i can’t believe almost a week in mexico already came and went. it was amazing and just what the doctor ordered. after much contemplation (and hours of debating where we should go… where we should stay…) we decided to go to playa del carmen and stayed at the fairmont mayakoba, riviera maya–it was spectacular. we wanted to find a resort that was luxurious for us, but kid-friendly for the little ones and we definitely think we made the right decision.
i am going to have to break the recap up into a couple of posts because there are just too many good memories to document. the thing about beach vacations is that they are a little bit of the same every day… wake up, eat breakfast (which was incredible here, by the way), go to the beach, the pool, dinner and then bed. normally i don’t handle monotony well, which is why i normally insist on european vacations, but in this case i was ready to kind of turn off decision making and coast in auto-pilot for awhile.
the first day we hit the beach straight away. it took awhile for alexa and hayden to enjoy playing in the sand–and they were pretty much scared of the water for half the day–but, eventually they realized that making sand castles and throwing sand in daddy’s face was pretty entertaining.
hayden’t face is priceless–he had just nailed nate in the head with a fistful of sand… it was kind of awesome.
i am so thankful that nate loves to be in the ocean. little known fact about me (or, well known amongst family and friends)–i am terrified of the ocean and have a general distaste for being in the water in general. i can handle the pool, as long as its not too cold, but i cannot handle the ocean. i love sitting by it, being on boats, etc, but i am absolutely paralyzed by the thought of fish, crabs, and maybe even seaweed. i don’t know where the fear came from, but i wish i could make it go away. regardless, i still love being near water–as long as i don’t really have to go in!!
i think alexa and i look especially alike here… down to the squinty eyes!
the little lady knee deep in sand!
one of my best decisions in pre-trip planning was to buy a new set of beach toys–they were a hit!
the funny thing about toddlers is how opinionated they can be… by this i mean that we only got in one day at the beach because they were insistent upon spending everyday in the pool. we normally don’t give into their every whim, but i happen to prefer laying out by the pool without all the sand to fuss with. that was also one great part about this resort, the pool was right by the beach so it was the best of both worlds. after an afternoon at the beach, it was time to hit the pool.
towel service, pool side drinks, view of the ocean from my chair and daddy in the pool with the kids. #heaven
alexa isn’t as much of a daredevil as hayden is, he loves it when nate tosses him high!
amongst my favorite purchases for the trip, these two swimming floats were so great. alexa actually ended up swimming all by herself for the first time in hers and hayden was safe and easy to spot in his neon green float!
this boy has me heart and soul! what a cutie.
this moment really shows alexa at her happiest… it is rare we can capture this smile in a photo. you can tell she was in her element. #waterbaby
ok, so i said i don’t love going in the pool, but i couldn’t escape it fully… especially not when i had these two swimming around me!
that is a wrap for the first post. stay tuned for the next post… nate will share some more highlights from the fairmont hotel and share some shots with you about what we did at the resort when we weren’t in the water!
xx!
eventually we compromised, made our choice and then nate got ready to chop down the tree.
A little inside scoop about Ashley: Ashley is the owner of 
