A few favorite pictures...

 Juliet Renee...She can't be talked into posing like Leah, but when she's in the mood, you get some pretty good results. I will always remember this trip as the trip that Juliet was really into her "babies". She packed these two, "Cutie Cute" and "Steve" respectively. She also packed about 3 others that were unpacked when she wasn't looking. She also met a "baby friend" who was about 1 year old that she played with most days. At the playground and kiddie pool, her eyes were always peeled for her "baby friend". 

 On our patio. The hats lasted for about 2 days before they got soaked in the ocean and never totally dried in the humidity. Also, they kinda stunk like the ocean.  At least their heads were protected for 2 out of 7 days. The rest of the time we would try to put sunscreen on the part of their hair.

 Juliet and her coconut water. This morning it rained from about 11-12. There was a guy out with coconuts and Juliet really wanted coconut water. I braved the rain to get it for her. She liked it okay. I remember when coconut water was all the rage when I was pregnant with her. I bought it one day thinking it was going to be really good. I thought it was gross. I got Chris and I coconut water and rum, which I thought would be good. It wasn't. I guess we're not coconut people. At least we got 2 straws out of the deal. 

 The distance from our hut to the dining room was maybe the equivalent of a block or two. Juliet got tired every day. Daddy would take pity on her and give her a ride. Juliet gets a little nervous to be "way up high" and clings to his head for dear life. It's pretty funny when he reminds her that she is gouging his eyes out. 

 This resort also had a pier. We were out there one morning and saw 3 stingrays. I got really freaked out about what was under me during my ocean swims, but I borrowed my dad's googles and didn't see any cause for alarm. There were some pretty cool fish, though. 

 Playing chess. Juliet and I would make up games involving ping pong balls and soccer goals while they played. I always lost. I like that Leah was into it, though. I never learned how to play.

 This dress. So many in the MJ world swooned over this dress and I never got it. A few weeks ago, someone was selling it for a steal so I bought it to see what the fuss was about. I get it now. 

Some mornings Juliet and I would swim in the "Cold Tub" aka hot tub. Juliet loved this raft that someone gave her. She would hold on and kick across the pool. She started to get braver in the water. I'm so glad! I hope she's ready to go back to Goldfish, soon. Also, how much does she look like Leah in this picture?!

 One afternoon Chris and I went swimming/snorkeling. I found a cool shell and dove down to get it. I thought there was a piece of seaweed stuck in it, but it was actually something else (alive). I wanted to save it for the girls to see, but got worried that he would get too hot in a bucket. After swimming him back, I found this guy. He also had a living thing inside of him, but I couldn't resist a few pictures. It was such a beautiful shell! It was like the ones you see people selling. I snapped a few pictures and swam him back (way back). It was so heavy!

 And there he is...looking annoyed at me. 

 Final sunset. The girls got their pictures taken by the same photographer we used last year. We watched the final sunset of our vacation. The photographer has lived on the island for years, so he was telling us about the island/our hotel. Apparently our hotel was built on a swamp, and years ago there used to be (live) crocodiles on the paths and in the pool. Yikes!

 Could there be a sweeter look than the one Juliet is giving her Grandpa?

 Leah posing in the hammock. She loved this hammock and called dibs on it every day. 

Iguanas and Other Wild Life

Look at this iguana. He was just posing on a rock, ready to get his picture taken. We were a little leery of the iguanas at first. My google research told me that can be territorial, and whip you with their tail and even bite. I obviously underestimated how tame iguanas that live at a resort are. We weren't sure what they ate (but did know that they sleep in the trees at night), but a nice woman told us that they really like melon. So, I got some melon. 

 This guy was quite hungry. Leah threw him a giant chunk and he kept pushing it closer and closer to Leah. She started getting a little freaked out by how close the iguana was, and then he looked up and got pretty freaked out, too. Not enough to drop the melon, though!

 Then he posed for a picture.

 Then Leah set off to find more. She was feeding these three, and then was like, "how do I get away from here? I'm stuck!" They didn't care if you got close, most of them would just stay there motionless while others would slink away.

 We fed the iguanas most afternoons, when they seemed to be the most hungry.

 There was other wildlife, too. Juliet found this hermit crab right by the restaurant. There were also a ton of geckos. I named them all "Tom" and we were always looking for Tom around the resort. One cloudy afternoon, after I had a few too many spirits, we set off for a walk with the kids so that Chris could catch one. He never could . 

 I really missed the tide pools that El Coz has. But, the iguanas were a pretty good consolation prize. 

Valentine's Day

Leah was so excited to go to Cozumel. This will be the last year that we can take a February vacation. Next year, there is no more mid-winter break. Heartbroken. Anyway, Leah really appreciated that we were in Cozumel for Valentine's. She spent the morning looking for heart shaped shells/coral pieces and writing her love for us in the sand.

Valentine's night we tried (in vain) to recapture some the picture we got of Leah last year twirling in the sunset.

The girls did let me take a ton of pictures of them all dressed in the MJC Platinum, though. These dresses are my favorites. I don't know if I can ever bring myself to part with Leah's, though she tells me repeatedly, "It feels like this dress is too small and I don't like how it ties". Tough, kid. It's my favorite. I promise that this is the only dress that I have to (semi) force her to wear. 

A Day in the Life (Winter Vacation 2016)

 7:30 (ish) -Wake up. Get ready for breakfast. Maybe let Mommy take a quick picture before the sun gets too bright. Get Grandma and Grandpa and head to breakfast. Each morning the girls got pancakes and syrup and fruit. Juliet took a liking to the chocolate cereal and would mix it with chocolate milk and call it her "soup" each morning, and would also eat that. Also, every morning, Juliet would ask me, "Did you bring a straw?" for her chocolate milk. I never had one. Juliet doesn't like drinking out of big cups without a straw. This resort didn't distribute straws unless they were giving drinks out right out of a coconut. So, we had to conserve the 2 straws we got from my mom and a nice woman on the beach. We kept rinsing them out and using them over and over.

 8:30 - Play outside while everyone else finished eating and drinking coffee (Chris is a coffee convert!). This resort had a great playground. Most mornings Juliet would meet her "baby friend" there and they would all play for a while. This resort was much more kid friendly and had waayyy more kids that our usual hotel. It was very appreciated by the girls. Leah asked, "Can this be our new Cozumel?" I thought that was pretty funny. Later in the week, we also discovered a chess board. Leah really liked playing. Juliet liked making up games and telling everyone that they were losing.

9:30-Get ready for the beach. Get sunscreened up. Usually the girls would play in the hammock while Chris and I got ready. The girls really appreciated having their own personal hammock on our patio. I thought it was cool, too, but I could never get in because these kids hogged it the entire trip!

 10:00- Play on the beach. This beach was nicer than our other hotel, and Leah appreciated running on the beach and swimming. My view of her most of the trip was her in the ocean saying, "Watch me swim" or "Wanna come in the ocean now?" Most mornings we would also get the girls a daiquiri, too. Typically I remembered to pack the straw after the breakfast. The girls really liked the drinks!

 Sometimes after playing on the beach for a while, we would move to the kiddie park. Or, KID park if you asked Leah. She hated when we called it the kiddie park. I never got a picture, but there was a huge pirate ship with 2 slides coming out of it. You could climb on, too, and shoot water and play with other little water park type things. The kids liked it. The water was only like 6 inches deep, so they were happy there. And, it was huge! Leah really liked the slides, but Juliet never wanted to try them. Usually Juliet would look for her "baby friend" to play with here, and Leah would find some kids to play hide-and-seek tag with (her favorite game).

 12:30- Lunch! The girls loved eating chicken nuggets, fries, melon, and chips and cheese for lunch. Some days they didn't have chicken nuggets and the girls would get so sad! I made nachos every day, except for one day I had a hamburger and totally regretted it. Chips, guac, and beer. Done.

 After  lunch we would check on the iguanas. They really liked this particular spot. I think there were 6 in this picture. As the week went on, we got braver about feeding them.

2:00- The girls would go to my parents room. Juliet would sleep and Leah would read books and listen to her iPod. Chris and I would go back to the beach (thanks Grandma and Grandpa for watching the girls!). I got really into swimming this trip, and would take a long swim every afternoon. I forgot how much I liked to swim (especially in the ocean).

4:30- The girls would wake up and come back to the beach.

6:15- Watch sunset and take pictures. The sunset in Cozumel is one of my favorite views, and we tried to see it every day we were there. There were a few evenings with clouds positioned so that we couldn't see it, and one night we had dinner reservations at sunset. But, we saw it the rest of the time. I love watching how the sun seems to expand and melt into the ocean, and even more how it looks like a candle blowing out when it finally disappears from view.

7:00- Dinner. There was a balloon guy there 2 nights and Leah and Juliet were obsessed. They loved him. They were so sad to leave their creations behind. It was pretty cool to watch him and well worth the $4 we paid in tips for their enjoyment.

 8:00 - Head back to grandma and grandpa's hut and drink wine. The girls would watch a movie every night on our little player. Half-way through the week we saw that each room actually had a DVD player. Ha.

10:00- Bed. Everyone would fall asleep immediately.

Our lost month...

 What a month. We survived it! Ha. We had some fun times, too. 

The girls did a session of soccer. We worried that Leah was in a little over her head (I put her in a class that required "experience" since it was at the same time as Juliet's. Otherwise we would have had to wait there an extra hour--all of us--before Leah's class would begin. I figured "experience" was a pretty relative term).  Leah did well, though, once she got used to the rules and game. 

 Here are some "action" shots. We couldn't get any of Juliet's because all the parents blocked the shots. It wasn't a "Mommy and Me" class, but parents just kept showing up each week and not leaving. By the last class, Juliet was the only one that didn't have an adult awkwardly standing around them. 

 Valentines Day! Leah wanted to do a something special that also gave each kid a present. We searched Pinterest...everything looked too expensive or involved. Leah made up this idea herself. She drew, cut, and colored 24 butterflies. We attached Smarties to the thorax and tied on a butterfly straw. She was so proud and I thought it was so creative. She did almost all the work herself, except for tying on the straw.  Last year, Juliet needed help to make a "J" on her Valentines. This year, she wrote her entire name on every card (with no help) and added a heart to each envelope. Her class wouldn't allow for candy, so we added a Valentines pencil. 

 Here are few of their Valentines. 

 The girls have been really into super heroes. PJ Masks is their favorite show, and I think it's just like crack for kids. They beg to watch it,  are constantly acting it out, and arguing over who is "Owlette".