HOLA!
For our summer vacation we usually head to the white sandy beaches of Florida, but this year we wanted to try something different. A trip to Mexico is a short plane ride for us Texans, so we decided to trade in Florida for a little Mexican vacation.
These kids are growing up…escalators WITH bags all on their own.
Our flight left late on Tuesday evening. These cuties were my row companions.
WE MADE IT!!!
We knew it’d be late by the time we arrived so we stayed in a hotel by the Cancun airport the first night. Our car picked us up to drive us to the resort the next morning.
Cheers to a Mexican vacation!
We arrived and instantly checked out the beach. The beach did not disappoint. See that obstacle course in the background? Nixon found his inner-American Ninja Warrior and had the best time on that thing.
This was fun to watch, but I wanted to breathe in a paper bag just thinking about putting on that get up in the HOT sun!
We were so ready to relax, kick back, and enjoy the week with our family. I try my very best to not be on my phone all the time. Don’t we all? In Mexico, I only had wi-fi right inside our room so I was never on my phone unless I was holding it to take a picture. It was great to unplug for seven days!
We had a suite (with five people in a room for six nights-you need a bit more space) and the two balconies were a perk.
Ready to hit the pool with this guy!
I wish I could explain in words how excited they were at this point.
The entertainment team at our resort was fabulous! There were games, dancing, and shows going on ALL the time. On Wednesday, Nixon participated in the soccer challenge. A goal was set up across the pool and everyone tried to kick it all the way across the pool and into the goal. I was crazy proud of Nixon for trying!
Bowen was proud too. Can’t you tell? 🙂
The location behind us was a spot for weddings. It was gorgeous all decorated at sunset. Our first night we had Mexican food because duh. 🙂
Thursday-a new day but same pattern. Eat, pool, beach, repeat. That afternoon the family pool had a FOAM PARTY!
I was expecting a few suds, but boy was I wrong! haha! They kept saying small children needed an adult. I did not understand it’s because the foam got SO HIGH it would completely cover Ebby Lee’s head! Crazy, but a blast!
All the Slaughter guys stayed back and watched, but the girls were into it. ha!
Bowen was a fan! As long as he was in this part of the pool where he could touch.
Then we headed to the beach for a while to enjoy the scenery and a WEDDING! We watched approximately fifteen weddings during our stay.
There’s not much cuter in life than a tanned baby (I know he’s not still a baby, but go with it…) whose bottoms are falling down revealing his tiny hiney. Check out that tan line!!
We enjoyed our dinner at the Japanese restaurant. The spring rolls were the bomb! Seriously, I ordered two extra orders. They were that good.
We played a TON of rock, paper, scissors while we waited for food. I’m talking tourneys and we got to watch Bowen go from not-able-to-play-at-all to he’s-almost-not-cheating. It was a slow change.
We played a TON of rock, paper, scissors while we waited for food. I’m talking tourneys and we got to watch Bowen go from not-able-to-play-at-all to he’s-almost-not-cheating. It was a slow change.
Day #2 was a success!
The acrobat show? Not so much…ha!
Our third full day we hit up a local waterpark…Xel-Ha. (pronounced “Shell-ha”)
This park was reefed off from the ocean, so ocean water that’s crazy safe. There were all kinds of things to do within this park…snorkeling, swimming in caves, zip lines, lazy river, and on and on.
These huge iguanas were everywhere and Nix was into them EVERY SINGLE TIME. We don’t have those in Texas!
Our first stop was the cave swimming area. Our kids were so nervous about this. When they saw a fish, instead of being excited they wanted to swim away as fast as possible. One problem-there were fish EVERYWHERE. They all warmed up eventually.
If you look closely, you can see that Bowen had a death grip on my life jacket.
We had to climb these rocks to get out of the water and up to the trail.
Everyone did it!
WAHOO!!
I was proud of myself as well. haha!
This day was overcast and eventually had crazy rain storms. All the trails were shaded and were super cool. It was such a large park when we were out on a trail we rarely saw other people.
Checking out some fossils in this cave.
Then it was time for the LAZY RIVER. I love a lazy river, so I couldn’t wait to embark on this little adventure.
Tab got the party started before we even had tubes.
We walked up to the beginning of the river and DOWN POUR. I’m talking raining cats and dogs kind of rain. We waited for it to pass hoping it’d slide right over, but after about fifteen minutes and a thirty minute walk to something else to do in the park we took a change.
Oh my goodness!! That river was COLD and WINDY! At one point, I thought we’d never make it to the end. We had to walk over these crazy shallow rocks IN THE RAIN WITH THREE KIDS ALL ON TUBES WITH FLIPPERS ON OUR FEET. If you’ve tried to do anything with flippers on then you totally understand how difficult that was. A random stranger could see the shock on my face and offered to carry Bowen over for me.
But after about forty-five minutes of pure torture, we were doing this…
Wrapped up in warm towels and eating nachos.
There was an awesome children’s playground area.
It was super sturdy so Tab and I joined the party.
We watched a group feed the manatees.
And then we lost our mind and tried the lazy river ONE MORE TIME.
For a couple reasons:
1. The rain had stopped.
2. We didn’t enjoy it on trip number one because we were just trying to survive.
3. The shuttle dropped us off at 8:00 a.m. and wasn’t picking us up until 6:00 so we had LOTS of time.
The beginning started off like this…covered in trees and roots.
The second time around was WAY better!
On the first trip-there was a man in his forties floating along with us (in the rain and cold remember). His tube flipped over in the middle of this covered tree/root area and he LOST his mind. Like I mean LOST his mind. He was flailing around like he was drowning but he was wearing a life jacket. We offered to help, but he quickly got on his tube (I think he was embarrassed) and got ahead of us. We came around the corner and that same guy was jumping off a cliff!! I couldn’t believe it. He swam over to us and told us he was just petrified of all those roots!! haha!
This girl thought about jumping off the cliff for a second and then had a change of heart. #idontblameher
I did a little ziplining of my own. I posted a video of Ebby Lee ziplining on my IG. She LOVED it. I think she went about four times before we convinced her to move on.
It was a GREAT excursion. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend your family going to Xel-Ha. The only thing I’d say is Bowen was almost too young. He is a pretty independent three-year-old so he hung in there pretty well, but I’d recommend the park for probably six and up.
On our way to dinner. At this point we were all SO tired! We scored dinner reservations at 9:00 (YES…SO LATE but vacation) at the Italian restaurant.
Love this guy…even if he makes silly faces during my selfie.
Pasta was on the menu!
Another successful day of vacation in the books!
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I’m so glad to be back. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for Part 2!
