Mexico 2014 (2 of 3)

The photo above is one of my favorite photos of Owen, ever.

Here are some other favorites from this trip:

I know that there are lots of people who read this blog specifically for the trip posts. And often these posts are used by people as actual travel reviews (to plan vacations). I want to plug this resort a bit because it was such a great one (I was truly impressed with it, in a way unlike any other all-inclusive we’ve experienced), but I want to say up-front that this is not a paid advertisement and I am getting nothing (absolutely nothing!) from the resort or anyone else for this review!

But the most amazing part, to me, was the food. They label themselves a “Gourmet Inclusive” but I have to be honest: I was pretty skeptical before going. And I have to be honest again: I was pretty blown-away by the food once we were there.

Braydon and I love Mexican food (and margaritas!). It is probably our favorite food category (and drink!). And this place did not disappoint. This is especially noteworthy because it was an all-inclusive (not typically known for the quality of the food). What I loved most, though, was the fact that our kids got to try so many things — and really experience and enjoy their food explorations in a stress-free environment where we weren’t concerned with the cost of every one of these high-end items. For us, as a family, food is a shared experience — just to reiterate: it is an experience — that we all enjoy sharing together. It is fun for us to explore it and experiment with it together. This resort made that part of our time so pleasurable, which, for us, is huge. In addition to us all eating a huge array of really good, fresh, light, and delicious Mexican food all week, our kids also got to try so many things on this trip that were new to them. Some of the highlights were octopus ceviche; beef carpaccio; tuna tartar; watermelon gazpacho.

My serious foodie, Owen, was particularly enamored with the “Gourmet Inclusive” concept. He loved the sushi river, but he also learned that he loves eggs Benedict, coconut ice cream, and shrimp tacos. He also loved that it was always all-you-can-eat (a big win for him; he can eat a lot). One night he ate four salmon dinners. Four. They just kept bringing them, and he just kept eating them. It was stunning. (Then he asked to have the chef come out to the table so he could thank her. Which happened. And which he did (thank her). And I think the chef got a little teary with joy and happiness over this 10-year-old boy describing in great detail how perfectly rare she had grilled his salmon and how “most and flaky” it was, and how “usually chefs don’t know how to cook salmon so perfectly for him,” and on and on and on and on.)

Meera discovered, much to her delight, the Mexican tradition of eating sweets for breakfast. She fully embraced that part of the Mexican culture (!) and enjoyed the heck out of eating cupcakes, pastries, colored marshmallows and all sorts of other sweets for breakfast every day. She has bemoaning ever since that the American cultural breakfast tradition does not include cupcakes and cookies.

Kyle re-affirmed his life-long love of the bean-and-cheese burrito. And he rediscovered his love of drinking Bahama Mamas at a swim-up bar.

Speaking of swim-up bar… Our room. Our room was beautiful. And… get this… it was a swim-up room! It had a regular door to it. But it also had a porch/balcony with a ladder that went directly into the pool.

The bambinos seriously thought they had died and gone to heaven.

You could jump off our porch right into the water…

…and swim from our swim-up room to the swim-up bar…

…which we did. Many, many, many times.

Fabuloso!!!

(for post 3 of 3 click here)