After a long day of travel on Saturday, April 8th (including a layover in Dallas), we arrived in Cancun in the evening. After clearing customs and getting our luggage, we found our shuttle and then proceeded to drive for another two hours or so before arriving at our resort. Needless to say, we were one tired and hungry bunch when we got there! Luckily, the kids did great travelling that entire day and I was so relieved once we got everyone tucked into bed that first night. We then spent the next five days enjoying everything our mega resort had to offer from amazing pools to beautiful beaches to delicious, all-you-can-eat buffets. The kids loved the fabulous children's pool, Lia got to swim with dolphins, and we snorkeled with turtles galore the one time we left the hotel to visit the public beach in Akumal. Besides Ella getting a wicked sunburn on her face and coming down with fever at the end of the trip, we had a great time and successfully made it home on Saturday, April 14th, just in time to enjoy the Easter holiday!
All three kids waiting at our gate at SeaTac Airport before boarding our plane to Dallas on April 8th.
Lia and Ella all buckled in and ready to take off!
After a long day of travel and a late night getting to bed, the kids were anxious to get dressed in their swimsuits and try out the children's pool (which just happened to be right in front of our hotel room) the very next morning. Here they are standing in front of our hotel room door with our "Welcome Family" banner taped to the front of it.
The kids absolutely loved the children's pool and seriously would have spent all day, every day, there during our week in Akumal. Ron and I loved that it was only a thirty second walk from our room which was an absolute miracle considering the size of our hotel grounds. We especially loved how we could trade off being in the hotel room in the afternoon while Ella was sleeping by only leaving her alone for a minute or so while we switched places. Here is a picture of Logan trying out one of the water slides at the children's pool.
Lia and Ella walking up the stairs to the top of the large play structure.
Logan going down another slide. Oh, how this boy loves water slides!
All three kids getting ready to go down the "pumpkin slide" as we referred to it all week long.
And down they go!
All three kids splashing into the water.
Logan going down the pumpkin slide alone.
The two sisters having another go!
In addition to the children's pool, we enjoyed exploring the other pools on the hotel grounds. Here is Ron posing with the kids in the pool before I begged and pleaded to go check out the beach!
Swimming in the Caribbean! The hotel grounds were so large that we had to actually take a hotel shuttle to the beach every time we wanted to go there. As a result, we actually didn't make it to the beach every day since the children were so happy just playing and swimming in the different pools. Here are the kids with Ron trying swimming in the ocean for the first time.
I managed to snap a picture just as Ella tasted salt water for the first time. I absolutely love the look on her face!
Our mermaid enjoying the beautiful, warm water.
Ron doing the same.
Logan motoring along.
All three kiddos lined up in a row.
Mama joins in the water fun!
One of the great aspects of staying at this all-inclusive resort is that we could choose to eat our meals at one of many restaurants located around the hotel each day. We enjoyed eating in the restaurant right on the beach for lunch whenever we were down on the beach during that time of day. Since it is an open, outdoor restaurant, birds were a bit of an issue inside the building. Logan started trying to fight them off with his dinner knife. Here is a funny picture I got of him posing with his knife.
Ella enjoying some fruit punch after leaving the restaurant.
Logan loved swinging in the hammock while eating his ice cream he got after lunch.
What a life!
The kids loved spotting the large iguanas that were found all over our resort. It was really funny because Ella didn't understand that the correct word was 'iguanas' and called them 'moanas' instead (thanks to the Disney movie). We just didn't have the heart to correct her. Here is a picture of Lia and Logan posing next to a 'moana' relaxing in the shade.
A close-up of the 'moana.'
A picture of the kids looking out at the beloved, children's pool from our hotel room veranda.
Another morning spent playing at the children's pool.
Ella standing up in the water after coming down one of the many water slides.
Lia following her on the same slide. I just love the look of pure joy and happiness on Lia's face.
Logan and Ella coming down the triple slide together.
And Lia following them!
The kids playing under the waterfall tree.
The kids and I posing under the same tree.
Another shot with the entire palm tree above us.
A nice panoramic shot of the awesome, children's play area with us in the foreground.
We typically started off each morning in the children's pool and then headed to the large pool located right next to it. Here is a close-up of the kiddos and me.
This vacation was the first time that Logan started swimming without a life jacket on outside of his swim classes. It was so exciting to watch him jump into the water and then swim to Ron. He did this over and over again during our week in Mexico. Here is Logan jumping off into the water from the edge of the pool.
Logan swimming over to Ron.
Ron getting ready to push Logan back off toward the wall of the pool.
Logan swimming back.
Our big swimmer giving me an adorable smile.
And our mermaid-at-heart smiling for the camera, too.
Logan running over one of the bridges that crosses the pool.
Logan standing at the edge of another large pool that we swam in several times that week.
Logan also tried swimming to me without a life jacket on. Here I am about to push him back to the edge of the pool.
Logan swimming away while his sisters and I looked on.
Cute Logan jumping towards me again.
Although we ate the majority of our meals in the same buffet-style restaurant close to our hotel room, we did get all dressed up two different evenings to try out some fancier, reservation-only restaurants found on the grounds. Here are Ron and the kids heading up the long flight of stairs to the impressive lobby near our hotel room where we caught a shuttle to the restaurant.
A close-up of the Hartland fam dressed in their finest, resort duds.
Logan and papa on the shuttle to the restaurant.
And the girls and me doing the same.
A family pose outside the restaurant.
And another picture inside the lobby where the restaurant was located.
Sweet Ella enjoying her spaghetti at dinner.
Lia posing with her cute umbrella that came with her fancy drink.
Logan proudly showing off the chocolate ice cream all around his mouth.
This is the precious picture I got of the kids and Ron walking away from the restaurant.
After eating dinner, we decided to explore our hotel's market place located near the entrance of the grounds. Here are the kids trying on the "Lucha Libre" wrestling masks at La Hacienda Dona Isabel.
All three kiddos modeling a sombrero.
The kids and me posing in the courtyard adjacent to the shops.
On the morning of Tuesday, April 11th, we were able to fulfill one of Lia's greatest dreams: swimming with dolphins. Since our hotel was so large, it actually had a facility on the grounds where people could come and swim with their dolphins. After learning about this hotel amenity online before leaving, we promised Lia that she could do this if she paid for it with her own money. Thanks to a large amount of money she received in February from returning birthday gifts she didn't want from her friend party, she was able to pay for over half of this adventure up front. We went down as a family after breakfast Tuesday morning to watch her participate in this amazing experience. Here she is with her life jacket on all ready to go! I was so impressed by how brave she was to do this all alone with a group of strangers.
At one point, everyone in Lia's group got to be pulled by the dolphins across the pool. Here is Lia being pulled while holding onto the dolphin's dorsal fins.
Lia reaching her group after being pulled across the pool.
Lia and her group being splashed by the dolphins.
The entire group getting to pet the dolphin as it swam by them.
Lia posing with one of the dolphins for the photographer.
The dolphins put on a short show at the end of the class for everyone in and outside of the pool to see. It was very impressive.
Another shot of the dolphins diving back into the water.
Lia smiling to us as she exited the pool.
Lia taking off her jacket at the end of the class.
Since the dolphin area is down by the beach, we then spent the morning at a different pool and then at the beach. Here is Ella enjoying some fruit punch from her lawn chair. What a life!
The kids and Ron walking down to the ocean.
Another shot of Ron, the kids, and the thatched umbrellas on the beach.
We enjoyed playing in the sand and making a sand castle that morning. Here is Lia putting some sand in her bucket.
Since Ella's sunburn around her eyes had gotten pretty bad by this point, Ron decided to try to keep her hidden under a thatched umbrella most of the morning.
Lia and Logan working on our sand castle.
The kids at play.
Helping the kids make their castle.
A quick pick with all three kids, their sand castle, and the Caribbean.
Logan smashing all of our castle towers upon completion.
Ella and mama.
Another shot of the kids and me with Ella looking the wrong way. :-)
Although the kids and Ron were content to spend all five days within the confines of our resort, I really wanted to leave at least once to explore a local beach and just experience Mexico outside of our hotel walls! After much discussion, I finally convinced Ron to let us catch a taxi one morning and drive to the local beach in Akumal so that we could try out some snorkeling since this town is known for its abundance of sea turtles. We headed out the morning of Wednesday, April 12th, which turned out to be a very good thing as Ella's bad sunburn evolved into a fever and illness later on this day. Ron never would have let me take the family out of the hotel the next day which was our last full day in Mexico! Here is the great family photo I was able to get a nice, British lady to take of us after first arriving at the beach.
A darling picture of Lia and the Caribbean Sea.
Beautiful Akumal beach.
The silhouette of a palm tree near the area where we camped out on the beach.
Ron and the kids on our towels.
Cute Logan playing in the sand with some beach toys. I just love this picture.
Logan giving me his best smile with his eyes close.
Ella covered up in sunblock, sunglasses, and a hat to protect her face from further sunburning.
Lia and Ella in the water.
The girls and me with Logan off to the side refusing to get in the picture.
A faraway shot of the kids and me and the stunning, blue water.
I slipped out first to go snorkeling and was amazed to see a whoppin' 14 turtles in the short time that I was out there. Ron and Lia then went out next and only got to see one turtle before being harassed to death by some locals in kayaks who insisted that they were not allowed to snorkel without a paid guide. It was a rather frustrating experience for Ron, but this is a ridiculous rule that the locals are now enforcing at this beach in order to make money. I just happened to go out early enough in the morning that I was able to avoid them. Here is a darling picture of Lia exiting the water with my snorkel gear on.
While Logan, Lia, and I were playing in the water, Ella actually fell asleep next to Ron on the beach which is unheard of for her that early in the day. It was during this time that Ron and I started to realize that she was suffering from more than just a bad sunburn. Here is a picture of our little girl sleeping in daddy's arms.
Logan trying out mama's snorkel gear after seeing Lia doing the same thing.
Lia and Logan posing for mama in one last final picture before packing up and heading back to our hotel for lunch.
After returning to our hotel and eating lunch, we went back to our room to try and put Ella down for her afternoon nap. Since she had slept for an hour or so on the beach in the morning, I didn't know if this would be possible. But after taking her temperature and seeing that she really had a fever, we put her to bed after giving her some Tylenol and were surprised to see how quickly she fell back asleep. Here is our sick, little girl snoozing away.
Lia opted to read for a bit during Ella's nap from the current Harry Potter book she is working her way through before heading back out to the pool with Ron and Logan.
After a mellow day on Thursday, April 13th, where we stuck close to the hotel room and just swam in the pools (while Ron and I took turns holding Ella while laying on various lawn chairs in the shade), we felt like Ella could handle heading out for the evening to try the one fancy restaurant located right next to the ocean on the grounds. So, after getting dressed up and taking a shuttle down to the restaurant, we stopped for some family pictures in the beautiful pavilion found next to the beach.
A vertical, close-up of the Hartland fam.
And a horizontal, close-up, too.
Some more family photos with the beach in the background.
Another photo on the beautiful, white sand before heading into the restaurant.
We enjoyed a delicious dinner in this beautiful restaurant right on the beach and enjoyed the much smaller crowds than the buffet-style restaurant where we ate most of our meals that week. Here is Lia giving me a smile.
And, Logan, too.
Although she ate very little, Ella managed to make it through dinner just fine. Here she is enjoying watermelon and a delicious, fruit smoothie drink.
While we were eating dinner, a mariachi band was walking from table to table performing for the guests. When they came to our table, they let us put on some hats before playing some music for us.
Ella trying on a sombrero that was almost as big as her!
The mariachi band and us!
The band performing while Lia listened on. It was pretty awesome to have our own, private concert for several minutes.
Logan trying on several hats at once!
After getting back to the hotel following dinner Thursday night, the kids took a bath and enjoyed wearing their complimentary robes and slippers one last time before leaving early the next morning. We had to wake up very early on Friday to catch our shuttle in time to get to the airport for our flight home. I was so relieved to check Ella's temperature Friday morning to see that her fever had disappeared for the first time since becoming sick two days earlier. She actually survived the entire long day of travel without much of a fuss and I was so relieved to make it home safely that evening. It was a wonderful way to spend our spring break, but it felt so good to climb into our beds last night with out trip successfully complete!
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