Spring Break in Cancun

Saturday 4/7

We left NJ for Cancun early early Saturday morning. The airport was not fun (Greta lost the headband her American Girl doll was wearing; tears etc; I tried to go back out beyond security and was refused) and neither was the plane (Lucia threw up, as per usual, on the bumpy landing). But then we were there, and it was WARM, and that alone was amazing. Our driver greeted us outside the airport with chilled towels and waters before ushering us to the resort in a luxury vehicle of some kind.

Note: This is not our usual type of vacation. Our usual type of vacation involves excavating mouse carcasses from hundred-year-old umbrella stands and the kids getting stung by wasps in their beds.

Anyway, also amazing is our suite at the resort in Riviera Maya, which is basically two suites connected by a foyer, tons more space than we actually need, with three Murphy beds in our suite and one in the other, as well as couches and the actual beds. It’s about 1800 square feet. The kitchen is more deluxe than ours at home, with a Sub-Zero refrigerator. There’s a hot tub on our balcony. So that’s pretty fun.

When we arrived on Saturday we had time to swim in the pool before dinner, and the pool is incredible. Then we ate at one of the restaurants at the resort. When we got back to our room, housekeeping had been by to provide turn-down service, and had left two small boxes for the girls, each holding a Mexican handicraft: tiny wooden animals with bobbing heads. Of course this was a huge hit.

Sunday 4/8

Sunday, L&G were up at six (we’re an hour behind, so they felt like it was seven, but STILL). We hung out at the room for a while; L&G played in the hot tub balcony. We had to drag them out to go get some breakfast. Then we hit the pool and beach for the morning. Each day we have our own reserved chairs. A beach waiter provides cool towels, chilled waters, and a chilled bottle of Evian face mist. I’d brought snorkels and masks for L&G and we taught them how to snorkel, which they’ve been doing more or less nonstop. There’s been a lot of wind and big waves, so we haven’t done any swimming in the ocean yet. There's also an off-putting amount of seaweed on the sand, which we'd read about, but it was still startling.

A beach waiter came around with fresh fruit popsicles late in the morning. I had a pina colada; Greta had a virgin strawberry daiquiri. Lucia did not stop swimming for one second. We had lunch outside at the beach cafe. Delicious food all around.

L&G didn’t want a sun break, but we coerced them up to the room for a little while, where we played Gonuts for Donuts and they swam in the hot tub again. Then we went back to the pool for a little while before having a BBQ dinner poolside.

Outrage: housekeeping had not been by for turndown service by the time we got back to the room, and by then it was beyond late for bedtime. L&G had been eagerly anticipating their little boxes all day. We promised they could open them in the morning, and indeed housekeeping came a little while later.

Monday 4/9

Another early morning for L&G, at six. I don’t understand. The rooms are pitch black. They come into our room at six on the dot. This morning, the first thing they asked for was the little boxes.

They were very hungry this morning so we went to breakfast early instead of hanging out in the room. It’s a breakfast buffet here, which of course L&G love, overdosing on pastries (Lucia) and fruit (Greta). There’s also a big pot of Mexican hot chocolate, which Greta loves.

Then back to the pool and beach. Mostly pool, more snorkeling, lots of diving around and playing. Andrew and I have been swimming most of the time too. It was windy again, but we also went to the beach, where L&G were very engaged with scooping up seaweed from the water and throwing it back again. Both, at some points, were talking to their clumps of seaweed. We’re not sure what they were saying. They’ve also been collecting cool rocks.

We all had a laughing spell in the pool as Greta did her "eclair dance," a new phenomenon that involves silly dancing while she chants the word "eclair" in a hilarious voice. It'd hard to describe, but she does say "eclair" in a way that makes me laugh hysterically, and it's only gotten more and more absurd. She was in rare form.

Popsicles again, and lunch at the beach cafe again. More pina coladas and virgin daiquiris. More sunburn, too, sadly. Greta had majorly pink cheeks by the end of yesterday, but they were less pink this morning, but a long morning in the sun didn’t help at all. We took a sun break after lunch (Gonuts for Donuts, American Girl stickerbooks), then had another pool/beach stint later in the afternoon. Both girls got even more sunburnt despite our copious sunscreening. We’ll take more breaks tomorrow.

Lucia was mesmerized by older kids doing backflips off the side of the pool and set about trying to do them herself. She's getting there.

Highlight of the day for Greta: we were in one of the bathrooms near the pool and she spotted a tiny (like nickel-size) baby lizard in her stall. We went back to check for it later, but it was gone.

Tonight we had dinner at another restaurant at the resort, our best meal by far. It’s a Mexican restaurant (the other one is "international"), and the food was delicious. L&G ate their buttered spaghetti from the kids menu but then proceeded to sample and steal lots of our food: Mexican cheese from our cheese platter, my tequila shrimp, my rice, our churros. (This is an all-inclusive place. We’re not holding back on our ordering.) Absolutely delicious all around, with a view of the pool and ocean. Kit and Julie (the AG dolls) were good dining companions, sampling bits of the girls’ food.

L&G had an inscrutable private joke going at dinner: At one point, after glancing at each other, Lucia asked me if there was such a thing as vegetable soup. I said yes, and L&G looked at each other open-mouthed, like this was the most surprising thing they'd ever heard, and then began laughing hysterically.

I also broke a glass in the weirdest way possible. I mis-aimed my margarita glass as I was setting it down, and it hit the rim of my water glass. An oval of glass popped out from the center of the glass, and water poured out. The rim of the glass was intact, as was the rest of the glass, and not all the water spilled. Very very strange.

Housekeeping had been by for turndown, and L&G were thrilled to add a third animal to their collection. This is a highlight for them. (I mean, really: a souvenir left on their bed at the end of the day??) They’re not the only ones with souvenirs: a handbag and necklace were left in the room for me. And a bottle of tequila and fridge full of beer for Andrew. This is a pretty great place.

We are stuffed to the gills and totally exhausted. I’ll be adding pictures at some point but maybe not till I get home, since I’m doing this post on Andrew’s computer and who the heck can work this thing? Not me, I can tell you that.