We love adventure. The more spontaneous and obscure the better. A week-long driving in some outskirts of Chile. A slippery bike trip from Vientiane to Luang Parabang. A midnight bike in the middle of Ko Samui with no light nor road nor hotel where we almost ended up sleeping on the beach.  That glorified days are long gone…

Now, our definition of vacation is very simple: Doing Nothing! We are happy with just a backyard camping. Kiddos, do you see that long brownish garden fence? Isn’t it magnificent? Despite our efforts, the kids want to explore something new.

We tried to bring them hiking once. It was awesome… for the first fifteen minutes. Then they got bored. And they wanted to be carried ALL THE TIME. Last time we checked, our kids were still in the bottom decile in terms of weight. But man, they were heavy, especially when they clung to your back for two days. And they asked for foods, but when the foods arrived, they changed their mind.

We are now the sort of travelers  on whom we used to look down. Yeap, those lazy ones who stay in all-inclusive resorts and drink margarita all day long. And not any resort. It must have a direct flight within 3 hours from where we live, AND it must have full-day childcare service. See how slack we are?

Anyway, this year we went to Cancun. The kids were busy doing zillion activities that they didn’t have at home like trapeze flying, bull riding (no kidding!), sand building competition,… Meanwhile, the adults can just sit under one of these umbrellas and do nothing!!!

Sometimes we popped in to check out how the kids were doing. They were just fine!

The little one seemed to enjoy the view.

And her brother too…

There was no reason to fight over foods. The kids ate whatever they wanted. No wonder why they loved this station the most.

During the last two days of our staying, it rained cat and dog. The positive side was: rainbow!!!

Luckily, our room had a pretty nice view, so it was not too bad to stay in:

The whole trip was awesome. We do that again soon!

Resort: Club Med Cancun Yucatan
Notes:

• Newly renovated, spacious family suite, clean twice daily
• Super baby-friendly (stroller, bottle warmer, crib were all ready in the room when we arrived)
• Impressive baby corner (freshly cooked meal for baby under one year of age, great selection of oatmeal and baby food jars).
• Good food selection, especially very fresh fishes (grilled fishes, and fish tartar everyday).
• Excellent Argentina and Mexican restaurants (need to book a day or two in advance, especially the Argentinian one).
• Great babysitting service with reasonable prices (about $18/hour).
• Awesome kid clubs (when given a choice, our oldest one chose to sit with her friends and teachers during lunch time instead of staying with us. It said a lot!).
• Fun night shows for the kids (ours didn’t miss any performance. They sang the theme song so much that even I can sing it now. F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C Croco-team… nah.. ah.. ah… ah…)

Some negative notes:

• Overpriced photography service (they have professional photographers walking around, providing lots of nice props like exotic birds, embellished traditional hat. The quality of their photos was excellent, indeed. But I don’t see myself spending $100 on a CD of 5 digital photos).
• Overpriced souvenirs (that we should know, but here is very very overpriced – we bought something there and later found out we could get the same thing in the airport for 1/3 the price).
• So-so alcohol choices and average bartender service (nothing to fancy about)
• Stale seafood (shrimps and crab claws seemed to be previously frozen).
• No beach toys (What?? We ended up buying the only one flimsy set available in the souvenir shop. The quality was pretty bad. We should bring our own next time).