Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Turkey, guacamole and margaritas? Yea, baby!

The plan had been to spend the long Thanksgiving weekend at Ga and Papa's house at Crystal Beach, but since those crazies are still camping out with no lights and climbing up a ladder to get inside, the family decided to head south to Mexico for turkey day. And we were all so thankful!

We stayed at the Paradisio Resort, 20 minutes south of Cancun airport, along the Mayan Riviera. How hot is that? The resort was beautiful, with a huge pool, and easy access to the white sand beaches and crystal clear water. I could barely contain my excitement!

I had a ball playing in the water, where I could actually see my toes the whole time!
Dada and I built sandcastles, or tried to. The sand was so fine, it was hard to make it stick.
The hotel had two parrots that I always wanted to go visit. I thought it was very cool that they ate strawberries and melon, so that's what I ate at every meal too.
Mama (who was recovering from a doozie of a cold) and dada were also able to relax, as we all took naps every day in our king size bed in the hotel room. Of course, I got to wind down with The Wonder Pets, which is my absolute favorite thing in the world right now. What's gonna work? TEAMWORK!
Here is Ga and me posing outside of the hotel room. We liked to perch on the window and check out the scene.
I have to say that the food was awesome. I ate lots more than anyone would have thought I could squeeze into my little body. I made friends with the waiters and waitresses, who all learned my name and thought I was pretty funny running around like a nut.
Mama and I got to spend the morning in the pool when dada went fishing one day. How pretty is that water? I also really enjoyed the swim up pool bar. I was only drinking orange juice people, really!
One afternoon, mama and dada and I went on an adventure to a zoo. No one knew quite what to expect.
First, we saw tons of crocodiles. Tons! They were big and kind of scary.
Then, I actually got to touch a crocodile. Mama was glad that the crocodile's head, with all those scary teeth, was facing the other direction.
It was very cool to see one of these guys so close up.
Hey, what's that?
OH, it's just Jessica the monkey, here to get some peanuts. I was happy to give them to her, because, as I like to repeat, "peanuts make me sick." Jessica is actually a wild monkey that stays at the zoo, even though she could leave, because people like me like to feed her peanuts.
Jessica can be a naughty monkey though.
Next we saw some snakes. I wasn't too sure about it, but I did eventually decide to hold the boa constrictor for awhile.
Look at the hairless Aztec dog. He was very sweet, but very expensive - they cost $5000 each in Mexico, and you have to put sunblock on them before you can take them for a walk!
At one point on our tour, our guide opened a chain link door so that we could walk into a fenced in area. Soon, we noticed that there were 40 CROCODILES JUST HANGING OUT, WAITING TO EAT US. We had to move very slowly, and mama was quite freaked out about the whole experience. Me too - check out my expression when the guide told us to sit in front of this crocodile for a picture. Don't think this is going to make the Christmas card!
Next we got to feed some deer, and I got to ride on one. All I could think about was my friend's dad's in Texas, who would like those horns displayed on their walls.
It was very cool to feed them, though.
Uh oh, what's that?
Oh, it's just Jessica here again, wanting another peanut snack.
And this time she brought her baby monkey along - look how cute she is!
Back at the hotel, we had one special dinner at the Mexican Restaurant, the Tequila Grille. I stopped to dance with the Mariachi band before we ate.
Mama and Ga both had this delicious marinated cactus salad as an appetizer. I ate more strawberries and melon.
The resort had a nativity scene set up, so we had to check it out. The only problem was that baby Jesus was missing. We think that some drunk person, not that there were many around, but come on, it was an all inclusive, stole it.
At night the resort was beautiful with all the lights and bridges crossing over the water.
But, before we knew it, it was time to pack our bags and head home. It was definitely sad Monday around there, even if I did have a new Wonder Pets book to read.

Papa helped to make it better, especially when he bought me letter shaped gummies to eat on the plane!