Hola! Here I am, back as promised, with a little recap of our trip to Club Med Ixtapa Pacific.
After a long couple of plane trips and bumpy bus ride, we finally arrived at Club Med. The resort (or “village” as they call it) was really nice, and we were greeted at the bus by a vast crew of staff (or G.O.’s as they’re called, short for Gracious Organizers), applauding our arrival and welcoming us with cool, lavender-scented towels. A G.O. showed us around the village and took us to our room. We ate lunch, checked out the kids clubs, then went to our room to get swimsuits on. The pool was almost too warm, but the kids had a great time. We went back to our room to shower, headed to the bar to get some snacks, saw the Pirate Show and got to bed early.
Sunday was our first full day of vacation. Thankfully, the kids slept in a little. We got dressed, ate breakfast in the restaurant, then dropped Miss P off at Petit club. I don’t think she knew what she was in for, because she was preoccupied with the kiddie cars. We ran Mr. B over to the trapeze area to meet up with his class, and got to see him swing for the first time. With freedom at our fingertips, Jon and I skipped back to the room, changed into swimsuits, and spent the better part of the day at the beach. This was our schedule for the rest of the week. Not too shabby, eh? The ocean was warm and pretty calm, and the beach wasn’t too crowded. Throughout the week, I managed to read an entire book, take a couple of naps on the beach, and get enough sand in cracks and holes to start my own sandbox.
I won’t go in to too much of the day-by-day schedule, because it sounds pretty boring. But I’ll give you some bullet points.
First, the LOWLIGHTS:
• Miss P hated the Petit club. On the first day, she went willingly. But the rest of the week, she screamed every time I dropped her off and could be heard crying throughout the resort every time the group took a ride in their buggy (or the the “trail of tears” as someone coined it). Every time I saw the buggies come, I’d find myself ducking behind a bush or tree while listening to the unmistakable call of my daughter saying “I want Mommy! I waaaant Mooooommmmmy!”. And this? This made me feel horribly guilty. I honestly tried to push it to the back of my mind, and I did a pretty decent job of it, considering I plowed through a book, took a few naps in the pool and beach chairs, swam some laps, and had many strawberry daiquiris during my stay. But in general both kids were often whiny when we’d get them from the clubs, spending the afternoon complaining and fighting, and in general sucking the life out of whatever sense of relaxation and patience Jon and I had achieved throughout the day. I’ve come to the conclusion that our next vacation might very well be sans kids. To a certain extent, I get their dissatisfaction. While we tried to prepare them and get them excited about the clubs, I think they were under the impression that they’d be spending the entire week with Mommy and Daddy, soaking in the sun, swimming in the ocean and pool with us. We tried to put the “it’s like a fun camp!” spin on things, but I’m not sure it took. Mr. B seemed to like it more than he let on, as every time we’d see him with his group, he looked like he was having a great time.
Miss P just seemed miserable most of the time. Perhaps it was just not her thing. However, she starts daycare in a week, so it seemed like a good introduction to the concept of getting dropped off. Plus, she managed to take a few naps there too.
• On Wednesday, after a particularly quiet day from Mr. B, and following an extremely whiny afternoon, he came down with a 104.5 fever. In Mexico. NOT the place you want your child to get really ill. We skipped dinner that night, opting for bringing food back and letting Mr. B watch a movie in between throwing him in a lukewarm bath.
After a few rounds of drugs, his fever still wasn’t getting much better, and we ended up calling a doctor to our room around 10:30 at night. She gave us some kind of antibiotic and a vague Strep diagnosis, and by morning Brady seemed almost back to normal.
On to the HIGHLIGHTS!:
• Jon and I went sailing on Sunday, and it was my first time. The winds were pretty rotten and we didn’t go anywhere, but it was fun to get out on a sailboat.
• I started trapeze on Monday and became hooked. To the point that I did it every day. I’d go around 4 to learn a new trick, try it a few times, then head back around 5:30 for “catches”, where someone is on the other swing, and when you let go of your trick, they catch you. Pretty exhilarating. Have no fear, you’re totally harnessed in the entire time. Still, that first time up on the platform, I thought I might just hurl my most recent strawberry daiquiri. Monday night, after only getting caught once (on my first try!), I got coerced in to being in the show. Along with a group of 14-year olds. Talk about feeling my age…
However, the circus crew is a fun group. With names like Rock, Gigante and Chucho, how could they not be?
• Mr. B did the trapeze too! His Mini Club class, the Geckos, were in circus school every morning, and he seemed to enjoy it. I think his favorite part was having Marcelo let him run along the net after his trick, only to get pulled back at the end like a stunt double.
• Jon and I got to eat lunch by ourselves pretty much every day. This doesn’t sound like much, but it’s HUGE in my world. It was one meal a day that didn’t involve begging someone to eat, ordering someone to stay in their seat, or having to get up several times to get someone something or send them to time out.
• The food was pretty amazing. Every morning I feasted on egg whites, fruit, and brioche and pain au chocolat smeared with Nutella. With a side or two of cafe con leche. Followed closely by several fruity cocktails on the beach. Being Mexico, there was never a shortage of quesadillas or tortilla chips, but I also caved in to the tasty french fries at lunch. There was lots of fresh veggies, salads, and pastries to munch on. And dinner was different every night, ranging from traditional Mexican to Indian, Mediterranean, and Asian.
• There were a few family events that we participated in, including a pirate treasure hunt, a t-shirt tie-dying event, a pinata bashing, and some small shows.
• The kids loved playing in the ocean and digging in the sand.
But I think they loved the pool even more. Especially if a local iguana happened to be strolling by…
There was a smaller kiddie pool that both of them could stand in, which gave the parents a break from being eagle-eyed lifeguards (although they had those on duty as well). Then they also had a larger pool (where I did a nice daily swim) that gave the kids a chance to swim in larger distances. Mr. B held his own with the bigger kids, being able to swim almost the entire width of the pool, and loved using his new mask and snorkel. And Miss P? Well, we’re hoping she’ll be our college scholarship kid. That girl has zero fear in the water. Jumping in without abandon (and without looking to see if someone was there to catch her), she amazed most of the other parents there. The girl is swimming. Not only swimming, but doing complete back flips in the water. One of her favorite tricks was climbing down the metal ladder, jumping in to the water, turning around and swimming back, then climbing out so that she could do the whole thing again.
So, while there were some good and bad parts of the week, if I look back on our vacation with a soft focus, it was a wonderful week. I know that in a few short days I won’t be able to do the mental “this time last week we were doing x, y and z”, and that makes me a little sad. Even sadder, the fact that Miss P won’t remember this trip in a year. Mr. B might not either for that matter. But Jon and I will. Our first big vacation together will go down in history as being full of adventure, complete with a list full of “firsts”, replete with swimming, and lots of quality time together. 
