Akumal, Mexico

 Four years later...dusting this thing off! I decided to start making this more of a place to journal for the kids! We've had lots of fun adventures in these 4 years but I'm just going to start fresh!

For spring break this year we took a trip to Akumal, Mexico! We wanted somewhere different that we haven't been and found the perfect villa in Akumal! 

On our travel day(Saturday) we flew from Atlanta to Mexico City then to Tulum. The Tulum airport is brand new, just opened in December! It was super nice! There was confusion in the airport about our rental van but we got it all worked out and were on our way to Akumal. 

We arrived to the villa around 6pm after a super long travel day. We ate dinner and the kids hopped in the pool! The pool was super fun because you could swim from outside the villa to inside the villa! Only thing is..at night raccoons would also swim inside and get into everything in the kitchen!

On Sunday we hung out around the villa and relaxed. Then on Monday, we snorkeled with the sea turtles! Some of us enjoyed this alot....and some of us thought we were dying! haha! 

Tuesday was spent relaxing at the villa again-we tried to build these days in on purpose! On Wednesday we went to the Akumal Monkey Sanctuary! This was so much fun! We spent time with lots of different animals, and obviously the monkeys! We were also able to swim in a cenote there!

On Thursday we drove up to Playa del Carmen and hopped on a ferry boat to Cozumel! We spent the day at Paradise Beach. The kids had lots of fun and Josh and I decided cruising is not for us! haha! 

Friday was spent relaxing and getting ready for our trip home the next day! Such a fun trip! I'm so thankful we get to travel together so much!!

A few pictures from our trip!

Ya Mon!

Whew! The last time I left off here we were Jamaica bound! The week before our trip was crazy. So much was in the air and people had SO MANY opinions on whether or not we should travel because of the corona virus. I was going no matter what anyone said. HA! I'll have to have a whole other post on the c word. Basically, we traveled just in time! Things quickly fell apart in the US as soon as we got to Jamaica. We were safer there than we were at home BY FAR.

 

Our trip was AMAZING! The most wonderful trip I have been on in my life! (And we've climbed/walked the Great Wall of China so that says a lot!) When I started researching this trip I knew we needed to stay in a villa because there were 12 of us and it just made more sense. The villa we found was amazing, beautiful, perfect in every single way. It had a staff that lived there and I was so spoiled by the time we left. I've had lots of people asking about the villa so I'll link it here My entire family highly recommends and we plan to go back! You won't regret it! The staff will take awesome care of you BUT- Rafic will spoil you like you are royalty!

 

When we arrived at the airport we were greeted by our driver for the week...we loaded up our luggage and asked him to take us straight to Scotchie's! They are famous for their jerk chicken and it was tasty! After that we went to check in and relaxed the rest of the day. The kids swam and the grown ups had yummy cocktails! Again, RAFIC!

 

The next day we headed to Ocho Rios to climb Dunn's River Falls! The kids loved it! The grown ups did, too, but it's tough dragging kids up the falls! haha! We stopped at a local jerk shack for lunch and then headed to the Martha Brae River to raft! By the time we got there they had just closed! AH, but remember....there are no problems in Jamaica! The guides unstrapped all their rafts and took us down the river anyway! We ended up with a sunset cruise down the Martha Brae and I was worth NOTHING when we were done! HA!

 

On Monday we hung around the villa and got spoiled some more! We ran down to Margaritaville so the kids could slide. I'm NEVER doing that again! Geeze. Tuesday we loaded up and headed to swim with the dolphins! I didn't realize how much we would LOVE this! They were so much fun! Brooks had the best time because the guide let him take a belly ride even though he wasn't supposed to!haha! After swimming with the dolphins we stopped by the craft market to show the kids around and get their hair braided!

 

I'm pretty sure on Wednesday we hung around the house but at this point it's all running together!

 

On Thursday we took the boat out for snorkeling. And by we I mean I sat by the pool! Motion sickness is NOT my friend. I would have been so sick! Everyone else had fun, especially Griffin who ditched his life jacket mid snorkel because it was holding him back!

 

Friday was spent lounging and being sad about leaving the next day! We had an amazing dinner(well the food was amazing the whole time actually) with a band playing reggae! :)

 

This trip could have not come at a more perfect time! Time to plan another trip!