I’ve been wanting to post a personal post for a while concerning our big family trip to Mexico last March. It was my first adventure going foreign with my babies… well actually, it was my OWN first trip out of the country as well. I really did grow up as simple girl in the Midwest. I don’t even really remember wanting to travel as a kid… other than to Australia, because I, someday, NEED to see Steve Irwin’s zoo.

Off track. Ok the first thing you need to know about me and Kevin, before you read about this incredible adventure, is that we are passionate about traveling, but we are budget friendly travelers. Go figure, when you have two kids and just graduated college a few years ago!

If I had any advice for people traveling with multiple young kids to fun places, it’s this: take help. We took one of my sisters to help us with our kids, and I tell you what… it was the best investment for that trip. Stressful circumstances can bring out the worst in people, especially parents with toddlers. I mean you’re not only worrying about yourself, you’re worrying about little ones that are just following your lead. So yeah… Bring good BACKUP if you can!

I know you might read Cancun and think resort, but we didn’t stay at a resort either. Remember, we are budget friendly people. We stayed at an AirBnB apartment in the heart of the actual city of Cancun. Very different experience. Kevin and my sister are both fluent in Spanish, and I really wanted Liam and Liddy to get a real taste of a Spanish country (because Kevin has been teaching them since they were born). It’s so beautiful to immerse yourself and totally left an impact on Liam. Thank you, Mexico!!

Cancun has a lot of public transport, but we really didn’t want to deal with that with two munchkins. We knew that wouldn’t be a good mix for us. So, we rented a car. The driving is definitely different in other countries… I left my husband to do ALL of the driving, as I nor my sister had any desire to try.

There are so many things to do in Cancun! We went to Xcaret, which was probably the highlight of the trip. If Cancun is on your list of places to visit, add Xcaret to your “must do” list while there. They have underground rivers that we could explore, snorkeling, and a beautiful night show! They even had a DREAM kid’s area, complete with a rope obstacle course and waterslides that looked like they were built out of the forest itself. This is the area Liam still speaks of today. We didn’t want to leave, there was so much!

We also saw Chichen Itza with our kids. Boy, that was a hot day! I think that was the only real day of complaints from any of my kids. We were all pretty sweaty, even though we arrived early for the tour. Go early, you’ve been warned! It was SO neat though! We then got pulled over by a cop on our way home afterwards… for no reason. We were warned by some locals that this may happen, as some of the officers target tourists for bribes. It was unfortunate and I refuse to believe the whole office is like that, but it did happen to us. It scared us. We were glad we were near the end of the trip when that happened. All in all though that trip to Chichen Itza was worth it though.

Also I have to make mention that we went to a foreign zoo, because that zoo was WAY different than American zoos, I’ll have you know. I’ve never walked through a crocodile area without a wall or fence blocking the animal from me. We also interacted with a monkey that had a little too much fascination with my little boy (and my boy to him). Don’t get me started on the deer that my son did not want to leave. Being the animal girl though, I kinda really loved it and so did my kids.

We ended up waiting in the airport for close to 6 hours before our flight home… these two kids are amazing. They arise to the occasions given them. Apart from being exhausted on our trek home, this trip unlocked the beast inside me to travel to new places. Seeing something that you have seen only in pictures growing up in-person is truly indescribable and taking my kids was seriously so much fun. The human race is amazing and has done so much in this world.