Stone Island

We toured Stone Island today.  Was very nice!  We really enjoyed the tour; it was the perfect thing to do at the end of a longer vacation when the boys are getting “bored” of the pools and  beach.

The boat ride in was nice.  It’s been a while since I’ve been on a boat.  I liked the gentle rocking, and also enjoyed the dolphins and sea lions.

Iguanas.  Every little boy’s dream.  Swing was afraid to hold one when we had the opportunity, but then wished he had.

We got the boys ink’d… I didn’t really like Cosmo’s dragon, but he’s in love with it.  At least Swing went for a lizard in a more “little boy” style!

We rode horses when we got there.  That was fun, too.  The boys have never been on a horse.  Cosmo has been on a donkey, but that’s not really the same thing.  Swing rode with me, and the Woodsman and Cosmo had their own caballo (horse).  Bummer, there’s only one shot of horseback riding…

Lunch there was great.  Some of the best food we’ve eaten here, really.  Then we went on a “buggy” ride.  Looking back, I should have let Cosmo ride the yellow banana boat, but I was nervous that the boat would go fast, on the ocean, with a group of mainly college aged kids.  He had fun, anyway!

Check out the buggy ride… the wooden chair cracks me up, but really, it’s the Mexican Spirit! They don’t need fancy, they just want something that gets the job done!

Finally, a few pictures of the living conditions.  Next time I complain about not having a large enough closet or storage for all the junk I’ve amassed, I’ll have to come back and look at these:

Swing Swims!

I’m so proud of my little boy!  Less than a year ago, he was a terrified, clingy octopus when we came NEAR the water.  Since then, we’ve taken him to swimming lessons (he didn’t “pass” the level one/two for the toddlers), and I took him to the pool at the gym pretty regularly.  Took him a while to swim in the deeper water in a floaty suit, but once he got used to it, he learned to make himself go.

So I brought floaty suits here for him.  And swim trunks.  He was not pleased at the idea of going without his floaters, but he went.  He hung on to the Woodsman and me, and one moment, he kicked off me and just went.

And just like that, he was swimming!

He doggy paddles, and then puts his face in the water, and brings it up for more of the doggy paddle before putting his face in again. 

I’m sure most of it is from watching his brother in the water. 

Swing has swum distances of over 20’, though he’s afraid to swim for a target that far away.  I have to hold my hands out for him to swim to and back up.  But he does it! 

Cosmo - ‘Coon Hunter

Perhaps I should change Cosmo’s name to ‘Coon.  His middle name is Hunter.  It would fit. 

Tonight, as our bedtime strategy, I took Cosmo on a walk while the Woodsman settled Swing with a movie (the Sandlot… baseball, of course).  Separating the boys typically works best when they are overtired.

So Cosmo and I are walking the grounds of the resort.  It’s a very lovely place, and we feel fortunate to be able to stay here.  At any rate, there’s one building with the top set up for events.  It’s a nice place to view the pool and the ocean.  As we approached the rooftop, I spotted an animal on the ledge of the building.  I pointed it out to Cosmo.  It was cool!  So we get to the rooftop and peek over the wall onto the ledge about 3ish feet below, and there’s the animal—a raccoon, and he’s hissing at us.!  We’re pretty sure it’s a raccoon, anyway, because it could have passed for a prettified possum.  *shudder*  So we cross the rooftop and gaze out at the loveliness, and listen to the waves, the pool fountain, and crickets.  Until we realize the raccoon was brave (read: stupid) enough to jump over the wall/railing from the ledge to “greet us.” 

So we walk calmly and quickly off the rooftop onto the bridge to get back to the walkway. The animal followed us!  Kept following us.  So we started to run.  (I hear these things can be mean, and I have no intention of finding out, or letting my son find out firsthand).  Goofy thing wouldn’t leave us alone.  We ducked into the area deli, and watched it walk away a bit. 

So after we browse the deli (a little mini-mart sort of place in the resort), we decide we’re safe to head back to our room.  We see no sign of the blasted critter.  We turn up to get to our building, and there he is!  He was on a retaining wall, giving us dirty looks.  He was just above Cosmo’s head, and I thought for sure he was going to jump on him.  So we took a different path, and the darn thing follows us some more. 

I had Cosmo stop talking, and instructed him to walk fast and quiet so the animal couldn’t follow us.  That seems to have done the trick.  We got to our building, and the elevator door opened up just as we approached, no animal in sight!

Of course, when we get back into our room and report our safari adventure to The Woodsman, he does not believe us.  Clearly, there are no raccoons in this area.  And clearly, we are unable to identify an animal with rings around it’s eyes, three rings around its tail, and a cat-like body. He knows his animals.   He’ll see.  Though if I’m smart, I’ll put high stakes on the outcome.  :D

Mexico At Last!

We made it!  Oh, it’s heavenly.  The travel day was long, of course, as our closest airport is smaller.  We had to get up at 2am to catch a 5am flight.  We had three legs total.  The boys were angels.  I almost wondered who took my boys and replaced them with the pod children.  Swing did start to get antsy at the end of the third leg, but that was 10 hours in.  It was a relief, really; I knew 12 hours traveling was a LOT to ask of a 4 and 8 year old!

At any rate, we got here, and my parents were here to meet us!  We are so excited that they pushed out their leave date here (they were going to leave the day before we came in) so they could see us for a few days.  They were kind enough to go to the front desk of the hotel and pick our room for us (early), so we have a nice one.  The “better” ones go fast!  So we have a lovely balcony and are close to the pools and the “super deli.” 

It’s been hot.  I won’t complain, though.  It’s so nice to feel hot and get into a lovely pool.  It’s so relaxing to have fun with the boys and keep them so busy that they don’t have time to argue or whine.  The food is so tasty!  It’s such a hospitable country; the people are so friendly and helpful.  It’s really easy to be grateful and in a good mood when things are so easy (There are no chores)!

There’s lots of walking, too.  The first day I was wondering if I’d be crabby about it until I realized that I needed to be walking, anyway.  :D  The resort is spread out quite a bit, so even though we are close to the things we’d do at the resort, when we want to leave, we have to walk quite a ways to do so.  My legs are a bit sore just on the second day.  That’s good… I’m working hard enough to get sore, but it doesn’t feel like work when I’m doing it!

Anyway, it’s time to go to bed now.  I’m feeling really spoiled and really grateful right now to be at such a lovely place.