Cancun Trip

(August 20-27, 2011)

As all trips start it requires lots and lots of packing. I spent the entire week before the trip planning and preparing things we need to take. Mostly because of Izzy. I would spend time organizing and packing and the moment I would turn around to grab something else and Izzy would have pulled the last few packed items out. It was a fun game that she created. At one moment I left the room to grab the next item to add to the bag and as I returned I found Izzy on top of the bag talking to herself in the mirror. Love her!

I have to admit that I had some anxiety about traveling with a very busy 10 month old on a plane to a foreign country. So as Saturday arrived I was grateful for the added family to help. I have flown with Izzy plenty of times before but there was so much more to think about on this trip. As we boarded the first flight and we took off my nerves started to settle because she was a little trooper. She settled down ate and fell asleep. Just as she finally settled in the Captain came across the speakers and woke her up. Nate and I consulted about what to do, and this is what we came up with.

Her she is as few took off.

After arriving in Mexico, getting through customs, buckling into our rental car we took off south towards Playa del Carmen to one of the yummiest taco shops Super Carna. My family found this little joint years ago and have to go back every time we are in the area. There has been the same worker there since the first time, and my dad had to snap a picture of us.

After finally arriving at our villa we finally got settled in and headed to bed. After a blissful night sleep we woke up to the most beautiful view... The relaxing can begin!

The next morning we all went for a bike ride into the town. There is a place in there to watch the dolphins, seals, and manatees play. It was so much fun. We strapped Izzy into the backpack, and Nate road with her on his chest. She loved it. She would put her feet onto his legs and would go up and down.

We spent the beginning of the week playing in the sand, and swimming in the pool. Izzy was in heaven. I would take her out to play in the sand rinse her down and let her swim in the pool. It was perfect. Uncle Jake buried Izzy in the sand one day. It was the funniest thing. At first she was not sure what to think but soon began to enjoy it. She also did not like her knees to touch the sand when she crawled around so she did this crab like crawl. It was the cutest thing.

While Izzy played in the pool she started to get really confident on standing on her own. She even took a few steps on her own!

We took her down to the ocean to see what she thought... And she was not the biggest fan of the the waves. I don't know why because she loves the bath and running water. But she liked the water as long as we were holding her. She didn't spend much time in the ocean.

A few evenings we played soccer on the beach with the locals. They were really good. I even got in on the game. I came out with a massive bruise on my calf but it was a lot of fun.

On Wednesday the Buckley group headed off to Explore leaving Izzy behind with Aunt Natalie. We spent the day enjoying the under ground caves, the zip lines, and the ATV's. It was so much fun. My mom was a little nervous at first about the zip lines especially after watching an adult man chicken out. After coaxing her into going down the fist zip line she completely let loose. She started to twist and hang upside down. We had a lot of fun.

The next day we woke up to a wonderful surprise. Out on the beach some time throughout the night baby sea turtles hatched! It was so amazing! Sadly we didn't actually get to see them hatch but we did get to see a few that were struggling to make it to the ocean. They did not survive. So for the rest of the week we did nightly sea turtle watches to see if there were other nests hatching. Every night before bed we would walk down the beach hoping to find some baby sea turtles making there way to the ocean, and in the middle of the night after feeding Izzy I would take a stroll to do another check for the turtles. After a few days of no success we struck gold. Nate came and woke me up to find a giant sea turtle right out on our beach digging a hole to lay her eggs!! She started down by the beach chairs digging then moved up next to the wall. We all sat out and watched her for two hours dig and lay and dig and cover. It was a once and a life time experience.

Here are the tracks leading down to the ocean.

Here is the mama on the way to the ocean, and here is the nest. It was a large hole. Also her tracks back to the ocean.

I love this picture

Here is a video of the mama sea turtle finally making her way back to the ocean. It was soo amazing!!

(she had to be so exhausted)

This trip was a fun and relaxing time with our family. It was so nice to spend time with everyone. Here are more pictures to enjoy.

I don't think it can get any better than this!!