Cabo here we come!

For Spring Break 2018, we jetted off to sunny Cabo, Mexico. Our last vacation as a family of 5! We weren't planning on going anywhere due to the crazy expensive flights over Spring Break weekend. But I discovered if we flew on Tuesday, the flights were 1/3 of the cost. And with the long cold winter, the thought of warm weather had us sold!

We had an early wake up call to get ready, loaded and on the road by 5:00 am. The kids did great on the flight - even without TVs on the plane. Thank goodness we packed our own electronics! We flew direct there and arrived at 10:00 am - gotta love gaining 2 hours!

 
We sailed through Customs, found our driver, and were off to the resort. We stayed at the Cabo Azul located on the north side of the corridor close to San Jose. We had booked it fairly last minute through Expedia. The reviews were fabulous so we were hoping it would live up to our expectations. When we walked into the lobby, everyone looked in amazement! It definitely surpassed our expectations.

 

We arrived to the resort around 10:45 am, which meant we had several hours remaining before our 2:00 check in time. That's a long time to lug around 4 backpacks full of electronics! To kill some time, we decided to grab a bite to eat at the poolside grill at our resort.

Rose's favorite part of the meal was getting her very own jar of "dip" (aka, ketchup). It's her favorite condiment. She dips everything in ketchup - or eats it right out of the jar!

After lunch, we went to retrieve our swimsuits from our suitcases that were in the reception storage room. Everyone was eager to take a dip in one of the resort's many pools! It was a bit of a scramble digging all 5 swimsuits out of the luggage in the hallway. Shane and the boys took their suits and headed off to find a place to change. They were out of sight when I realized I no longer had my camera! The last time I remembered having it was when I hung it up on a hook in the restroom by the restaurant so I panicked, and Rose and I along with all 4 backpacks and stroller, rushed back over to the restroom. And it wasn't there!  After speaking to the restaurant, security, and the front desk, there was nothing left to do, so we went swimming until our room was finally ready for us.

Finally our room was ready! The bellhop brought our luggage up and we got settled in. The room was perfect for us - two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, dining area and living room. Plenty of space for our family.  The only negative was the view. We knew when we booked the room (at a steal of a price) that it had no view, so it wasn't a surprise.  At least it had a balcony where we could enjoy the warm weather, even if it was overlooking a parking lot.

After deciding which room would be the "boys' room" and which the "girls' room", we started unpacking. I heard Shane yell my name from the boys' room. He had found my camera! In the midst of the chaos trying to find all the swimsuits, I had unknowingly set the camera down in the boys' suitcase. Whoops!

After settling into our room, Rose, Owen and I headed off to the beach while Shane and Cole went to the pool.

There was sand and water as far as the eye could see. Rose got to work digging in the sand. As for Owen, the ocean was calling his name. He had a blast playing chicken with the waves, even though this Mama was on edge watching. The waves in Cabo can be quite dangerous, especially later in the day.

By 4:15 pm the waves were too big for my sanity and we headed back to the pool.

We found Cole and Shane relaxing by the pool with drinks.

The rest of our day was spent at the pool - swimming and playing catch with the football (aka, keep away from Owen).

After swimming at the big pool, we walked on over to the kiddie pool (or the "puppy pool" as Rose liked to call it.) It was the perfect pool for Rose - she LOVED it!

DAY 2 was another day spent at the resort. The boys are early risers and headed off for breakfast by the ocean while the girls slept in.

Shane brought me back coffee and a delicious macaroon that I enjoyed while sitting on our quiet balcony soaking up the sun. This was by far the most relaxing vacation we have ever taken with the kids! We spent the rest of the morning splashing away in the infinity pool.

Followed by a stop at the "Puppy Pool" where Rose loved playing fetch with the resort's ball. That pesky ball was slippery and the look on Rose's face while trying to grab hold of it, PRICELESS!

"Oh no! My ball is floating away!"

"Get back here!!"

"I'm coming to get you!!"

"Stop moving ball!"

"Never leave me again."

We headed back to the main pool to warm up in the hot tub.

The resort's main pools were infinity pools and had several shallow sections that flowed into the main pool area. They may have been only for looks, but Rose loved playing in them!

After the hot tub, Owen took a running jump into the infinity pool. He is quite the fish!

We grabbed lunch poolside and then split up again - Owen, Rose and I heading to the beach with Shane and Cole staying at the pool.

After meeting up with the rest of our crew and you guessed it, more swimming, we finally headed back to our room.

When we finally returned to our room late that afternoon, waiting in my inbox was our official referral of Kate! This sweet little face was looking back at me with her arms outstretched as if she was saying, "Mama, come and get me!" After reading through her official paperwork, I noticed a couple errors and quickly let Evolve, our adoption agency, know so that hopefully by the time we got home, they'd have the corrected documents.

DAY 3 was another day spent at the resort, relaxing in our room, playing on the beach, swimming in the pools and soaking up the rays!

DAY 4 we finally ventured out of the resort and took a cab to Cabo San Lucas. One of the great things about Cabo is everything is listed in US dollars and every place takes US dollars. We didn't even convert one dollar to pesos! It definitely made everything easier.

Our cab dropped us off near the Marina and it was only a matter of seconds until someone approached us for a glass bottom boat ride to El Arco on a small boat called the Lero Lero II.

We said yes and headed for the boat, although I had my hesitations.  Shane and I had taken a sunset cruise in Cabo 10 years ago and I literally thought we were going to die as the waves smashed against the boat drenching us from head to toe. It was definitely not the relaxing sunset cruise that we had expected. Luckily it was morning and that's the time to be on the water in Cabo when the tide is low. It turned out to be a great adventure! There were 3 other couples on the tour with us and 2 of them were from MN and WI! Small world!

We got up close to the famous areas - The Arch, Land's End, Lover's Beach - and saw lots of sea lions.

Lover's Beach - only accessible by boat

Sea lions resting on the rocks

A sea lion perched on the top of the rock

When the boat got into position for the perfect photo op, our driver had each family sit in the front of the boat. Rose decided she didn't want a stranger taking her photo and hid her head in her life jacket like a turtle.

After the tour, we grabbed lunch near the marina before heading back to our resort to spend the rest of the day at the pool soaking up the rays.

DAY 5 was all about dolphins! We boarded a van bound for the San Jose marina for a dolphin encounter. Owen, Rose and Shane were the participants while Cole and I opted to stay dry and observe.

Before getting into the water, they stopped by the camels to feed them a snack.

And then it was time to take the plunge into the frigid cold! They each got to do a number of tricks with the dolphins and watch the dolphins jump and flip right in front of them.

That evening, we ventured to the shopping area across the street to try one of the many restaurants. We walked right in front our resort on the way.

We ate outside enjoying the beautiful evening weather.  The music from the restaurant had Rose and Cole grooving.



DAY 6 was more of the same. A relaxing morning - the boys grabbing breakfast by the beach, the girls sleeping in.

Then off to the enjoy the pools. We spent the whole day swimming. I already had so many swimming photos that I left the camera in the room so I wouldn't have to worry about it. We all enjoyed a relaxing day hanging out at the resort.

DAY 7 was all about Rose. We celebrated her 3rd Family Day one day early since we'd be traveling home on her actual Family Day.  Another lazy morning in our room followed by, you guessed it, more swimming! All the kids love the water!

After a morning of swimming, we grabbed lunch at our resort's poolside restaurant followed by more swimming!

I had promised Rose ice cream for her special day, so on our way back to our room, we stopped for ice cream at the coffee shop.  She picked mint chocolate chip and ate it all!

That night for dinner, we went to the fancier restaurant at the resort. The boys had eaten breakfast there every morning during our stay, but it was a first for the girls.

We had a lovely table outside with an ocean view, but the very loud Mariachi Band was too much for the little ones so we finished our meal inside. The meal was delicious! And even though we were all stuffed, Rose and I couldn't pass up fried ice cream to celebrate 3 years together!

"Oh my! That looks YUMMY!"

DAY 8 was spent packing up our belongings and grabbing our plane home. It was a long trip with a layover in L.A., maneuvering our way through customs and losing 2 hours as we adjusted back to Central Time.  We landed in MN at 11:00 pm and pulled into our driveway around midnight.  It was a LONG day, but the kids were amazing little travelers. We had a fabulous time in Cabo. It was just the break we needed to escape the never ending winter! We can't wait to return!