Mexican Riviera - The Long Story

We just got back from taking a vacation to the Mexican Riviera which was quite the adventure. Our trip started very early. We had to leave our house at 6:30 a.m. for a 9:00 a.m. flight. International flights require you to be at the airport two hours before your departure. Scarlett was such the trooper and she loved the shuttle ride to the airport from the remote parking lot.

While at the airport, American Airlines calls us and said they need our seats and will upgrade us to first class. Who were we to turn down first class seats. Scarlett was quite content in watching Dora the Explora on her DVD player and later playing with stickers, of which she stuck quite a few on her face after deciding the DVD player had enough stickers.

I should have take a picture of what she looked like after she stuck what was about 6 stickers on each side of her face. She refused to take them off. Well, I should have insisted because the longer they stayed on the harder it was to come off. Needless to say, 3 hours later we took them off, but not without a fight from her because they hurt. Those stickers had some great sticking power. They would not budge. I wet her face over and over. Before it was all said and done, her face was so red and irritated from those stickers. Note to self, don't buy Winnie the Pooh stickers ever again.

Once we went through customs, we were looking for our shuttle person to take us to our hotel. We were immediately hounded by people acting like they know who the shuttle people were and conned us over to their counter to try to sell us excursions. After three times telling him "not with a two-year old" he finally got the picture and then told us where to find our shuttle. Unfortunately, the shuttle was not there as promised. They told us someone would be waiting with a sign with our name on it. We had to wait 20 minutes for someone to come and to make it worse, they forgot the carseat that I requested when I made the reservation. Scarlett was past her nap time so thank goodness she fell asleep in the van on the way to the hotel which was an hour's drive - ugh! At some point, the van hiccupped a few times and I thought for sure we were now going to be stranded by the side of the road. But thank goodness that never happened.

Our room came with a hammock on the balcony and let me tell you, it didn't take long for Scarlett to enjoy it realizing that it swings. Such is the life of a two year old. This resort had a playground. I thought what a great idea for Scarlett to have another option when we're out of the water. Little did I know I would live on the playground for most of the trip. The resort offered a Kids Club, but they must be four years old. The playground was located just outside the Kids Club which they decorated with balloons. Scarlett is absolutely fascinated with balloons and that was the first place she headed once she saw them. The lady was so kind to give one to Scarlett which made her very happy, but guess who was stuck having to make sure the darn thing didn't fly away on this windy day and guess who was stuck holding it while she decided to play...me. We brought Scarlett's pail and shovel so she can play in the sand on the beach, but we did a "test drive" on the playground sand. I don't remember if I told you that Scarlett is such the clean freak. She doesn't like to get sand on her so I was very surprised when she actually did play in the sand. She did refuse to take her shoes off, though. She didn't like the sand on her feet.

Scarlett had quite the imagination. You see, there is a Dora the Explora show called "Dora Saves the Snow Princess" and in the movie, it's a snowflake named Snow Fairy that asks for Dora's help after the bad witch makes the snow disappear because she hates the cold. The longer it takes to find the snow princess, the smaller the snowflake gets because it's getting hot. There is a scene where Dora and Boots are in a cave calling out for the Snow Fairy, but Scarlett calls it Snow Berry. She discovered that the tube slide works great as the cave and is very serious about finding the "Snow Berry". (see videos)

Scarlett's other all-time favorite playground equipment was this double motorbike. She absolutely loved it and I wish we had these in the playgrounds here.

Another big time hit for Scarlett was the mango or tangerine sherbert after she finished her meal. She never called it by it's name, it was either the "yellow ice cream" for the mango or "orange ice cream" for the tangerine depending on which they had. It became a ritual for her every time we hit the buffet. She would say "chicken first, then ice cream". Since we've been back, she does not care for the one time all favorite - vanilla. She definitely knew this was to be a relaxing vacation and seemed to have her Daddy cater to her every whim such as swinging her in the hammock while she ate her snacks and she somehow manuevered her feet through the strands so her feet can dangle.Later in the week, we thought we'd give Putt-Putt a try. Scarlett loves balls so why not try it. It didn't take her long to decide she wanted nothing to do with the putter anymore. At one time she tried kicking it to the hole. We only made it to round 6 before she gave up completely.
It took us two days to get Scarlett in the swimming pool and three days to get her in the ocean. We're not sure why she was afraid to go in the water when she's in the water once a week for swim lessons. We had to force her so to speak. Gerry sat by the pool with her on his lap, but she refused to turn around. She buried her face in his chest and was hanging on tight. After about 10 minutes, I got in the water and grabbed her. It took another 10 minutes to finally get her completely submerged in the water. After all that, she was happy as a lark and didn't want to get out when it was time. This was the same scenario for the ocean. Look closely at the picture of Gerry holding Scarlett. You will see that she is crying.

I wouldn't say this was the best trip for us. Scarlett had her fair share of tantrums more so than she does at home and because of her reluctance to get in the water, we weren't in it as much as we would have liked. In the end, we concluded we go with other people or we leave Scarlett with someone. We would rather go with other people as we like to bring Scarlett with us whenever we can.

Valentine party

Scarlett's BFF, Alexa, had a Valentine's Day party. Scarlett's other friends, Ava and Gabby, were there, too, along with a friend of Alexa's. Nothing like a party with four two-year olds and one four-year old. They all had such a great time. Alexa even had a heart pinata filled with heart lollipops - the hit of the party.

Rollercoaster ride

Scarlett and I met up with my friend Jenny and her twin girls (Ava & Gabriella - fraternal twins) at McDonald's so the girls can have ice cream and play in the play area. McDonald's has a simulated ride of a roller coaster. At first when the ride started, they were a little startled and didn't know what to think, but they apparently liked it because they asked to go again. I was able to capture a video of their "wild ride" and well in typical Scarlett form, she's yapping away the whole time.

All about the balls

Now I know almost every child loves to play with balls, but Scarlett is obsessed with them. She likes to hold them and won't let loose of them to play with in fear that someone will take it away from her.

I enrolled her in a play class at the Little Gym (which she loves) and toward the end they bring out a trash can full of balls. Scarlett is quick to grab as many balls as she can hold to the point where one time she used her nose to hold onto four balls and another time she sprawled herself on top of the balls. The hard part for her was when it was time to put the balls away. She cried and was so heartbroken that they would take the balls. I now make sure we have a ball waiting in the car for her so I can remind her that her ball is in the car and she can hold it.

She now sleeps with a ball in her crib. If she doesn't see it right away, I hear her on the monitor crying out "my ball, my ball" and then she finds it. So now her bed requirements are her little pillow, blanket, and ball.

A fashion all of her own

Scarlett has become so intrigued with putting on her clothes lately and everyday it's something new. Here are few pictures from some of those episodes.

Please note that we do not go out in public looking like this, thank goodness. We are not at the point where she demands to wear what she puts on and pray that we never get there either.