Spring Break 2013 - Mexico

Joe and I had a desire to take a "real" (i.e., all five of us going someplace together, far enough that it required an airplane) since Wren was born.  For a variety of reasons we did not go on a trip before Wren turned 6 months and I was back at the office.  And then once back to work the time just flew by and we spent our summer traveling via car to various State Parks and attractions closer to home.  Wren turned one year old last fall and we vowed to take a family vacation before Spring Break 2013 had passed us by.  

While I fully embrace that travel is not defined by how many miles you cover, and is about finding inspiration, discovery and celebration in everyday moments, Joe and I both wanted to break out of routine and physically go further for this vacation.  

After a ton of (relatively last minute) searching and deliberation we finally settled on Mexico.  We were so anti-Mexico when we started our search.  But then, after considering the ratio of travel time to vacation time, $/ticket, hotel and flight availability, activities to keep a 1, 3 and 5 year old engaged and more, we realized Mexico was probably a pretty sure thing.  It wouldn't be culturally eye-opening or push us to encounter our fears and insecurities around every corner like some other locations Joe and I have interest in visiting, but it would do the trick!  Five of us, traveling together, to someplace warm and sunny for a Spring Break!

Below are some highlights of our trip, photos along with little snippets of the story behind the picture.  It really was a great 1st get-away for our family.  Aside from Wren having an OK flight there and a pretty horrible flight home, it was "smooth sailing." We basically spent our time swimming, playing at the Kid's Club and exploring the beach and resort. 

Running away to warmer weather.  

Winter jackets ditched in the car, we ran through the single digit temps in the parking ramp to hop aboard the light rail to get us to the tram that brought us to the airport where we boarded a flight to Mexico!

   

And then we deplaned, hustled through customs and looked for the sign.  Costco!  Costco Travel, baby!  You can take the Mom out of Costco, but...

Silly girl.  She ran the whole length of this sidewalk pointing up at Joe and shouting "Dada, Dada!"  Might I remind you that she apparently couldn't remember who he was on either of the flights, but boy was she excited and proud to announce to Mexico that he.was.her.dada.

Quick family pic as we wait for our Costco transfer to bring us to our family-friendly all-inclusive Cancun resort.  Max was not covering his eyes from the sun.  He was ticked off that Joe held him back for this picture. Max had spotted a bird and was running to take a closer look at it.  Joe held him back and the bird flew away, so he missed seeing the bird.  Max really is such a sweet soul.  He notices so many things, including birds - when they're chirping in the morning, when they land in a tree nearby, flying south, etc.  And he gets so upset when we get in the way of his plans to check things out further.

We landed around 4pm and kept telling the kids we would have time to swim once we got to the hotel. Except we hadn't planned for check-in to take a full hour, or for the sun to set by 6pm.  We did walk to the pool our very first night, but it was pitch black outside and the pool was unheated and ice cold.  So we headed back to our room, filled up the whirlpool and let the kids take a dip there.

Our first morning.  We headed to the baby pool that was right near our room.  It was frigid.  All the pools except one (where we spent the rest of our pool time after our 1st day), were unheated and way too cold!  The one that was heated ended up working perfectly for all of us.

After playing in the baby pool for a bit we headed down to the beach for some sandcastles and exploring.

Beach picnic.  We always filled a to-go container with snacks to tide us over between meals.

Enjoying some mini golf...

...until this.  Can you see it?  The big iguana and the abandoned golf club and ball?  Max had been playing this hole and I noticed the iguana waiting there at the next hole.  When Max finished with this hole I knew he'd go darting over and probably trip on the iguana and have a heart attack (he's my kid; neither of us likes the iguanas).  So as he was playing I asked him to calmly stop and look around, that there was something at the next hole and I wanted him to notice it before he went running over.  After a moment or two he shrieked and his club flew out of his hands and he went running opposite the iguana.  Joe and Otto stepped up and finished playing this hole for Max, unphased by the iguana.

Our beach baby

Our little fish.  It's been a week since we left Mexico and the goggle mask indentations have finally smoothed out on Max's face:)  He spent all of his time swimming and diving and playing in the pool.

Our little frog.  Otto spent an hour one morning "swimming" along the shallow edge of the pool by swim-hopping, just like a frog, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

How cute are little kids in hotel bathrobes and slippers!!!

And how cute are pigtails and barrettes and dresses and sandals (and her cute little hand holding the bottom of her dress)!!!

Joe about to try his skills on the surfboard in the surf pool.  If I hadn't dropped my phone in water, I would have had a fantastic video to share of his attempt (and fast fail).  BUT, the cloud/photostream only has my photos, so the two videos i took in Mexico, both of Joe attempting and falling at the surf pool, are gone.  It's so odd, too. I had foreshadowing while videotaping.  I debated whether I should take a picture or shoot video when Joe tried surfing.  I figured video would be so much better, but kept doubting myself not taking a picture. And now I realize I should have snapped a picture at least once of him trying to surf.

Otto was intrigued by the surf pool and really wanted to try it but was too little. Pretty sure he'll be giving us all some lessons in the near future.  

A little "Miami Vice" in Mexico

Our patio, where we'd spend a few minutes each morning watching the sun come up over the ocean.  It's also where Wren and Otto would make their important calls first thing in the morning.

Just incase you weren't sure, yes, all-inclusive does include scoop your own ice cream at each meal.

The Kid's Club playground

This was one of the busier days at the pool (I think it was St Patrick's Day too, so a bit festive all around!).  We spent all day swimming, forgoing naps and generally wearing ourselves out.  The six kids (ours and the other family we met) and four adults had a blast in the pool.  Whether we should have or not, Joe and Scott (the other dad), were tossing the kids around and playing with the little tables in the shallow part of the pool...

Here's Otto about to toss a table, and Joe about to drop Max on the table into the pool.

Splash!

The four oldest boys all going for a ride on Joe's back.

Max found this palm tree brand our last morning in Mexico and carefully plucked each leaf from the branch to bring home and give one to each of his friends at school.

Check out her curls!  Wren's hair, half way down her back and wavy back home, turned unbelievably curly and shrunk up above her shoulders in the heat and humidity of Mexico.

Oh, I almost forgot.  While we were checking into the hotel, another family with three kids was also checking in.  We met them early the next morning by the pool and it was a beautiful thing!  Their three kids (two older boys and a younger girl) were all the same age (within days/months) as Max, Otto and Wren.  Max and their oldest, Jack, were instant besties and the kids loved playing together everyday there.  Definitely makes me want to plan multi-family vacations in the future.  Anyone up for it?!


This family was from Canada and they totally schooled us in the art of Family Travel.

1.  Air travel.  They're smart (and so are we!), neither of us paid for a seat for our under 2 year old "lap infants."  They're much smarter.  They brought a carseat for their "lap infant" and after take off they buckled their littlest (& wiggliest) one in the carseat and watched her fall asleep for a couple hours, placing their 3 year old upon their laps and watched him happily be entertained by an electronic device.  We (oh, and I mean I.  Big, fat, capital, italicized, underlined I) wrestled with Wren for four hours.  She wiggled and flailed and squirmed and ran circles in my lap while I sweated and strained.  Wish I would have thought to bring a car seat and give her Otto's airplane seat and let Otto sit peacefully on my lap watching a movie!

2.  Family Friendly All-Inclusive.  Again, we are both smart and booked a direct flight to a warm weather, all-inclusive spot.  But they brought travel coffee mugs - "coffee mugs" - for use at the pool.  Stop by the bar, get your drinks in your travel mug and head to the pool.  Their cups were insulated and bigger than the plastic party cups the bar was using. 

3.  Electronics Fairy.  Since their boys wake up earlier than them (& their daughter), she would place iPads beside the boys pillows after they fell asleep.  When they would wake up in the morning they would begin playing the iPad instead of waking the rest of the family up.  Duly noted.

4.  Dinner with Kids.  Most amazing to me is how they brazenly conquered family dinners while on vacation.  We were in a rush to get the kids fed, usually amidst at least one of the kids melting down, as soon as the dinner restaurants opened at 6pm.  We'd then rush to get the kids home to sleep around 8pm (Wren), a little later for the boys (they were spent by this hour, not always getting a nap while on vacation). 

Their approach?  Feed the kids some snacks in the hotel room before heading out for an 8:30pm dinner.  One night we saw them leaving for dinner as we were racing back to our room, kids falling asleep in our arms.  They said, "Oh, we're hoping the kids will fall asleep at the restaurant so we can enjoy a peaceful adult dinner."  HUH?  I kindly wished them luck and said I wanted to know how it went tomorrow morning.  

Result:  They tucked their 5 year old into the stroller and he slept there.  They pushed two chairs together, laid the three year old down with a blanket there.  And put the one year old in her highchair, letting her fall asleep on the tray.  Apparently this worked because the kids fell asleep and they enjoyed a quiet, two-hour dinner complete with a round of cocktails and a bottle of wine (the only bottle of wine we drank on the trip was guzzled and gulped down while swaying with Wren in my arms).  

Our dinners looked more like this.  One night the kids were so tired that Otto literally fell off his chair, hit his head on something and got a welt the size of a golfball that instantly turned bruised. Max was staring into space, shivering. He said he was so tired and cold (probably from the sun he'd gotten).  Wren, again, was only happy being held during meal time. I'm just not sure I'm brave enough to attempt the Canadian's dinner time trick.  

The Five Best Words in Air Travel

Do not let her cuteness fool you.  She sat, cute as a little bird, in that airplane seat for about 5 minutes.  All five of those minutes were before the plane even took off.  After that, all down hill.  

Taking full advantage of not having to pay for a seat for Wren for another 8 months, she was our lap infant to and from Mexico.  More precisely, MY lap infant because she wanted no one but "Mama" as soon as the plane took off. 

And "lap infant" is a total misnomer.  She wouldn't sit for a moment on my lap.  Plus she's the size of a toddler, not an infant.  

So for our flight to Mexico I stood and swayed and rocked her.  We walked the aisles.  She tried to grab everything she couldn't have.  I tried my best to get her to snooze.  At least on the flight going to Mexico everyone was happy and all excited, making googly eyes with her and chatting her up.  Our seat mates were won over by her cuteness and so empathetic of the circus I had taking place in my arms (and forgiving of my profuse sweating and BO after four hours of said circus).

The way back to Minneapolis from Mexico?  I don't even want to recount it.  Horrible.  Crabby, crabby girl.  Crabby, crabby passengers, not happy that they walked onto a plane from 80 degrees and would be walking off the same plane into 8 degrees.  Wren could have been the cutest girl in the world, but it was lost on the folks watching me try to wrangle her - flailing and sobbing and sad the entire flight.  

But the thing is, every flight I've been on has always had five really amazing words announced...

 "We've begun our initial descent."

As with all things, hindsight is 20/20.  A day after we returned home we were at the Doctor's getting her ears checked.  She had an ear infection, Hand, Food and Mouth disease and an eye tooth cut through.  

More on Mexico to come.  "The Cloud" saved the day - all my photos from Mexico were pushed from my phone to our computer back in Minneapolis (I love, love, love technology!) - so I'll write up a bit more on our trip and select some more photos to share.  

Out Of Practice

Dinner at Tilia
March 9, 2013

We are so incredibly out of practice on "date nights," me and Joe.  Before we left for Mexico (post to come on that, and I'm hoping my phone can be salvaged after dropping it in water because it's got all our family vacation photos on it...) Joe and I had our March date planned.  And then we had to reschedule because the weekend we were planning to go out I came down with a 24 hour stomach flu, followed by the rest of the house (except Wren) also getting throw-up sick for a day each (Otto a few days).

Our original date was going to be brunch at a new place we've been wanting to try, followed by ice skating or something else fun downtown.  Our back-up plan, after finding a time the following weekend that worked for our sitter, wasn't much of a plan.

We thought we'd grab an early dinner and then head to the malls to do some returns and try to find some warm-weather clothes for Mexico.  I was super excited to shop - which is odd because I really dislike shopping.  But I was in the mood to spend. 

As mentioned, we weren't planned and didn't have a reservation (mute point, really, since Joe wanted to get back to Tilia and they don't take reservations).  We got to Tilia, enjoyed some drinks for nearly an hour until they had a table (chef's counter top) ready for us.  

After a couple hours enjoying relaxing drinks and dinner, it was just past 7pm (Early Birds!), which was about an hour past closing time at two of the three malls we wanted to go to (again, neither of us did any planning for this).  And the leisurely dinner with drinks pretty much killed my motivation to power shop.  I wanted to curl up on a couch and relax some more.  But we had a sitter for another couple hours, and certainly the kids wouldn't be asleep yet if we headed home.  So we made our way to the mall and Joe and I both struck out finding anything fun for the warm weather vacation, but each found a new work outfit.  

Point is - after dinner and drinks - this became a snoozy date (my small wine buzz made for tedious, tired shopping).  Joe and I've got to get our act together for our upcoming monthly dates.  Joe offered to plan the next one and I'm hoping he's thinking brunch followed by spa treatments.  Or a private jet to Chicago or Milwaukee for a MLB game, The Bachelor style.  Or even rock climbing to get my endorphins pumping (...followed by beer instead of preceded by beer, which tends to make me want to go to bed before 8pm).  

Ideas?  Send them our way!  Movies to go to, restaurants to try, activities and attractions headed to the Twin Cities, etc.  What are some fun things to do - ideally getting us home before 10pm:)

Three of My Three

This past weekend, which was quite gloomy, we headed to the Downtown Library. I kind of wanted to take the city bus to get there, but Joe persuaded me that we'll have enough transportation excitement as we head to Mexico this week. 

The kids all loved playing on the computers, riding the elevators, climbing the big flights of stairs and looking out the walls of windows on the second floor of the library.  We got some books (& videos for the flight to Mexico), too!

So this is how I get them to all "mind their own business," stay out of trouble and stay in one spot!

Checking out the view towards North Minneapolis from the 2nd floor of the Library

Climbing on a rock outside the library

Lost and Found

How time flies! It's been another week, but whew, the weekend was shot because we all (except for Wren) came down with the 24 hour stomach bug (except Otto, who's was more like three days).  I had gone to happy hour Friday, came home and within hours was saying I didn't feel well.  Joe thought I'd really outdone myself at the bar, but stopped doubting the cause of my illness once he was struck by it a day later.  

But here I am, so let me share a few details on IPA's miraculous journey. It truly was a miracle that we found her when we did.

In very late January,  IPA got out of our backyard.  I was gone with Wren and got a text from Joe saying he and the boys were going in search of IPA because Joe had forgot he let her out back to go to the bathroom, and after an hour he went to let her in and she was gone.  Likely just walked right up the huge pile of snow, stepped over the retaining wall and mosey'd her way down the alley.  

She's done this before.  A few times.  We definitely should have learned our lesson.  The lesson to watch her if the gate is open or snow is piled up making for an easy exist.  The lesson to always keep her collar on her, or at least put it back on her if we're going to let her be in the backyard for awhile unattended.  

The thing is, we've been very lucky historically.  When she would get out, we'd walk down the alley and find her sniffing for food in dumpsters or open garages.  If we couldn't find her on foot, we'd jump in the car and find her within a couple blocks or she would be in our front yard as soon as we returned home. One time, we couldn't find her immediately and reported her to the Humane Society.  Within hours we received a call that someone had turned her in to them.  I know!  We've been very lucky always finding our lost dog.   

But this time we weren't so lucky for the first three weeks.  She got out and when we couldn't find her we reported her to the Humane Society.  Joe searched Craig's List and other lost dog web sites.  We called the local vet.  We truly believed that "Of course she'll 'turn up'."  We're in such a dog friendly residential area we really had no doubt.  

My sister Jamie is really the hero in all of this.  She scoured for even more lost dog websites and agencies (holy man - I had no idea how many there are!).  She perused images of dogs reported missing, sending me pictures asking "This looks a lot like IPA."  But I'd look at the pictures and know it wasn't her.  Ultimately one of the organizations she found, Lost Dogs - MN, would prove to be the golden ticket.  

After filling out a missing dog form on their website, and hearing nothing, no tips, etc., I suddenly got a call, over three from the time IPA went missing.  It was from a volunteer who tries to find matches for the dogs listed as missing on the Lost Dogs website.  She directed me to the Humane Society webpage to take a peek at a yellow lab that was reported missing.  I didn't feel hopeful, because we had reported IPA to the HS right away and assumed they'd call if they found her.  I saw the picture of the dog on the HS website and told the volunteer it was definitely not IPA.  That dog was deep yellow with a much broader head than IPA.  I told her what we had done and where we had searched to find IPA, and asked if she had additional suggestions to try and locate her.  She said, well, there is one other website I know of that you haven't tried.  It's called AdoptAPet.com.  I thanked her, hung up and was searching for IPA on this new website.

It's a national website, but you can search by ZIP and type of dog.  So I did just that and nearly had a heart attack when a picture popped up that was undoubtedly IPA.  The dog was a pale yellow lab, slim, nob on the top of her head, just barely holding onto the bone in her mouth like IPA does. 

As soon as Joe got out from putting Wren to bed, I pulled up the website again, and Joe instantly spotted IPA's picture among the 15 other lost dog photos.  I clicked through the image which brought me to another lost dog organization here in the midwest - one we had not heard of until now.  We called and emailed them with details and links to our other missing dog reports we had filed previously.  

Early the next morning we got a return phone call.  After some back and forth, and being passed from several people and organizations, we were in touch with the gentleman who knew of IPA and where she was at the time.  He thought, basis my description, that the dog was IPA.  He said they were going to call her by her name IPA and see if she responded.  Sure enough, she did.  

Next Joe had to go visit IPA at the Hopkins Pet Hospital, where she was being held, to confirm the dog was IPA and that we were IPA's owners.  In fact, she had been at this pet hospital since the day after she went missing!  The thing is, apparently they didn't report her missing on any of the lost dog websites until mid February (2 weeks after she went missing).  Technically she was in impound (at the Vet) for the first 2 weeks.  So while we were spending most of our time searching the lost dog websites the first 2 weeks, she wasn't posted on them.  But, after her "impound" time, then they posted her up for adoption.  

The thing was, as confident as Joe and I were the first week that we would find her, we started to face reality after two weeks had passed.  We shed our tears, we talked about how we hoped for nothing more than a family finding her and taking her in and keeping her warm and fed.  For the first couple weeks, when the kids asked asked when IPA was coming home, we would say something vague, like "Soon. We're still looking for her and will find her soon."  After two weeks they saw me and Joe crying when we saw dogs out on walks.  We started to explain that maybe IPA wasn't coming home, but we had to believe she was with another family taking good care of her.  

So Joe had visited IPA and everyone confirmed we belonged to each other.  It was a Saturday, and IPA had to stay at the vet until Monday because the manager of the vet was out until that time, and IPA was technically property of the vet now.  

On Monday when I went to pick IPA up from the vet and bring her home, I had a chance to talk with the vet manager and the veterinarian that took care of IPA.  I've learned that, contrary to mine and Joe's beliefs, vets do not call the Humane Society if a lost dog is brought to them.  In fact, they told me I was probably lucky IPA didn't make it to the HS (although, wouldn't we have been reunited sooner given that's one place we were concentrating our searching?).  Apparently this vet believes the HS euthanizes many, many dogs - particularly "older" labs.  

She also told me that every city has different rules and practices for  what they do when they find lost dogs.  Everything from not being required to call the owner (even if the dog has a collar on!?!), to how long they're held to when they go up for adoption, etc.  And she confirmed my hunch that there are A LOT of different people, organizations, businesses, etc that assist when lost dogs are found, but that most of them are not connected.  Basically, she said it was a miracle that we found IPA when we did.  

And I know we've been given a very, very lucky second chance.  We don't always get one, and it's our chance to re-embrace IPA into our lives.  To treat her again like the puppy she once was, who got hours of love and attention every day.  Sadly, I don't know that I have hours every day, but we're making a much bigger effort to play with her (again, saving it for another story, but IPA so doesn't know how to play fetch anymore.  I've had more luck training Wren to fetch the past two weeks than I have IPA!).  

In fact, we really did have a made-for-movies type homecoming when I brought IPA home a couple weeks ago.  Joe was home with all the kids and I was picking IPA up and bringing her home.  IPA sat well-behaved in the passenger seat of the car while we drove from Hopkins to our house.  About three blocks from home IPA, who very rarely barks, just started barking.  She was excitedly whimpering, bumping her nose against the car window, tail wagging like mad.  I pulled over to park right outside our house and she was crouched in position ready to bolt.  I opened her car door and she made a dash for our front door.  I opened it up and she went running into the house.  The kids had blocked off the archway from the living room to the kitchen with chairs and ottomans and IPA literally leapt over them and went bounding for where they all were.  

The boys kept saying "IPA's Home!!" and for weeks now Wren hasn't stopped saying "IPA!"  They've all been having more fun with her.  Wren adores curling up in her dog bed with her.  The boys have been trying to get her to play fetch, as well as practice walking her around the house.  Otto is usually in charge of holding her leash when we walk her to the field to play fetch.  IPA's also getting a lot more treats these days! I'm looking forward to slightly more spring-like weather and will be sure to bring her on runs with me more than I did the last couple years.  

After trying out a few, Otto insisted this was the dog bed we should get.

Wren hanging out with her puppy...I'm hoping her cuddlyness for IPA won't diminish.