The following documents the highlights of our family Summer vacation to Zihuatanejo, Mexico:

We have no idea what she was thinking! Elle would introduce herself to locals in the markets, our hotel, and taxi drivers with, "Excuse me. We're from the United States of America, but we're just visiting. We're not going to steal your country!" Fortunately, because of her squeaky kid voice and fast American accent, I don't think most of them heard what she was saying.

We stayed at Club Intrawest on Playa la Ropa and loved every bit of the hotel. Our 2 bedroom suite was huge, including 3 bathrooms, an outdoor shower, dipping pool, deck and kitchen. Kevin (Stacia's boyfriend) got lost trying to find his room twice our first night there, and he's a smart guy.

It was hard to find any peace in the hammock as one of the kids usually made his or her way into it with you!

Elle's favorite activities:

1. Riding in a taxi. We're not sure if she just liked being driven around with mom and dad in the backseat, the fact that there were no car seats or if the crazy driving felt like a wild ride!

2. The pool! We averaged 3+ hours a day in the pool. While Elle loved the safety and freedom of the stairs and kid area under the umbrellas, Tag loved getting dunked and swimming under water

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3. Ice cream. She got two ice creams in one night and hasn't stopped talking about it.

Tag, as usual, climbed everywhere. We've decided he pushes Elle to try new things and reach new heights. While we're used to looking at his face, particularly his forehead to see the latest bump and scratch, it's unusual for Elle to have the most noticable marking -- her black eye (from doing a sumersault off the couch) got worse with each passing day!

Lots of walks on the beach, adventures into town, and our kids wanting to walk around naked (it was hot)! Overall an amazing trip, an abundance of family time and a huge Thank You to Auntie Stacia and Kevin for joining us.

By the end of the trip the kids were exhausted (as evidenced by the clip taken in the airport as we were headed home).

Click here to see other pictures from our trip or here for videos.

We're staying a dune away from the Pacific Ocean, in Ocean Shores, WA, and it's absolutely wonderful. Even though the weather forcast keeps telling us it's supposed to rain in half an hour, we've had beautiful skies and even some sunshine. Tag & Elle have made the most of each beach visit, digging in and sending Ken & I for water. Unfortunately, I underestimated the outgoing tide and found myself in water up to my thighs. Tag, my little follower, found himself knocked over and sittting in waist high 45 degree water. By this time, Ken was on his 90 minute run and I had my hands full carrying buckets, sand shovels and wet baby back to the porch. Elle stripped off her clothes in under ten seconds and ran straight to the bedroom, jumping under the covers and enjoying alone time. Tag had a relaxing bath (meaning without Elle), lunch and a long nap.

By evening, we ventured into town seeking ice cream and dinner, in that order. The ice cream was decent, but we found the worst restaurant in town. In a blink taste test, Ken would never have identified his fish as halibut. Even with eyes open, I'd have a hard time identifying mine as salmon. Fortunately, the baked potato was good. All condiments came in a take-out container with the lids on! Yes, this is a sit down restaurant with table service! Elle's grilled cheese and fries were edible. Tag's mac and cheese was clearly Kraft and his fruit was a Dole fruit cup. There was no attempt to disguise the fruit cup. It was still in the container with the pull-away cover intact. In the end, Tag ate more than any of us, discovering that sour cream and neon pink salmon go well together!

We didn't stay for dessert, even though all the options are nicely displayed in a circular dessert cabinet. Each dessert was carefully covered in plastic with a tall toothpick preventing the saran wrap from mucking up the top.

Yesterday's Interpretive Center was amazing. 100% kid friendly. They were welcome to touch everything from shells, rocks, whale bones and even beaver teeth. Elle learned that Geology is the study of rocks and how to identify beaver teeth marks on wood. Later at the playground, we learned that Tag had no problems crawling up 5 feet of steps and then bravely made his way down the slide without an ounce of hesitation. 

It's 9:45pm and both kids are going strong. Elle is happily involved in another art project with new colored pencils and scissors, talking about the chocolate cake she was promised for breakfast. Tag is busy crawling on the couch or up the chair and onto the table. When he makes it to the top of the table, he bites into a kiwi, minneola or banana. He sometimes listens when we yell "NO" as he attempts to push crayons into the VHS player or stab someone with the fireplace poker. He's persistant, and he wears us out. It's been an incredible weekend, and we need to getaway more often.