our mexican getaway

I totally stole the idea for this photo from the resort's
professional photographer's kiosk by the pool. Sure, in that one they were
all dressed in white and the beach was pristine but for their footprints.
I still think this turned out pretty cute.

We went to Cabo San Lucas the first week of November with the family.  Well, most of the family. Sloane wasn't able to join us. Apparently you can't get a passport for adopted children until after the adoption is finalized and the birth certificate is changed into your name. For us, that day was 2 days after we got back. How's that for timing? It was almost impossible to get any information on whether we could or couldn't and if so, how. We got different information from the agency, the government offices, and the lawyer but finally the adoption folks strongly cautioned us not to do it. I guess, there have been cases where people have taken their "unofficial" adopted kids across the border and triggered an investigation into child trafficking! Zoiks. So Sloane spent a lovely week wrapping Grama and Bompa around her little fingers, and we spent some quality time with the 2-year-old who really enjoyed pretending he was an only child for a week!

sunny, with a chance of fountains

The trip was a gift from mom and dad last Christmas and with 4+ months of snow and cold on the way to Utah, it was great to sneak away to some sun, sand and 80 degree temps! We stayed at Villa Los Arcos with mom and dad; Tiff and Ana were in between at Estancia, and Marc, Becky, Harper and Becky's mom and new stepdad, Sam, were at the third resort in the group, which is Villa del Palmar. We spent some time at each and it was nice to be close but still have some space. There was a cool little trolley that runs between the 2 end resorts which Tagg loved. He called it Thomas.

Got a new camera for the trip which has this "panorama" feature.
Pretty groovy. This is the view of the resort and the bay from our floor.

We had just gotten settled in at the resort when Tagg discovered...the fountain in the kids' wading pool! It was love at first sight. He ran and ran and ran and ran. The guys would step on the spouts to make some of them really big (who's the real kid here, I ask) and he'd run through them. Tagg would bend over a stick his head on the spouts, which was a riot. And then he ran into a rock with his face. Who puts rocks in the kids' pool?! Luckily no stitches or bleeding but he did have a nice forehead shiner for a few days. There was another fountain at Palmar outside the little deli there. I was a little worried about the water in that one. Did not want a 2-year-old with Montezumas on day three. Or four. Or any of them, frankly.

 

all the action is poolside

Something About Mary, anyone?

Tagg and Harper had a ball at the pool. Tagg was a little apprehensive of the waves. Alright, he was flat out scared by them. But he did love the sand. We, on the other hand, liked the fact that we could order buckets o' beer and sangria by the pool while the kids played in the water - and there were lots of them! As much as I like hanging out on the beach, you can really only do it like one day. Get your shopping in and then head back to the pool where it's less high- pressure sales! Plus the people watching was fantastic.


Tagg learned how to swim by about Wednesday. He'd jump off the edge, dunk his face and blow bubbles. When he was wearing his life jacket, he'd kick and paddle with him arms. Very impressive considering we were swim lesson dropouts back in May.

Palmar has this big killer whale slide which all the adults took a ride down. So of course our little daredevil says, "I want to go down slide." We should have known that was a bad idea since the guy next to us had a broken nose from going down face first. We just thought he was an idiot. Can't you read the sign that says don't do that? Duh. Well, we didn't read the sign that said "must be this old." As Scott and Tagg were whishing down - fast! - Scott was like, oh this is not good. They made a big splash (we were happy for the lifejacket and that Scott's sunglasses were just at the bottom of the pool). Tagg's face looked like he was traumatized but he said, "I went down slide. It was fun." "Do you want to go again?" I asked. "Nope, I don't." was his response.

The guys got roped into one of those pool activities - Boogie Boarding Contest. Which was really putting kids on boogie boards and having their dads push them to one end of the pool and back. Tagg had his game face on right up until the whistle blew for the start and then backed out. Harper, on the other, at the ripe old age of 7 months was kicking butt! She (with her 300HP Marc engine) came in third!




This is pretty much how we spent the week. Playing the water, laughing and having a ball. And trying to get Tagg to take a nap. You'd think with all the sun and running and swimming, he'd have been tired. But, as he says, "No way, Jose." Mom and dad on the other hand were good and tired. With the daily 6am Tagg wake-up calls and active days, we were pretty much in bed by 10 every night. Nana and Papa were great with Tagg - he got to read and do puzzles and play cars and eat yogurt and tell Harper "I don't want to share." All very cute.

Tagg showing the pool crowd his muscles...RRRRRR!

that's amazing!
Our family may be the most tragic glass-bottom boat riders ever. Our mounts and dismounts were comically bad, resulted in bleeding and I'm sure some laugh-till-you-cry moments from anyone who happened to be watching from the resort. I keep waiting for something to show up on YouTube. Personally, I'm happy we don't have any video footage of it. The mental picture is bad enough.

At one point, Scott actually lost his flip-flops and fell full on into the water. I promised I wouldn't post those photos. Sure, it's a little tricky getting on and off with the waves coming in and out but there were lots of other families that made it quite gracefully. Dad actually had to get bandaged up by the boat driver, and Tiff bled all over one of her new sarongs. Awesome.

We took the boat out to meet the rest of the gang for breakfast at The Office and the guy ended up giving us a quick tour of the arch, Lovers Beach and the seals (incredibly cute but my god, they smelled bad!). They chummed the water so we got to see all the colorful fish. Tagg was enthralled! "Nemos! I see Nemos! That's amazing!"

Window to the Pacific

The famous Arch...and unknown stinky seals.

Mom, Tiff and Ana enjoying the 3 dollar tour. Literally.

just another day at the office
No Cabo trip would be complete without brunch at the office. We eat some good food, drink some unnaturally large sangrias, and do some shopping from the shaded comfort of our table while the bar next door jams really loud (sometimes inappropriate for kids) music. Still better than the mariachis. Last year, Tagg crashed in a pair of chairs for a couple-hour nap, which we adults enjoyed quite a bit! This year, not so lucky.  We thought we had him down and then, pop! He was up. The guys at The Office (who are dressed like doctors, mind you) brought him some trucks and stuff so he just sat in the sand and played.

I bought one of these darling purses that Jose said
his family makes. Very cute but the first day I wore it,
it totally stained my sweater and pants.

After lunch, mom and dad took the kids home so we got to hang out adult-style and do some beach shopping in the sun. Scott got this horrible henna tattoo which has been a raised rash ever since we got back, I got a marginal back massage, and we had this aggressive (nice, but aggressive!) server named Ava who was determined that we needed lots of awful, sugary, blue vodka something and tequila shots. Which probably explains how Becky got Scott to try cucumbers in spices (made on the beach) and ended up with iguanas on her head (luckily she did not try to adopt any and take them home).


sunset cruise
We decided to try a repeat performance of our morning boat cruise and had Junior, our glass bottom boat driver, take us out to see the sunset. It was beautiful.

Scott actually talked the guy into letting him drive the boat!

Tiffany, taking photos of the sunset on our cheap
Sunset Cruise, courtesy of Junior (and Scott).
Really, the only way to go!

last night in paradise
We went to dinner with some of mom and dad's friends who live in Cabo. The restaurant, Villa Serena, was on the coast and was really beautiful. Great food and service, a view of the fireworks, and flaming desserts. What more could you ask for?!

The sun sets on a fantastic vacation...Thanks everyone! Love you!