A trip to paradise, well, almost

I posted pictures in my last post, but I wanted give some more details of our trip to Puerto Vallarta.

On Friday, March 26th (two days after my Mom and Don arrived in Queretaro), the seven of us headed to Puerto Vallarta. It was a long, but uneventful ride. We made three stops (one in Guadalajara at Subway for lunch) and it ended up taking us a total of 10 hours. The kids were great (quite a feat for Lydia, since she usually screams on a 2 hour drive!). The scenery was quite beautiful.

Once we got to our original hotel, we were asked if we were willing to change hotels because they had 550 spring breakers coming the next day. The last thing we wanted to do was get back in the car (especially since it was 15 minutes in the direction we came from ), but we didn't want to deal with the partying and, apparently, the hotel was a pretty big upgrade. So, back in the car we went.

Grand Velas All-Inclusive Resort was where we were moved to and it was first class in every way possible. The bummer was that we got hotel rooms instead of 1 bedroom condos, but it was totally worth it. The resort was gorgeous, the food was amazing, and the staff was at your beck and call 24 hours a day!

The first 2 days, we spent all day by the pool (and a little at the beach, but Lydia was not a fan), with unlimited drinks and food being brought to our seats throughout the day...or sitting at the swim up bar (a favorite of both Ethan and Nolan...and Don!).

Then the fun began, the third night, Nolan threw up all over himself and the linens. It was only one time and he seemed fine the next morning, so we figured he ate too fast or something didn't agree with him, so the next day we went on with our plans and went to a local waterpark and swam with the dolphins. It was really fun, but Nolan would not get in the water and Lydia wouldn't get near the dolphin, so Ethan, James, Don, and I "swam" with the dolphins. It's something I've always wanted to do, so I was bummed that Nolan and Lydia didn't participate (don't worry, they were free), but Ethan really enjoyed it:

Ethan "dancing" with the dolphin

The rest of the day was supposed to be spent having fun at the waterpark...they had a great kiddie area and a dozen other slides. Well, Ethan had fun. The other two were whining and crying nonstop. Obviously, Nolan was not better and it was becoming apparent that something was wrong with Lydia as well. When we got back to the hotel, we called the doctor who came and diagnosed Lydia with an ear infection. Meanwhile, Nolan was looking pathetic, laying in his bed for the rest of the afternoon.

Long story short, I was glad we had my Mom with us and that someone else was washing the sheets and towels! Pretty much the rest of the week was spent rotating adults in the room in the morning, and then struggling by the pool with the two sickies in the afternoon. Every afternoon, we thought Nolan was getting better. He'd perk up and actually get in the pool, then that night or the next morning, you could tell he didn't feel good. Poor thing couldn't control his bowels either, so by the end of the week we had puke or poop on some linen in the room at least once a day! To top the week off, the last night, Ethan woke up puking. Ah, vacationing with kids! Even with the sick kids, it was a great vacation and we appreciate my Mom and Don taking us with them! We all HIGHLY recommend the resort, just don't stay in room 221...they're probably still trying to air it out!!