Cancun, Mexico

Lame title, I know. The trip, however, was anything but. We had a fabulous time spending the week in the sun with Tucker's family. We stayed at an all inclusive resort called The Great Parnassus and though I wouldn't recommend it (let's just say Great might be stretching it), our group had so much fun. Most our time was spent at the beach and pool...duh...where we soaked up some sun, played in the sand, colored (weird, but Capri wasn't really loving the sand or the loud waves so she got out the crayons on the lounge chair...total California girl, right?), did quite a bit of swimming and splashing and ate hamburgers and french fries poolside.
It wasn't exactly your typical relaxing vacation now that there are the four of us; thoughts of sunscreen, angry waves, rip currents, sand in all orifices, more sunscreen and even drowning were running through my mind constantly. Don't we love being parents? And yet, it was a total blast to have our little family, along with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, playing together and really enjoying just being together. To top it off, sweet Susie, Tucker's mom, offered to watch the little ones during their naps so Tuck and I could get some serious R and R. Lovely. Some time to sit and listen to the waves while reading my book. Aaaahhhh.
My kids did really well on the trip, especially in regards to the dreaded plane rides and potential sleepless nights. They were awesome on the plane (thank you personal DVD players) and slept through every night-WOW! The hardest part for them was eating and I can't say I blamed them. This is where the resort was a bit of a let down and that was FOOD! Not only was it pretty bad, but they took over an hour to bring it out. Seriously? I have two 20 month-olds sitting in "high chairs" that have no tray or straps to hold them in and I have to wait for an hour and a half before I can feed them. Not going to happen! Needless to say, we got smart and ate from the grill outside or the buffet instead. We got even smarter and went out to eat a few times as well. I had always liked Outback, but I was ready to kiss the cook when they brought me my first good meal of the trip. On the upside, none of us gained any weight, something typical of a cruise or all-inclusive resort trip, and Tucker even lost a few pounds!
Our favorite highlights of the trip:
*The pool and the awesome 8 foot shelf of water shallow enough for Roman and Capri
*The weather-80 degrees and perfect
*The beautiful surroundings-white sand and every color of turquoise water
*The nasty shower runoff water-the kids played and played in that stuff.
*All the pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris you could want
*Playing tennis with the champs
*Throwing the Christmas bows into the resort ponds. That was the kids doing that, of course.
*Trying to get into the resort ponds. Again, the kids.
*Lots and lots of playing hearts, the card game. Even better when we can give Keith the queen.
*Although the food wasn't great, we ate plenty of yummy ice cream and crepes!
*Best part-being with the fam!
All in all, a great and much needed vacation. We don't get to see the Nielson family very often and we already miss them. Thank you all so much for a splendid week!