I just checked the blog and I'm several trips behind in posting, so, I will start with our trip to Akumal with Holly and Myleigh. It was their first time going anywhere, really. Myleigh was 11 and Hollly was 8, so, the thought that they might get bored was definitely a concern when we're talking a ten day trip where there are no rides or concessions stands. Needless to say, they didn't have a bored moment. 
Our flight left at 7 am so we had to be up and out the door before 5am. The girls were so excited that they hardly slept at all the night before, and were easy to get up and at em at 4am. By the time we were checked in and had our boarding passes they wanted to just get on the plane and get going, but, prepared as I always am, we still had about a half hour to sit and wait before boarding time. Lucky for them we boarded early, well, lucky for us too, because we took advantage of the early boarding offered to travelers with children. Neither one of the girls remembered taking the flights home from China, so, it was a first for both of them. It was so exciting to watch their faces as the plane left the ground. Just one stopover in Denver with enough time for lunch in the nicely convenient Frontier airlines concourse. Then it was onto Cancun airport where we sailed through immigration and customs. Well, actually, when you go through customs you have to press a button on a traffic light sort of set up. If you get red you have to stop at the side table and have your bags searched, and if you get a green you can just leave. We got a green light, but, as we were getting ready to walk out the lady at the side table told us we needed to come over, so we did, and she looked through the girls backpacks. The whole time she was chatting with the girls and was very nice to them. I honestly think she just wanted to talk to them cause they are so cute. Once she was done we were out the door. Now for anyone that has not been to Cancun airport, you need to be aware of what we seasoned Mexico travelers call the guantlet. Outside the sliding glass doors from customs is a wide corridor, flanked on both sides by official looking counters and milling about are official looking people in uniforms of sorts acting as if you need to stop and talk to them, or they need to help you find your transport, or any variation of excuse you can imagine to get you to stop. Once they get you stopped, they have you. It is now almost impossible to get away, as their job is to sell you either a timeshare tour, or some kind of tour, and they are fairly relentless. We have mastered the art of walking straight through them, not responding, not even being polite, just making a beeline for the set of sliding glass doors at the opposite end of the corridor, and outside to where our USA transfers rep is waiting for us. We are so thankful we found USA transfers. They are a privately, expat owned company. We booked thru their website, and ask for their paypal code to pay in advance so we don't have to carry a lot of cash through the airports. Its about $150 roundtrip for 4 to 6 passengers and all their luggage. The vans are clean and the drivers mostly speak great English. Reliable and safe, that's worth every penny, and then tack on the fact that it's private transport, taking you either directly to your resort/hotel/condo or you can pay a little extra and they will make a stop at Walmart, or Sams club, or one of the local grocery stores on the way so you can pick up supplies or what have you and you have a wonderful value. We have used them for about ten years now and love them.
Anywho, we head out of the terminal doors and the glorious humidity envelopes us. Ahhhh, we are back to paradise. Our USA transfers rep is ready and waiting in his white shirt and ballcap with the US flag on it. He escorts us to where we wait for our van to pick us up and before we know it our luggage is loaded and we are whisked an hour and a half south of Cancun to Akumal Beach Resort. We are greeted by the gorgeous open air lobby, and of course hugs from Marianne at the front desk. We are first sent to building 6, first floor as our second floor corner room won't be open until the next afternoon. As soon as we set our luggage down the girls want to run out to the beach. I follow as fast as I can getting the camera ready, and have to slow them down or I would have missed recording their first steps on a real beach. They loved it. Running up and down, splashing in the water, and feeling the sand between their toes.
We strolled up the beach toward the area where the old section of the resort was torn down to make way for a new Secrets resort. It was so sad to see the buildings that we loved now gone, but, progress can't be stopped, so, we will just move on.
After romping for a while we headed up to the buffet for some dinner, and then settled in for the night listening to the tree frogs chirping and the rain pattering. It was wonderful.
The weather has been cloudy and rainy, rained all night last night, and pretty much all day today. Not a bit of sunshine yet, and it's mid day. Kind of a chill in the wind, but, still comfortable. The animacion staff are keeping guests happy with a game of guess that movie, and everyone is basically hanging in the main bar. Holly and Myleigh took advantage of the empty pool to get some swimming in, and later we'll stroll into town and get some sand toys for them. The resort has some,but, there are about 8 other kids here, so, I want the girls to have access to sand toys the entire trip, so, we'll get them their own and then leave them when we check out.
We're moving to a room in bldg 5 around 1 today to get that king size bed we had requested, which was pretty easy to handle. I was surprised we didn't get some kind of resistance to changing rooms, but, the front desk staff are very easy to deal with.
Breakfast was great, as usual, and we got hugs and greetings from Wilberth in the buffet, just as we did from Lemuel last night at dinner. It's good to be home.
When we walked back from breakfast there were a couple of grounds staff standing on the walkway for bldg 6 looking up into a palm tree. There was a koatimundi sleeping through the pouring rain, if you look close, you can see him.
The next day we moved to our new room in bldg 5 second floor corner. Much more space and the king size bed is a requirement with Tim being so tall. Our first full day is relaxing with a mix of sun and rain. Glorious soft sand and water that feels like velvet makes for some great times wading and looking at the tropical fish that come up to greet you. The girls were running from one thing to the next, barely stopping to take a breath.
We met a couple from Laverne Minnesota, DJ and Dean, who are here for I believe their fourth trip, too. Just like us, they can't seem to get this place out of their system. It will do that to ya. It was so nice to sit and chat with them. We share so many things in common, not the least of which is that Tim was born and raised in Minnesota, so, lots to talk about.
Myleigh has been loving all the sea shells washing up from the storms.
I promised Soliel Sol I would post tonight, and so here it is.
The weather was up and down today, started out amazing, spent the morning doing Yoga on the beach at 6:30 and then woke up the rest of the fam in time for breakfast. Then, down to the beach for some more swim lessons. I've been spending time teaching the girls to swim, starting in the shallow end of the pool with full life jackets on. Gives them confidence to let go and relax. Once they were ready, I had them take off the lifejackets, and we practiced in the deeper end, and then, today, it was time to venture out to the ocean. They did great. I was so surprised, and I dare say they were too. After a while, we got the snorkel gear and showed them a whole new world beneath the waves. They were so excited that we decided it was okay to venture out to find some turtles. Well, it was great for Myleigh, she went with Dad and found a turtle, a stingray, and assorted fish. Holly on the other hand, wasn't so happy to be so far from shore, so, I wore myself out dragging her back to the beach.
Well Im getting eaten alive here, the air has slowed and the mossies are after me, so, more tomorrow.
Soooo, got back to the room with no less than 15 mosquito bites. Two words, mosquito repellant. I used it,but, wherever I missed a spot they found it.
Anywho, not sure where I left off, but, if it was about the weather, great cause I'm talking about that again. Today
started off amazing, beautiful, sunny, with just passing clouds. Perfect for swimming in the glass ocean. We spent the entire
morning swimming, playing with the fish, and just relaxing. Holly had on her life jacket with the pink dorsal fin, and
that seems to be a big hit, everyone thinks it's so cute. They also keep mistaking the girls for twins, and Myleigh
just endures it, being the very mature 11 year old that she is.
The next morning was bright and sunny, and we were raring to get out there and do some snorkeling.
The resort photographer would walk around during the day with either a large and imposing looking Iguana, or these two parrots. Myleigh was showering off after being in the sea water when he came up the beach and asked Holly if she wanted to have her picture taken with them. As soon as Myleigh saw the parrots she came running. Holly is normally not too brave about things, and everyone was surprised when she not only let him put the parrot on her shoulder, but, actually smiled. The blue one kept trying to pick at the girls hair, and both parrots looked a bit desheveled. I'm not usually one to condone using wild animals for tourist attractions, so, I was a little uncomfortable about these tropical birds being hauled up and down a hot sunny beach all day. If the girls hadn't begged me to let them, I would have waved him off, but, here they were already with parrots on their shoulders, so, I went along with it. The pictures turned out really nice, though. Maybe I'm over thinking it, and maybe these birds are well treated. I just wonder.
Another glorious morning. With the rain coming in and out, and the girls wanting to be out in whatever the weather is, we end up having lots of clothes drying on the balcony for as long as the sun is out. It's so humid that nothing dries very quickly, and chances are, if you leave it out overnight, the rain will come in while you're sleeping and everything is soaking again. Next trip, I'm bringing more changes of clothes for the girls and a laundry line for in the room. The one in the shower is just not big enough for all of us.
Neither of the girls knew how to swim at all when we arrived. We just never had room in our schedule to get them to swimming lessons, so, we brought life jackets for them to use. At first they would only wade knee deep in the ocean, and only play along the edge of the shallow end of the pool, even with the life jackets on. I got in the bigger pool with them, it's about 3 feet deep at the shallow end, and goes up to 4 and then 5 feet deep. I had them keep their life jackets on and just practice floating on their backs, and then putting their faces in the water and blowing bubbles to get used to letting go a bit. Then, I took them over to the ladder in the 4 foot end and had them practice jumping off and treading water. After a while, they took off their life jackets one at a time and practiced it all without them. Before the day was over, Myleigh was swimming in the 4 foot section of the pool, but, Holly still felt more comfortable with her life jacket on. She would practice without it when I was next to her, and did just fine, but, she just wasn't ready yet.
Then it was time to get into the ocean. I took them both out, in their life jackets, and we did all the same things as we did in the pool. Myleigh, again, was more daring, going further away from me than Holly would. In the shallows she swam without her life jacket, but, I still insisted she have it on if she was going to go beyond about waist deep. Holly was so funny, her life jacket had a dolphin fin on the back, but, she was sure it was a shark fin, even though it was pink. She would swim around with her face in the water, and believed she was scaring everyone around her.
Myleigh looks like she is bored or sleepy, but, in reality, that's just her snarkiness coming out. Mornings are slow going for her, but not for Holly. She is happy and raring to go as soon as she wakes up.
A long day of swimming and playing in the sand and these two girls are losing their energy just in time for us to go to dinner.
Myleigh has been running from pillar to post all day every day since the moment we got her, wanting to see and touch everything she can. That includes the local wildlife. Not so much for Holly. She has found the local flora and fauna to be not only more plentiful than it is back home in Utah, but, it's larger, too. She has had more than one encounter with big bugs, lizards, and birds, and once, when we were walking to our room we saw something about the size of a grapefruit but black and furry, crawling along the walkway. On closer inspection it was clearly a bat, and we presumed it had flown into the wall trying to catch a bug, and was still recovering it's senses. As we got closer Myleigh wanted to touch it, which we quickly stopped her from doing, but, Holly started to come unglued that it was moving and we had to walk past it. Tim had to pick her up and carry her and she about climbed on top of him as we scooted past.
She had a terrifying encounter with a mutant grasshopper on the stairs for bldg 5 last night. It was standing there, on the step, blocking her way, well, actually it was sitting off to the side, probably more terrified that she was going to step on it than she was of it savaging her as she tried to pass, basically taking the paint off the wall as she squeezed by.
Myleigh has had quite the opposite reaction, trying to touch everything she sees. She has relentlessly been running to and fro trying to take it all in, and every time I turn around she's asking "can I keep it?"
The girls are looking forward to going to the kids club again today. They've really liked it, which kind of surprised me. I thought they'd be bored, but, no, they are watching for when it's 3pm. I'm okay with that, I'll just post this and upload pics while they are off being entertained.
I just love mornings having breakfast outside the buffet. The sun is shining on the water, and the birds are calling to one another.
The ABR kids club was a big hit with the girls, and they couldn't wait to meet the animacion staff every morning and most afternoons to go and play.
Holly is always checking for the one wild creature she actually isn't afraid of. The little orange crabs that live in the sandy soil around the buildings. She has named them all.
This one is Hairy Potter and he lives at the foot of the stairs for building 5 right under the pathway light.
The beach is Myleigh's favorite place, and she spent most of the day there.
Holly didn't really get bored, but, she liked to spend some of her time chillin under the palapa. Myleigh was not so inclined, she couldn't find enough time in the day to do all the things she loved.
Swimming is going, well, swimmingly. Both girls are getting braver and braver about taking off their life jackets and just swimming. In just two days they've gone from being non swimmers, never in the ocean or even a deep pool for that matter, clinging to me in the water like they might sink like two Chinese rocks if I let them go, to jumping freely into the pool, and venturing out to where their feet just touch the bottom. Last night I let Myleigh go out to the pool by herself while I kept an eagle mommy eye on her from our balcony. She is so much braver than I ever realized.
Wednesday night the animacion team, led by Sheyenne put on an amazing show using black light and neon painted costumes, It was really cool, lots of fun, and both the girls couldn't wait to tell them all how great it was. They think Shey is the best dancer.
This trip has been so much fun, and as always ABR just feels like home. It's as if we never left. We went into town and ran into Charlene at Chomak. She is doing so well since recovering from the surgery last year. We also ran into Jeshua at the front desk last night, who told us there is a new management team as of two weeks ago that is making changes to ABR, including, but not limited to changing the furnishings in the main bar to more comfortable chairs and lower tables. The massage hut will probably be moved to the area down by bldg 6, yay!! and the rooms will be remodeled in all buildings. Finally! We talked to Soliel Sol and she confirmed it and said something about the new group has some connection to trip advisor, so, maybe they are taking our posts seriously and trying to make it a resort that provides what we have all been begging for. I haven't asked about the moonrise but, if enough people ask for it, perhaps it will come back in some fashion.
The food has been great, tons of variety, always at least three or more vegetable dishes, great soups, grilled specialties, several meat and fish choices, and the desserts have been good, not amazing, but, good. It's funny, last night was Asian night in the buffet, and our little Asian girls were fairly critical of the offerings, but, I'm sure Asians would have a hard time creating a Mexican buffet that would please real Mexicans.
Tonight we'll try to hang out in the main bar hopefully there will be dance music, but, we've been heading to bed early so far since we've been here. Worn out from too much fun I guess.
I'll try to get some videos uploaded to my photobucket,
On rainy days or whenever they had to wait for the staff member in charge of kids club for the day, both girls played foosball. Neither one had ever played the game before, and the staff showed them how. It was a life saver because it rained so much during our trip, and while mom and dad like to sit and just watch the rain fall, the girls really wanted to have something to do until the sun came out again. They spent their fair share of the wet times playing in the rain, too.
We had at least one full day of just rain, rain , rain, so, it was perfect for sea shell hunting. As most of the girls clothes were still drying, I took the dry cleaning bags from the closet and fashioned rain covers for them.
It was in Akumal that we discovered Myleigh has a terrible allergic reaction when she is bitten by mosquitos, and sadly, one of them got her right by her left eye. It swelled, but, didn't really hurt. Luckily I always bring a small pharmacy whenever we travel, so, I had benadryl cream and liquid, she needed both at different times during the trip. Plus, we used more insect repellant once we realized how badly she needed the protection.
Myleigh found coconuts on the ground after a storm, and had Wilberth at the main bar open it for her and put a straw in it. She wasn't too impressed with the coconut milk, but, once we cracked it open and dried the coconut meat, she would snack on it all day long.
Today the kids club activity was face painting.
I think we've been here 7 days now, but, who's counting. The weather has been about the same, some sunshine, some pouring rain, some cool thunder and lightning. Yesterday was a great day, Myleigh got out and snorkeled with her Dad again, and this time she saw 8 turtles and a barracuda, among other assorted critters. She's loving being here, and her swimming has improved dramatically. I've still had her use the lifejacket in water she can't touch the bottom in, but, otherwise, she's good to go. Holly is still more timid about the deep water, especially in the ocean, and only wants to snorkel just beyond shore, which is fine with me because dragging her around in the water gets tiring and she just doesn't paddle very effectively, so, we just hang where she can see fish and some coral. She's happy with that.
I'm spending most of the day hiding from the sun. My opthomologist prescribed meds for me just before we left that make me extra sensitive to sunburn, and it's proven to be true. Combined with not spending enough time in the sun before we left, and I got a few spots of sunburn so bad I can't even stand reflected sun from the sand or windows. I basically run from shade to shade or hang in our room when it's just too sunny out. I hate it, I usually spend my time soaking up the sun, but, not this time. Maybe next time.
The internet here is driving me fairly nuts, I spend hours trying to upload pictures, and don't even think about uploading video. I've gotten all of it to load on my laptop, but, getting it beyond that is iffy. It's okay I guess, I'll get them all up once we get home, I just wanted to have this report flow with pictures. Ah well.
Myleigh spent some time playing gently with this little guy when he visited us in the buffet for dinner.
The hammocks have been moved to in front of buildings 6 and 7. Not as nice as when they were down by the Italian a la carte, but, still a great place to take a nap.
There's a new couple staying at ABR, both are Chinese,Charlie and Saloma. He is from the same province that Holly was born in, and his wife is from the same province that Myleigh was born in. It's been fun getting to know them, his Engrish as we call it is so much fun. The girls are challenged understanding him, but, his wife, who hasn't been in the country as long as Charlie has speaks much more clearly. They won a five day trip and are trying to fit everything they can into their time here. He doesn't know how to swim, but, Tim is determined to take Charlie out snorkeling, we'll see how that goes. We've told him that you can use a lifejacket and just float along, and not go too far out.
The resort is so quiet. A lot of people left over the weekend, and I'm thinking they won't see an influx again until this coming weekend for the Mexican independence day holiday. The weather may have something to do with keeping the locals away on Saturday and Sunday.
It's not our preferred palapa, which was moved during the de-construction at the north end of the property. Still, it's a great view.
Myleigh was particularly attracted to all the skeleton art in Mexicarte. She hung out with this lady while we rented a golf cart to tour Half Moon Bay.
The north end of Half Moon Bay.
Lunch at La Buena Vida.
Myleigh is an absolute fanatic for lime chicken soup. Apparently she proclaims La Buena Vida has the very best in all of Akumal.
By the time we dropped off the golf cart the rain started pouring down so we shopped around for a while. In the silver shop
we got the girls hand made woven bracelets with their names on them, and I got a silver bracelet with a green stone in it, and a stingray pendant with a matching stone. Then we wandered into the art gallery, and will be going back tomorrow for
a couple of paintings and some tiles.
And what trip to Akumal would be complete without Lucy's ice cream. Yum
for a shower and then dinner. Last night it was live music, way too much fun dancing the night away, teaching the girls
some dance steps, and watching them harass and assault the animacion team, who seemed to enjoy it somehow.
Got to bed very late, a couple of grumpy girls, but all in all an amazing chill day.
This morning the weather turned stormy again, first thing was high winds blowing the rain sideways, and rough seas. Right
now as I sit here in the main lobby palapa I can see the sun peeking through, but, the winds are still blowing too much
for the sea to calm down very much. I'm hoping to get in one last good snorkel before we go home, not sure that's going
to happen. Last night was said goodbye to Dean and DJ, and now we're staring down the barrel of our own vacation ending.
Two more days, so, we need to really get our vaca on.
Oh, and good to know that the security guards are the ones with the bright lights, thanks Tom. I won't worry about them then. Still too slow of internet to get pics up, but, will keep trying.
The animacion staff at ABR. Chocolate Alex, Shyy, Vanilla Alex, and Cynthia
The girls felt so pampered at the a la carte. We don't often go out to dinner at a fancy place, and when we do, we usually prefer to have it be a mom and dad date night. Their restaurant experiences have been more along the lines of Ihop and Dennys, so this was a huge treat for them. Of course, Jesus had them both laughing, especially when we had him take a picture of all four of us, and he said, Say Jesus!
Dad always knows how to find the most magical things just floating in the surf and Myleigh is always there ready for his next find.
The girls and the animacion team were practically inseparable. We'd come back from snorkeling expecting to find them bored, waiting for us to pick them up, and there they'd be working the towel counter, and playing with somebody's phone, usually Shyy or Cynthias. Whenever an activity was getting ready to start, one of the Alex's would go over the loud speaker calling for Holly and Myleigh to come help out.
We took a couple of turtle walks south of ABR, and one night was especially exciting. We had been watching over a couple of nests that were due to hatch out, and decided to check with CEA about the possibility of a hatchling release from a nest that partially hatched earlier in the morning. They were planning to head down to ABR south of the buffet for the release at about 9pm. We arrived at the appointed location around 830, so Myleigh and I took our turtle safe flashlights and walked south slowly, looking back now and then to see if we could see CEA coming. We checked all of the nests by the palapas in front of buildings 6 and 7 and then strolled slowly down to the bent over palm tree. Just as we got there we saw flashlights coming from north of the buffet, it was probably CEA so we headed back. Before we could get all the way to where we could see the group had stopped a couple of women said "turtles!". Sure enough, there were baby turtles making their way across the sand to the beach. One of the nests had hatched after we walked away.
We stopped in our tracks and scanned the sand for stragglers, and after finding a few we helped to guide them toward the ocean. CEA had stopped a little ways north of us as there was another nest that had hatched and they were busy with it. Then it was time to watch CEA dig out the remaining babies left in the two hatched nests. As they did, other nests were hatching further down the beach, it was pandemonium.
By the time they were done digging out nests they had hundreds of baby turtles to release, and the girls were ecstatic helping these little guys take their first steps to the ocean. Myleigh is officially a turtle volunteer in her heart, and has added spending a year volunteering for CEA to her list of future accomplishments.
The next day we tried to take both girls out for their first deep water snorkeling but Holly was not feeling comfortable so I took her back to shore while Tim and Myleigh went on without us. When they got back Myleigh was full of stories about how they saw 8 sea turtles. one of which surfaced right in front of her. She also saw Barry the barracuda, and was not so thrilled to be anywhere near him. Holly was content to play in the surf and see the little fish that would come up to her.
One afternoon when Tim was out for his catamaran sailing experience, I took the girls down to spend the day chilling on the beach. They found a ghost sand crab that was brave enough to venture out of it's hole. They followed him around for a while, and when he dug into a hole in the sand Myleigh tried to dig him up. About the second before she uncovered him he shot out of his hole like a bullet and ran under a beach lounger. We only left the beach to eat, but, while we were having lunch, some ominous looking clouds rolled in from the north. I wasn't too concerned, but, when a loud clap of thunder was immediately preceded by the power going out in the buffet they decided it was time to make a short lunch of it. I was able to convince them we weren't in any imminent danger, but we did go and gather our stuff from the palapa just in case we had a downpour like yesterday afternoon.
Tim had been trying to go out on a real sailing catamaran for years, and he thought he finally had booked the trip of his dreams, a catamaran that left from Puerto Morales for an afternoon of sailing and snorkeling. Well, not so much. For most of the trip they used the motor to power the sailboat, so, he really just went for a ride in a boat with sails. On the up side, the captain let Tim steer the boat for a while, so, that was fun. He said the snorkeling spot they went to was no where near as good as Akumal Bay.
Lemuel in the buffet has decided to try to learn my name, and it's kind of cute. He tries to say Teri, but, isn't able to enunciate the R, so every morning I am greeted with a cheerful "buenos diaz Teddy" He's so cute.
Mornings are my absolute favorite time in Akumal Every day, around 6am, I head down to the beach, score our palapa, and then, it's time for yoga and meditation. I can completely relax and not worry about looking awkward. I am not a yoga pro, or even a yoga mediocre, so, the idea of anyone watching my attempts at yoga poses is not relaxing. In Akumal the beach is so empty early in the morning that it's easy to let it all go. I can even sit and meditate. Then up to the main bar for my morning espresso and a pastry while watching the bay wake up. By 8am I head up to the room to wake up the rest of the crew for breakfast. That might sound early, but, by the time they are up and at em it's 9am.
The trip was over far too soon, We'll be back next year.
