Did I promise you a story?

OK, I know, I know. I promised DETAILS about my trip, but we've had a hard time readjusting to life not on vacation. What can I say? There was sun, there was fun, there was an unlimited open bar at all waking hours and Clementine could have "peet-zee," her way of saying pizza, every day at 4 pm. She wouldn't sit in her high chair or sleep in the portable crib, but the super comfy king-sized bed made me long for our family bed days once again.

I didn't know what to expect of a Club Med vacation (didn't I mention that it was Club Med). We're kind of the adventurous, backpacking, let's-see-the-remotest-part-of-Thailand and how-many-museums-can-we-hit-per-day travelers, so we were a little wary. I even researched cultural events and places in Cancun (I know, beyond body shots and foam parties there isn't much) so I'd be prepared. What a waste of time! Club Med is the way to go, once you can get past the competitive vacationers who wake at 5 AM every day to scope out the best spots by the pool and reserve them with towels and cheap paperbacks. We got to go boating and snorkeling whenever we wanted, the beaches were amazing and I even tried the trapeze. We surprised the heck out of my dad and had an amazing time with the whole gang together. Clementine is now obsessed with her cousins and starts every day talking about Abby, Nora and cheese (yeah, the pizza thing).

If there was a sour note it was darling C's less-than-positive reaction to my dad, her grampy. She shook her finger at him and cried "No!" whenever he came near here, sometimes switching it up with a "don't." He took it in stride and answered with a finger-wagging no of his own, but I think all that did was cement that as their thing. Even now when she mentions everyone she sat on the beach with, she'll say something that sounds like "dampy" and shake her finger, say no and smile. I don't think it's an actual no at this point or even something negative. But I'm creating a super-fun photo book of our amazing trip together just to be sure.

I took, of course, nine million pics. Here are some of the best. We stayed over in the Westin at the Detroit airport the night before our flight out, and let me say it was the best idea I've ever had. We had a really early check-in time for the flight and the hotel leads you right out to the gate area. The cost of the room came with 8 days valet parking, so all the better. AND our room looked out onto airplanes, Clementine's first obsession of the trip.



The camera didn't come to the beach with us often, and when it did it didn't come into the water, which was an amzing color blue and a source of a lot of fun. Other beach activities like iguana spotting and sand sorting were a big hit:






Our one trip to town included the wonderful "Casa de Arte Popular Mexicano," a folk art museum with a very detailed audio tour in English that I couldn't enjoy because keeping Clementine's hand off all the precious art objects at child-height was more like a work out than anything.




The last shot is from the little church they set up in one corner of the museum where my neice Abby performed several weddings. We literally had to drag her away. C wasn't interested.

Much can be said of how wonderful all the little girlies got along. I'm excited to see them all grow up together. Actually, I'm more excited to see them photographed together, which we have a difficult time doing. That is, unless one is crying or dirty or looking the wrong way or, in C's case, eating pizza.



Much can also be said of the dancing, which all girls took to rather swimmingly, none so eagerly as my little Clementine. If there was a band or a lone guitar or even a speaker, my girl would find it and dance in front. We came out of dinner one night to find a salsa lesson in progress, so Clementine grabbed Ba and took a spin with him:



First to arrive and last to leave, we spent our last afternoon enjoying hte surf, tracking down Clementine's beloved bartender Charly, who kept her well supplied with ice and cookies and taking a few last shots.



I wish being on vacation were a career option because we're really good at it.