Tuesday
Brody and I left for Mexico on Tuesday November 22, a day early than the rest of my family. Upon our arrival, we drove into Cancun and bought all the groceries we would need for the week and then drove the hour south to Akumal where our amazing beach house was located. That evening, the power in the entire house went out and didn't come back on for about 2 hours. So we put everything on hold, went out onto the balcony and laid in the hammock. It really made for the most perfect night- a warm breeze blowing, the sound of waves crashing onto the beach and a beautiful, clear night. We spent the whole 2 hours star-gazing while having a deep, engaging conversation about the universe. It was honestly one of the best moments we've had since being married.
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| The front of the beach house- notice the ocean in the background on the right |
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| The back of the beach house- where we spent most of our time |
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| The view from every window. Pretty amazing huh? It looks fake. |
Wednesday
The next day, we slept in (travelling just takes it right out of you, no matter how short or far you go), explored our surroundings and then drove back into Cancun to pick up the rest of my family. We couldn't wait to show them the beach house and get our vacation started! Sadly though, it got dark about 10 minutes after arriving to the house (5:15 pm! way too early), so we made ourselves some fajitas for dinner and spent the night playing games and watching home movies. We ended up doing this every night, along with a new fun activity- topic presentations. Before the trip, everyone researched an interesting topic that they could teach to the rest of the group and then we took turns giving our presentations each night. It was a great way to have some good conversations and even learn something new as well. Some of the topics were: integrity (mom), where tap water comes from (dad), the universe (brody), what makes a person confident (me), being successful (brad), a recent hurricane in Mexico (jess), interesting facts about psychology (jake), and the history of Xel Ha (cam).
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| Topic presentations |
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| Games at night |
Thursday (Thanksgiving Day)
We spent the first 'real' day of our vacation at Xel-Ha, an all-inclusive adventure park centered around the ocean. It was beautiful there and we had a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch and dinner.
We did many fun activities including: a bike ride through the jungle (no picture), cliff jumping, rope swings, rope courses and mini zip-lines
and snorkeling
We also had the chance here to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime event: swimming with dolphins!! All but dad and Brody participated (Brody's done it before) and we all LOVED it! It was incredible, they are such amazing and smart creatures.
And I just have to add this one as well- Brody took this picture from the other side of the pool with my little point and shoot.... not too bad eh??
I loved this "Hammock Jungle"
And we saw some interesting creatures here... A manatee (the big 'blob' in the water), a coati (the weird looking fluffy animal), and of course colorful fish.
It was a really fun day.
Friday
In the morning, we drove into Playa Del Carmen (30 minutes north) to do some shopping. There was a street right by the beach that was full of tourist shops and street vendors. We got a few souvenirs and had some amazing tacos off the street.
Then we headed back to the beach house and spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing on the beach.
We did some kayaking
beach volleyball
laying out and relaxing
and just being the silly people we are
That night we went out to eat at La Buena Vida (The Good Life). It was a really cool restaurant that looks like a treehouse.
Saturday
We spent this whole day at another all-inclusive adventure park- Xplor. There was another all-you-can-eat buffet included, but this park was centered around the jungle.
There were 3 main adventures at this park:
1) Zip-lining above the trees
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| Getting to the top |
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| Me and Brod |
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| Everyone else |
2) Driving Rhino jeeps through the jungle and underground caves
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| Me and Brod |
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| Everyone else |
3) Swimming and rafting through a river in a beautiful underground cave
Another note-worthy aspect about this place was the gift store. It was completely underground and most of the clothing items were hanging from different formations on the ceiling. Also, the hangers were made from a piece of steel cable and a carabiner. It was just very unique and creative.
Sunday
In the morning, we went to Turtle Bay in Akumal to do some snorkeling. We saw a lot of cool things including huge sea turtles, small sword fish and sting rays. I love that the water was so warm and clear!
We also built an awesome sand castle while waiting for others to snorkel (we only brought 2 sets of snorkel gear). Well, I should say, Jess and Brad made an awesome sand castle while the rest of us watched
After a couple hours, it started pouring rain, so we headed back to the beach house, had lunch, showered and got ready for our family pictures later that day. When it finally cleared up, we all gathered just outside the house (didn't have to go far for an amazing background) and took some beautiful family pictures. I just took them with my nice camera (I had a tripod and remote) and I have to say they turned out pretty good!
Siblings
Me and Brody
Brad and Jessica
Silly...
For the last few hours of daylight, we drove to Tulum to see the ancient Mayan ruins. They were really cool to see and the water there was more blue than anywhere else we've been.
Monday
For the first half of our last full day of our wonderful vacation, we soaked up all the sun, sand and surf that we possibly could.
My mom, sister and I all just HAPPENED to bring the same shirt!
In the afternoon, we went to our last adventure park- Xcaret. This place was more like a zoo/aquarium and the food wasn't all-you-can-eat, but the one meal that WAS included, was probably the best out of the 3. The animals were all really unique and fun to see up close.
Birds
(Pink Flamingos, Red and Green Parrots)
Land Animals
(Jaguar, Tiger and Monkeys)
Water Animals
(Sharks, Sting Rays, and Jellyfish)
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| Big, medium and little turtles |
Tuesday (Brody's Birthday)
We just woke up, packed our bags and headed to the airport. Brody and I had a layover in Houston, and barely made our connecting flight. We were sprinting through the airport to try and make it and luckily we did! It was kind of a bummer birthday for Brody, but he came home to a very big birthday present- our new desktop computer! (His birthday AND our Christmas present) So he had fun putting that together all night.
To end, here's a few more pictures of the beautiful scenery we were surrounded with for a week, along with some of the fun creatures we frequently saw.
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| Beautiful Mexican sunrise |
To summarize, this was probably the best vacation I've been on thus far in my life!! I'm so thankful to my parents for planning everything. We saw and did some amazing things and made some unforgettable memories. I'm so glad we were able to go!!
