Dia de Mia Vol. 2 No. 21: Mexico, Part I --The Maya Riviera, or The Wedding of Andrew and Jackie, or Welcome to Mexico, Mia!

We have Jackie and Andrew to thank for this great Mexican adventure. For if it wasn't for them getting hitched in the Mexican Riviera, we would have never dared a trip to one of our favorite places so soon in Mia's life (mostly because she has so much gear that we have to lug around!)

We have to admit, we were more than a little nervous about the whole trip (maybe it was mainly Daddy that was worried). Unlike a week ago, see Vol. 2, No. 20, Mia had suffered a couple of nightmares and was now totally freaked out by sleep. On top of that, she was getting pretty shy around strangers and folks she didn't know that well. In all of this awareness of herself and her surroundings she was gaining at an alarming rate, we guess it was just a matter of time before the fear factor kicked in. Oh yeah, and she now has a firm grasp of the word, "No".


Luckily in Atlanta, the gate agent assigned us to the last row of the plane so that we could have all four seats to ourselves! What a perfect way to travel. Mia got very excited by all the water that she saw during the descent into Cozumel. We flew into Cozumel, waited in line to get through customs (Mia just sat on the floor and read books), then caught a cab to the ferry to take us to Playa del Carmen on the mainland. After many hours of traveling (by car, shuttle, feet, plane, train, feet, plane, cab, feet, boat, feet and more feet, and cab again) we finally arrived at the Royal Catalonia Tulum... and boy were we happy (and tired, and hot)! Through about 11 hours of travel, Mia was a total trooper. Totally awesome, to say the least. The trip was hard, but really couldn't have been better.

The resort was wonderful! Mia had so much fun running up and down the jungle covered walkways that seemed endless. She loved the fountain in the middle of the swimming pool, the iguanas, the enormous lobby, all you can eat buffet and the beach of course. Her favorite attraction was the shower in between the beach and the pool (where people wash sand off of their feet). She could have played there for hours. Mia certainly enjoyed all the attention from all of Jackie and Andrew's friends and family. She was so happy that she even took her naps pool/beach side. What a great way to relax!

























When it got just a little too warm, Mia enjoyed resting in our cool hotel room. She often enjoyed coloring and really liked the fancy animal towel displays on our bed. Here she is seen making an elephant sound for our elephant towel friend.


Finally, the wedding day arrived. We had been waiting for this event for many months. Mommy went off to help Jackie get ready (she was a bridesmaid) and daddy took care of Mia (this typically included sitting at the bar with a Dos Equis and a leche frio con straw). When the wedding got underway, we were pretty surprised at all the strangers who came to watch the show (literally 50 -100 strange people jammed around the pulpit, or whatever you call it on a beach. Europeans we think, maybe thinking they were witnessing celebs? Who knows.). Anyway, it was beautiful despite the weirdos. Perfect weather, perfect location, and a short, sweet ceremony, followed by a lively reception with some hilarious speeches and dancing. It was great to witness Jackie and Andrew making official what we always knew was inevitable.




















As we said, Mia had a surprisingly good time with all the folks she knew a little less than her Mom and Dad. One of her favorites was Layla. She is a beautiful little girl, the daughter of Earl and Jes. She was nice enough to share her Chex Mix with Mia one day. Here they are at the dinner table:











And of course it was great to see Matt and Sallie Kate bond with Mia. They did so much bonding on the last night (caught on film below) it had us wondering if they might be thinking about raising the average test scores in this country by adding their own spawn to the population soon.











Needless to say, it was really tough to say goodbye to all our friends (some we would see again in Maryland soon, luckily, but others are living way out west). It was an awesome time and we can only thank A&J for including us, Mia and all.

Luckily, there was another leg of the trip to look forward to. Stay tuned for Mexico, Part II......

Meanwhile, check out ALL the pics from this week here and here. (Actually a little arbitrarily binned, as you'll see).