Family vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

We're back in Vancouver! Back in the cold and rain but I love it :) It's always so nice to be back home after a vacation. There really is no place like home!

We spent the past week vacationing with my parents in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The flight was direct via WestJet and only 5 hours long. The time difference was 2 hours. Compared to our trip to France, this trip was a breeze. We didn't have to entertain Tristan as much now that he is a bit older. In fact, we found that window seats are awesome for him. Aisle seats are recommended so that you can get out easily but he loves looking out the window. He is so much happier to be by the window! On the way there, my dad sat with us so we were able to tuck things under his seat and we didn't have to keep our distance from him or feel like we were invading his privacy every time we poked him or used his tray table. On the way there, the plane was not full so we had an empty seat next to us for Tristan. Yes, he flew with us for free. Again. This is his last free flight since he will be officially two this weekend.

Puerto Vallarta is beautiful. There are many great swimming beaches and they are free of rocks so Tristan went bare feet a lot. Man, our kid loves the beach! He loves to walk on sand, touch sand, and he loves the waves. He also liked the pool. He just likes being around water I think :) Besides the beaches, there are the breathtaking views. It's everything you would expect from a tropical destination, plus timeshares salespeople. Yeah, those salespeople were persistent and quite annoying.

We stayed at a lovely hotel with beach access and nice pools. It was conveniently located 10 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes from downtown by taxi or bus. As a result, we got to walk a lot. We left our car seat at home and only brought our stroller. It was a good thing we brought our Bugaboo frog because the sidewalks really do require a stroller that has a 4 wheel drive :) It was hot to walk though but since we were by the water a lot, we would get nice breezes. The temperature all week hovered around 28-30C and it doesn't rain at all for months. In comparison, Vancouver is raining now and 9C. Snow is expected for us by the end of the week! Eeeks.

Even though we were away from home and away from everything familiar to Tristan, he was surprisingly well behaved and adapted quite well. He didn't trash the hotel like what we had thought. Soon after we checked into our room, Tristan locked himself in the bathroom and my dad had to pick the lock to free him. He soon learned that he was not allow to play with the bathroom doors and we learned that we could not let him roam free for too long. We were able to pretty much stick to his usual routine for meals and sleep times. The nap time was off since we were normally out so he would just sleep whenever he was tired in his stroller. That's pretty much what happens on the weekends back home anyway.

My parents stayed with us in our 1 bedroom suite and we stuck together for the entire trip. One of the rules I had for us was that we had to stick together or at least stay close together because it was safer that way. It turned out the area that we were staying in was very safe and we were just paranoid for no reason. Because we did so much stuff together, Tristan really got to see my parents a lot and got better acquainted with them. They were trying to teach him a bit more Chinese too so that was good. My parents also helped us carry bags and pushed the stroller so that was a bonus for us.

Our main purpose in Mexico was to get away from the cold, relax, play at the beach, and visit a new place and try new foods. We did all that, plus more :) Our budget allowed us to experience a couple of tours, which were for the most part very enjoyable. Overall, we had a lovely time in Puerto Vallarta, despite me being sick with a cold. Tristan is a bit older now and a little easier to manage compared to when we went to France five months ago. I think when he gets a bit older and knows how to swim, we could do more activities with him. For instance, we could go snorkeling and swim with the dolphins. The dolphin swim has an age requirement of 4 years. I think my parents had a good time too. We all needed a vacation and this was exactly what we needed :)