Sunday, July 7, 2013

Cancun Wrap Up

It ended up being a better deal to stay for 2 extra nights, then to buy our airline tickets from Saturday to Saturday. (Our tickets were already outrageously expensive, but after our fun week...well worth it!) So we enjoyed two more days at the resort, when most people left on Saturday. Here are some pictures from our last few days...

We had great weather again for our last few days in Cancun, despite the forecast of "60% chance of showers". We did have some clouds roll in each day later in the afternoon. Which was actually a welcomed relief from the heat. We did get an occasional quick shower here or there, but it never lasted long. Unfortunately, the rain and humidity brought mosquitos along with it. It was a bummer because they were so bad that we couldn't sit outside at night without getting eaten alive! Nolan, Cara, and Payton must have sweet blood, because they had so many bites! 

Sunny mornings...
Brooks looks like a spokesmodel for Banana Boat! We wore 50 sunscreen all day, every day, all week long. We reapplied constantly and nobody in our little family got burnt! We all ended the week pretty tan! 

By the end of the week, Heath was finally brave enough to jump off the bridge into the pool! 


He would jump, grab my hands, and plunge under the water but pop up quickly with his wings on. 



We usually had about an hour each afternoon when all the kids would be napping or watching a movie, so we would enjoy some adult conversation and drinks together in the pool. Some days Mark, Bruce, Cara, Wes, Brad, and Jayne would go play beach volleyball during the afternoon as well. This day also happened to be Brad & Jayne's 6th wedding anniversary too! We all watched their kids so that they could go out for a nice dinner that evening to celebrate. 

 On a couple of mornings our family would take a little walk through the resorts. We would visit the market, gift shop, grab coffee, check out the different lobbies, look at plants, etc.


The flowers and gardens at the resort are beautiful. 


On this walk, Heath grabbed his sunglasses out of my purse and took off running. 
We were all laughing hysterically because he didn't even realize that one of his lenses was missing! It was too cute! Oh how he loves his sunglasses! He will FREAK when I take him to buy a new pair this week. He has quite the sunglass tan on his face now from wearing them all day, everyday! 

We spotted this iguana in front of the Royal Caribbean. 

It was so hot while we were walking so we decided to stop and take a dip in their pool. 

It was fun for the boys to check out other pools. 

My handsome guys. 

A beautiful morning. It was probably only 8:30 a.m. here- already out swimming. 

Nolan always has a handful of treasures! 



On our last day it actually rained for awhile in the late afternoon. When the rain stopped we headed down for our last trip to the beach. 


It was a beautiful evening and a little cooler than normal. 

Heath was charging at the waves and karate kicking them and shouting fiercely! 

Check out Cohen's cool move here! Love it! 

Lando's turn to get buried! 


The men played in the waves for a long time.

And then they all played one last game of beach volleyball.

The cheering section! I took Nolan and Heath back to the room to shower and then later that night Mark and I went out to dinner at The Mayan Palapa to celebrate our belated 10th wedding anniversary. We had yummy mexican food and watched the rain drizzle. It was a nice way to end our trip. 

On Monday morning we spent an hour or so packing and organizing. We bought some snacks for the airplane and ordered pizza for lunch before taking off for the airport. 
Here are my little sombrero boys at the airport! Everything went really smoothly checking in and we had fun doing a little shopping and drinking a Starbucks while we waited for our flight. The flight was another story. Nolan and Heath did great again- they watched movies, ate snacks, and Heath even fell asleep for about an hour. Brooks, on the other hand, was not a happy camper. He was uncomfortable and just wanted to be held- standing up! He cried a bit off and on, but for the most part could be soothed, it just wasn't relaxing for Mark or I. He eventually fell asleep on Bruce's lap for about an hour. And then just at landing he pooped. Which unfortunately for the people around us, was just at the moment when we had to fasten our seat belts. He felt better, but was stinky! He has been really plugged up for the past few days as well. We think that he probably didn't drink as much water as he should have in Mexico and due to eating differently than at home, he just wasn't feeling right. But today, thankfully, he seems to have turned a corner. 

When we landed, we breezed through customs, got our luggage, hugged our family goodbye, and were greeted by Auntie Sue to take us home! We had fun chatting with her and telling stories of our trip. We grabbed McDonalds for dinner and went home. The boys were so excited to be home. They ran in the house and immediately went up to their room. They grabbed their stuffed animals, played with their toys, and rolled around on the carpet. They didn't realize how much they missed carpet. Nolan even asked me why the carpet got softer while we were gone! Our trip was amazing but "there's no place like home!" 

Thank you Oma & Opa for a wonderful week in Mexico! We loved spending 10 days all together as a family and we realize just how truly blessed we are to have a family that loves to be together. We are so grateful! 

6 comments:

Jill Sloothaak said...

We would totally be that family swimming at 8 AM too! Can't wait to chat about your trip. It looks like it was AMAZING!!!

Unknown said...

Such great storeis and pictures of our vacation! Have loved reliving the whole week!

Cara S. said...

Yes, what a great record of our super fun trip. Sad that it's already come and gone! You got so many fun pictures, now it's my turn to get started blogging :)

Kati Hart said...

Looks like you had an amazing trip!!! All your pictures are so good and I am sure the boys will have fond memories of this trip with all their cousins. Do you kind of feel in need of another vacation now that you're home? :)

Unknown said...

You did such a great job of capturing all of the fun we had. It really was like being there again as I read each day... well, almost! We did have an incredible week, and I feel so blessed to have a family that truly enjoys spending time together. Oma and I were so proud to answer the questions from so many bystanders.. yes they are all ours, and yes they are so well behaved and yes they all get along. God is good. Thanks for everything that you and Mark did to make our vacation memorable. A very proud Opa.

boschkp said...

So many special memories! So glad you all had such a special trip. What a blessing!

Peg