Thanksgiving - Day 1

As I previewed before, the girls and I went to Playa del Carmen for Thanksgiving with Gramma and Papa.  Brynn visited Mexico one other time previously - for Uncle Ryan and Aunt Nastassia's wedding when she was 15 months old but doesn't remember it.  The girls had been crazy excited to go to Mexico.  On the way to drive to Chicago to meet Baby Fletcher in October, they kept saying we were going to Mexico.  We explained that we would not be driving to Mexico ...

Indeed, to get to Mexico, we had a flight to Miami that left Minneapolis at 6 am, followed by a flight to Cancun.  To get to the Minneapolis airport, a shuttle picked us up at 3 am from Gramma and Papa's house.  Which meant we all were up at 2:30 am.  Ouch!  I was (foolishly!) sure the girls would sleep at some point on the plane.  No.  We were up at 2:30 am, got on the shuttle at 3, the plane at 6, then to Miami, then another plane, then ANOTHER shuttle (to the resort).  The girls found this all fascinating.  They couldn't believe there were TWO shuttlles and TWO planes.  They finally fell asleep on the shuttle to the resort.  The shuttle ride was about 45 minutes.  Which was good since that was the only time they slept all day. 

Once we got to the resort, the girls were too excited about the pool and the beach to do any more resting.  Brynn's primary goal for the trip was to find seashells.  We went down to the pool, checked it out, and, after much insistence from Brynn, to the beach.

The weary travellers arriving in Cancun.  The girls were fascinated by the different plants that grow in a tropical climate.  I'm not sure why they thought leaves should double as hats.

Views from our balconies - looking out at the pools and directly to the beach.  Gorgeous!

Looking at shells they had found.  Later in the vacation we would discover the best places for finding shells...