Sunday, May 7, 2017

Spring Break 2017: Cancun, Mexico

Now that we live in California, each spring the boys have the "privilege" of having a whole week off daycare for spring break.  (No, mom and dad don't see this the same way, and yes, we do still pay for the week even though we aren't there :-/).


If you recall, last year we jetted off to Cancun.  Since we had such a fun time at the Iberostar Cancun resort we decided to go back again this year and tack on a fourth day.

As it turns out, it's about a 10 hour journey from takeoff to landing in Cancun + travel time to/from hotels and house.  All together that makes for a very long day.  The boys do great flying and fortunately crash out for about half of it.  

There are many things that I like about the Iberostar Cancun.  First, it's small so everything is very close.  Secondly, the kids pool is right out front by the beach and the adult pools.  Also the food is decent and it's easy to reserve restaurants in advance or even when you get there.  And although I would get up at 6:30 am to reserve chairs because we were particular, you could easily find chairs any time of the day.



Our daily routine stayed pretty standard over the four days.

Wake up at 6:30 to reserve chairs then crash back out till 8 (for mom at least).  Everyone wakes up between 8 and 9 am.  Then it's off to breakfast.  

AM Beach time!  We learned last year that it is a good idea to do the beach in the morning since you'll have the rest of the day in the pool to get the sand off before returning to the room.  (I also learned by day four that playing in the sand is infinitely more pleasurable with shorts on).




After 2-3 hours of sand play we headed back to the pool area for lunch and some naps.  The kids can't resist the sound of running water and a full belly to put them down for a good 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap.  While the kids napped by the pool mom and dad played pool games in the area behind them or just sat and had some time to talk, what a concept.

nap time.

more nap time!

After naps we typically played at the pool until 6pm.  This included their awesome kiddie pool complete with pirate ship as well as the big adult infinity pool with swim up bar.  Plus the kids loved scurrying about all the other smaller pools that were connected.  They would pretend that water was "hot lava" that they either had to avoid or put on their "hot lava boots" to walk in.  It was so adorable watching Jesse run around with his hand out saying "hot lava! hot lava!"

max was so happy to drink from a coconut

water gun fights!

such a happy boy

two boys at the swim up bar waiting for their "special drinks"

Around 5:30 or 6 we would all be ready for a shower and some dinner.  We were able to get dinner reservations for the restaurants each night but we also checked out the buffet one night and that seemed pretty good as well.




After dinner they had kids shows at 8pm and then the full family show at 9:30.  We only caught some of the family show one night because the kids were so tired, but they did have fun running around the open air theatre between shows and playing on the stage with the other kids.  One night was Mexican themed night and, well, we had to take this picture.


Strangely enough, out last night we even saw some minions running around the hotel lobby/bar area!




In true vacation form, we had fun right up until the last minute.  As we boarded our final flight from LA back to Oakland, Max wanted to look in the cockpit.  The pilot invited both boys in and let them play with all the switches and levers while the rest of the people boarded.  They were up there for like 10 minutes easily.  


Thanks for a great time Cancun!  We will be back!