This was a vacation that we were all looking forward to for the last several months, I on the other hand was looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. A very bittersweet trip for sure. The only reason that I agreed to go was because we were going with a group of friends. There was 6 families and 23 total people going. There should have been 25 however, but 2 people were missing, Chris and our good friend Ryan. Ryan passed away 2 years ago from leukemia. His parents came all the way down from Rochester, NY to fly with us as a group. Our friend Danny put everything together for everyone and did a great job coordinating everything for us.
We left Thursday evening and stayed at a hotel near Dulles airport (near DC). We were able to leave the cars at the hotel and caught a shuttle to the airport for our 9Am flight on Friday. We landed around 12:30 in Cancun and by 2PM we were at our resort in Playa Del Carmen. It is about 45 minutes south of Cancun. Our resort was an all-inclusive and right on the ocean. It was directly across from the island of Cozumel and at night you could see the lights on the island many miles away. During the day you could see the cruise ships docked for the day.
The trip was sort of a "spring break" type trip. There were older kids (18 - 21) who would go out to some clubs in downtown with the resort staff. Alex was one of them. They had a great time and were able to look out for one another while away from the resort. Tyler was part of a younger highschool group. They were able to go to a resort across the street where there was a nightclub that allowed young teens to attend. They went there a few times and spent some late nights out "clubbing" for their 1st time. Michael was one of those kids where was too young to hang with the older kids. It's too bad but he and I buddied up and made the best of the week. It was not a problem at all and we both had a pretty good time.On Monday we all boarded a couple of buses and went to a natural theme park called Xel-Ha. This was a wonderful area where water comes in from the ocean and flows into a beautiful lagoon/lake are. There are paths all around the water area with rope swings, cliff diving, tubing, and most importantly snorkeling! Michael and I spent 4 hours in the water snorkeling around the lagoon. We saw thousands of fish and some of them were pretty large, 3 to 4 feet! Tyler thought he'd be smart and try to touch one while it was feeding on something. Needless to say the cut on his finger proved to him that they have teeth and they are "sharp".
The rest of the week we spent at the beach and at the pool soaking up some much needed rest and relaxation. Each day we utilized the swim up bar and the all you can eat (and we did) buffet. The food was spectacular and we found ourselves making our own fish tacos with all the fixings from the buffet. Each day our room was made up and the maid would leave an animal on our bed made out of one of the towels along with real flowers. They were really cool and always fun to look at when we came back from a long day at the beach.The trip home was uneventful. We got home late Thursday and found that Ramsey (our cat) was missing. He left the day before while our neighbor was watching the house. We got a call on Friday evening from someone who got our number from his collar. He's home now and will be staying in the house for awhile.
The weather was just perfect for a vacation. Hot and humid but no rain at all until the night before we left. Also the day we left it started pouring down rain about 1/2 hour before we boarded the bus to the airport. We felt a little bad for the poor people who were still there, wondering what the heck we would do if we were there and it was raining. We were busy every day with swimming, eating and relaxing!
I could not have done this vacation without the support from my many friends who were there with me. Chris and I were trying for 3 years to go to Mexico and we were never able to get away because of treatments. In hindsight we should have just gone, but we didn't. the kids had a good time and I did as well, but there was never a minute that I did not have her on my mind. Seeing families and couples walking on the resort brought a constant reminder to me that our wife/mom was no longer with us in body. She still is there in mind and soul. There were a couple of moments during the week that I thought that I wouldn't be able to make it. Again, it was my group of friends that helped me through it. One day at a time... even in Mexico.
