Family Vacation

We came back a few weeks ago from our third vacation to Mexico. 5 hours on the plane and about 30 minutes shuttle ride and we reached our destination in Riviera Maya.

This was the longest plane ride for miss A. We woke her up bright and early. For the first few hours she seemed a bit lost and sleepy, but as soon as we got on the plane, she was back to being adorable, smiling, can't sit-in-one-place-for-two-minutes toddler. I was hoping she would at least nap for an hour   two hours on the plane but universe was against it. The girl didn't nap at all. I was sort of prepared to entertain her for 2-3 hours on the plane but not for the whole flight. Come on, enormous amount of stickers, drawings, and books can only last maximum two hours. The rest of the time she was entertained by coming up with the ways of drinking milk/water - from a cup (like a normal person), straw (also normal), spoon (semi-normal), dipping her fingers (so not normal), and of course that whole fun ended with milk being on her outfit.

When we finally got to the hotel, I was able to relax a little bit. We checked in, went straight to our room, changed into swimming gear and off we went to the pool. We traveled with two more families this time and their kids, but miss A was the oldest one. The whole week was just relaxing. We woke up, had breakfast, swam in the pool, played in the kid's area and water slides, ate lunch, napped, swam in the pool, had dinner, watched a show, and put baby down to bed. We kept pretty much the same routine for a week. We also spent a day on the beach, where we jumped on waves, watched enormous amount of fish passing us by, and miss A and her daddy attempted to make a castle. Let's just say attempt is a good word for it and they both need more experience in that area.

We traveled with two more families and their kids and this was out first trip with the crowd. Miss A was the oldest one and I think she was a bit bored with the younger kids. But, nonetheless, she had so much fun! I think her mission this trip was to see how deep into the water she can go all by herself. She wasn't into swimming. She got in the water, went until the water was at her shoulders, yelled to get our attention "ya bol'shaya devochka" (I am a big girl), then got out of the water and that followed by about 125421 more times of doing the exact-same-thing. Honestly, I thought she would get bored after 10 minutes but no, the girl kept on going. She would take breaks for a smoothie, ice cream, and photos with a monkey and birds. Even though she was mastering her skills of getting into the water, someone (aka moi) had to be right there next to her. I was pretty much her shadow in the pool. Three steps into the water, three steps back, step up, step down, three steps into the water, and so on. You get the point. This whole shadow thing got much better once I was supplied with a drink. Dirty Monkey and Sangria were my two beverages of choice.

A little more on traveling with other families. We've known these people for a long time, even before marriages and kids. One couple was very laid back and just went with the flow. We are sort of like that too. The other couple, however, was constantly complaining. They are doing pretty well financially right now and think they can buy the whole world, resort.The room wasn't cleaned on time. The server didn't come to the pool area (we told to try next time get spot 0.25 miles closer to the pool, just a thought). The food selection at breakfast was horrible (mind you, the girl said it and she doesn't even eat breakfast). Blah.... I got sick of hearing all this after a few days and just ignored.

Apart from this, we all had a great time and I can't wait until our next vacation. The best part is I got to spend time with my family. A week with my little girl without every day stress, cell phones, computers, TV, and other things that distract me from being there just for her. A week of seeing how happy, silly, grateful, she is for us taking her there. A week of seeing her eyes light up and shine. A week of watching her play and playing right there with her. To me, this was a week of paradise and I couldn't have asked for more.