Guys, we went to Mexico this week!
How did that happen?!
Bahahaha!
I’m still unsure how we made it happen, but I am SO GLAD WE DID!!! Our little family had the BEST time!! It really made me stop and think that Andrew and I should really stop and seize the moment more often. We’re such planners, so Type-A that we’re probably missing out on a ton of family fun because we’re so routine and schedule oriented. We need to be more spontaneous. I’m going to write that down. And schedule it on my calendar. And plan it. 😉
Speaking of planning…you know I plan my blog posts in advance and well…I looked at my blog calendar (which yes, I take a picture of with my phone before I leave for any vacation because I’M SUCH A PLANNER! Agh!) and realized I had no time to squeeze in a Mexico vacation recap unless I did it today instead of Friday Favorites…so, I’m currently sitting on board my American Airlines flight heading home from Cancun writing this post for tomorrow. I hope you enjoy the sponateous post as as much as I enjoyed the spontaneous trip.
A HUGE, HUGE, HUGE shout out to Clare here at Mix and Match Travel Agency who is our Mexican vacation expert. Clare and her family have visited Mexico 6 times over the last 12 months and have stayed at 12 different resort properties. When I called her last week and said my family of six wanted to go to Mexico in a matter of days, she had the perfect trip planned for us in a matter of minutes. I have THE BEST TEAM in the entire world that not only can hold down the fort when I leave, but who can send me on my way too 😉 .
Happy Friday, friends! Enjoy Mexico…
On Sunday morning, we got up, got dressed and were out the door to fly from Dallas to Cancun. I wore that new romper I love and my turquoise hoops 🙂 .
A quick trip later (one of the beauties of living in Dallas is that we’re smack in the middle of everything and can get almost anywhere in 3 hours or less!)…we were in Mexico!
Last month, when we were in Mexico with Tab and Erika, we love, love, loved Grand Velas so much that we knew we wanted to go back there with the kids buuuut since we were being fun and spontaneous, we decided to tack an extra day on at the beginning and check out Planet Hollywood’s resort!
Four happy kiddos at Planet Hollywood!
Please note, Madeley couldn’t wait to take off her bow and put on her hat. Like seriously, it happened so fast. Bahahaha!
Our room accommodations were perfect at Planet Hollywood! We had two connecting rooms with swim up pools.
The whole vibe was fun!
Since we had two rooms, we had both of those turf areas (perfect for early morning yoga!) and the two swim up pools connected.
It took my kids zero time to find the main pools though 🙂 .
Awwwww! I love this pic!
After we left the pool area, we walked over the bridge and to the beach!
Planet Hollywood had a BEAUTIFUL beach! There were zero rocks, the sand was super soft…I was so pleased with their beach area! If you don’t know, during the summer months, you can find a lot of red seaweed on the beaches, but we knew that heading in and honestly, it didn’t bother us at all.
We went back to our room to get ready for dinner, but of course, they had to swim in the swim up pool a bit too 😉 .
I had just ordered this dress from Amazon, and it arrived just in time! That plus my Amazon clutch and I was ready to go! We ate dinner and went to bed way past our bedtimes.
The next morning, I went around and took these pics of the resort before all the people showed up…
Now, I want to be transparent but also I hate ever being negative…so I hate stuff like this, buuuuuut I do think this resort is known for their pools, lazy river, slides and amazing kid areas, but unfortunately, my kids didn’t love those areas at all because there were SO MANY ADULTS (who appeared to have been drinking…I don’t know that for a fact, but let’s just assume they had been) taking over the kids area. For a resort that’s known to be great for kids, I didn’t see very many. It was super odd to me that it was mostly all adults at the “kids” areas. As a whole, the resort felt VERY big and VERY crowded and not family-friendly. Agh! I hate being negative about things, but the next morning after being there a bit, my kids asked if we could go ahead and go to Grand Velas earlier in the day, so the amazing Clare got us a quicker transfer and we headed to our next resort mid-day.
But first, check out my cute flip-flops from Old Navy 😉 ,
I’m so glad we went to Planet Hollywood, and we did have fun, but as a mom first (and blogger/travel agent second), I just didn’t think it was as family-friendly (at least the two days we were there!) that I had hoped it would be.
The drive from Planet Hollywood to Grand Velas took about two hours, but we were so excited to arrive…
…it’s a shame this trip was last minute or else I would have ordered us all matching swimsuits too…
…a month later and this picture STILL makes me laugh out loud!
Again, we had two connecting rooms which worked out perfectly for the six of us…
…and then each room had a great balcony too with a gorgeous view…
…GORGEOUS!
We made our dinner reservations late on this night so that we had time to swim and then see their Neon Show. How sweet is this picture? I swear they look alike, right? Their smiles are the same 🙂 .
We had a fantastic view of the Neon Show from our balcony. It was about an hour long, and we loved it!
On the balcony watching the show.
After the show, we went to dinner and then bed. It was a really full but GREAT day!
One minute you’re in you’re super cute and cozy shorts and sweatshirt…
…and the next, you’re in your workout romper heading to the gym with Andrew.
I rarely ever workout with Andrew on vacation, but I did twice on this trip. He didn’t make me cry, so I consider it a win ;). (Kidding…he’s really nice…just intense…and very 8ish…;) ).
Getting ready for the day, and I spotted Mades in her pj top, swim bottoms and Kensington’s wedges. Ha!
The two biggest questions I received while I was gone were about my romper and this bikini top. I still love my romper so much! I think it’s sold out, but this one is the exact same style and brand, just a different print. I also love this swim top, but it’s only available now in this style…you can still find mymy pearl necklace and my beach bag (an Amazon find!).
Other than being on a cruise ship, this was our kids first time to go on an all-inclusive vacation…they loved every minute of it. Those four were always at the bar getting fruity drinks!
Well, this might have to be my Christmas card photo this year. Bahaha! We look happy and tan!
Not a bad place to read a book (my book review is THIS MONDAY!!).
How sweet is this pic? I found it on my phone. Kensington was playing around with the filters. Love this.
We snapped this pic walking from our COVID test to lunch! At this resort, they do the testing on site, so it was super easy. When we checked in, the concierge lined it up for us.
Sweet girl and a gorgeous view.
These four played together the entire week. It was really sweet to watch.
On both Tuesday and Wednesday, we rented the resort’s Skibobs for a bit. They were so much fun! We laughed and laughed and laughed the entire time we rode on them.
Sweet Madeley Moo watching until it was her turn to ride.
We cleaned up later that night and headed off to another delicious dinner!
Same dress and earrings from our last trip to Mexico. Who knew I would wear it there twice?!
Ashby and Madeley always bring markers and coloring books to dinner. We don’t even suggest it any more, they just always grab it on the way out the door. This makes dinnertime extra fun for them!
Another gorgeous night at Grand Velas!
The next morning, we were up and ready to enjoy our last day! My Beach Sleep Repeat tank is from Old Navy.
She wanted to borrow mommy’s hat at breakfast 🙂 .
I wore this coverup in Hawaii and last week, I had so many people ask me about it. Isn’t it cute?! I wore it both a ton last year and this year too.
Another day, another daiquiri!
So much sunshine!
It was another fun day by the pool!
And then that night, we got cleaned up again for our last dinner in Mexico (I still love my romper and bag so much! Both Amazon finds!)
I am so thankful that we threw caution to the wind, acted spontaneous and went on this vacation. It was the perfect amount of sunshine, pool time, good food time and family time that the Shull six needed. We will for sure head back to Mexico as a family in the future!
That’s it for this week! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I’ll see you back here on Monday for BOOK DAY!!! xo
