Sunday, July 26th, Day at the Resort

On Sunday, July 26th, we spent the day around the resort again.  Before leaving to breakfast, the boys caught a little gecko that was in our room and released it outside.

Catching the gecko in our room.  A different lizard in the resort.

We then came back to our room to listen to Rose's ward sacrament meeting.  After sacrament meeting, Rose and Sophia went back to their room.  Rose sent me the link to listen to the Relief Society lesson on marriage.  The boys weren't interested, so they went out and swam in the pool.

Steve braided Hudson a bracelet, and Hudson colored while listening.  

 After lunch, we walked over to a lagoon just down the way from our resort.  

A cute Coati walking across the roof in the buffet.

The boys wanted to try snorkeling in the lagoon.  The water was a little cool to me ;)

The water had gone down, so there was sand showing in an area.  Right behind us was the nasty seaweed.  Hudson played in the sand where others had been building things.

A couple pictures before leaving.

Beautiful views, a Coati crossing our path, and pretty flowers.

We ate at the Steak House for dinner.  Kinda funny, they used the Mexican Restaurant for the "Steak House."  All they did was change the music to Country (which I enjoyed), change the menu, and a few side decorations.  The food was pretty good.

My dinner and dessert.  Sunset, and a deer just walking on the grounds.

Back at our place, the kids watched a show and played a few games w/ Sophia.

We spent a relaxing, restful Sunday exploring the resort grounds and enjoying some quality time together. It was the perfect way to unwind and recharge before our highly anticipated, action-packed day at Xcaret Park the following morning.

Saturday July 25th, Excursion

On Saturday, July 25th, we had breakfast, then went to the spot to leave on our excursion.  They came and picked us up right on time.  Our excursion was to do ziplining, ride ATVs, and jump into cenotes.  

A silly raccoon was eating a piece of bread that one of the waiters gave it.

Ready to leave on our excursion.  In the van on our way!  Pretty flower.

We arrived at the place.  They gave us instructions and divided us into groups.

We then went to the zipline place first.

It was the boys' first time doing ziplining.  They all loved it!  

We ended up buying the pictures they took of us during the excursion.  

There were 3 rungs of the zipline.  We all had fun!

Then we were allowed to jump into a cenote there on the property.  Everyone jumped in except Hudson and I.  We went down the stairs to get in.  The first cenote was in a cave.  We saw bats down there also.

Steve, Nyles, Sophia, and Carter jumping in.

Rose, Sophia, Nyles and Carter jumping in.  They jumped in several times.

We then got on ATV's and rode over to the next cenote.  Hudson rode w/ Steve, I let Nyles drive w/ me, Sophia drove w/ Rose, and Carter hitched a ride w/ one of the workers.

The second cenote was open and much larger.  Sophia, Nyles, and Carter took turns jumping off the different levels of platforms into the water.  They went REALLY high!

On our way back.  A picture inside the first cenote.

We then had lunch at the place.  They had spaghetti and fajitas.

On our way back, Hudson fell asleep.  The big iguana in its usual spot on the way to our room.

The kids then wanted to go swimming.  They were having a foam party in the pool when we got there.  I took some pictures, then went to get in the water in the other pool.  It was a lot of fun, until someone groped Steve, even while holding Hudson. Steve then told the kids it was time to get out.  Sophia didn't want to get out, but after he told her what happened, she agreed it was time to get out.  We then swam in the other pool, away from the foam party.

Hudson, Steve, Sophia, and Carter in the foam.

We ate at the French restaurant our third night.  It was surprisingly our favorite one.

The bread and entrees were great!  Steve and the boys got a beef entree.  Silly Hudson.

Pretty flowers.  Steve stretching.  Cool kids.

Carter and Sophia trying on the Mexican hat. Group pictures.

We walked up to the store, and the kids bought bracelets together.  We then came back to our room and played Cover Your Assets.  We didn't have any Hot Tamales (thanks to the animals), but we did have Jolly Ranchers to share.

We had a fun-filled day.  We're thankful we were able to book an excursion, even the day before it happened.  Rose and I had talked to other excursion people in the resort but their prices were pretty high, and not exactly what we were looking for.  Rose then remembered there should be an excursion through the CircleOne group, so we went over there and asked.  At first they said there wasn't any the next day (Saturday), but after asking a few times, we finally made it happen.  It was fun to explore outside of the resort and try new things.  We all enjoyed it!  It was a great day!

Friday July 24th, Day at the Resort

On Friday, July 24th, we spent our first day at the resort getting our bearings and soaking in the new surroundings.  Here are some highlights:

There was a buffet close to our rooms, the pools, and the beach.  The landscape and grounds were incredible!  There were so many pretty flowers and vegetation everywhere.  There was also a lot of wildlife all throughout the resort, which was fun.  The main drawback, though, was the seaweed on the beach.  It was so bad no one went into the ocean at all.  The smell was REALLY strong, and you could often smell it throughout the resort, especially as you got closer to the beach.

Walking down to get breakfast.  Loaders were scooping up the dead, stinky seaweed on the beach and putting it in trucks to haul away.  Spiderman by the pool.  Our room.

After breakfast we went swimming in the pools.  Thankfully, the pools were huge, which allowed us plenty of room to move around.  We brought floaties, which were great to just relax in the water.

Rose, Sophia, Nyles and Carter playing ping-pong.

Enjoying the water.  Cute Coati animals were everywhere at the resort, even at the buffet.  

Later, at our pool connected to our room.  The bigger pools got warmer in the afternoon, so our pool in the shade felt much cooler and refreshing.  We were very thankful to have the pool by our room.

 Getting lunch.  Coati on the roof.  We were a little nervous about drinking the water and eating the food at the resort, but thankfully none of us got sick.

Lounging in our pool in the afternoon.  The sign on our sliding glass door.

Getting a snack by the beach.  Gross, stinky seaweed piling up at the beach.  Pretty flower.

Cute Coati around the resort.  Cool ship in the buffet.  Apparently there weren't as many people there during the time we visited, though, as this part of the buffet was never used.

Heading to dinner our second night.  

More coati then swimming after dinner at our pool since the larger ones closed at 7pm.

We took a walk around the resort and found another large pool, closer to the entrance of the resort.

We ate at the Italian Restaurant.  It was pretty good. 

Getting some pictures after dinner.  More wildlife at the resort.

A huge spider in between the cactus.  More flowers and a Coati eating food left out.

We came back from dinner w/ our sliding glass door open.  At first Steve thought someone had broken in and stolen stuff from our room, but after looking through the room, the only thing disturbed was our snacks I left on the table.  We had brought snacks with us, in Ziploc bags, but they were opened and eaten.  We figured it must have been a Coati or Racoon that broke in and ate our snacks.  They ate granola bars, grapes that the room attendants left in our room, and some Hot Tamales.  Again, all of the snacks were factory sealed by themselves, and then in additional Ziploc bags, but they still managed to open both packages.  The weird part is Steve remembers checking the sliding glass doors and that they were locked.  We will never know!  (I was apparently too shocked by what happened and didn't get pictures.  I just started cleaning up the mess they left).  It was a little scary at first, but looking back it was pretty funny.  The Hot Tamales look like the last thing they opened.  We think after they ate those, they left our room ;)

More swimming.  Then we went to a night show by the larger pools.

The acrobats were incredible!

Amazing tricks.

We had a great first full day at the resort.  We were also able to contact the CircleOne people and book an excursion for Saturday.

Flying down to Cancun

On Thursday, July 23rd, our trip to Cancun began bright and early with a 7:30 AM flight. After a 4:00 AM wake-up call, we headed out by 4:30 AM. A huge thank you to Rob for joining us to drive our car home and house-sit with Piper while we were away. Rose and Sophia met us at the airport to kick off the adventure together.

We are ready to go!

Boarding our first flight from SLC to Denver.

Then from Denver down to Cancun!

We made it to Mexico!  We then found our luggage and our shuttle to our resort.

It was funny; the sign said McGraph instead of McGrath ;)

The boys fell asleep on the way over to the resort.

We waited in a short line before discovering a faster check-in option at the Circle One area. Thanks to Rose's hairdresser, who generously shared his BlueBay Resort timeshare membership, we secured a lower rate than online prices and unlocked VIP perks like express check-in.

Getting checked in, getting a drink while we wait, then on a golf cart to find our rooms.

We found an Iguana.

After we settled into our rooms, then went to the Mexican Restaurant for dinner.

Our large room was a welcome relief, featuring two full bathrooms and plenty of space for everyone. Steve and I shared the comfortable king-size bed, while Carter and Hudson took the couch bed, and the hotel later brought in a convenient rollaway bed for Nyles.

Our room came with a major perk: a private pool connected right to our balcony. This was a lifesaver since the main resort pools closed at 7 PM. After dinner, the kids jumped right back into the water just outside our door. But our nighttime swim came with a surprise guest. Someone had left unfinished drinks by the edge, and a pair of bold raccoons waddled over to investigate. I tried to shoo them away, but these local bandits held their ground and refused to leave. We kept a safe distance and definitely did not mess with them!

We arrived after a long travel day and checked in around 5:30 p.m., but getting the extra bed we requested turned into a six-hour ordeal. After multiple phone calls and trips to the front desk, the roll-away finally arrived at midnight. Nyles almost ended up crashing on a pool chair we dragged inside just to get some rest.

The couch bed for Carter and Hudson, and finally a rollaway bed for Nyles.

A little while later, our phone rang with a strange warning from the front desk to lock our doors. Steve checked, and they were already locked. The call likely stemmed from earlier when I briefly left our door ajar upon arrival, prompting a staff member to ask us to close it. 

After a long and exhausting travel day, we were deeply grateful to finally fall asleep, despite the late hour and an unexpected interruption. We planned to sleep in the next morning. We then set our sights on exploring the resort grounds and booking an excursion for Saturday.

Last week of July

Here are a few highlights from the few days in July before we flew out to Cancun. 

Pauline took the boys to her house on Monday, July 20th to have a sleepover.  They went to a foam party that afternoon.

More fun!

The boys bundled more firewood.  They cut down more trees in the Uintas earlier. Steve built another rack to dry the extra firewood. Rob let them store the wood along the side of his house.

Firewood.  Steve fixed a sprinkler value box.

Great quotes: