The Adventures of Dave & Leanne: Mexico 2013

It's hard to sum up a trip like this with just a few pictures and stories. The week was heavenly. I'm wondering how long it would take for me to actually feel ready to leave this place? I definitely wasn't ready to go home after just one week, but when you compare Mexico in January to Dayton in January... there really is no contest! We met up with some of my family at a resort just outside of Playa del Carmen. We were steps away from the beach, even closer to the pools and hot tubs, and neighbors to the rest of our family that also came to stay. We played, swam, went on adventure beach walks, ate delicious food (El Fogon), sang Karaoke (a first for me), snorkeled, wandered the streets of Playa del Carmen, and visited the always lovely, Xcaret park. Some of my favorite memories from the trip
- watching Owen learn to swim and snorkel. (His favorite sea creatures he saw were the upside down jelly fish) He even conquered his fear of sea kayaking (thanks to being tipped out on a previous kayaking journey). I think he collected his weight in beach treasures, and was always up for a beach walk. I'm pretty sure he could have out-walked my dad which is impressive. I loved watching little baby quail hatch out of their eggs with him. He loves birds and eggs and was especially thrilled to see this tiny little baby bird emerge. I was impressed with how willing he was to try new foods, and he discovered that he really liked real, authentic Mexican tacos (who doesn't?).
-Kate also loved to swim and woke up each day begging for her swimsuit and swimsuit diaper. She wanted to actually swim under the water, and was a brave (and sometimes scary) little thing in the pools. She did not, however, like to be all the way out in the waves of the ocean. I took her out to play in the waves and she cried and cried. She had on these little pink goggles, and when we got back to the beach I took them off and discovered they had filled with tears. Poor baby (mean mama?). She seemed to have been made for the beach, however. She got this lovely golden tan (which she STILL has, 2 months later) and the most incredible beach hair. I loved watching her watch the Mayan show at Xcaret. It was pretty intense, full of scary looking costumes, loud drums, fire etc... she watched very intently and at the end burst into enthusiastic applause, asking for "more owl show" (there was an owl costume in the mix). She also showed some pretty sweet dance moves at the big theater show at the end of the night, going out of her wake to make sure her little skirt twirled around her.
-One of my favorite days was when we went snorkeling at Yal Ku lagoon, and then went to Akumal beach. The lagoon was very pretty and the perfect place for Owen to try out snorkeling for the first time. The beach down there is so incredibly beautiful, a little more wild with lots of beach creatures and big crashing waves. I loved our walk out onto the rocks where we watched (and felt) the waves crash around us while the sun was setting. So, so beautiful.
-We spent many hours in the hot tub, watching kids swim, hanging out with family. Mexico is hard to beat, as far as family reunion destinations go.
-Here are some photos from the week...

An old canoe we saw on one of our beach walks. Owen is convinced it is "a million years old".