I have finally gotten a chance to sit down and load up some pictures from our trip to Mexico last month. We really did have a great time down in Troncones, it was a perfect place to have the kids, while feeling like you were in real Mexico. Charlotte and Ryan didn't really let us RELAX a whole lot, but I think they made sure we got the most out of the vacation.
Each morning Ryan and I would wake up and get breakfast in the Casa Ki dinning area. They would set up a nice breakfast with pancakes, or toast, sometimes some type of Mexican egg dish... But Ryan would always have the same thing. Cereal, yogurt, and kiwi fruit. In fact, for 10 days I don't think any other guest got a bite of kiwi unless they were up before 7am.
Charlotte made a friend very early on, a nice girl at the casa just next door on the beach named Elizabeth. They LOVED playing together. They dressed alike, and coordinated their hair styles. They even became pen pals with two of the local Mermaids, via letters in the beach mail system. Charlotte stayed in touch with "Merme" the Mermaid for our entire trip, and she even received a going away present from her, a nice beach necklace, on our last day there.
We made sand castles, or sand race tracks, or wrote our names in the sand, or just ran on the sand, every single day.
Every day we would take a walk on the beach, Kara and Charlotte would play in the waves while Ryan was content staying on his Dad's shoulders. He was a bit nervous about the waves, so the safe distance was perfect. He loved to "splash the girls" and I would always end up with a ton of sand in my hair.
It was great having Dad, Cathy, Nancy, and DB there too. Charlotte and Ryan really had a fun time playing with them, and the "old fogies" would often take care of the kids so Kara and I could go have an adult lunch or dinner down the beach.
Ryan LOVED it when Grandpa called him BOULDER CRUSHER all week, for his affinity for CRUSHING all of the sand BOULDERS we would make for him. Ryan also nominated the Jimmy Buffet song "Volcano" as the theme of the vacation, as he requested it several hundred times, and even began singing along karaoke style with his pretend microphone whenever he heard it.
Charlotte really enjoyed the art projects Kara had planned for her each day. They painted rocks and toenails, they tie dyed, and they drew. Oh, and Charlotte also taught us all how do do preschool style "circle time" on the beach, when we read books each day as well.
On our last evening in Troncones, we had the great luck to see a marine biologist release 200-300 baby sea turtles into the wild, after having nurtured them for the first two weeks of their lives. They have seen the survival rate of the just-hatched turtles increase from 2% to 50% when keeping them safe during these critical first two weeks. The kids LOVED the baby Tortugas.
Over all, we had a WONDERFUL 10 days in Troncones, and will certainly go back. It didn't hurt seeing the snow reports from Seattle while we were there either.
