Day 1 - Saturday, June 24 - Travel and Arrival
The party plane from Austin was ready to rock and roll bright and early.
|
|
 >
|
¡Bienvenidos a Mexico!
|
The Austin delegation traveled together nicely. |
Upon arriving at our resort at Dreams Playa Mujeres, we were greeted with welcome drinks, dancing, and an entertaining game.
|
|
|
We were escorted to our VILLA (!) homes for the week, each which came with a private outdoor hot tub.
|
We went looking for the beach...And found it!
|
Before Day 1 was over, all NINETEEN Kaye relatives arrived safely and happily, ready for the vacation adventure ahead.
|
|
|
Day 2 - Sunday, June 25
Team Cohen was up early and ready to jump right into the resort vacation; no time for breakfast!
|
When you're at the water park at dawn, you get the whole place to yourself. |
|
|
Fed, sun screened, and dressed appropriately, some of the group explored The Grotto, 1 of 3 pools with swim-up-bars. All people of all ages in our family got very comfortable ordering tropical drinks very quickly.
|
|
|
The next party moved to the beach.
|
|
The next party moved to the lazy river (within feet of our villas).
|
|
A beautifully rare moment of Nana, Zayde, and all OG's:
|
On "the trip of a lifetime," there is no bedtime, and the ice cream shop is open as many times as you want.
|
Day 3 - Monday, June 26 - Happy Birthday, Noah!
Another day, another opportunity to ignore health protocols (and another swim-up bar!):
|
Jon, Nana, and Zayde took a bike tour of the area where they met Poncho, the local baby crocodile.
|
But back to not caring about our health!
|
|
|
|
|
Our afternoon brought us special alone time with Team Cohen, Nana, and Zayde at the beach.
|
|
|
|
When in KanKun:
|
We happily celebrated big 12-year-old Noah's birthday:
|
|
Day 4 - Tuesday, June 27
Spencer's breakfasts were often permitted to him by "special aunt time."
|
We enjoyed our daily iguana sightings!
|
|
|
Many many hours were spent at the Infinity Pool.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of the resort signs pointed towards the "Lazzy River," and we often got very very lazzy.
|
The sun was still out, so our day wasn't over. To the beach!
|
|
|
That night, the dinner and entertainment moved outside.
|
|
|
Day 5 - Wednesday, June 28
There was a faction of us who were jealous of Uncle Mitch's daily sunrise walks, so we set out to join him.
Can you guess the family member by their silhouette? |
|
With the sun up and the morning rainbow that greeted us, it was time to grab the rest of the family for breakfast. And our favorite morning harpist was there to serenade us.
|
|
Friendly family game of "Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza":
|
A second group wanted to take a bike tour of the area. We didn't see Poncho the crocodile, but we still had a gorgeous ride.
|
|
One of the really special parts of this vacation was that even though it was a huge resort, it was easier than we anticipated to run into family throughout the day. I enjoyed the different combinations of family units enjoying each other's company.
|
|
That afternoon, we managed 19 people at the beach at the same time, cooperating to take some beautiful professional family pictures (captured in a different post). Here is some of what was happening behind the scenes.
|
|
I deleted most of the 8,197 selfies these children took. I let these couple slide. (I was amused at the {likely unintentional} crown effect from the tree.) |
Evening entertainment in the theatre was often followed by an evening visit to the ice cream parlor.
|
Yes, Team Cohen went to Karaoke Night (starting at 9:30)! Yes, Ethan did request to sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. No, he did not need help with the lyrics.
|
|
Day 6 - Thursday, June 29 - Isla Mujeres
About half the group chose an excursion to ride over to close by Isla Mujeres. They described it as the clearest, most beautiful water they had ever seen. (And Daddy got to spend over half a day with ZERO of his own kids!)
|
|
|
Meanwhile, back at the resort with the rest of us, we did just fine.
|
Cooking Day at Explorers Club |
Fanta floats! |
|
The island folks returned and reunited with the resort folks left behind.
|
|
|
|
Day 7 - Friday, June 30 - Last Full Day in KanKun
Many of us returned, once again, to the beach at sunrise.
|
|
pre-breakfast pastries |
good thing we go to expensive resorts to play video games |
|
Gabi's post lunch activity |
Mira and Spencer post lunch |
It was our last opportunity to relax in the Mermaid Pool, so we just stayed and stayed and stayed.
|
|
Sweet cousins Gabi and Sam do not see each other too much, but when they do, they have a very special bond. No one knows what they talk about for hours, but it works. We don't have many pictures of the magic because they were off swimming on their own most of the time. On our last day, though, we were able to sneak in and capture it some.
|
|
Final sunset in Mexico:
|
With an all-inclusive resort and an ice cream parlor at hand, Spencer and Nana became "ice cream buddies" throughout the week. And on our last night, the ice cream buddies were able to squeeze in 2 different ice cream moments together.
|
|
Gabi enjoyed special-aunt time with Aunt Sandi on our last night, working on a painting project.
|
Day 8 - Saturday, July 1 - ¡Adios, y muchas gracias!
Some of us got up early for one last beautiful sunrise over the resort, this time from a different spot.
|
|
After a full week of luxury, our Boston delegation was the first to depart.
|
|
That still left the rest of us remaining for a few more hours to squeeze in a few more resort privileges.
|
|
|
We said "Goodbye" to our villa that treated us very nicely for the week.
|
Before getting on the vans to depart to the airport, CohGils enjoyed one last meal, fittingly, at "That's a Wrap."
|
Fun fact: We ran into people we knew at the Cancun airport.
|
For real goodbyes to Team Cohan:
|
CohGils were back in action for the flight home.
|
We had to remind the children that they can't just grab whatever they want whenever they see something in the real world. We had to remind the children that there are no such things as "dinner drinks" in the(ir) real world. We had to remind the children that this was a most glorious week and we all have so much to be grateful for. This truly was the trip of a lifetime. Thank you, Nana and Zayde.
Now, what to do with these monsters we created?
|
