Jack and the Beanstalk....

We went to the Westport Library on Saturday and saw a puppet show of Jack and the Beanstalk.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the show (too distracting to the puppets?  hmmm....) but the pupeteer came out afterwards and talked the kids about his puppets.

This was the giant in the story.

Afterwards, it was off to Compo Beach to enjoy the nice weather.  The twins are playing on more and more things these days...

And of course it wouldn't be a trip to Compo without tossing a few rocks in the water...

Friday night out...

One of the perks that I get for writing so many college recommendations is cool gifts.  Unbenownst to me, the parents of a student I teach own Panda Pavilion in Greenwich.  So at holiday time, I got quite a generous gift certificate for the restaurant.  On Friday night, we had plans in Stamford, so we decided to cash in on our free dinner.  When we entered the restaurant it was all adults and they didn't look happy to see us with two toddlers in tow.  But, the twins were quiet and great, and one couple even came up and commented on how well behaved they were....(insert proud parent smile here) Sad to say it, they use chop sticks much better than I do.

Our plans in Stamford involved seeing the play "The Tortoise and the Hare"  It was being put on by NCTC(Northeast Children's Theater Company), a theater group founded by a former graduate from the school I teach at.  He was quite the actor at our school and now after college has founded this group that specializes in creating theatre pieces aimed at children audiences (he doesn't act in these plays though).  The theater was at Sterling Farms Golf Course in Stamford..never knew they had a theater there.  The play was amazing and it was so refreshing to see a former student pursuing their passion, and doing it so well.

Mexico Farewell...

Here are random pics that didn't seem to fit into their own posts...

Watching the Republican Debate in our living room while the kids colored.

Lucas at the shoreline on our second night in town (you can't tell it, but right behind him, the beach drops off about 6 feet into the crashing waves)

Liliana proud of her first L's...she did both of these by herself...

And finally, our last day, our last sunset.

We splurged for smoothie drinks for everyone....with a little kick for Felix and I.

Liliana and Lucas transporting a table to our chairs so that we have a place to put our drinks.

And then  the sun finally set...

All ready and packed the next morning...

Knocked out before we even taxied to the runway...

Watching Toy Story on the iPad as we flew to NYC.

Looking at all the lights after we landed...

Our trip was amazing.  The kids were so great and traveled so well, that it just reinforces the fact that Felix and I want to do this even more with them....thanks for reading!

Carnaval!

Pardon the fact that these posts are out of order..but I forgot about this one.

On Tuesday evening, after our first full day in Playa, we headed to town for dinner and a Carnavale parade (since Ash Wednesday was the next day)  We just happened to hear about the parade from another guest at the resort...nice stroke of luck.

Heading out for the night.

The kids were continually amazed at this gigantic waterfall outside the resort.

Getting ready for the parade..

The costumes, music and dancing were great...not to mention the floats.

Enjoying dinner outside afterwards.

On our way to Walmart (to buy groceries for the week) we came across more Carnavale festivities...complete with kiddy rides.

Xcaret

On Friday of our vacation we took the kids to Xcaret.  It's a eco-archaeological park.  They also have water rides and many animal exhibits.  Again, it was really hot, but a lot of the park was covered by trees and had  lots of shade, so that was great.  We got there early at 8:30 right when the park opened.

Hiking down to the river boat ride.

All ready to go...

Some views from the boat (the best I could do without dropping the camera in the water)

Checking out the Tilapia pools.

The kids were obsessed with the map, always asking where we were on it.

At 11:30 we went to see the performance of the "Flying Men"  We weren't too sure what this entailed, but we went to see it.  The men march in while one of the men played a whistle/flute.  They then climbed this massively tall pole (no nets, nothing.)

Waiting to see the "flying"

There they are...all five of them on top of the pole.

here's the video of them "flying" .  basically they tie a rope around their waists and then just fall backwards as they spin around the pole.  Cool...but crazy.

After that, we checked out the jaguars, pumas and panthers.  Then we went to the beach for some lunch and relaxing.

At the beach, they were releasing baby turtles into the waters.  I guess they nurture them until they are ready to be let go.  The twins were invited to help out with this.  They were a bit leery of this, but eventually went up and took turns petting the turtle before we released it and watched it swim off.

Climbing some ruins...

This was a incubator where little chicks were hatching as we stood there....

We also got a chance to swim in an underground river.  We hiked down to the river and everyone jumped in and we swam down the river for about 40 minutes.  Some of it was out in the open, but a lot of it was in caves and absolutely breathtaking.  The twins did great!

Some water fun....

One of the main things the kids loved doing was playing in the water.  In this first clip, Liliana is trying out a snorkel mask (without a snorkel) and fins.  She loves to "dive" as she calls it.

This one is of the kids jumping in....favorite activity of the week I think.