we checked out with the boys briefly (it was not great as we knew it wouldn't be; it was actually better than expected!). Lynsey and Nathan briefly played some volleyball in the pool, and then we made our way to the waterpark where the Daveys were. Lynsey and Nathan both tried the Flowrider (surfing simulator) although neither of them were able to stand up. I thought there were very brave to try it! Nathan also tried the boogy boarding simulator which was very entertaining to watch lol! He is a funny kid:-D. It was a fun afternoon! We got some snacks at the waterpark and then headed back to the room for some downtime.
Everyone wanted some ice cream so we met the Daveys at the sweet shop before just the adults walked over to the resort next door where Yelena and Phillip were staying to have a drink with them. We met three of Phillip's adult kids so that was kind of cool. We walked along the beach back to our resort and just our family headed over to Tavola (Italian restaurant) for dinner. It was tasty!
Nathan had been bugging us to try and find the bumper cars all day, so after dinner we went for a walk over to the water park where we were pretty sure the bumper cars were. On our way there, we walked past an outdoor terrace that was having a show, people juggling torches etc. Adam loved it! He was stimming up a storm, it was so fun to see him so happy:-).
We made our way to the waterpark, and it turned out that there was a whole kids playroom there with lots of different entertainment that anyone over the age of 8 was allowed to be in without an adult supervisor. I checked Nathan and Lynsey in, and met Brian and Adam who had walked over to the beach. The Daveys kids joined our kids and they all had a lot of fun at the Playroom. Fun discovery on our first real night there!
Tuesday morning we went to Cusco (the Peruvian restaurant) for breakfast. The Daveys got there at the same time so we all ate together. It was basically the same buffet with a few different things, still good.
I had my 25 minute massage that afternoon and I was excited to check out the Hydrotherapy circuit first, so I headed to the spa shortly after breakfast while Brian took the kids to the waterpark. The Hydrotherapy was good, turns out I didn't need as long as some people suggested so I was a bit anxious for my massage to start, but it was a cool experience. The massage was lovely - it had been far too long since I had one!
After my massage, I met Brian and the Daveys at Los Tacos for lunch. We had to wait a while for a table, but the tacos were delicious! After that, we all went over to Nizuc where Yelena and Phillip were staying so the kids could all swim together for a few hours. It was a bit cool by the this time but the water was nice and warm. Adam did the waterslide exactly twice, I am starting to think this is part of his pattern - do something once to try it, and then do it a second time because he has to repeat it!
We headed back shortly after 5 so we could get ready for our dinner reservation at Cusco at 6:30 with the Daveys. Dinner was delicious! I really enjoyed almost everything I tried there, so good. All the kids (except Adam) headed over to the playroom right after they were done eating, and the adults and Adam made our way there eventually. Adam actually loved the playroom! He was dancing up and down the aisle having a great time. He even let Brian do some mini golfing with the kids! Brian and I had talked earlier that we needed to try and stretch him to let me watch him so Brian didn't miss out on doing things with the other kids, so I was really happy he let Brian do that. All in all a fun evening to end a fun day!
Wednesday we discovered the Caribbean restaurant right beside our building for breakfast. They had the same buffet as the other restaurants, and it was ridiculously convenient. After breakfast, I took the boys to the pool by The Grill while Brian went for a run and Lynsey relaxed in the room. Adam was being so flexible, it was awesome! I even tried the Aqua Strong class on those big floating boards lol.
Brian and Lynsey met us there around noon and I headed over to the spa for my 80 minute massage (I didn't do much of the Hydrotherapy this time, just spent about 10 minutes in the pool). My massage was sooo relaxing! After my massage I headed back to the pool where I found Lynsey and Elli, Brian had taken the boys to the beach. They came back shortly after and we went back to the room for a bit to relax - so important to have this downtime.
We did a bit of bowling/pool at the bowling alley and headed back to the room so Brian and I could get ready for our romantic dinner that evening. Nathan and Lynsey went to the Wired lounge for a bit with the Daveys kids (so many things for the kids to do at this resort!) and then they came back to the room. The kids just ordered room service for dinner, seemed to be preferable to eating in a restaurant.
We headed over to the beach front by the Caribbean restaurant for our romantic dinner around 7, it was so delicious! Man did I eat way too much! But it was worth it, yum! The Daveys kids were there when we got back to the room (Andy and Kristy had booked a romantic dinner the same night, although we didn't eat together with them hence the "romantic" dinner:)), they were all watching some TV and hanging out. They left and we relaxed the rest of the night. We weren't exactly night owls on this trip! Who am I kidding, when are we ever night owls lol! Another great day:-).
Thursday morning we made our way to the Caribbean restaurant for breakfast again (when you find something that works you stick with it!). We made our way back to the pool by the Grill again and stayed for a bit, I did the Aqua Strong class again it was a LOT harder than the day before! Burpees on a floating board in the water?? I think not!
This pool was fun but the music was kind of loud, so we made our way over to the pool in front of Cusco after a bit. This pool was MUCH busier and I can see why! It was a nice pool, and the music was really quiet - very family friendly. We ordered some food and hung out there for a bit.
We had some down time in the room after and ordered room service for the kids to eat for dinner again. Brian and I wanted to eat at the Lebanese restaurant that night and I knew the kids would hate it:-/. We were able to get in right away because there was a big Thanksgiving dinner going on that a lot of people were eating at, causing the restaurants to be less full - worked out well for us! The food was pretty good, I think I enjoyed Cusco more but it was a fun experience with the belly dancers and everything.
When we got back, I convinced Lynsey and Nathan to get into the hot tub in the room just for fun. We couldn't convince Adam, although he did think it was fun to dance around while we were in there:-). I thought that was it for the night, but Andy and Kristy messaged us and asked if we wanted to go for a drink yet that night at the Library bar, so Brian and I went out after the kids were in bed for a bit. It was a cool lounge, but a bit loud - we really are getting old lol! Another full day at the Grand!
Friday was the day of our excursion to Isla Mujeres. We had breakfast at the Caribbean place again and headed over to the lobby to get our transportation to the boat around 10:45. It was a pretty long shuttle ride into Cancun to get to the boat launch, but the kids did great. I was pretty worried that Adam was going to see the boat and refuse to get on but he didn't have any issues at all!
The weather was lovely, and we had met another family on the shuttle that was really nice, so it was a great start to the tour! We stopped to do some snorkeling almost right away, and Brian, Nathan and I did it while Lynsey managed Adam (Lynsey did not want to do it, if she had wanted to we would have figured out something else for Adam during that time). It was fun, although I swallowed a lot of sea water. Nathan did really great, he was so brave! He is not deterred by trying new things, I was so proud of him! After the snorkeling was over, the boat ride was a bit choppy to the island and I did not feel great:-(. I couldn't eat the lunch provided and was quite anxious to get on dry land! We stopped the boat when we got close and anchored for a bit so people could jump off. Nathan was again very brave and jumped into the water! Brian went in with him as well, I was not feeling well enough to even think about doing something like that:-/.
Thankfully, when we docked downtown, I started feeling better pretty quickly. We walked through the town and made our way up to the north beach, gorgeous beach area! It was pretty busy but we found someone who was willing to rent us just two chairs to set up a home base (other guys were being real sticklers about renting us 5 chairs because we had 5 people) and we went to swim in the ocean. Lynsey didn't want to swim so she held down the fort at the chairs. We had a great time swimming, I'm so glad the boys got to go to a nice beach for swimming on this trip (and I'm glad for Brian and I as well of course:-D). Adam started petering out after almost 2 hours in the water so we got him over to the chairs and tried to order some food. Unfortunately, after a while, the guy came back and said it wouldn't be ready for another 20 minutes which would be too late for us - we had to head back to our meeting point with our tour guide not long after. At this point Adam was pretty upset so we had to pack up and head back into town. We found some ice cream bars and sat on a bench while the kids ate them. This seemed to calm Adam down somewhat and he did completely fine on the boat ride back.
It was 6:45 by the time we got back to the resort, so we all quickly showered and headed to the Caribbean restaurant for dinner - it was really good! The entertainment was pretty fun there as well, I think I saw Lynsey perk up a bit when it started up which was nice:-). After dinner, Adam was 100% done with the day so Brian took him back to the room to put him to bed and I ventured out to meet Kristy and Yelena who were just finishing up with dinner at Habibi. They all came back to our room to have a drink so Brian could join in as well, we just hung out on the balcony. The kids were all at the playroom again until it closed and they headed back to our room. Everyone was really tired so it was an early night. What a great day! So glad we did that tour, yet another thing we weren't sure Adam would do and he just did it! Slowly but surely we are expanding the things he can do, I'm so proud of him!
Saturday was our travel day home, and we were a bit anxious about it. Brian was especially worried about how Adam would do for a 6.5 hour flight during the day, we were heading into uncharted territory. We got room service for breakfast, and then Brian took the boys over to the waterpark for one last hurrah before the vacation was over while I headed over to the lobby to print some stuff for our flight and start packing. I headed over around 10 and watched the boys in the wave pool for a bit. We went back to the room around 11 and finished packing up, checked out at 12 and got some lunch at the buffet with the Daveys (they were on our shuttle to the airport). It was actually a pretty good lunch buffet! Once again I was impressed with the quality of food at the resort, definitely top notch for an all-inclusive resort! We got on our shuttle at the scheduled time, but it took the driver forever to load the bags for some reason - we left 20 minutes late! I was a bit nervous because we had already taken a 1 hour later shuttle than the company recommended because I didn't think we needed 4 hours at the airport, but when I saw that we wouldn't be there until less than 3 hours before our flight I was definitely getting anxious! Thankfully the check in process was so quick because of Brian's Gold status - the Priority line was so short compared to the regular line! Security was pretty quick and easy as well, we had all our paperwork in order and had checked all our bags except our backpacks/handbags. We ended up at our gate about 2 hours before our flight. I was so happy we didn't go when the shuttle company wanted us to!
The flight was the part that we were really worried about, but Adam did amazing. He actually fell asleep almost right away and slept for a bit, and then when he woke up he was just drowsy for the whole rest of the flight. I felt bad that he was so tired, but sooo glad he wasn't stressed out! We got to Seattle on time and customs was easy and quick. Getting a shuttle to get our van was a pain, they were so busy and every time a shuttle drove past us it was full! We did figure out that we would have to walk down to the first island to get a shuttle and once we did that, we got on right away (I did have to be pretty assertive to get on but I didn't have any problems with that lol). We picked up Jasper on our way home and made it home around 10:30 PST. What a long day! But a good day with no real hitches, aside from a slightly longer wait at the shuttle stop than usual - Saturday after Thanksgiving, what can you do!
It was such an amazing trip, and I know the kids all had a lot of fun. Brian and I definitely enjoyed ourselves as well, even with some hitches here and there (par for the course with us!). Today was spent unpacking and organizing and doing laundry - and doing this blog post:-D. Oh and the boys got their second vaccines this afternoon which was very exciting! Now Brian and I just have to get our boosters in the next few weeks and we will all be fully protected for our Christmas trip. So thankful!
