sandos caracol

for the last of the mexican vacation posts,  here's a look at our stay at Sandos Caracol. it was my first experience with an all-inclusive resort, and i could get used to this! we were so spoiled. the thing i liked the most about Sandos is that it felt like there were no rules. no one to tell you to stop climbing on that / i'm sorry, the virgin mojito daily limit is 8 / get out of that stock closet why are you stealing pillows? in general it felt like one step away from anarachy and it was suprisingly peaceful and civil everywhere we went and even more surprisingly i didn't see one fall down drunk person anywhere!

their amenities were vast. a mini water park for the ninos. 

a few other pools - including an adult only that i took the world's greatest nap at one day, and a couple just for horsing around in:

i love this. Hayes floating around in the pool with his virgin mojito - or faux-jito as we called it. 

 sweet Callum. his teeth slay me dead.

 don't be frightened by my son Hayes, he's probably just deep in thought about the thematic nuances of the Backyardigans.

 as an all inclusive, you could either eat at their buffet, or make dinner reservations for several different types of cuisine. we loved the buffet though. in and out & no one seemed to notice our party of 23 people's ... excitement. 

also: who knew i was so easily charmed by a mariachi band. i would have paid them to just sit by my table the whole night. here they are playing "guantanamera" - my fave!

i didn't get any pictures of it but Sandos has local wildlife housed all over the resort. donkeys, turtles, monkeys, raccoons, toucans, parrots deer, etc. and they'd all just come up right to you. this guy was in heaven:

we were so well taken care of at Sandos.

and we were usually traveling in a pack of 23, which didn't seem to scare them all at all!

 the kiddies!

Sandos had a packed schedule and a colorful nightlife, to which we took zero advantage of. after the boys went to bed we'd head to Charity's room and laugh the night away with my sibilings. it was way better than bikini zumba night. (i assume.)

 a few from my phone. 

 Liz's photography from that week is so awesome. these last two were yoiked from her.

read the rest of her post here. that pic of Quincey sums up the whole week. 

we had such a wonderful adventure and my boys rose to the challenge and did awesome. 

absolute angels.

 i've already expressed this to my dad, but let me just publicly thank him for making it all happen.

he's the best!