Dispatch from Vacay - oh what a difference a day makes

Winston got sick on day three. The midpoint of our vacation. We are talking toddler-vomiting-in-the-middle-of-the-night sick. Poor guy. Jay and I moved into his room on head-to-head twin beds and snuggled with the monkey. He went right back to sleep for a couple of hours and then was at it again. Then right back to sleep. He's fine now. It's been over 48 hours and now he just has a cold. He's at the Baby Club today - our last day here.

I am here in the room so that I can stay close to the bathroom. Yep. Momma's sick too now. But not puking. The "other" stereotypical Mexican-vacation induced illness. Yuck. I spent the hours of 3-8 am on the bathroom floor. Just lovely. Jay's out on a wave-runner right now and I am here on the laptop, watching a movie and trying to eat saltines. Sad.

Ever since Jay and I went into Zihua on Saturday my tummy has been "off." We ate almost the same things since then, with the exception of me partaking of too much guacamole and ceviche. It's yum, but seems to be kicking my butt quite literally. I am a little bitter.

Anyway - on to the fun we have had since my last post.

Zihua on Saturday was great. Hotter than Hades but great. Based on a rec from my sister we went on a quest for a restaurant called "La Serena Gorda". Bummer was that we sort of started in the opposite direction. But took a great walk along the beach. We did find that fat mermaid, but by then had decided that we should eat on the sand too. (looking back, this may have been my mistake). We did a little shopping and Jay got his haggle-on with a persistant Mexican shopkeeper. It was all good. Winston had a good day at daycare. This was the night Winston got sick tho.

So, Sunday was spent in the room for the most part while Winston slept. He slept for a good 4 hours right in the middle of the day. He needed it. I think we did some time at the pool and then the beach that afternoon. Jay played flag football and Winston and I played in the gameroom.

Yesterday was Monday and we took Winston to see the nurse just to make sure everything was ok. He seemed to be very congested, but no fever. He had some Benadryl and then we went to the pool. I took a water aerobics class while Jay and Winston watched. Winston even got into it a bit too. Then Jay played water polo and Winston and I made new friends by the stairs in the pool. By all indications, vacay was back in full swing.

After an afternoon nap, we were all back at the pool and Winston was Mr. Confident. I swear I think he thinks he can really swim. He was putting his face in the water and pushing me away. Crazy boy!

Then last night Jay and I went for a nice dinner and got a babysitter. Poor sitter literally just sat in our room for 2 hours since Winston was already asleep. They have something here at the Club called "Pygama Night" where you can take your kids over to the daycare and they watch your kids and put them down to sleep. Then you go get them to transfer them to their own beds. We thought about doing that, but we just didn't see it going well. Anyway, it was a great night. Until I woke up at 3 am.

So, there you have it. We are all caught up. Jay's hoping to come back this afternoon with me feeling better. Fingers crossed that is actually the case. Then we want to take Winston to a nearby crocodile sanctuary. He's loving seeing geckos and lizards (there's a lagoon outside our door) so we think he'll get a kick out of the crocodiles. Or be completely freaked out. We'll let you know what happens.

Vacay pix - sneak peak

Here's Winston in Atlanta. He loved looking at the airplanes!

Here's a little self-portrait from tonight. Right before dinner.
Daddy and Winston playing in the sand. Mommy lounging by the pool.

Winston and mommy in the kids pool.

Winston at the beach. I think this may be our holiday card this year. :-)

More pix to follow soon.

Vacay!!

Here we are at the Club Med Ixtapa Pacific. Woo hooo!

The trip in was fine. It worked out really quite well to break up the legs like we did. First flight was to Atlanta Tuesday night. Next flight was Atlanta to Mexico City where we had a 3 hour layover before flying to Zihua. Winston was a champ! We used the VIP lounge at Benito Juarez and Winston watched Elmo on the dvd player. Yay. Winston got so upset waiting to board the plane though. He does seem to get the concept that he goes in the airplane now and, dare I say, looks forward to it.

So, anyhow ...

We arrived on Wednesday evening and were all knackered. We checked in and got a quick tour, got a quick bite to eat and went to bed. The next day was our own orientation. This place is great. It's like a cruise ship that never leaves dock with the all the food and activities and that it's all-inclusive. Also notable -- it's low season and this place is dead. At times it's like we have our own private resort. Capacity is 850. We were told there are about 200 people here right now. I think I love low season. :-)

We slept in a little that first day, had a nice breakfast and really checked everything out. We registered Winston for the Baby Club and were able to see that whole set-up. But we didn't want to leave Winston the first day. It just seemed like too much too soon. The goal was for Winston to go to daycare starting on Friday. So -- Thursday was breakfast, touring the resort, then lunch, then nap (and we all napped!) then we went down to the beach. Winston loved it!

Then before you know it, it was time to get cleaned up and guess what? Go eat again! Yikes. but the food is super good and it's hard to say no to any of it. Seriously.

Some early reflections on our first 24 hours included that this place is like France in Mexico, a trip really. This is only reinforced by the fact that most of the tv channels seems to be French, but with Spanish subtitles. Speaking of Spanish, I am surprised and delighted that lots of my Spanish is coming back. I think Jay is surprised as well.

Day two was Friday and we took Winston to daycare. We got there just as they were getting ready to take the kids on a buggy ride. Which was good, or so we thought. We put Winston in the buggy, said our good-byes and left. Poor Winston kind of freaked out. Screaming after us "Moooommmmmmmaaaaaa, DDaaaadaaaahhhhh!! Nooooooooo!!!." It was hard. But then after a bit we heard the cries cease and it seemed fine. Jay and I went for breakfast and to strategize our day.

My goal was to lay by the pool. Jay wanted to be more active. We were at odds. In the end I got in some lazy time reading my book in a cabana while drinking a margarita (yum) while Jay joined a game of water polo in the pool. One challenge in all this -- avoiding Winston. The daycare staff take the buggies by the pool to go to lunch. Yikes!! Jay and I had to run and hide. Literally run and hide, so that Winston didn't see us. It was a bit dicey.

(one aside -- we missed Winston instantly. We really enjoy seeing how much fun Winston has in everything we do together. So we decided that we needed to take part in activities that we definitely could never do w/Winston. Laying by the pool is iffy. Other activities needed to take a jump in the priority line.)

After our pool time Jay and I went on a tandem kayak, which was great. Then we went to what we thought was going to be an archery tournament. There weren't any people, so we both tried our hand at it. It was pretty cool. We picked up Winston at 4:30 (he had a GREAT day!) and took him to the pool at the Mini Club Med for the older kids that has a few water features. We, of course, had it to ourselves. Niiiiicceeee! Then it was time to get cleaned up and off to dinner. Winston took a "bath" in the shower.

That night Winston cried out for "Daaaaddaaaaahhh!" and "Maaaaammmaaaaahhh!" in his sleep. I must admit that it was a little freaky. But I suppose it was natural after he was kind of freaked out when we left him at daycare. Yikes.

Look for day three in another post ....

First visit to Disneyland

It's Mickey Winston!

Today was Winston first Disneyland visit. We had no idea how he would react. Well, he got freaked out by the carousel horses, but loved Pirates of the Caribbean. Go figure!

At the Columbus Zoo, June 2008