One of the challenges with a big family that is getting older is it is harder and harder to get everyone together for any family vacations. When Gabe went off to University, he was no longer available to come on March breaks trips with us – so it had been a while since Gabe travelled.

I knew for my 50th I wanted to celebrate with a big family vacation, so plans were in the works last year. With Zandra deciding to get married in January, it meant that she would not be able to join us as she was not able to leave the country due to green card applications. We decided we would squeeze it in while everyone was home for Zach and Rachael’s wedding

Zach and Rachael headed off immediately following their wedding on a honeymoon cruise to Alaska. They returned home and had a day to pack up for our trip to Mexico!

We left bright and early on Rob’s birthday. Sam had to finish off some school stuff so was joining us only two days later. So the 7 of us were off.

We were dividing our time between two resorts – one in Tulum and one on Riviera. We wanted to have a bit of variety and I am glad we did because each resort had nice things to offer.

We also decided to do an all inclusive – I knew the kids are all still at an age where if we did an AirBNB, they would fall into the pattern of “What’s there to eat” and it would fall on me and I did not want to have to deal with that. Down the road, doing a nice house where everyone is in charge of a couple of meals is probably the way to go…

We picked up some cake for Rob at the airport (and it was so so good!!!)

And arrived in Cancun. We arranged a private transfer (best thing to do so you don’t have to wait and stop at every resort – Canada Transfers was awesome).

We arrived at Grand Bahia Principe Tulum in less than 1.5 hours.

The resort was huge – a few little hiccups checking in with rooms and buildings but we managed to figure it out.

A little resort review – pros – rooms were nice, we were close to a nice quieter pool , buffet was huge and quite good. Had really nice Bali beds to lounge on – so we spent most of our time by the pool. It worked for us. The a la cart restaurants were hit and miss. You can only do one every second day. You can go to the other resort too. We went to the Japanese, the French and the Indian. All the meals were ok – nothing amazing, but decent. The real downfall was the beach. So much seaweed the beach was not useable. Being a beach person that made me sad:(

We spent most of our days by the pool. The kids were up and down – a mixture of doing their own thing and hanging our together. Gabe got a little sick and we didn’t see him and Shannon for a couple of days; Rachael also got sick, so she just lay low by the pool (she was a little worse at the next resort – but still wanted to be pool and beach side). The little boys did a lot of sleeping in. We had a couple of shows that we went to. We had a few showers – but always managed to be eating lunch or having a siesta!

While we were there, Rachael found out she got into BYU nursing (so we took a few pictures)

All and all, everyone had a good time.

The morning we were switching to a different resort, it was raining. And it rained all day!

We arrived at the Fives and and again had a few room adjustments. I think COVID hit many of these resorts pretty hard and so the upkeep on buildings is hit and miss.

We were in the newer section – which was nice – but far from the beach. The beach was a bit better – but not great – although they have a really nice set up with the pool being right on the beach. That is where Rob and I hung out everyday.

There were other pools around – a few close to us that we spend time at too. One night we even went for a night swim but they kicked us out:)

The food was really good. The buffet was tiny – but we enjoyed all the a la carte restaurants. We hit the sushi place up twice and it was excellent – we had so much !! They had great little stands for lunch – burger place, taco place, mediterrean…. I really miss it lol.

Rob and I had a roof top patio which was really nice and we hung out on our own and the kids joined a few times too.

For my birthday – Rob went all out.

He chartered a yacht and we went to the marina and then spent an amazing day in the beautiful turquoise water! We went snorkeling and swimming and had guacamole and chicken tacos. It was so so nice!

That night he had arranged a big surf and turf dinner on our roof top. It was really good! The kids had made a video for me, as well as a collage of words (about me) framed.

The beach was so beautiful on Isla Mujeres that we decided to make our way back to it a couple of days later. Zach and Rachael were the only ones keen to go (Sam was planning on coming but got sick) – so the four of us went and had a great day! We had great food, and the beach and the water was amazing – it was the perfect day to end our trip.

Overall, it was a great trip! Of course, as with anything, there were ups and downs – but that is to be expected! You also learn a lot about what you want to do or not do in the future:)

It definitely is nice to be back to travelling and we are going to make up for lost time that is for sure!