Riemer Family Adventures: Mexico

Oh, where to start?? We had an incredibly fun and relaxing 8 days in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in mid February. It was our first all inclusive family vacation and I fear it may have wrecked us for any other non-all inclusive vacations to come. I had chosen the resort because it was one of the few hotels that is on a swimmable beach. So many resort areas in Mexico have a beautiful beach and ocean but because of the undertow and strong waves you are not able to swim in it. The hotel was also one of the most inexpensive ones yet still got pretty good reviews (believe me, I read ALL of them!) and lastly because it seemed to be the most "Mexican" of them all. In fact one of the biggest complaints in the reviews was that it catered to a mostly Mexican clientele. Funny that was a complaint because, uh, excuse me... you are IN Mexico?!? Anyway, the fact that there would be more Mexicans than Americans really sold it for me. If we had wanted to go to San Diego, we would have gone to San Diego.

The beach did not disappoint. It was just steps away from the swimming pool which was just steps away from our room.... did I mention it was all very relaxing? The hotel had a very large roped off area in the water so it felt safe to swim out pretty far and still feel a bit protected. The hotel had boogie boards that we could just use for an hour or two and then bring back when we were finished. (all part of the all inclusive price) Nearly every day we would spend at least an hour boogie boarding. The kids got very brave and pretty good. For Benjamin, it was his first time in warm ocean water (other than in Hawaii when he was only a few months old but of course he doesn't remember this). For our little surfer dude, it was just perfect!!

Before I move on to more beach stuff I have to say that the travel portion was better than ever. These kids are amazing travelers!! We had to leave our house at 5AM so we had to wake the kids up extra early. I figured they would be cranky but they weren't. For the first time I actually read and relaxed nearly the entire flight. Partly due to the fact that they each had a device, Marty took the seat between the kids on the second leg from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta but mostly it was because the kids are just great travelers. After 8 hours of driving, flying, waiting, flying, walking, driving, the first time they complained at all was in the taxi when we were just minutes away from our hotel. I guess after several trips to Europe, traveling anywhere else is simple.

Back to the beach.... hours and hours of wave jumping, boogie boarding and sand digging and castle building.

And lots of sand in the swim trunks...

It was a bit like summer camp for Josie. We planned to met up with my good friend, Siri, and her family. She has an 11 year old son and a 3 year old daughter. It was so fun to have friends there with us. In addition, Josie met several fun friends that she played with. This particular family had 4 kids very close in age (ages 9-5) and she had a ball with the three sisters (all in matching striped swim suits) Benjamin, of course, liked all the girls too!

What would a Mexican beach be without the fruit vendors.

Catching some waves

Siri's children: Caetano and Sabina

More and more boogie boarding....

Benjamin taking a break and warming up in the sun.

Hideki, Sabina and Benjamin just chilling on the beach.

Hideki, Siri, Caetano and Sabina

I even had a blast boogie boarding. SO much fun!!

Marty riding the wave all the way in.

The girls riding a wave all the way in.

Josie did awesome and was really brave even after several major spills.

Benjamin crashing but still giving it a thumbs up!

Shaking camera work with Benjamin on my back but still hear us yelling "Here comes a biggie!" which was what the kids yelled every time a big wave came.

Josie had a great time jumping waves with her new friend, Slyvie.