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.