ADIOS, MEXICO!

Russell and his family left a day before the rest of us so it was just us, Gramma & Bippy on the last day. Gramma kept the boys in the morning while we went ziplining with Bippy. It was a blast and nobody killed themselves - always a plus. Bippy tried a couple of times but that darned safety harness kept saving his life! We had a leisurely afternoon at the pool after that doing Cal's nightly tradition - collecting flowers for everyone in the family. While we were ziplining, Griffin managed to take a bad spill and braced his fall on the concrete with a combination of his face, the rocks along the side of the path, and a truck he happened to be carrying. Not a great result. He got over it quickly and his face was healed up within a week. But some of these photos are not for the faint-hearted.

I've included one extra special photo in here to symbolize the progress we made with potty training while on this trip. We were religious about poop after every meal and basically peed on every plant, rock, and animal at the resort. It made a big difference and by the time we left, Cal was pretty much daytime potty-trained (we'll worry about nighttime later). He now will go potty on his own 90% of the time although we still try to remind often. If he gets too busy having fun, it does slip his mind. But we've been wearing big boy pants since we got back with very few accidents. So right on schedule, 3rd birthday, things are looking up. Also of significance, Griffin made his first poop on the potty during this trip! He so wants to do whatever Cal does. Hopefully his training will go a little easier (and faster).

So one more van, two more plane rides, and we were home like it never happened. Only it did happen because Cal asks every night for us to tell him the bedtime story about "when we were on vacation in the jungle." I guess he liked it. Thanks to Gramma & Bippy for making such a memorable trip happen. And for ensuring that the boys had the best vacation of their lives when they were too young to remember it. Oh well. There's always next year....

MAS MEXICO

I'm loosing track of what day this was but...at dinner we met a racoon. Make that two racoons. Uncle Russ decided to feed them scraps from the table and one very obviously had just had babies and let's just say....she needed that food for her babies. A racoon fight ensure which most people will never have the pleasure of enjoying less than 3 feet from their precious 18 month old baby. It was super fun. Griff was mesmerized with the whole thing and couldn't stay away. Eventually they left but not until after Russ had trained them to sit up and beg on their hind legs. What an animal lover that Russ is! There's a good picture of Cal "sitting" at the table the one night we ate inside - it's also a good example of why we only did it one night.

I also got some shots of Gramma with the boys on the back of the golf card - their favorite place to ride. The lobby had a pool & foosball table which Cal learned how to play with daddy's help. We finally made it to the beach, too. Griff enjoyed the sand but had no interest in the waves & water. Too scary. Cal was about the same although he did explore the water a little, he didn't want to really swim in it. The day I brought my camera to the beach, it was SUPER windy and hard to get any good photos. So much for the Christmas card!

This was also the day that Gramma & Bippy kept the 3 boys while the parents went to see the ruins at Tulum. Very fascinating story the tour guide had to tell...but I could barely hear her over the roaring of the sea of sweat pouring over every inch of my body. Seriously, I don't think I've ever been so hot and not fainted. We took a big air-conditioned bus there and back (THANK GOD!) and got to see a little of Mexico. And did I mention the iguanas? They are the size of small dogs and almost as friendly. So enjoy these photos but rest assured that we felt like loaves of bread in an oven getting ready to explode the whole time.

MORE MEXICO

The third night at the resort, the staff got wind of all the special occasions we were celebrating and had a "special" dinner for us. We usually ate on the patio outside the restaurant even though it was incredibly hot most of the time so that our unruly children would have plenty of room to ramble and not disturb the more civilized diners. When we got there, our usual table was decorated with huge balloon bouquets on each chair and it was very festive. We also had a cake at the end - they couldn't fit all the birthdays, etc. on so settled for "Happy Anniversary" in honor of Grama & Bippy (although all of us had anniversaries within 6 weeks of the trip. We let Cal blow out the candles since his actual birthday was while we were on the trip and he thought it was great. So great the he celebrated by breaking a wine glass immediately afterward. Not so great. Thus, why we sat outside. Cal also got some presents from Gramma & Bippy for his birthday - his first "puter" (computer) and an awesome pop-up dinosaur book. Both are huge hits. By this time, the boys had discovered strawberry daquiris (sans alcohol) and were doing their best to drink the bar dry of them.

The boys caught on to the party atmosphere and a "hug fest" ensued. We have no idea why but they all spent a lot of time hugging each other that night. I think Griffin started it because he was strangely enamored with his cousin Russell the whole time and VERY affectionate with him. Anyway, lots of cute "hug" photos here just to prove to them when they are 16 that at one point in time, they DID like each other.

We had traveled for the day to a sister resort called Adventura Spa just to check it out. Their food was slightly better but the kids didn't like the pool as much. They did have a better view of the ocean but not much beach (neither did Xsu-Ha). It was swelteringly hot so all-in-all, a beating of a day. There was an ugly sunscreen-in-the-eyes episode with Cal and Griff and mom had to get a courtesy room for a nap after lunch. Lots of drama and not our best day. We did get to ride a full-sized bus over and back which made the boys VERY happy. We also discovered the resort's lemon-lime popsicles - a huge hit! I think they liked that better than the resort itself. Meanwhile Russ and Mike played golf. You gotta love it.

MEXICO-BOUND!

On July 22, 2009, we left Austin for a momentus occasion - the first Phillips family vacation including grandchildren. Since this summer marked Shannon's 40th birthday and Gramma & Bippy's 45th anniversary, Gramma decided a trip was in order. Hawaii was my first choice but after much deliberation, we decided none of us would survive the plane ride. So we settled on Mexico using one of Gramma & Bippy's timeshare about an hour outside of Cancun near Playa del Carmen. This required us to take a plane to Dallas where we met up with Gramma, Bippy, Aunt Amy, Uncle Russ and Russell and then another plane all together to Cancun, then a van to the resort. The boys loved (almost) every minute.

We chose a hotel that had a jungle/nature theme - it was entirely outdoor with exhibits of native animals throughout the resort (pretty much a mini zoo with monkeys, deer, an aviary, turtles, flamingos, and crocodiles) and thatched roof huts for each room. The resort provided free bicycles for the guests to use to get around but the boys much preferred the golf carts that circulated (somewhat) regularly throughout. These are some pictures showing our first day of travel and arrival at the resort, Cal's first real bike ride, the boys in their hats with their walkie-talkies Gramma & Bippy bought them and other random shots.

Let me also say here that you should now click on this link and check out Aunt Amy's near professional grade blog description of our trip. She did a far superior job of photographing the resort and all the cool things about it. Since we were all together most of the time, our photos are pretty much the same, except that hers are much better than mine! She also blogged everything in real time and I'm recreating it a couple of weeks later so my version will be much briefer. So read here for her vacation write up: http://rcp4.blogspot.com/2009/07/mexico-day-1-july-22.html