We went to the Grand Mayan which was probably the most beautiful resort I have ever been to - the grounds were immaculate and it had a lot of fun things to do. The entrance was super cool and had these tall Mayan giant statues and it was dark and had some creepy music. Talk about a WOW factor when you first walk in. Our rooms were huge and amazing as well! We had so much space, it was great. We had amazing weather the whole time too. We walked around a lot exploring, and ate at the restaurants on the grounds. We thought we would spend most of our time at the kiddie play area, but instead we ended up spending most of it at the "warm pool" as we called it. It had a bunch of fountains in the middle that Scarlett just loved, and since it was warmer, we could hang out there until past 5:00 and still enjoy ourselves! Plus it was right near the entrance to the lazy river, which was another favorite thing to do. Scarlett really liked sitting on the tube with her Daddy - she didn't really want to go with anyone else! She is such a Daddy's girl and clung to him most the time. The older kids were really able to enjoy swimming this year, and diving for things, going on the waterslide, etc. They were really at a fun age! The kids also loved the beach, jumping in the waves, building sandcastles and looking for seashells. We hadn't taken them to the ocean in almost 6 years, so it was pretty much a first for them! They were very much in awe of it all! Griffin was especially excited about everything, he gets such cute expression in his voice and was just so excited to be in Mexico!! He still keeps talking about it and really wants to live there.
We also put them in the Kids Club for one day, since it was cheap and they offered us a 3 for the price of 2 deal. They had a good time, but we kind of missed having them with us that day, so we didn't want to put them in there again!
One day my parents offered to watch the kids for us too, so Lee and I did the "Extreme Adventure Tour"! It was a lot of fun and a rush of adrenalin! There were lots of zip lines, including the longest and fastest one in North America, that you do headfirst on your stomach and fly like Superman! It was pretty crazy! We also repelled and drove ATVs. Lee was a little disappointed that he couldn't take the ATV wherever he wanted and go as fast as he would like! But he still managed to be the only one in the group to get covered in mud!! Knowing him, I decided to take my own ATV instead of riding with him like the other wives! That proved to be a good decision! We had a lot of fun and it was an eye opener to see the poverty that we drove by in Mexico on our way. There were huge lots where people were literally living in tents or other makeshift shelters out of scraps. It looked horrible, and we were surprised to see it. We are so blessed to have what we have.
Another favorite part of our trip was going to the "Beach Party" for dinner with the family. It was amazing buffet style food and unlimited drinks, so the kids LOVED ordering as many pina coladas as they wanted, and grabbing all the yummy food and desserts they wanted too! There was some Mexican dancing, and Dakota was actually brave enough to do the Congo line and limbo and then get on stage and dance! She was shy at first but then she really got into it, and it was hilarious to see he doing some of the Gangham style moves and copying the Mexican dancers. I don't know where she gets the guts to do stuff like this... she was the only child up there with a whole bunch of drunk people! Some of the drunk guys even tried to dance with her, but luckily Grandpa was there to step in and protect her!! The crowd just loved her though, I heard so many people saying how cute she was. And then for the rest of the trip, she was a celebrity, and constantly had people coming up to her and saying, I saw you dancing at the Beach party, you were awesome!! She loved it.
Anyway, all in all, it was a fabulous trip and we hope to go back there again one day! The only bad thing was the 5 hour flight with Scarlett! She was a bit of a nightmare!! On the way there she screamed her head off and wouldn't go to sleep even though we drugged her with Gravol! (Perhaps it had the opposite effect on her!) She slept a little better on the way home but we still had over 4 hours to try to entertain her in one spot! NOT FUN! But it was of course worth it when we got there, and it makes me feel better to know she is our last, and trips should only get easier from here on out!
Here's just a few pictures of our trip... okay fine, there's a whole bunch, I just couldn't narrow it down more than this... so many good memories!!
