After weeks of planning exactly how I was going to pack everything we needed and more for a 2 month old, in just 2 suitcases and 2 carry-on bags, I was done I had finally run out of time.
At the airport it appeared everything was going as planned, passports - check, happy kids - check, Calie and her new buggy board - check, perfect feeding time for take off - check, correct day for our flight - check (yes I have once in my life shown up at the airport on the wrong day, mat was surprisingly calm about it!).
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| Yes it is blurry, but you get the idea! |
We had run out of perfects for the morning and as we sat on the runway, patiently waiting to be de-iced, our 1 hour connection was slowly being reduced. As we approached Philadelphia I starting packing up ALL of our belongings and told Mat we had to RUN OFF THE PLANE! If you have ever flown through Philadelphia from Bangor to catch an International flight, you feel my pain when I say we had 20 minutes to get from Terminal C to Terminal A!
We got off the plane, got the stroller put Calie in it as she was not going to be able to run as fast as we were, Bailey was all set to go in the handy Baby-Bjorn. We sprinted and sprinted and then stopped for a moment to look at eachother, "where is the gate for the shuttle?" "I don't know, you weren't looking for it?" YES we had missed the shuttle gate, no point in turning back we just kept going and going and going all the way to Terminal A! We finally made it, barely. The door to the gangway was partially closed as the nice male gate attendant asked "are you our passengers from BangER Maine?" "Yes I said we are from the BangOR flight"
If my father had been sitting on this plane, I think we would have mumbled something harsh under his breath as we walked down the aisle. Everyone, I mean everyone was seated and buckled and here we came, late with two kids and three backpacks full of stuff! But we MADE IT, barely!
We arrived in Mexico and yes I was stopped by the sniffing dogs, because I was carrying formula in my backpack, no drugs just formula, see the 2 month old baby? One thing I love about the airports in Mexico, if you are traveling with children, they let cut in line ahead of everyone - it's fantastic! No waiting in customs/immigration or security.
Before I continue, there is one thing you must know before you read my posts on vacationing. Because of my profession, I can be a pain in the a** to travel with. I do my research, heavily before booking and then again before leaving, but you just never now. The things that bother me are not what everyone else see's either, so it may seem irrelevant to some, but to me it is a big deal.
So we arrive at Azul Sensatori it is beautiful just like I had hoped. We go to check-in, Calie gets a kids activity bag, I get champagne - life is good! Our room is not ready but should be shortly, ok I understand it is 2pm on a Saturday. We go to walk around, get a drink, ice cream, explore...35 minutes pass, Bailey is starting to get cranky, hot, tired, sick of the stroller, sick of the baby-bjorn, sick of me she just wants some her time and space. Our room still isn't ready, well this is when I start complaining, to Mat not the staff, because I don't do that. They could have cleaned the room in the amount of time we are sitting here? Why didn't they expedite it as soon as we showed up? Don't they have another room just like it that is already clean that they can switch us too? I mean come on these are all the things I would have done!! After about an hour and 15 minutes of waiting and Mat hanging out at the front desk waiting. The manager asks if we are still waiting for our room, no we just really like the lobby! He gets us to our room within 5 minutes, why was that so hard?
This is where the bad stops, I PROMISE!
Our room is perfect, I mean perfect. No dust on the lamps or picture frames, nothing under the bed, nothing left in the drawers or closet, no hair in the tub and most importantly no signs of, well you know those little bugs that like to travel.
We absolutely loved this resort, so much so that we bought weeks through their Frequent Traveler Program.
When we go to Mexico we always stay at an all-inclusive resort and stay at the resort the whole week. We take relaxing to the next level. This was our typical routine every day for the entire week:
Get up, stop by the beach/pool butler stand and ask one of them to reserve us a beach bed for the day, go to breakfast, take a walk around the resort, stop at the kids club for a little while, go play on the beach playground, go back to the room, but our bathing suits on, go to the beach, lay in the beach bed, order some drinks, play in the waves and sand, got to lunch, go back to the room and swim while hanging out on our patio, shower, go to dinner, go to a kids activity, bed!
We ate every morning at Calie's favorite restaurant Spoon. They actually had a spot with a kid size buffet, they also had her favorite Pink Jumbo Marshmallow's (bombon's) served on toothpicks!
Calie loved the kids club and went a few times without us, but lot's of times we all went or one of us took her. They had a pinata party one night and face painting another night.
The night of face painting, we ate at a Tapaz restaurant which took a little longer than expected, Mat and Calie left right after dinner to go the Face Painting. I thought she would get a cute flower or butterfly on her cheek, but found this when I met them back at the room!
As you can see Bailey also enjoyed her vacation, so much so she exhausted herself everyday!
In the end this vacation was worth all the hassle of getting passport paperwork filed two weeks after Bailey was born, calculating exactly how much formula we needed for the week, stuffing the suitcase full of diapers and cleaning bottles with bottled water. Although most of the excitement of our vacation happened before we even got there, the most important thing was that we got to spend time as a family. We only get a few months out of the year to really enjoy each other and we have begun to cherish these vacations.
So I will leave you with these pictures to enjoy on this cold February day!
COMING SOON JAMAICA MARCH 2011!!
