Cancun Trip Recap

Hi Friends! Hope you all are having a great week.  I'm back today with my Cancun recap! We had such an amazing time and I was so sad to see the vacation end.  I had to take yesterday to unpack, do laundry, and sort through the almost 600 pictures I took of our trip!  It was our first vacation with just our family of four and it's the first time I've been out of the country since our honeymoon so I went a bit nuts taking photos of everything thing.  I'm going to apologize ahead of time for how long this post is, this is even the condensed version ;)   I will be back later this week or next week with my tips for taking small kids to the beach and some of my favorite beach gear (since a few of you asked). If there is anything else you want me to include or any questions you have feel free to ask.

This was the boys first flight and I was a little nervous about how they would do for four hours on a plane. I mean they can barely be entertained with play-doh for twenty minutes,  but they shocked us both and were awesome!   We were lucky that our flight down was pretty empty so we had six seats to ourselves.  Miller fell asleep about two hours into the flight and Matthew fell asleep with about forty five minutes left.  Miller was super easy and just sat in his seat,  read books, played toys, and watched the Ipad.  Matthew was harder but I found that just giving him snacks non-stop and changing out toys or books every 20 minutes worked to keep him busy.  He doesn't love sitting still for tv shows but watched a few on the plane for me.  The ladies behind us told me they were angels and did so well after we landed which made me feel a lot more confident.

We arrived in Cancun around 1 pm and after a breeze through customs and baggage claim we were on our way to the resort.  We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and it lived up to my expectations. The hotel itself has an older European feel to it but all the guest rooms are updated with a modern look which I liked. I cannot say enough good things about the staff and service there.  They were amazing and really catered to everything we needed.  They greeted us with a drink for Kyle and me and a bag of brand new beach toys for the boys.

We rented an oceanfront suite and I'm so happy we went that route.  Kyle debated back and forth but he knew we would be happier with a space for sleeping and a space for hanging out since the kids still nap and would be going to bed before us.  This way we would still be able to enjoy our trip and hang out without worrying about waking them up.   There was full bath with double sinks, tub, and shower in the bedroom.  There was also access to the big balcony and a smaller side balcony in the bedroom.

The sitting room area had a couch, tv, two chairs, a mini fridge, and a table with chairs. It also had a half bath which was a nice bonus. We moved the roll away cot seen below for Miller into the bedroom up against our bed so that we were all in the room together.

Kyle mentioned it was my birthday so they had a treat waiting for me in the hotel room.  The kids also got a little welcome snack of chocolate chip cookies, local Mexican candies, and chocolate milk. Miller my little chocoholic loved it.

Our oceanfront view was incredible. I really don't think there was a room with a bad view at the Ritz from what I could tell.   It was overcast and cool on Tuesday when we arrived but thankfully that didn't last long.

The suite had a huge balcony that came in handy every morning. We would sit out there and drink our coffee while the kids ran around and played until we went to breakfast.

We spent most of our days going back and forth from the beach to the pool and back again.  Both the boys loved the beach, sand, and the ocean which was such a relief.  Matthew was only 8 months when we took him to the beach last summer so we weren't sure if he was going to love it or hate it,  so thankfully it worked out.  We ate lunch and dinner every day at the outdoor restaurant, Caribe Bar and Grill.  The boys were hit and miss on naps, especially Miller who had serious FOMO and did not want to sleep ever, so he usually ended up crashing at lunch or dinner time in one of our laps.

I could have lived on chips, salsa, guac, and Don Julio margaritas everyday.

The kids had us up at 6am so we were lucky enough to catch the sunrise every morning.

We attempted to get a cute family photo a few times but it was tough.  In the evenings it was so, so windy on the beach that it was pretty much impossible to look cute and get a good picture.  Plus trying to get a stranger to take your picture as you wrangle two toddlers can be a lot so this is the best we could do.

This was our first time to Cancun but I don't think it will be our last!  We didn't end up leaving our resort.  We didn't need to and we just didn't know if we had it in us to wrangle two toddlers out to explore since you can't really do many activities with small kids.

The trip was exactly what I needed to help recharge me and get through these winter doldrums.  We've decided we're going to try to do a trip like this every winter.   I was admittedly a little nervous that we wouldn't have as much fun with the kids there with us but I was wrong.   They were so good the whole time and really adjusted to whatever we wanted them to do.  We had very few tantrums or meltdowns,  I guess the sunny salt air put them in better spirits too.

I highly suggest if possible to escape to a tropical getaway in the middle of winter if you can.  It's just good for the soul to relax and feel the sun on your skin for a few days.  Even if it's just a long weekend away.  

Have you been to Cancun?  Do you escape to warm weather in the middle of winter?