Mayakoba by Day

Back to our vacation. When Bryan & I went to the Bahamas over Memorial Day, it was cloudy & overcast the entire time with a little bit of rain mixed in. This trip, we had perfect weather! Bryan & I spent most mornings here:

This is where the fitness center, spa & adult pool were. You could hang out at the spa & use their facilities any time even if you weren't getting a treatment, so we would send the girls to the kids club & bike over:

Bryan still had limited movement with his foot so he would do some stretching & light work outs or he would work while I exercised:

I mean if you have to work on vacation, you might as well do it outside the spa where you are being pampered & can hear the waterfalls :)

After that, we would pick up the girls for brunch. Remember how I said there were candy bars everywhere? I mean literally, they even had a candy bar at breakfast & since it was vacation, we let the girls indulge:

 & then we would spend the rest of our day by the pool:

The main family pool was right by the ocean, which was a few minute drive either by golf cart or by bike. The girls thought it was awesome that they could ride the golf cart every day by themselves while we biked everywhere:

The kids club was also right by the pool, so the girls would run back & forth from the pool to the kids club which was even more enjoyable for Bryan & I because that meant we got to read & relax without having to worry about watching them at all times. But we spent a lot of time in the pool with them because it was hot:

We were pampered at the pool. They walked around during the week giving head massages so we all participated:

They also gave away goodies all the time. I mean seriously, I feel like we hardly spent any money during the day because they gave away so many free things. They had a daily ice cream wagon that went around:

And some days they had a pop up food surprise. One day it was tacos & tequila, the next day it was ice cream. Either way, we tried it & loved it:

The ice cream was my favorite. They had several flavors to choose from & then they had a whole toppings bar with all sorts of cookies, candies, etc. I told you, the sweets were ridiculous on this trip!

Sophie ate for free & for some reason they never charged us for Sadie either, so the girls basically ate for free the entire week, which was a nice surprise. We would usually order them lunch by the pool & of course we had to try out their strawberry smoothies, my personal favorite:

Sophie is our girlie girl & she loves to dress up, put on make up, jewelry, etc. so for some reason she really liked playing beauty shop at the pool with me. Every day, in the pool or out of the pool, she was constantly fixing me up:

I didn't even know Bryan was taking these pictures until I found them on my phone!

Everything about this trip I loved, except for the beach. It was beautiful looking over the ocean from the pool because it was up higher & the shoreline was hidden, but there was a lot of sea weed :( And I hate sea weed. So does Sophie, so she hardly spent any time on the beach. Sadie loved going down there. We picked a lot of shells & she played in the sand:

but she spent most of her time doing water activities with Bryan - either kayaking or sailing:

On Bryan's birthday, we decided to try a new excursion for the family - parasailing! Sadie has been wanting to go for the past year, so we finally gave it a try. They picked us up in jet skis right by our hotel & then took us out to a boat:

This was a fun surprise because the girls have never done this before also. Poor Sophie cried the whole time before we even got on the jet ski or attempted to parasail. She is our cautious one & never wants to try anything, but once we make her do it, she loves it. Sadie & I went first:

She absolutely loved it! Next up, Daddy & Sophie. She still cried at the beginning & was beaming by the time they landed:

Then we got to spend time riding on the boat & thankfully we all enjoyed that. By then, Sophie had warmed up to the water & was having fun with everything:

Besides the beach & the family pool, the girls swam most mornings at our own private plunge pool. Dare I admit that they might have gone skinny dipping most mornings before we ventured out for the day?!

There was also another adult only, quiet pool by the lobby & Sadie begged every day to swim here, so on our last morning, we let her sneak in:

We also had a few excursions away from the water also. We took an eco tour one morning on a boat around the lagoons of our property:

We saw all kinds of fish, ducks, birds, turtles & we ever saw 2 alligators!

One morning while the girls were at the kids club, Bryan & I biked the 5 mile nature trail through Mayakoba & we found a cenote. It is basically a cave that you can go inside & see fresh water & where all the bats live. We checked it out while we were out:

then we decided to bring the girls back one day so they could see it:

Of course Bryan golfed one day:

He said it was one of the most kept up golf courses he has played in the Caribbean. He loved it! We drove over & met him on hole 17 so the girls had fun riding around on the golf cart:

After that, we headed to El Pueblito. They have a little village set up inside Mayakoba where there is a chapel, shops & restaurants so you can visit without having to leave the property. On Sunday, they had mass & a farmers market so we went to check it out:

The girls & I each got a souvenir while Bryan sampled all of the local food & drinks:

And that's how we spent most of our time during the day in Mexico! Most of is was at the pool, at the kids club or venturing out for a few excursions. My favorite part was biking around the jungle:

 Not only was it beautiful, but it also helped me feel less guilty for all the ice cream & candy we ate! Bryan might have enjoyed a few siestas:

But most of all, we just enjoyed being together & not on a schedule all week. And can I tell you how fun it is to travel with older children who don't need naps anymore?!  Next up, how we spent our evenings.....