Shane and Jack headed out early on Sunday morning for their scheduled zipline tour through the jungle while LaV and I opted for a quieter sort of adventure, heading over to the beach with the kiddos for a day of playing in the ocean and sand. First, though, breakfast, where Juliette gazed upon her coconut muffin with total adoration.
We staked out a couple of comfy chaise lounges at the beach and sat back while N and Juliette happily scooped and shoveled, collecting little bits of shell and rock which Juliette pretended to feed to the “baby†she had created from a mound of wet sand. Jules would join me under my umbrella every few minutes, seeking a shady refuge as the sun blazed hotter and hotter, but she couldn’t ever bear to stay put for more than a couple of minutes. While the sun and the surf and the fruity drinks left me feeling laid-back and lazy, this kid was totally energized by it all.
Swimsuit, sunglasses, and a hat is hands-down my very favorite look on her…
And…she’s in.
Juliette would declare victory every time a wave crashed over her belly and she managed to stay on her feet.
Bring it on, sea!
The kids “baked” a special cake for La Verne and then sang Happy Birthday to her, insisting afterwards that we each take a bite.
In the late afternoons, the day’s fun-fest would catch up with Juliette and she’d succumb to the waves of sleepiness that lapped at her eyelids. Sleepy-time is one of the very few chances I get to snuggle with my girl-on-the-go anymore. I’ll take it.
We sun-setted at the beach once again on Sunday, this time seeing more grays and blues than oranges and pinks in the closed-in sky, but still, it was peaceful and lovely and we all got in the ocean for a salt water dip. Any day that begins and ends at the beach is a good one.
Since the guys had given the zipline tour rave reviews and since we each had an “excursion†included with our resort package, La Verne and I channeled our inner daredevils and made our own trip out to the jungle on Monday morning. It was an hour-long ride through small Mexican towns and up along remote mountain roads to the Canopy River outpost, where we were each strapped into a harness, handed a pulley, and told to fly like the wind. And wowsers, we flew, zipping along the course at heights of 200 feet and speeds of 55 kilometers an hour. Our guides were silly and fun-loving, but reassuring and encouraging as they sent us from one platform to the next. La Verne and I toasted to our bravery with a couple of cold beers at the beautiful patio when it was all over, dizzy with pride and the sweet relief that comes with being on solid ground.
We rejoined our crew back at the beach, where we lunched on fish tacos and squeezed in a few minutes of ocean play before herding the kids back to the room for some quiet time. Juliette’s freckles were a bit darker than when I’d kissed her goodbye few hours earlier!
The rest of the day was another haze of swimming and sunsets and mango tangos. I had wondered if by our fourth day at the resort I’d be a little antsy, wanting to get out with Shane and Juliette and do the exploring and sight-seeing that’s such a big part of our typical vacations, but…NOPE. The days of bouncing from pool to beach to pool to beach were just so blissfully easy, and it was abundantly clear that Juliette was perfectly content to swim that same stretch of pool and run that same stretch of beach over and over and over.
THIS IS THE LIFE, huh, kiddo? (Don’t get too used to it, Jules! Vacations will include sleeping on the ground and fetching our own water come summer.)
Juliette played an endless game of fetch with the ocean, tossing a stick into the waves and retrieving it from the time and again.
We put the kids to bed early on Monday night and settled on a room service dinner – the food was the one thing that had started to feel a bit “tired†at this point, but we got to eat in our pajamas and Cards Against Humanity made for some pretty enthusiastic bouts of laughter.
Tuesday was departure day, but our flight had been pushed back to the evening, which meant: bonus beach time! After chilaquiles and cappuccinos, we set up camp at the beach, happily resigned to flying home with a little sand in our hair.
Shane spotted a couple of iguanas near the pool and called the kids over to take a look. They thought it was funny to see these two “huggingâ€.
We were told that our all-inclusive experience would end at 2:00, so Shane and Jack put in their request for one last round of gin and tonics at 1:55.
And then Juliette and I took one last dip in the pool.
…and then it was time to peel off our swimsuits and put on real clothes for the first time in five days. NOOOOOOO!!!
You can see that none of us were quite ready to say adios.
It was a long trek home with multiple flight delays and we rolled up to our front door after midnight sleepy and stiff, but fully-dosed with Vitamin D. And tequila. Mission accomplished.