Monday, July 27th, Xcaret

On Monday, July 27th, we had an early start. We ate breakfast at the inside buffet (closer to the front of the resort and pickup location) as soon as it opened at 7am, then waited for our bus pickup to go to Xcaret at 7:25am.  We had booked this excursion before we left, so we were pretty excited for it.  Everyone we've talked to, said it's worth the cost of going.

Cute Coatis shaking down seeds from the tree to his friend below.

We made it on the bus!

Here we go!  Shortly after, the boys fell asleep on the way over.

We brought our swimsuits and snorkel equipment, so we had a lot of stuff.  We wanted to rent a locker to put down our extra stuff while we walked around.  We found a few nice employees who told us the paths to go, in which order, and also where to rent other lockers, instead of just at the entrance.  The locker guy helped us find a really large locker, which was helpful so we could put all our stuff in one, instead of having to rent multiple lockers.  That was a blessing.  We put our stuff in the lockers and were off on our way!

Here we go!  Pretty parrots, a raccoon, iguana and pink flamingoes.

We made our way around, exploring the beautiful place.

It was really well organized, clean, and amazing!

We explored the aquarium.

Sharks, turtles, and Iguanas.

Pretty views of the ocean and Mayan ruins.

More cool ruins.

We did one river run before lunch.  It was fun, though it was pretty crowded.  It was more in a cave, so it was dark a lot of the time, which wasn't my favorite, but we still had a great time.

Fun picture spots and pretty parrots.

We then sat down for lunch.  Several Iguanas were around us, and a few Coatis broke into the garbage cans to get leftover food.  They were all pretty entertaining to watch.

Iguana eating a leaf

More fun pictures and sites to see.

Exploring the cemetery.

More Iguanas, pretty flowers, and places to explore.

Cool butterflies.

So neat.

We then went down the river again, this time on the opposite one.  This one was more open and sunny and since it was in the later afternoon, there weren't many people going down it either, which was nice.  I personally enjoyed this one much more.  It rained just a little bit, then stopped.

After the last river run, we went and got changed, turned in our locker key, and headed towards the evening show.  We heard it was super awesome, so we wanted to get a good seat.  They had people dressed as ancient Mayans as you got close to the arena, which was pretty cool to see.  It reminded me of Lamanites from the Book of Mormon :)

More actors dressed up for the show.

We got our seats, then went and got something to eat at the concession stands, then the show started.  They had us light the candles they gave us, one one by, until they were all lit, lighting up the arena.  It was neat, though a little terrifying at the same time, as kids were holding candles and it would be bad if someone dropped one.  Thankfully, no one did, and the show went on :)

They portrayed ancient Mayan games and dances, and made their way through Mexico's history.

It was really neat to watch and listen to the music.

Xcaret evening show.

After the evening show, we found our bus to go back to our resort.

The boys fell asleep on the way home as it was late.

After we got back to the resort, everyone wanted to get a slushy before heading to bed (why not?).  

The kids were hungry also, so we ordered room service, since it was free also.

It was a super fun, awesome day at Xcaret.  I would highly recommend going!

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.