Hola Amigos!

For the past week we've been on vacation in Riviera Maya, Mexico. This was our first family vacation and included Brady's first flight. We were joined by Grandma & Grandpa and the Rocks- Aunt DeeDee, Uncle Ken, Connor and Connor's friend, Conner (that makes it easy to remember, huh?). :)

I'm going to summarize our week long trip in one huge post. Actually word-wise this would be pretty simple. Typically on vacation this group reverts to an infant schedule anyway. So really I could sum up the entire week's agenda with just a few words- eat. drink. sleep. change. snack. nap...Repeat.

We left on Saturday morning. As he is under 2 years old, Brady was a lap passenger. He had a paper ticket and we paid $12 in taxes for him. At almost 10 months old, he's already got his first stamp in his passport. He also had his first ride on the people mover @ Dulles. He looks like a big independent boy, doesn't he? (Brett held him once we actually started moving.)

Brady did pretty well on his inaugural flight. He nursed during take-off and slept for about an hour after that. Would have been awesome if it had been like a 90 minute flight. But it was almost 3 hours. So he played with some of the toys we brought him, he looked through the Skymall magazine, and was entertained in our seat for a while. When he did get fussy and melted down a bit, Deanna came to the rescue and walked the aisle with him and amused him with a Bandaid on her nose. :)

We arrived in Mexico and discovered that "el nino" was the golden ticket. While we were waiting in the crazy long customs line, an immigration officer spotted our stroller and motioned for us to follow him. We all (Luhrings and Rocks) followed him to capitalize on this "una familia con nino" cut-the-line pass. Sweet! The time we saved in the customs line was made up waiting for our transportation to the resort. Brady hung out in the Bjorn and had a jar of stage 3 baby food chicken and stars. He was being a patient little boy. Then we boarded the van for what we didn't realize would be a 2 hour transport to the resort. Despite a 45 minute nap after nursing, an uninhibited Brady vocalized all of our frustration. I was nauseous from not eating in such a while. We were all tired and Brady's wails did not seem to do anything to get us there any faster. Brett did find amusement in the many "Retorno" (u-turn) signs we passed. We knew it would become the word of the week. We used it most inappropriately. For example, "Stop being such a retorno!" I mean really, "Stop being such a u-turn?" It makes no sense...which only made it funnier to us!

I tried my best to keep Brady on his schedule. I kept my watch and the noise machine/clock I brought set to Eastern time. He got up pretty consistently- usually around 7:30 (6:30 central) and had his morning milk. Then I'd dress us for the day and we'd take off for our morning stroll and oatmeal breakfast at the buffet. He charmed all the hostesses and waitresses. They were always happy to see him. "Hola bebe!" "Buenos dias Brady!" and my personal favorite, "Hola gordito!" (which roughly translates to "Hi Little Fatty" hahahaha!) Love it! After breakfast, we'd walk back to the room, he'd nurse again, then take his morning nap. When he woke, we'd finally join the rest of the crew and begin the day together. We played and visited a bit, then we'd all have lunch. Then Brady and I would go back to the room for his afternoon nap. There were a few days where he strayed from this schedule and actually napped by the pool. (See picts below.) After the nap, we'd all hang out a bit more. Then Brady would have dinner and a bath. We took him out to dinner with us (despite it being way past his 7:30 bedtime) and tried to get him to sleep in his stroller while we dined. That worked on most nights. Towards the end of the week, he was a little less tolerant (also his top FOUR teeth were coming in so he was a bit uncomfortable) and I wound up cutting the night short and going back to the room with him so he could sleep comfortably.

At the salt water pool that the ocean fills up

Sleeping soundly on his tummy in the stroller while Daddy feasts himself in to a Mexicoma (see right) @ the Bamboo restaurant- Daddy's favorite place to eat

Brady's thoughts on the ghetto portable crib the hotel provided us.
He wound up sleeping in bed with me for the week.
Ken assumes the vacation position.
He's fallen...and he can't get up!The three generations of Luhrings asleep by the pool.
Brady's learning from the best.
Ken's comment: "Aren't family traditions great?" :)We've taken a picture of our all-inclusive bracelets
ever year we've been on these trips.
This marks #7 for us and #16 for the Rocks and Senior Luhrings.

As always, it was a vacation full of laughs for us all...including Brady. Several times he broke in to his hysterical laugh or giggle. One night it was because I was jumping on the bed around him. He likes that at home too. I know, I know it's a bad habit to teach. But he sure does have fun and I Love his laugh!

A couple nights later, I was telling Brett a story about a little boy I saw in the post office named Brett and his mom kept having to yell at him, "Brett!" When I got to that part of the story and yelled Brett's name, Brady busted out laughing. So I kept doing it and yelling other's names and he found it most amusing. I know this one's going to backfire on me when I'm scolding him one day "Brady!" and he busts out laughing and makes me laugh!