Mexico

We took the kids to Mexico last week for a family vacation. We originally had planned to go for Spring Break, but because of M's adoption we had to postpone the trip. Pesky little things like birth certificates and passports kept us in the country.
So we booked the trip for November 6th through the 13th. I hadn't been to Mexico since I was 20 and hubby and the kids had never been. We didn't know what really to expect on the vacation, but loved it and would definitely go back.
We went to Puerto Vallarta which is on the West Coast. It is surrounded by mountains and has very pretty beaches. The water was a little chilly but we did go in the ocean swimming some. C and I even snorkeled while hubby and M sat tight in the boat. The flight from NC was really easy about 2 hours 20 minutes to Houston and then another 2 ½ hours to Puerto Vallarta. It seemed easier than or just as easy to get there as it is to get to West Coast of US.
We booked our vacation at Paradise Village which is just north of Puerto Vallarta in Nuevo Vallarta. The resort was great for families. You can do pay as you go or an all-inclusive package. We opted out of all-inclusive since we had a kitchen and would be spending some time with my mom at her resort, Villa Palmar de Los Flamingos. The food was pretty good at the resort, but glad that we were able to cook some as C wasn’t a huge fan of the food. M loved having guacamole every day though. Paradise Village had great kid activities like pool volleyball, beach soccer, pool basketball, bingo, water polo, bocce ball tournaments, and dancing lessons. C loved playing with the activities staff. I played the pool volleyball, too. The pool was great, it had two large waterslides lots of area to swim, a kiddie section, and nice hot tub. The beach was great and the resort has a ton of little Tiki Huts to sit under while you relax on the beach, very nice for me since I burn so easily so it was nice to sit in the shade while M napped on the beach. There was a market, dominoes, McDonalds, café, and Starbucks a very short walk right outside the gates of the resort. The resort also had Tigers on site and a few exotic birds. Our building had a pool and hot tub right outside. The room was really nice, too, it was a 2 bedroom, 2 baths with full kitchen and washer/dryer.
My mom’s resort seemed a little stuffier, but also had a fantastic pool. Our resort had a bunch of kids and there were hardly any kids at hers. But the rooms were really nice, too. We did do a theme dinner night, Mexican Fiesta, at her hotel and that was so much fun, the staff was very entertaining and the food was great.