Family photos

I didn't get one of the whole family, but got one of the grandkids with Gma and Gpa.

My two handsome boys, dressed up and ready for supper. We ate at the steak restaurant the first night, the mexican restaurant next, and the brazilian the last. Mexican was the favorite!

What happened to our beach!

Yep, that's a bulldozer on the beach. Our beach. Which meant day 4 was spent by the pool instead. The government was doing a mass upgrade to a number of beaches, extending them out 70 feet. Although it was a tad frustrating not to be able to be on the beach, it was quite fascinating to watch the process. A big ship would go out in the ocean and suck up sand from the ocean floor then come a bit away from the shoreline where a tube would connect somehow. Then, these bulldozers and such would prepare for a pipe that would connect and eventually a BUNCH of sand and water came shooting out of it.

Its still warm weather in winter!! Can't complain about too much here.

Siblings night out

Mom and Dad offered to watch the kids while the bigger kids went into town for an evening. We had fun walking around, going into stores, and a walk along the beach. Not sure how I didn't get a picture of Ben or Carissa...but they were there too!

This is like an optical illusion...it looks like the footprints are standing up, but I think its from the way the shadow hits them. 

More beach photos

Fun in the sand

DAY 2

Piling on the sand...

Ready to be sculpted 

The masters at work...

We had all sorts of utensils to use for making things in the sand. Mom brought a ladle and spatula along with other normal tools.

DAY 3

Ready for a new day..a new sand castle.

Riviera Maya..the views

The place we stayed was called the Riu, Riviera Maya...very nice place, it looked like a palace from the outside. When we checked in Dad asked the guy if we could get rooms all near each other. In order to do this, he "had" to upgrade Mom and Dad's room to a HUGE suite with a staircase on the outside with two balaconies, and a jacuzzi. This also came with an AMAZING view. 

A view from Mom and Dad's room

Another view from Mom and Dad's room

The outside hot tub on their balcony 

Another view from their balcony 

The spiral staircase to the upper level..Dad makes a nice prop to the picture :)

MEXICO...

Mom and Dad took the whole family to MEXICO for some quality time together on the beach! Two years ago we all went, and that was when Ben and I got engaged. This time we brought our little buddy :) We had an uneventful trip down which was quite nice. It was a bit cloudy and windy the first afternoon, but the next couple days were simply perfect! 

We built sand castles, although not as many as last time due to the construction they started doing to the beach while we were there. Nevertheless, it was fun while it lasted and we enjoyed our time in the sand by the ocean. I'll put up more pics of the sand castles...it is amazing how many people stopped to admire the artwork (I cannot claim credit..but Ben definitely can!).