July 4. Independence Day. And Matt, Kylie & I are off to Cancun, Mexico. Kylie's first flight. For 20 months, we have dreaded this moment - taking Kylie on a plane. But I have to say, Kylie did amazingly well. Maybe it's a good thing we waited so long because she was easily entertained and even napped for half the flight! And so now we feel free... free to explore the country, the world even!
My family joined us for this vacation in Cancun. Well, all except Carin & Dan (Carin's pregnant and well, 90+ heat doesn't exactly mean comfort to a pregnant lady), and Allison & Joe (Joe's in training for deployment at the end of July and Allison wanted to be around for his weekend off). But, Mom, Dad, Jen, Kat & Erik, and Em were all there.
Let me just say, vacationing with a little one is SO different from vacationing without. Not bad. Just different. In fact, it was even better. I loved watching Kylie bond with my family. She listened to their ipods and tried to sing along. We all took turns swimming with Kylie in the pool, which she LOVED! And my youngest sister Emily was a huge help a few of the days by taking Kylie back to the room for her nap. Plus, they watched Kylie one night so that Matt & I could have a nice date at the restaurant on site. But truly, the best part was just witnessing the closeness that Kylie was developing with my family. She ran to them for hugs. Called out their names. Loudly. Even in restaurants. ;-) But we all loved it.
I didn't mind that I didn't get to read my book. I didn't even care that we didn't venture out for snorkeling or wave running. I just wanted to soak in the experience. All of it. "til my fingers got all pruny."
