Just Another Ordinary Miracle: Mexico

It's catch-up time again! With traveling and visitors and birthdays, there are plenty of pictures and stories in the queue. So expect a flurry of blog posts coming up! Let's start with Mexico...

Well, Zain has the first stamp in his passport! We traveled to a resort near Playa del Carmen for a week with Shif's family. Zain shouldn't get accustomed to such luxurious travel. Shif and I aren't really resort-type travelers, but we did enjoy a warm week with few worries (beyond how we were going to recover from so much eating).

Checking out the lobby with Naani - "How big is this place???"

In Playa del Carmen

We had this Mayan restaurant to ourselves, so Z went exploring

Zain loved the beach. He loves playing in sand. And he didn't mind the ocean too much, but he's still a little unsure about waves. He loved them at Sandbanks earlier this summer, but was a little more cautious in Mexico.

For some reason, we have no pics of us at the beach. So imagine us in this picture!

What he really loved, though, was the pools. His Auntie Fem had bought him the awesome, red floaty car you see below. He liked bobbing around in the water while we were holding him, but it was nice to be able to pop him into the car, too. There were a few "waterfalls" and fountains in the pools that he was determined to touch, but every time we'd get close, the water splashing up in his eyes was too much for him.

The most sun-protected kid in Mexico

The undercarriage

Swimming with Bapa

The always-serious Naeem

My other baby

Zain soooo wanted to touch this

Switching hats with Bapa

The fam

All in all, it was a nice trip. We all got lots of family time, and Zain had no shortage of babysitters. We were able to relax and didn't have to worry about cooking, cleaning, and washing diapers. Got lots of reading done. I finished two books, which about doubled my non-baby-related reading for the year. Shif and I went diving, we made an excursion into Playa del Carmen, and I took Naeem for his first kayak paddle.

Zain slept pretty well in the hotel room (our main concern before going). We had taken a dark blue bedsheet, pushpins, and binder clips with us, and we were able to fashion a hillbilly room divider that gave him his own little room. The maids seemed a little perplexed by it. We had also put an extra bedspread under his thin pack 'n play mattress to make his bed a little more comfortable, and one day the maid "made his bed" and the bedspread was neatly tucked on top of his mattress.

It was nice to have the giant buffets because we could Zain a variety of food, including lots of fresh fruit. On one particularly fussy day, we found that pizza is the cure for all food pickiness. He learned the word "pizza" remarkably quickly and will now instantly repeat it when you say it (and start looking for the pizza). We now have to spell the word, sort of like how we can't say the word "walk" when Binda is around and call it a "W" instead.

Naeem helping out with breakfast

The group, at the steakhouse. Can you spot Zain?

Zain liked our strolls around the resort. There were resident cats, coatis, peacocks, and lizards to look at.

We all loved the coatis

Enjoying a poolside drink

Well, at least one of us got a tan

This was Zain's second set of airplane flights (the first was to Ohio when he was a much tinier guy) and he did pretty well once again. He's little more active this time, so entertaining and containing were our goals. Thankfully, he slept for part of each flight. Lots of books and toys were utilized, and he visited everyone in our party a few times on each flight.