Playa del Carmen-Part 1

We had a wonderful week-long trip to Playa del Carmen (about 50 minutes from Cancun) this month. We left on 9/16/08. My morning started very early. 3:30 AM to be exact. Our flight left Sacramento at 6:30 AM, and Abe's mom graciously drove us to the airport, parked, and helped us get in the airport with all of our baggage (4 checked bags, 2 carry-ons, 1LARGE Britax carseat, a stroller, and 1 wild toddler). That was a HUGE help. The airplane is a little boy's wonderland. All the airplanes and equipment were so fascinating to him.After getting on the plane, it was pretty smooth sailing. We had been talking to Chase about flying for a long time. He loves airplanes and points them out in the sky and in books all the time. He was so excited and smiled the whole time during our take-off and landings (the return trip was a different story). He took pretty good naps on both flights. We flew to Dallas and then on to Cancun. Here we are on the first flight to Dallas. Chase loves fruit leather :)

We arrived around 3:20 PM. Cancun is on Central time, so 2 hours ahead of California. After arriving, you have to go through Customs and show some paper work and passports. After Customs, you grab your baggage (thank goodness for baggage carts) and head through Security. Not fun with a toddler. Once we were through Securtity we headed out the door into the Great Wall of HUMIDITY. It is so humid and hot. Thankfully, our shuttle was waiting and we were able to get some AC quite quickly. I have never been so happy to see a 15-passenger van :) After the lengthy drive, crazy Mexican roads and driving, some rain, and wrangling an exasperated cranky toddler for an hour we finally made it to our hotel. Ahhh!We headed to our room and unpacked a little. We couldn't wait to eat. We hadn't eaten all day. We had a few snacks, but that was it. We changed our clothes and headed to the wonderful buffet. It was so delicious and the servers were so friendly and kind. The people who worked at the resort were super friendly and kind. They are wonderful people. They absolutley adored Chase. I don't think he has ever gotten some many high-fives and head rubs. At some meals the servers would just stand around our table to talk and play with Chase. Super funny! They made some funny comments like "he looks like Brad Pitt," he is "muy bonito," he is "pretty" and they would pronounce his name "Cheese." The ladies at the front desk would call "Cheese, Cheese" trying to get him to come visit them and give them hugs. Too funny! We hit the hay pretty early that night. We did walk down to the beach in the dark to let Chase feel the sand and the WARM ocean. We also got acquainted the Mexican birds I mean Mexican mosquitoes. Yikes! Abe went directly to the gift shop to buy our $9 bottle of Off. So worth it!Here are some pictures from our first full day. As you can see the humidity got to the camera. I was able to finally get it dry and it started to take some normal pictures.

Chase didn't even hesitate while getting in the ocean. He would just run dive in. It was so fun to watch. This was our first day in the ocean. It was a blast! We could skorkel right where those barriers are in the background. We would take turns playing with Chase and snorkeling. It was a amazing. The fish were so close to the beach that Chase could even see them swimming. We even had a feeder fish following us around in the water. I was able to see a sting ray. There were huge schools of fish. Beautiful!