Santa and the Train Museum

On Black Friday we broke tradition this year and neither Kevin nor I set foot in a store.  I think this is a first for us.  Instead we laid low and watched "Brave" with the kids and then set off to visit the Durham museum.  Its a train museum downtown that we thought Emmitt might enjoy.  They were also doing a tree lighting and had a lot of kids activities going on so we had a good time.

This was the hysterics that came when we actually got close to Santa.  We were foolish enough to think that Emmitt would not be scared of Santa since he loves that Dora episode with Santa so much but apparently Santa in real life... not so much.

Ive got to say this Santa was one of the best Ive ever visited.  A real beard and a real Mrs Claus with him.  He actually took a lot of time visitng with the kids and he was a real sweet man.  Definitely worth visiting this one next year.

We ran into our friends the Rivero's.  The kids got to decorate and eat cookies and make a few fun crafts too.  Notice that crazy man at the milk table in the back. I talked to him for a bit and yes he is as crazy as he looks.

After that we drove to our favorite Ice Cream place- Ted and Wally's, and then we drove around looking at all the Christmas lights downtown before heading home to bed.  It was a good day!

Thanksgiving

We had a lovely laid back Thanksgiving this year.  We enjoyed the company of our friends, the Owens.  The food was fabulous and it was a nice relaxing day (maybe too relaxed because I was a big slacker on the picture taking).  This year the dessert was especially good to us since Sam, Gina, Kevin and I made a promise not to have any treats for the 10 days in between our trip and Thanksgiving.  It was really hard but we did it.  And here we are taking our first bites...

Emmitt and Molly.  Cutie Pies!

 

Fort Builders

My kids build forts all the time.  Its definitely the most common activity they play together.  Its fun for all of them.  Often the forts cover the entire basement and I can hardly walk down there.  During those times I am especially grateful for our basement.

Watch out.  They are armed!

We love Marie!/ Our Trip to Cancun

So back in the summertime, ConAgra awarded the "Marie Callendars" brand, the title of "Brand of the Year."  With that prestigious title, there also comes a reward to all brand management of that team- who at the time included Kevin, of a trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun.   We left November 7 and got back on the 12th.  5 days of Paradise.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  We had such a great time.  We've never been to an all inclusive resort before or to Cancun.  Special thanks to Oma and Opa who held down the fort at home.  I cant say thank you enough.  Here's a recap of our vacay!  I'll try not to overdo it on the pictures... but I make no promises.

Picture from the plane window as we flew into Cancun.  Beautiful!

Arrived!  And waiting for our transportation to the hotel.

Having fun with our travel mates, Sam and Gina Owens- who are our good friends from our MBA days.  Sam and Kevin work together now at ConAgra.

Once we arrived at the resort, we were greeted with champagne and a moist towel to wash our faces and then we were taken to the "Excellence Club" lounge for check in.  No, we didnt drink the champagne- we got juice instead.  They really tried to serve you in every way.  It was fancy shmancy!  While we snacked on hors d'oeuvres (because we were starving), they checked us in and showed us around.  Then we went to check out our rooms which were AMAZING.  I'll try not to overuse that word but really the rooms were gorgeous... and forget what I said about not overdoing the pictures because it looks like Im going to :)

Our room- from a few different angles

Below: Yes that's a window to the shower by the bed.  Its a very "open" floor plan.  And then there is the mini bar.  All that alcohol is in everyones room (no dont worry we did not partake). 

 The mini bar (which was no charge) did have some perks for us Mormons which we took full advantage of.  M&M's, Snikers, Oreos, Fanta, Coke and Sprite.  Oh yes of that part of the minibar we took full advantage. 

 The door to our room.  8353.  I miss you already.

 Below : The shower (way bigger than shown here- also had a rain shower head), the jacuzzi that is both in your room and on the balcony (yes you can take a bath and stare out at the ocean and watch tv and chat with hubby who is in bed all at the same time- doesnt get better than that). 

Then there is the sinks, and the walk in closet with Kevin jumping into the picture.

 

Only drawback to the rooms is that there wasnt a full door on the toilet part of the bathroom- just a clear semi transparent glass that was not floor to ceiling.  I mean we like to be close, but ya know- not ALL the time ;)

 And here are the views from our balcony:

 

Well after scoping out our room, we met up with Sam and Gina to check out the pools and beach and the food!

 

And then we decided to play some tennis.  The courts were full so we went for a walk while we waited, and found some coconuts and green McKaws.  Pretty fun! The tennis was fun too but I dont have a picture of that.  Some of us were terrible (myself primarily) so it was a good laugh.

Look at the monkeys we saw on our walk.

And for dinner- "The Lobster House."  The lobster was good but everything else just wasnt.  Overall we were often disappointed with the food- the exception to that being breakfast.  It was always 5 star!

 DAY 2

Breakfast- so good

And then the pool, we did a little lazy river floating right under Sam and Gina's room.  They took this picture from their balcony.

 

I dont remember much else about that day except that Gina and I did some water aerobics with Edwin (staff) and Cecilia (some older lady who loved to flirt it up with Edwin). 

Part of water aerobics we had to do a race carrying each other.  I laughed so hard, I almost drowned.

I also dragged Kevin to a latin dance class which was (to me) a lot of fun.  The highlight was when the instructor told Kevin  "You have the steps, you just don't have the rhythm."  heehee.  You have to say that in a Mexican accent for full comedic effect.  What a sweet hubby I have- such a good sport.  

Every night after dinner they had some sort of show.  This picture was I think after the Indian restaurant (a "flavorful" meal) and before the Michael Jackson show (the best show of our trip).

 Day 3

Day 3, we were in the mood for an adventure so we took a taxi, to a ferry, to an island called "Isla Mujeres."  We rented a golf cart and had a blast cruising all over the island.  

We checked out a few beaches, stopped at a turtle farm and at some Mayan ruins (the authenticity of which, we were suspicious), stopped at a beach and went snorkeling, and stopped at a local grocery store for a "store visit." 

You can take the boys out of ConAgra but you cant take the ConAgra out of the boys.  Us girls might have complained at that "store visit" but we were loving their jobs that whole trip.

At one of the beaches.  It was so picturesque.

This was on the trail of the ruins.  Those Mayans made some nice chairs eh?   (Kidding)

At our walk through the ruins

At the turtle farm.  Highlight: when one of us dropped a four day old turtle.  Oops!  (don't worry I'm sure the turtle will be just fine;) 

If you can make out the sign behind him, it says "Please Dont Touch the Turtles."  Such a rebel.

After snorkeling

This is where we ate.  It was called Mininos or something like that.  It was sooooo good.  Fresh real authentic mexican seafood.  Yum! and what an atmosphere- right on the beach!  See my delicious coconut shrimp.

And to end it all of we used the last of the dollars we had to buy some yummy treat from this street vendor. 

 

Day 4

Breakfast just never disappointed.

Kevin loved his juices.  The green juice was his favorite but the Beet juice was a close second.

 And then we went for a walk on the beach.  Kevin did some handstands.  I went for a swim.

Then Kevin joined in on some beach volleyball.  He loved it and will be happy to tell you just how many times his team won. 

The Owens joined us to rent a jet ski for a little while.  We split the time and it was a lot of fun.  I gave Kevin a good scare with my crazy driving.  It's usually him that does that to me so it was a fun switch.

 Everywhere we sat, someone asked to bring us a drink.  We tried to take advantage of the virgin drinks.  Some were delicious but a lot of them were super sweet.  They were free so mostly they were awesome.

On Saturday, all of the ConAgra team had arrived so the dynamics changed a bit.  Rob (the "boss") gave us gift certificates to the Spa so we booked a couples massage.  It was absolutely the best massage both of us had ever had.  True, we haven't had a ton of them but we've had a few and this was the best.

Here we are outside the spa...                    And here we are inside the spa... just a tad sunburned :)

That night we joined whole ConAgra crew for dinner. 

The CAG crew.  Not my best picture but then it wasn't my best dinner either :)

 Day 5- The Last Day :(

Much to Kevins dismay, I just dont sleep in on vacation.  Im just too excited.  So I tried to sneak out for a walk on the beach in the morning and let Kevin sleep in.  When I got back, we ordered room service (for the first and only time). 

Other than the fact that it took forever to get to our room, it was worth it.  The french toast was like the best mini donuts you've ever had.  Yum!

This is his "Hurry up and take the picture because I'm starving" smile.  I love his slippers too.

For our last day we wanted to float the whole lazy river all around the resort but the pools were cold so we cut that short.  Then we went to the beach.  There was a beach for "Excellence Club guests" of which we were (thank you CAG) with even greater service than elsewhere.  When you walk onto the beach they follow you to where you would like to lay and then they'll make up your beach bed for you.  Its pretty fun.  They even drop by with little extras like fruit kabobs, and wet towels for your face.

This is the beach bed we tried to play scrabble on with the Owens.  Some of us apparently just werent into it.

After our failed attempt at some scrabble on the beach, we decided to go play some cards on our deck. That was fun.  See how we raided the mini bar :)

And then it was our grand finale dinner.  It was so sad to be the end.  We ate at the best restaurant the last night.  Chez Isabelle.  We had to wait over an hour to get in but it was worth it.  Here's some pics we took while waiting.

Me, Amy (a fellow ConAgra spouse), and Gina

Kevin, Bart (ConAgra) and Sam

And then after our delicious dinner we took our last walk back to our room- but not without taking some last pictures along the way.

Farewell Excellence Playa Mujeres. 

So that was our trip.  We had a great time.

So in conclusion, Ill answer your question.
Q: Cruise or All Inclusive?
A: Well if Im paying, I dont want to pay extra for everyone else's alcohol so I would go with a cruise.  Plus a cruise has more for the traveler who likes adventure and variety.  If youre "hang out in the room" or "lay by the pool all day" type of people then do the all inclusive.  I think if we are paying we would choose to cruise. Although the all inclusive was a whole lot of fun too!