Hola Playa!

Vacations with the family are truly something special.  I'm so thankful we have the means for such wonderful memories.  Playa was awesome!

Playa 2013

Travel day wasn't that great... long day consisting of two flights with a connection in Dallas but also a very sick little Lily puking all over me within 15 mins of the first flight taking off! Not the greatest 'smell' to sit with for the rest of the day, so at least now I have a token hot pink 'Dallas' tank top to remember our trip by! Then when we got to the condo and started getting ready for bedtime, we realized we had left the girl's bee backpack, along with 'Doll Doll (Nora's), Red (Lily's) AND Cat (Lily's)'... our most prized (security) possessions... yikes!  Thankfully the girls were strong and were able to sleep without their dolls, and even better, the driver of the van dropped them off to our condo the next morning.  Could you imagine... trekking them all the way across the world to have them lost in Mexico? Aiya!

Then the first three days were rainy, grey and windy... so a little bit of a disappointment especially when you book for a trip to Mexico, all you think of and want and hope for is sunshine!  BUT the rain didn't stop Nora... she still went swimming in the rain or in between!  Thankfully Trav and Grandma Pat are just as hardcore as Nora so they didn't mind taking her out :)

But after that, pure and glorious sunshine!  The condo's at Xaman-Ha are located right on the beach and have a super family friendly pool so we spent a lot of time at the pool and in the ocean.  Nora is such a fish and absolutely took every moment she could to swim, with little breaks in between to warm up, have a snack and go back in!

My favourite moments... when Nora wanted to do a quick snuggle
& bundle up to keep warm in between swims! 

It took Lily a lot longer to get used to the tropical environment.  She found the first few days wayyyy too windy for her so it took a lot of convincing and chocolate to get her to go to the pool. We'd often have to put on my jacket, her sunglasses and sometimes a towel wrapped around her to transport her to the pool so as to protect the little one from the wind and sun!

Little Diva Lily being protected from the wind and sun

It was good to see Lily slowly getting more comfortable with the pool.  She would play lots in the todder side (water level to her knees), but it was only by the 2nd last day that she finally went in the deep end with Grandma Pat. 

Slowly getting comfortable with the water

Lily's happiness: Away from the sun and with her tag reader and Tinkerbell!

It had been two years since our last visit, Nora just turned 3 and Lily was just under a year, still very much relying on me for milk feeds etc.  So, this time round it was neat to see how much easier it was to travel with the girls and how preoccupied and busy they were on their own playing together or with the grandparents.  So, I must admit, it definitely felt a lot more relaxing than I have been used to in the past few trips!  I think the fact that I also didn't have work (aka a job) to wrap up the day before vacation started, I didn't need 2-3 days to decompress and not think of 'work'.  It was all just family time.  Plus staying with grandparents (built in babysitters) is just SO the way to go! :)

What I really appreciated from this was being able to have a couple afternoon naps, read a couple books, taking a nice long walk on the beach with Trav and go on a few lunch dates with Trav while the girls had their quite / downtime at the condo.  

Dinner at Wah Wah's and for some live entertainment

Lily enjoying the sights on 5th Ave

It was nice to have the condo for home cooked dinners and meals but we also enjoyed going out for dinner!  Lots of entertainment to see and people to watch!  These are our restaurant recommendations:
- Carboncitos (really awesome food especially the camarones (prawns), pastor (pulled pork) and arrachera steak
- Super Carne (well this is off the main touristy part, in the side streets, but really delicious arrachera steak!)
- El Fogon (again off the main street) but really awesome taco's (and huge dishes and cheap!)
- Ah Cacao - super yummy chocolate mousse, a definite MUST go and eat
- Wah Wah's - okay food but pretty great atmosphere and live band

I love Playa!  For anyone interested in going the condo route, this is a great place to stay, we'd highly recommend it!  The location is awesome, great facilities and the condo's have super views.

My goal for the next time we go back is to learn Spanish so I can communicate more with the locals! :)

Thanks for a wonderful time Grandpa Bear & Grandma Pat!