Riviera Maya Mexico 2025

24 November 2025 - For our family vacation this year, Iris (13) requested a place with teal water where she could snorkel. We decided to go the all-inclusive route and picked one halfway between Cancun and Playa del Carmen, Mexico: the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar. This morning (a Monday), we all woke around 4 am and were on the road to CWA by 4:30 am. Hardly any wait going through security so early. Our 7 am flight from CWA to MSP was uneventful. We found our connecting flight gate and waited for our 10 am flight to Cancun. I listed to a podcast about owls while we waited. On our flight to Cancun, Nick and Felix (16) sat on one side of the plane, while Iris and I were on the other. No one sat with us, so we could spread out. Iris and I watched Wicked, and rested the remainder of the 4-hour flight. Once we landed, we quickly made our way through customs (no long waits!), used the bathroom (long wait!), and found our shuttle pick-up. It was gloriously warm and sunny. Our hotel was about a ½ hour from the airport. We checked in to the resort and got settled in our first-floor connecting rooms before we went to the beach. It was around 5:30 pm when we all took a dip in the ocean. The kids really enjoyed the waves while Nick and I enjoyed some tropical cocktails. There was a lovely sky. When they had their fill (and I had enough bashing my feet and shins on underwater rocks), we went back to the rooms to get cleaned up and headed to the sister resort (Paraiso Beach) next door for dinner. We ate at the Mexican restaurant and tried many different offerings. After dinner, we headed back to the room. Iris and I stopped at the gift shop on the way. I ended up getting her flip-flops and goggles for Felix (for $47 total. Ouch). We relaxed in the room watching Monday Night Football in Spanish. 

¡Hola!

25 November - We headed to breakfast around 8:30 am. Our first-floor rooms have basically jungle on the other side of the balcony. (A peacock walked past last night.) 

Coati by our balcony

Our unit is the 2nd closest to the beach, so it's a long walk back to the lobby area, but past a lot of interesting flora and fauna. There are coati(mundi), pigs, and iguanas that we've seen so far. The breakfast buffet was nice and large. We headed to the beach and found some chairs that hadn't been claimed. The sky's mostly cloudy and it's windy as I sit here listening to the waves and throbbing pop music nearby. It's 10:20 am now, and Nick just brought me a margarita. :D Iris and I joined other gusts in a game of beach volleyball before we got tired. We joined Nick and Felix at the swim-up bar in the nearest pool area. We had a couple beverages while the kids swam and we people-watched. At 11:45 am, we headed back to the room to shower and change. When everyone was ready, we went to the buffet for lunch. In addition to the usual offerings, they made an enormous seafood paella, which was a sight. Felix stayed in the room after lunch, while the rest of us went back to the beach. It's mostly sunny and slightly less windy now. 

I headed back to the room to chill after I started to get a headache. Iris texted me to bring some things back to the beach, so I walked back there. Then I grabbed Felix to go to the shop, because we were low on sunscreen. $47(!) later, we have a new bottle. Nick and Iris were back in the rooms when we returned. We all chilled for a while watching '80s music videos until it was time to get ready for dinner. We had reservations for the Japanese restaurant at 6 pm. Iris was very excited for hibachi. We were treated to a nice performance by our chef ("no more tequila for him/her/me!") and a delicious dinner. I talked a bit with the Canadian woman there with her grandson. Stuffed, we headed back to the room around 7:30 pm. We got prepared for our excursion and relaxed before bed.

26 November - Despite Felix's concerns that we wouldn't be ready in time, we were up, fed, and waiting in the lobby for our excursion by 7:25 am. Carlos from Aventuras Mayas picked us up around 7:35 am. We were the first group and he picked up two more groups in the Iberostar complex. He drove us to the tour group headquarters, where we got off to switch to a different guide. Our new guide, Luis Garcia, was late getting there due to the same heavy traffic entering Playa del Carmen that we also endured. We waited in the hammock chairs and used the bathroom. Once we were set, it was a 20-30 minute drive south to Yal-Kú lagoon. (Nick and Felix were annoyed by the number of speed bumps off the highway.) We got a quick run-down of the area, the lagoon, and what we might see. We got lockers, fins, masks, and life jackets, then made our way down the path to the lagoon. The water was chilly, but there were some fish *right there* by the stairs. (When Felix got in the water, he started screaming, "Dory! Dory! Dory!" which was both unexpected from him and also hilarious.) We started by going to the left from the pier, toward the fresh water. There were lots of fish, especially sergeant majors, blue tangs, and flounder. We swam for about 40 minutes, going from the fresh water through the brackish intermixing area into the saltwater. I got some nice pictures underwater. 

Once we finished, we turned in our gear and headed back to the bus. It was another 30-minute ride to our destination with its remaining activities. Our first stop was the cenote and cave. Iris was cold and tired already, and resisted the idea of getting colder in the underground water, but she went in anyway. We had to rinse off in cold shower to get the salt off us, get new goggles and life jackets before we headed down the stairs into the cenote. The air was much cooler down there. Luis pointed out the bats and small catfish near the cave entrance. 

We took some pictures, then we were led into an area with countless stalactites. It was beautiful! 

(I thought so. Nick was busy dealing with some claustrophobia.) We swam around for a bit before heading back up. We got changed and ate lunch, which was chicken, black beans, rice, tortilla chips, and salad stuff. Once everyone was done, we got our climbing gear (complete with hair net) and waited. We got pictures taken and a safety briefing before we were allowed to climb the rickety, wooden, 4-story tower to do our zip lining route (choice of 3, 5 or 7 rides). I should mention that our tour group included a mom/grandma/aunt (?) with a girl about Iris's age and one a bit younger, and a family with mom, dad, 7-year-old and 5-year-old sons, and grandma. We went first - Iris, Felix (who was nervous as it was his first time zip lining), Nick and then me. 

Some people, thankfully, chose to only do 3 rides. Nick, Iris and I did the complete circuit of 7. Felix was content to do 5. Tower 3 was a loooooong wait. That's were people decided to go back to the beginning or continue on, but Tower 7 was getting people one at a time from two towers. That created a bottleneck that took about an hour to get through. There was a couple in front of us; the wife did not like any of it and only moved up the tower when there was a landing open. I didn't blame her; I wasn't a fan of the wind up there, but I tried to focus on everything but my fears. And it worked! The rest of the rides went pretty quickly because there were only a few people on any tower. I turned myself upside down on one ride just because I could. Iris, Nick and I took the opportunity to ride like Superman, face-down. 

That was cool; the worst of it was climbing two towers with the heavy extra gear. Felix waited for us so we could all continue on together. The three of us also did the last ride in hammocks, which was nice. 

Iris had one more thing she wanted to do - the 3-story bungee jump. She was brave about that. We all headed our shortly after that. It was just a matter of dropping people off after that. (The other dad on our bus was complaining about so much. At least the '70s/'80s/'90s music on the radio was good.) We left ~3:50 pm and got to our resort at 5:25 pm. Back at the hotel, we took the tram to our room to save time. We quickly got ready for dinner. Iris really wanted to go to the French restaurant. We made it a little before opening, and got a table right away. Nick and I splurged on a $60 bottle of Mexican sparkling wine. We each got an appetizer, entree and dessert. I got asparagus Provençal, Niçoise salmon loin, and a big berry macaron. Nick let everyone try some of his Burgundy escargot appetizer. Iris loved her beef tenderloin. Lovely dinner. 

We walked back to the room after (though I ran back to the theater for more drinks and met a ginger kitty on the path), and played several hands of sheepshead together before bed.

27 November - We slept in a bit, all worn out from yesterday's adventures. We went to breakfast around 9:30 am. (I was up by 8 and spent a long time writing about yesterday.) A guy in a turkey costume was going around to the Americans' tables because Thanksgiving. We headed to the beach and all swam for a while, then Iris and I joined in on volleyball. We played a couple games before having enough, and went back in the water. 

Stormy skies inland... 

We spent some time at the pool bar before heading to lunch. It started raining while we ate, but passed after a little bit. Nick and I headed to the lobby to find any other Packers fans. The game was on a lobby bar TV, but no big gathering. Nevertheless, we made ourselves comfortable and chatted with newly arrived Canadians Andre and his three brothers. (Chatting despite the pounding noise as workers repaired the dome roofs over the lobby.) Tom from Marshfield joined us for a bit before he invited us into the club room where his crew was gathered. I drank way more than I thought... After the game, we went back to the beach for a bit. I was not feeling well by this tie, so Nick to the kids to get dinner and I rested. 

28 November - I drank lots of water overnight, so I didn't feel too bad in the morning. We went to breakfast around 8:30 am, then Iris and I walked to the complex's shopping center. 

The stuff there was basically the same as sold in our lobby, but Iris found some bracelets she liked, and I got a fridge magnet. We joined Nick and Felix at the beach - they were in the water. Iris and I didn't feel like swimming yet, so we played in three games of volleyball instead. That was fun. :D We got our swimsuits on after that (the clouds cleared and it warmed up). The waves were pretty big today. One smashed into me and knocked me underwater. I nearly lost my sunglasses like Felix. We stayed on the beach until noon, when we headed back to the room to shower and change for lunch. We took a siesta after eating. (My arm muscles ache and make it difficult to write [as evidenced by my shaky handwriting in the travel journal].) It was nice to have some down time. We got ourselves ready for dinner and headed to the other lobby to relax and play cards before dinner. That was nice as it wasn't so busy or loud there. We went to the Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. That was pretty tasty overall, though it took a while to get our main courses. No biggie. We spent some of the wait discussing potential scenarios as we were flying home tomorrow into a winter storm. Basically prepping the kids to deal and go with the flow. We went back to the room, and I did some packing. Nick put on more '80s MTV, and we got yet another Madonna song. [We heard Madonna daily on this trip.]

Felix's hat matched the decor

29-30 November - Today could have gone better, but it also could have gone much, much worse. We got up at 7:30 am, got ready and went to breakfast. The kids (all of us, really) made sure to get at least one more "malla praline" pastry before we left. We went back to the room to pack and relax. At 10:30 am, we took the tram to the lobby to check out and wait for our airport shuttle. That was pretty quick, and we were on our way around 11 am. The interior of our shuttle was already festively decorated for Christmas. We made it through security reasonably quickly, though Iris had her metal hair pick confiscated (oops). The airport was already very busy, and our flight wasn't until 3 pm, so we had three hours to kill. Iris wasn't feeling well, so we let the kids sit while Nick and I went to see if we could get on an earlier flight with the winter storm back home. Not only was that a NO, but our flight was also delayed one hour. We decided to get some food and spent an hour and $200 at the Guy Fieri restaurant there (it was fine, but expensive, because why wouldn't it be?). We spent the remaining time chilling, though Iris and I did look at souvenirs and got proper coffee at Starbucks. We were "lucky" to be chosen for pre-flight interviews. I was happy to get on the plane, frankly. Iris didn't bring her earbuds for her phone and was cranky not being able to listen to the show she was watching. I gave her mine to use, even thought I wanted to use them myself. (A bit of drama between us...) I watched Encanto and finished my podcast I stared at the Cancun airport when she was done using my earbuds. As we approached the MSP airport around 7:30 pm CST, I was notified our flight to CWA (scheduled for 7:55 pm) was also delayed, so we'd actually be able to make the connection. Getting in late, it was fast going through customs and security again. We found our next gate and got some food for the kids (but no drinks for us because they stopped serving alcohol at 9 pm, 7 minutes after we got to the bar). We waited and played some sheepshead as our estimated boarding time kept pushing back. 

We had to change gates and finally boarded at 10:45 pm. And then we sat on the plan until midnight while getting deiced and waiting our turn to take off. Not a bad flight, despite the wind and snow. The final descent was unsettling, but we safely made it to the gate. Cold and blowing snow greeted us. We had to clear the 3-4" of snow off my car before we could get going. Nearly empty highways, and Nick drove ~55 mph the whole way. We pulled in at 1:50 am to two surprised and happy kitties.

Trip cost: $9,323.52

Playa Del Carmen Mexico 2011

18 March 2011 - Once again, thanks to Grandma Maxine's amazing generosity, we find ourselves preparing for another trip to Mexico. We are returning to Playa del Carmen. This time, many of my family members (Dave, Rob, and Brian and their respective families) will be absent, and Dennis's daughter Amy and Michelle, along with their families, will be along. Today was work, then I left early to run to the bank, pick up {20-month-old} Felix, and take care of last-minute stuff before we were met at our house by Cassie, her friend Leslie, Mom and Dad. Nick took care of a ton of stuff around the house before we left for Milwaukee. we got there shortly before dinner. The six and a half of us (yes, this is Felix's first big trip!) ate at the hotel restaurant. Dry, overbaked cod - ugh. At least Felix was happy with the cherry tomatoes. I put him to bed at 7:30 after running him up and down the corridors. I went to bed shortly after, but I couldn't sleep much. Even Nick coming to bed after chatting with the folks didn't help.

19 March - 3:20 am came all too early. Felix definitely wasn't keen about being woken. We got to the airport, checked in, security, blah, blah, blah. We had a lot of time to kill, so I fed Felix and let him run around. He and I were the last two to board the plane shortly after 6 am. Felix did very well on the takeoff, but he was antsy and wanted to move once we were airborne. The toys and books I brought didn't hold much interest. Eventually, he went by Mom and fell asleep. I didn't get any myself. It supposedly took about 3 hours to fly down, which was better than expected. Once we deplaned, we had to go through immigration, where we learned a valuable lesson - traveling with children in Mexico can expedite you getting into the country. We got through both immigration and customs a lot faster. Once through, we had to wait for everybody else, then find our bus. After being awake and seated for so long, a two-hour bus ride wasn't exactly welcome, but at least we were here. We got to our hotel at 12:30 local time. Our room wasn't ready, so we went to lunch. After the lovely, much-needed buffet, we found our room was ready and checked in. Despite the early morning and short nap on the plane, Felix wasn't interested in an afternoon nap. We all got our swimsuits on and headed for the beach. Felix liked digging in the sand and we let him get a little wet in the ocean. We were joined by Mom, Dad, Cassie and Leslie (hereby known as the Others (as opposed to Everyone Else)). Felix played with a Scottish 2-year-old named Becky, while I chatted with her parents Scott and Carrie. Nick and the Others had plans to watch the Badgers basketball tournament game at a sports bar in Playa, while I stayed with Felix. We took him back to the room to shower and change while I got him a poor dinner of applesauce and hot dog. I got him to sleep around 6:30 (7:30 back home), then leaving him with a voice-activated walkie-talkie, I joined Everyone Else for dinner. I went back to the room after getting a picture of the full moon the closest its been in 18 (?) years. Looked bigger, anyway. I wrote these entries, hoping to catch some of the Badger game. No luck yet.

Last one on the plane

Sleeping on the plane

Felix's first time in the ocean

20 March - Nick informed me the Badgers when he got back. Yay! We were up early - around 6, but the restaurant didn't open until 7, so we relaxed in the room for a while. After breakfast (where Felix got his fill of fruit and yogurt), we went down to the beach. I managed to find two open huts together. I followed Felix around on the beach for a while, then we were joined by the Others and Cheryl and Stephen. We went into the ocean, where Stephen "caught" a fish, then I took Felix into the pool to get him used to floating in the foam swim helper. He was tired after that, so we put him down for a nap at 10:45. I stayed with him and read while Nick went back to the beach. Felix woke at 1, when the restaurant opened for lunch, and we met up with the Others. Felix enjoyed watching the birds and waterfalls while we waited. He's already learned so many new words on this trip - wave, waterfall, agouti, palm, frond and donkey (Cassie's present). We went back to the beach after lunch, through this time Felix and I didn't swim. We played in the sand with the new toys Mom bought. Stephen came back after chasing down his raft saying, "fifteen minutes of work for five minutes of fun." The best part was grandma laughing first. After we had our share of fun on the beach, we met up in our room with the Others. Felix ate dinner (leftovers from lunch) then we put him to bed at 6:30. We left him with the walkie-talkie and headed to dinner. Not much in the buffet appealed to me or didn't taste right. Oh well. The walkie-talkie battery died, so I went back to the room after we were done with dinner. We did have a quite the interesting topics of conversation - sleep disturbances, Cassie's softball tournament in Houma, LA, and New Orleans. Mom cried with laughter when Dad misheard Cassie's "people pooped" as "people pubed." I digress. Nick went to join the Others while I read. The theater was so loud we couldn't fall asleep until it was finished at 11:30. Ugh.

Felix will eat ALL the yogurt!

Thanks, Grandma!

21 March - We had an hour to kill between waking and breakfast. All the folks except those with small children went on an excursion to Chichen Itza. We took a cab to Playa. We walked on the main shopping street until I fond the shop I remembered the last time. I got a replacement water glass and five salsa bowls. Felix was pretty lethargic, so we headed straight back. Were were only there about 45 minutes. He took a nap at 10. We relaxed in the room and I made dinner reservations. We again had to kill some time until the lunch restaurant opened. Felix makes such messes at meals, but nearly everyone thinks he's cute. We went down to the pool after eating. First, Felix played in the playground. Then we waded in the kiddie pool, before taking him into the big pool. He's getting better (or more comfortable) at floating. Felix and I got ice cream cones on the way back to the room. We all showered and settled in. It's very quiet. Felix ate prunes and two bananas and decided he wanted to push his stroller around the room. Eventually, we fed him dinner and put him to bed. Then Nick and I dressed for dinner at the tropical restaurant. I got a tasty mojito to start. I'm trying more seafood while we're here and tonight was no different. They had octopus and squid, to go with the clams and mussels I tried earlier this week. For an entree, I got a tuna steak (delicious!) while Nick got spaghetti with lobster. His was good, too. It was a nice dinner for just the two of us. I also got a tiny lemon meringue pie for dessert. We walked around looking for the Others after dinner, but didn't see anyone, so we went back to the room. We went to bed early and the show wasn't too loud.

Exploring the resort

Baby sombrero

22 March - I got up around 6, hearing monkeys outside. I didn't see any, but when Felix and I went out a little later, we saw two. We also had a gecko on the patio, which Felix called a "lilad". We went to breakfast shortly after 7, but didn't see anyone else. It rained while Felix and I were monkey-watching, so it was cool out. We went back to the room. We heard an airplane fly overhead and Felix asked for "more airplane". Mom and Dad stopped by on their way to breakfast, both with presents for Felix: a Chichen Itza shirt from Mom and a bouncing ball from Dad. We went to the beach and met Cassie and Leslie. We made a sandcastle on the edge of the water, or ate least tried to. Nick and Leslie did the main construction while Cassie and I built castles Felix could smash, and he did. Mom and Dad joined us, and eventually Felix got tired. As I took him to nap, we found monkeys! I called the Others on the walkie-talkie to let them know. Mom and Cassie joined me. I read with Felix while he napped. He woke at 1 and we met Nick for lunch. After lunch, we went back to the beach. Both Nick and Cassie got buried in the sand. Dad & I took Felix into the ocean, but it was pretty rough. I lost my sunglasses, and Dad and Felix bumped heads. At around 4, we took Felix back to the room to shower and feed him dinner. We put him to bed at 6:30, then we met Mom and Dad along with Leslie (Cassie too passed out) for dinner in the buffet. It was nice and the wine kept flowing. We check on Felix, then took our beers to Mom and Dad's room. Glad I stopped after one beer, otherwise I would have been seriously hurting the next day.

Smash sandcastles: Done!

Bury Nick: Done!

Bury Cassie: Done!

23 March - We were up early, as usual. We ate breakfast shortly after 7. The buffet food is starting to wear on me, and it's only Wednesday. We played after breakfast, waking up Mom and Dad, and seeing a monkey and lizard close to our balcony. At around 10, us girls (Mom, Cassie, Leslie and me) went in to Playa. We walked a long way, but didn't go into many shops. I did get a raspberry-colored shawl for about $14. We also picked up little gifts for {Amy's son} Finn, who despite only being 11 months old, will be having his birthday celebrated tonight. We stopped for chips and guacamole, found the sports bar we were at the last time in Playa (La Taverna), then headed back. Got back o the hotel at 1. Joined Nick and Dad, along with Felix and Amy for lunch. After Felix's lunch, we got our swim stuff on and found chairs around the kidding pool. We were eventually joined by the Others. Felix had a lot of fun splashing around the pool. We got ice cream cones, played on the jungle gym, and got Felix dinner (four little slices of pizza). He was so tired he insisted on going to bed at 5 pm local time. we got ready for and headed to dinner. Everyone except Erik, Angela and Felix were in a big group for Finn. He was a sleepy baby, though. The highlight of the meal was the chocolate fountain. We left shortly after Happy Birthday, heading up to Mom and Dad's room to play Apples to Apples. I was tired and left around 9:30.

Monkey sighting!

So many festive colors found in Playa

Trying to keep Felix from drinking the pool water. Yuck.

24 March - Felix's going to sleep early had repercussions this morning when he woke at 4:44. We got him to play in his crib for 45 minutes, giving us more time to sleep. Eventually we got up  fed him prunes and yogurt, and killed time until the restaurant opened for breakfast. The Badger basketball team is playing in the Sweet 16 game tonight, so we all put on our Badger wear. We went to breakfast where we saw Cheryl, Stephen, Grandma and Dennis. After eating (Felix liked the papaya this morning), we changed into swimsuits and headed to the beach. Felix wanted to go into the pool, so I waded with him while Nick held down the circle of chairs. We took Felix into the ocean, but it was a little scary for him, standing near the waves. He was getting tired, too. I had to make him a sad man because he did not want to shower. Eventually, I got him to settle down and nap. I read on my Nook and closed my eyes briefly. After Felix's nap, we met Nick for lunch, changed, and headed down to the beach. I talked with the Wisconsin couple Nick and I met this morning, and Lilo and Karl {from Germany. I tried to speak a little German to them, apologizing for forgetting so many words.} who the Others met yesterday. We mostly followed Felix around when he wanted to explore. We got him pizza for dinner, then took him back to the room. He was in bed by 6:20. I got a plate of food and Nick went to go into town with the Others. Again, I stayed here, but didn't mind because I'm not as big of a basketball fan. It was pretty quiet after that. I read, waiting to see if any part of the game would be shown. A little of the first half was shown, but it didn't look pretty. Nick came back a little after 11 to say they lost.

Badger Fans, ready for the day

My beach boys

25 March - We woke up around 6. I played with Felix while Nick tried to sleep longer. We went to breakfast shortly after 7. Then we came back to the room to change for the beach. We had a tough time finding chairs, but eventually found two open huts. Dad came down to join us (the others were shopping). Felix had fun throwing handfuls of sand into the waves. He got tired shortly after 10, so we put him to bed and packed up most of our stuff. We will still have a lot of last-minute packing to do in the morning. Felix woke up at non, and we went back to the beach. We ate lunch, but it was pretty warm out. Nick took Felix back to the room while I stayed out to read. After a while, we decided to walk to the nearby shops. Felix and I went with the Others. It sprinkled on us. We walked and went in a few shops. I got a purple stone pendant necklace to wear with my dress tonight. We had some time to kill, so we took Felix to get dinner. He was in a silly-monkey mood after that. We watched Jeopardy and Big Bang Theory before putting Felix to bed. After he was asleep, we got dressed for dinner and met the Others, along with Grandma and Dennis for a drink before dinner. The six of us were eating at the Japanese restaurant in the resort. It was a nice hibachi show with tasty sushi. I ordered chicken and octopus to be daring (it was actually very good). Nick and I got sake on top of the wine we were served with dinner. After dinner, we went back to the bar, where interesting conversation and copious drinking occurred. We got back to the room and finished packing at 11. I tried to stave off a hangover drinking two cans of mineral water and a bottle and a half of regular water.

Geepa & Grandson

Dennis, Cassie, Grandma, Leslie, Nick, Dad, Cara, Mom

Leslie, Cassie, Mom

26 March - Felix woke up screaming at 2:30. By 3, we gave up and brought him into bed with us. He slept well, but my intestines were doing unhappy things. We got up at 5 (I barely slept after bringing Felix into bed with us), checked out and grabbed breakfast for Felix. I couldn't eat anything. Our shuttle to the airport came at 6. The ride was hard in that I needed to pee and Felix kept bouncing on me. We finally got to the airport and after killing an hour and a half, we were airborne. Felix and I slept for a while. He got antsy the last hour of the flight. After customs, we got our luggage and gave Felix a chance to run around. We caught a shuttle to our car, said our good-byes and headed to Madison. After stopping for a quick bite of McDonald's, we pulled in a little after 5. Despite the cold, we were glad to see less snow on the ground than when we left. Mom, Dad, Cassie and Leslie stopped by to collect cars, and that was the end of our adventure.

Words Felix learned on this trip: agouti, beach, boat, castle, donkey, flag, float, fountain, help, hola, jungle, lizard, ocean, palm, papaya, path, peacock, pool, sand, shell, turtle, wave

{transcribed 1/29/2020}

Riviera Maya Mexico 2007

10 March 2007 - Grandma Maxine Kienert decided in the fall that it was time for another family vacation. The last (and first) one we went on was the Disney Cruise in 2000. She made plans for everyone who was available to go to an all-inclusive resort in the Cancun area, her treat. The week of March 11th was the week that worked best for everyone. And thus, Nick & I, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Dave, Kathy Josh, Ben, Cheryl, Steven, Erik, Rob, Stacey, Alissa, Tyler, Brian and finally Cassie met up in Milwaukee on a Saturday afternoon. A bunch of us watched the Badgers in the Big Ten semi-final tournament game in the afternoon, then ordered out for pizza in the evening. Spirits were high but little sleep was to be had that evening.

Mom & Nick kicking off the trip in style

11 Mar - The day started off at 2:45 am (1:45 am thanks to daylight savings time ending starting). After a round of jaegerbombs in the lobby (I did not partake), we were on the shuttle to the airport to being waiting in a series of lines. I was one of the lucky ones to be selected for extra screening when going through security. Oh well. We got on the plane around 6, and after a fairly uneventful charter flight, we landed in Cancun around 8:15 am local time. We got our baggage, made it through customs, assembled everyone, and we were finally on our way to our resort. The sky was partly cloudy, but it was already in the 80s when we landed. It felt so nice! Once we got to the hotel and got rooms (preceded by a complimentary glass of champagne), Nick, Cassie, and I took Grandma down to the beach and went swimming in the ocean. A little chilly to begin with, but it warmed up pretty quickly. It was a bit breezy, so there were some nice waves. We met up with some of the others going to eat lunch. This yummy buffet is going to do my figure no favors. After lunch, we managed to find the Badger-Buckeye Big Ten tournament championship game on our TV (kind of surreal - watching that here in Mexico), only to have the Badgers lose. I took a brief nap. A bunch of us met up later after Cassie and I got Grandma's room assignment and helped her to it via a wheelchair (her artificial knee's life is at an end). We had the buffet dinner again before heading up to Mom & Dad's room for one last beer. After that, Nick and I headed back to our room for a bit of reading before bed.

Pre-trip jaegerbombs (hard pass!)

12 Mar - This morning, I got up early and read for a bit outside. We met up with the others for breakfast, and then Mom, Cassie, Kathy, Josh & I took a cab up to Playa del Carmen. We walked up the main shopping strip, finding souvenirs. I ended up getting a silver necklace with an opal slider for $111, some painted bowls for for friends, and a little painted trinket box to add to my collection. We stopped for a drink at a bar that had swings, then went to Senor Frog's for a snack. That place was a lot of fun. Our table ended up winning a theme song contest and a free bottle of champagne. We took the long way back - getting detoured and ended up walking along the beach, and then back along the road. Not long after that, I took a walk with Brian so he could call home. We sat at the hotel bar with almost everyone else, got two shots of tequila in me (bad idea)  and had dinner at the buffet place. Some minor unpleasantness followed, but that was resolved. {Mom got mad that I (specifically me) hadn't called their room to let them know everyone else had gathered. Some unfortunate, knee-jerk things were said by both of us, but we eventually calmed down and talked through it.} Discussed some of our wedding plans with Stacey before going to bed.

Beach view

Hotel courtyard view

Josh & Cassie

Playa del Carmen

Swinging & drinking

Answer a question, get a shot!

Winning champagne!

Trees! Just in the middle of the road!

Grandma doing shots

Enjoying tequila just a bit too much...

13 Mar - I woke up this morning feeling terrible. I really didn't have a lot to drink yesterday, but the combination of what I had, being dehydrated and a bit upset the evening before probably caused my inability to keep any food in my stomach. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that I felt well enough to leave the room. I went down to the beach with Nick and swam in the ocean before getting some food to eat back in the room. Mom and I went to take care of some room and travel arrangements, then I came back to the room to relax with Nick. We met everybody before having dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant. It took a long time to get our food there, but we finally got it. It wasn't the greatest fish I had ever eaten. After dinner, Nick and Tyler played chess with a giant chessboard. I was still feeling a bit under the weather, so we went to bed early.

Tyler, Josh, Nick

14 Mar - We got up early this morning because we were going on our excursion today. Nick, Cassie, Braden, Josh, Ben, Brian and I decided to go on an adventure tour. We got picked up this morning at 7:30, then after picking up 6 other people, we were on our way with our tour guide Carlos and our van driver to Tulum, post-classical Mayan ruins along the sea. That was pretty cool to see. Lots of ruins, lots of lizards, and as we left, lots of people. The day started off cloudy, but it cleared up a bit and warmed up. We had some time after a tour and went down onto the beach. When we got back to where the van was parked, there were five guys dressed in traditional Mayan costume (voladores), who climbed up to the top of the pole in the middle of a clearing and lowered themselves upsides down from the top. Pretty cool. After some water and regrouping, we were back on the road (scary Mexican roads! They're perfectly okay with trees in the middle of city streets!) towards our adventure stop. We turned into a road by a sign that said "Hidden Worlds" and then had the bumpiest 20 minute ride I've ever experienced. It was like being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Only much longer. I'm really glad we hadn't eaten lunch. Our first adventure when we stopped was snorkeling in an underwater cave. It was so cool. We got snorkels, life vests, and a bit chilled in the water before snorkeling through the cavern. We didn't see a lot of fish, but it was really cool to see all the stalactites and -mites around us. Carlos led us into a tiny cavern and turned our only light off at one point. We didn't snorkel for much longer. Our next adventure was going on the dry zip line through the jungle. we climbed up a two- or three-story  tower and then zipped through for about 100 meters. We didn't go very fast, but it was still fun. The next adventure was rappeling into the cave. I tried to go upside down, but I couldn't hold myself that way for long. After we had all pretty much dried off, we went on our final adventure - zip-lining into the cave. That might have been freakin' cold, but awesome! We got to do it again, only backwards this time. That was pretty intense - not being able to see where we were going to land. We ate lunch after that (Carlos' adventure #5). It was a simple taco spread, but it was so good. We drove back after that (and buying a CD of all of the pictures that were taken of us while we were there). Pretty uneventful drive back (but still mildly unnerving). Once we got back to the hotel, we changed our suits and headed out to the beach for a dip and an attempt to rived the waves that were coming in. Cassie, Braden and Josh came over to our room before dinner and relaxed a bit with beers. Mom and Dad joined us after a bit, then we met the rest of the family for a late (8 pm) dinner at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel. Since we were such a big group, they only offered us a few entree choices. I think everyone opted for the fajitas. Between the soup and the appetizer, I was stuffed before the meal came. We spent more time back in our room with the others and Kathy too, before they decided to call it a night around 11:30.

At Tulum

Josh, Cassie, Brian, Braden, Nick, Cara, Ben

Down we go!

Ah, so young!

Chillin'

Enjoying a nice Italian meal?

15 Mar - We got up later this morning, met with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Braden for breakfast. Cassie joined us, and then we decided that us older "kids" would go into Playa del Carmen so Braden and Nick would have a chance to buy some souvenirs. Braden, Cassie, Josh, Nick and I set off from the hotel on foot at around 10 am. The distance between the hotel and the shopping area didn't seem that far when we took a cab the other day, but with the sunshine and high temps (high 80s all week), we immediately regretted the decision. We walked for about 40 minutes before we got there, feeling all sweaty and gross. It was nice when we finally got into an air-conditioned shop. We looked around at some goodies, then walked up to the bar with the swings. Got a drink, then walked back towards Senor Frog's. We sat right by the rail and took advantage of a little shower. Mom, Dad and Kathy were going to take Grandma on the ferry to Cozumel and we saw them before they boarded. We ate lunch at Senor Frog's before walking back to one of the souvenir markets. I picked up four hand-blown glasses with cobalt blue swirls on them. Very pretty. Nick got gifts, too. We did the smart thing and took a cab back to the hotel. Once we got back, Nick and I rested before going out to the beach. we swam in the sea for a while before getting dressed for dinner. we had reservations for the Italian restaurant at 6:30. These restaurants had a big problem with handling a group of our size, which was annoying. They only offered one meal choice (filet mignon) at the restaurant, which Cassie and I don't eat, and it was like pulling teeth to get something we could (we ended up with chicken parmesan that tasted like baked cheese). Moral of the story - stick with the cuisine of the country you're in. After dinner, Mom & Dad, Braden & Cassie, Dave, Kathy & Josh, and Nick & I ended up at a table near the pool, having a few Dos Equises (yeah, I probably didn't spell that right), shots of tequila and a few Cuban cigars that Nick and Braden bought today. We played Apples to Apples and drank until around 1 am. After Tuesday, I made it a point to drink a lot of water. I think I downed about 3 L.

Sunrise or sunset?

16 Mar - After breakfast, Nick and I took one last swim in the ocean, and then took advantage of having some quiet time before we had to check out at noon. I took a brief nap because it was going to be a long day. We met up with everyone else in the lobby and managed to take a family picture. Braden's flight left earlier than ours, so his airport transportation left at 1:15. After Braden left, eight of us (Mom, Dad, Cassie, Grandma, Rob, Tyler, Nick and I) took taxis down to Playa to see if we could find a place to watch the Badger's first NCAA tournament game. We found one off the main shopping drag, when ate some lunch while watching (as much as we could) the Badgers be down by 15 at the half to winning by 13 against Texas A&M Corpus Christi. A storm blew in as we were about to leave and stayed overcast and cool for the rest of the day. After the game, Nick, Mom, Cassie and I picked up a few last-minute souvenirs (I got another silver and opal slider for my necklace). We took a cab back, and then waited in the lobby until our shuttle came at 5:40. We all got loaded, no problem. We had another couple to pick up at another resort, but they were late and we left without them. The bus ride to the airport seemed to take forever. We finally got there, got our seats, got through security, then waited for the plane. It was one of the most uncomfortable flights I'd ever been on. We sat in an exit row, so our seats didn't recline. I tried to sleep, but between the frat boys two rows behind me and a woman who would not stop talking behind us, sleep eluded me. Cassie, Nick and I drove back to Madison after getting my car back at the hotel. Nick drove and I slept in the back. After dropping Cassie off, Nick and I got home around 5 am. The kitties were very happy to see us and didn't let us have any decent sleep. Oh well. At least we've got a few days to recover.

Stormy day

Hint of a rainbow

Mom looking at the stormy skies

Assembled family

I'm not really sure why she picked Cancun, but I am very happy Grandma took us all on this vacation. Nick and I had a great time overall. There are always minor (and major) annoyances traveling with so many people, but I think it was worth it overall. Thanks, Grandma! Let us know how we can make it up to you!

{transcribed 1/28/2020}