January 9 - 26, 2019 – 4 years 7 months: Barra de Potosí, Mexico, Part 1

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May 10-16, 2018 - 3 years 10 months - Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival

To break up the drive, we stopped for a few hours at the Soldotna playground… where we discovered that Bucky enjoyed going down the slide as much as Kadin! 

A nature walk along the docks, exploring all of the sea creatures there.  Kadin loved it!  This one is an ochre sea star.

An "Otters and Eiders" boat tour where Kadito and a kid he met on board get to sit in the captain's seat.  (The Captain is pictured to the left).  Lots of otters, lots of running laps around the deck.  No eiders (a cool sea duck). 

Kadin slept through it, but I awoke to the crunch of underbrush and chomping of leaves right outside of the tent.

Awww!  Love this shot of Kadito and Bucky… best of friends whenever Kadin has either food or a ball in his hand!

January 26 - January 29, 2018 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico (3 years 6 months) – First 3 days

On the ferry crossing from Cancun to Isla Mujeres

At our hotel, there was a perfect little pool with a long strip of shallow water where Kadito could run, swim, and play without me holding onto him.  See video below for the live action version – "Mama, watch this!"

Arrrgh!  Inside a shark's mouth on one of the piers.  We were having a blast, pretending to be scared, and just as I was about to take the photo, of course, he covers his eyes… ¡No fotos!

The hotel had a (somewhat sad) little tank of slider turtles and Kadin loved watching them.  One waiter let us pick up the littlest one but the next day another waiter said we couldn't because one of them bit a kid once.  They aren't mean turtles so I suspect the kid wasn't handling him properly, but oh well, no more picking them up.
I love Dito's wispy hair, necklace, and bare foot in this photo. 

We had a day of rain on the Island and so Kadito and I went to the bar to play some pool. We must have spent over an hour there.  He loved hitting them, of course, but he also loved listening to them go down the tubes and running the tray to pull them out again.

At the beach… popcorn was our favorite snack.  Kadin would walk up and down the beach looking for the popcorn vendors.  I love that in Spanish, popcorn is "palomitas" which means "little doves".

The waves weren't very big on Isla Mujeres, but big enough to still have fun!  I left Kadin's blue life jacket at a bus station by mistake and found this inflatable one at a mega store in Cancun.

January 16, 2018 - Mahahual, Mexico (3 years 6 months)

Morning walk along the beach.  He would comment on every boat, especially if it had two outboard motors instead of just one.
He would run out to a pier by himself sometimes, so I made him wear his life jacket!

Kadin is really into learning his letters right now – especially O, K, J, and S – and was practicing in the sand.  I love that sometimes he calls me "Jota", which is the letter J in Spanish.

Kadin met two twins, Sebastian and Tristan, at our campsite beach and LOVED playing with them for hours.  We even hopped on their golf cart for a final ride before they got back onto their cruise ship and left.  As they left, he cried and every time he saw a cruise ship he mentioned them.  I realized it's kind of hard on him to meet kids for just a quick playday and then never see them again and it renewed my quest to find a more permanent community to go to every year.

More cool discoveries… I think he's asking me what made all the holes in the sand.  I believe it's little clams in there.

Later on, we met up with a few more kids and they all started collecting these teensy clams.  Kadin was proud to show the girl how many he'd found.

Video:  Kadin playing in the water.  "Mi mano bote" = my hand is a boat!  "Big bote bajo aqua" = it's a big boat going under water!

January 14-15, 2018 - Mahahual, Mexico (3 years 6 months)

Look Mama, you can't see my thumb!

Listening to the ocean waves…

Mahahual's beaches were mostly calm with lots of sea grasses and shells and other treasures for my budding naturalist.  

Showing me his treasure – a barnacle and sea grass covered shell of some sort.

Of course, if there is a puppy around, Kadin wants to be his best friend.  This cutie was about 9 months old and named Luna.

Yum! Octopus!  He loved it and mostly liked to eat off the suction cups.  Whenever we'd go to another restaurant, he'd say, "Me want eat pupu!"  Of course, pupu is pulpo, Spanish for octopus, but it made a few people turn their heads. ;-)

Same meal.  Kadin decides to paint his fingernails… with ketchup.  He was very proud of it and was happy to let me take his photo.

My little funny face, I love you so much.

Here's our campsite at Mahahual.  Definitely my favorite.  Right on the beach and not too crowded and there was even a bar and restaurant right there.

January 5-8, 2018 - Tulúm, Mexico CAMPING at KUKULCAN (3 years 6 months)

Last year, he wouldn't let me bury him.  Now he's buried up to his waist!

He only let's me take a picture of him these days if he is making funny faces or doing something he's excited about.  

This was our first campsite – at Hostal Kukulcan.
Small and friendly but a bit too far from the beach and a bit too much concrete for my taste.  Kadito had a love/hate relationship with the little puppy, depending on whether she was nipping his heels or not.

Yummy ice cream!  He was so thoroughly enjoying it that another customer asked me if she could take his picture as the epitome of ice cream enjoyment.

February 16 - 24, 2017 - 2 years 7 months - Chacala, Mexico, 3rd week

Another selfie! 

One of my favorite photos!  Mr. Cutie-Pie, happy as can be playing in the dirt!

Portable bathtub with bubbles! 

Town visit for groceries and bank. 

Kadin helps Concha's grandkids knead the masa for tortillas.

Boat ride up the Tovara River - on the look-out for birds and crocodiles. 

¡Cocodrilo!