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 24-25, 2018 - Playa del Carmen, Mexico (3 years 6 months) - THE CENOTES

Kadin started to get a bit of a sand rash from his sandals so we switched to flip flops!  It took him a bit of practice to walk in them but he would NOT switch back and just kept on practicing.  They have Dora la Exploradora on them.

Speaking of flip flops, Kadito found this one at the cenote and it instantly became a boat… you can see his lips going Brrrroom like the motor.  He almost didn't let me throw it away afterwards - wanted to keep it as his toy boat!

Kadito was amazingly drawn to this girl.  He wanted to play with her and would follow her around the Cenote, asking me, "¡¿La niña, donde está la niña?!" (The girl, where's the girl?!)  Finally, they sat down and Dito could show her all of his toys.  Her name was Anuk.

I was supposed to pick just one of these four photos but just couldn't decide.  So now they are a collage of my little swimmer boy happy in the water.

Kadin is swimming like a champ!  All those Wednesdays at the pool in Wasilla are really paying off.  

There are these little fish in the cenotes that like to eat your dead skin.  Kinda gross but really, more than anything, kinda fun and TICKLISH!  It was hard to not laugh/giggle the whole time!

Our last night in Playa we went to a restaurant that was built within a cave (Restaurante Alux).  We didn't eat there but explored the cave and had a lot of fun.  This video is a bit dark, but Kadin was rockin' out to the music!

Ooops… forgot a photo… my version of a "volante" (a flyer!)… Jumping off the 20' cliff at the Cenote.  Kadito stayed on the pier with Anuk's mom and loved watching me jump.  The first shot is a close up of the second one.

January 12-14, 2018 - Tulúm, Mexico CAMPING at CENOTE ENCANTADO (3 years 6 months)

Kadin checks out the cenote on our first day there.  

We jumped in with just an inner tube that day and enjoyed the fresh water for a change.

We stayed at the Cenote Encantado a beautiful eco-camp hippy dippy place with composting toilets, a yoga space, and a nice clean kitchen.  Not to mention the beautiful cenote to swim in.  But here, Kadin stacks cups and is very proud of his tower (thus, he let me take his picture).

The next day, we rented one of their kayaks and explored the mangrove edges of the cenote.  We saw a 4' caimen basking in the sun, lots of birds, and Kadin helped me pick up lots of trash.

Buenas noches!