~ Mexico ~ [Dia Cuatro]

The early risers (some by choice, some maybe not so much) gathered in Mom and Dad's room before breakfast. 

Scenes from the beach today...

it was too windy to bother with a sandcastle, so we all played on the beach, ocean, and pool!

Naptime...getting them tucked into their beds :)

That's Ava underwater...and Noah and Jace playing in the water.

We all ate at the Mexican restaurant again tonight.

I'm not sure what Christian's face is all about..but this was the best we got.

The kids show tonight was a version of hot potato...except it involved putting an elastic band over your head and pulling it down, then stepping through it and passing it onto the next person. When the music stopped you were out. The finalists were Ava and Kade....Ava pulled off the win this time :)

When you were 'out', they would introduce you saying in spanish first, then english..."What is your name, and where are you from?"......"Christian, Kansas." Jace's answer was unpredictable, he was from at least three different states throughout the week (PA, KS, or VA)..and he'd say it so serious, so much pressure on stage! 

The kids all enjoyed being apart of these shows..

other than the piñata night, Noah didn't participate...but he really liked watching it from our lap.

After the kids were in bed, we played some games in Mom and Dad's room...we had monitors to listen to the kids. (I don't have any share worthy pictures of us gathered in their room!)

~ Mexico ~ [Dia Tres: Mexican Party]

Brent, Carissa, Tim, Mitch, Dad, Eliana and I went to eat at the Japanese restaurant about 20 minutes after we came back from Xel-Ha. It was really good..the sushi especially.

Not too often we get a sibling photo..

After supper, the kids program was apart of the Mexican Party.

Noah even participated after much coaxing. He was pretty cute hitting that piñata. 

Christian got some good hits on the piñata as well. 

Christian was literally stuffing his pockets with the candy...in serious fashion of course. Because when there is an abundance of candy for the taking, it is not a joke...you need to collect!

Sweet Eliana with Grandma. 

The adults got to participate in the 'Mexican Party' as well. There were a variety of carnival like games to play, to get tokens that could be turned in for a prize. Ring toss, bingo, a ball toss, and a version of plinko. We got a hat and shirt for our winnings...and it was a good time. I believe the words, "we can go to bed now" even came from Christian's mouth. 

That's when you are certain it was a full full day.

~ Mexico ~ [Dia Tres: Xel-Ha]

On Sunday, we all went to an outdoor adventure water park of sorts, Xel-Ha. Its hard to describe, there is nothing I know of that is comparable in the US. It took a bit for us to get into the park (there may have been some oversight on some documents that we needed when the tickets were ordered)..but we got in, and we spent most of the day in the water and sun!

If you look closely, they are all looking at the faucet that was seemingly hanging in mid air with water flowing out. Christian right away had that figured out, so matter of fact...crazy how he does that. "Well, there is a just a clear pipe coming up to that, that's how that does that."

We went down a lazy river, which was a bit more work than one would think. Not so much "lazy"..but that also could be because I had a one year old on my lap. 

Along the lazy river, there were a couple different cliffs you could stop at to jump off. Several of our family did it...including Christian and Ben. I couldn't believe Christian said he wanted to, got up there, and without hesitation jumped off! 

In this picture, Kade is jumping! I'm sad I took a video of Christian jumping...but the way the tubes were in the water, whoever I was next to bumped me so I turned just as he jumped. Bummer. Oh well.  He was fine with jumping, but afterward he said, "oh man, that hurt me all over!"

This is the video I took of Christian...but then you can really see Ben jump (or slip) off the cliff.

Mitch & Brent

Kade & Noah

After the lazy river, we ate and then found the zip line.

That was fun! One huge difference of water parks I've been to, is that here there were not really long lines to wait in. Everything is very spread out and a variety of things to do, so we could do the zip line a number of times if we wanted.

We saw the manatees. They are such odd creatures. So big, and hairy, and slow, and rock like. Weird. 

The last thing we did was snorkeling. Mitch, Mia, Christian, Jace, Ben and I went. We saw several fish and a sting ray. We all enjoyed it.

Mitch, Jace, Mia, Christian, and Ben in their fancy gear

Ben, myself and Christian

A fun filled day for sure.

~ Mexico ~ [Día Dos]

I had two little boys that were ready to get started with the day bright and early. 

I took Christian and Jonah down to the beach before breakfast. 

Hard to complain about waking up early, when you get to see and hear the ocean.

After breakfast, we all made our way to the beach.

There was a mixture of playing in water and sand all morning.

Dad got a shovel from one of the workers, and he and Ben started the beginnings of a sand castle. 

The decided on 'Noah's ark'.

It proved to be a little more complicated than most of us to handle. Brent and Ben probably could've finished it, if they wanted to spend all day doing it. But the clouds were getting darker, and they decided to call it quits for the day. We ate lunch while it rained...it didn't take too long for it to pass over. 

We went up to the pool for awhile in the afternoon...Ben, Brent, Tim G, Carissa, Mitch, and I all played a game of water volleyball. It was a good time.

The view of the pool/ocean from Mom and Dad's room. So so pretty.

We ate at the Mexican restaurant...lots of aqua colored shirts.

They love their Grandpa (Papa).

Maddox and Jonah...Maddox is getting so grown up!

They treat us very well, and always plenty of food to eat.

After supper, the kids participated in the kids show again. 

Jonah even got up there to run around for a brief bit with Maddox. 

 A very fun and sun filled day, makes it quite easy to get children to go to bed.