UPCOMING: Grand Luxxe Riviera Maya

I texted the husband the other day and told him I was SO FREAKIN' SICK of the cold. He texted me back an hour later with this:

There are certain times in your adult life when you squeal like a little child with excitement, and this was one of those times.
I did a happy dance in front of my kids! It was super fun till I broke the news to them that they weren't coming with us! Yeah, I was given the stink-eye a few times, but Mommas need breaks! And a tan...and a massage on the beach...and a spa day... and a virgin margarita (I don't drink)!

I instantly "googled" this place because my sweet husband had gifted his friend with a week there for their honeymoon and they raved about it for ....well, they are still raving about it and it's been almost a year.
LINK: CLICK HERE

A few pics I've been drooling over...

The best part: We get out own hot tub... on our deck.

YOU GUYS! There is a heaven on earth! I'm still debating between Aruba, Bahamas and Hawaii, but this looks like it most definitely could be in the running!

 



Our Stay at The Sheraton Vistana Villages

Downer.

Ok, So we have been trying different resorts in Orlando. We come frequently and decided they are all within a good distance to Disney World/Universal/Sea World, that it wouldn't hurt to try other places.

Let's just start by filling you in on the events the day we left for Orlando. We left Friday the 2nd at 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon, my baby throws up. Thursday evening, my other daughter throws up. I spend the evening cleaning puke out of the carpet (lovely). I call my husband and say, "Do NOT come home, you're sleeping somewhere else! We don't need both of us sick!" I wasn't sick yet, but knew I would be. He drops dinner off to me and heads to stay at his brothers' condo in SLC. I stay up all night helping my older daughter. She is so easy when sick (no crying, nothing. Just the "I need to throw up" as she walks to the bathroom. Such a big girl! I'm mostly there for drinks of Sprite, back scratches and channel changing :) About 4:00 a.m. I start feeling really sick. I mean REALLY sick! I didn't throw up (my pregnancies have made me pretty resilient against puking--I HATE IT!) but it was miserable! I hadn't slept all night, my husband wasn't there to help and I was miserable! But, all for the cause, right? Char and Stella were both feeling better, so it was fine.

Tigh comes home from work at about 12:45 and I am still in bed, seriously contemplating whether or not I even want to go! We had to leave at 2. :/So, I get up, shower quickly and put my hair in a bun. Once we got to the airport, Tigh dashed to the restroom. GOSH DANGIT! He was sick the ENTIRE FLIGHT! I mean, hiding-under-a-blanket-with-a-barf-bag sick! It was terrible! So, me still being exhausted, juggled two kids the entire 4-hour-flight all alone. :) Thanks goodness they were PERFECT on the flight!! Love my kids and my poor, sweet hubby!

Anyway, we checked into our resort at about 2 a.m. We were so excited to just get in bed and sleep!

I decided to wash Tigh's clothes and such that he was wearing. I went to start a load and everything was fine. About ten minutes later, I heard this really, REALLY loud banging from the washing machine. I stop the wash and could see it was unbalanced. So I rearranged the clothes and resumed the cycle. The banging was still loud! So in my exhaustion, I decided to just not run the cycle and call housekeeping in the AM. I had Tigh shower before bed and he found the fan in our bathroom to be SUPER loud like something was caught in it. After his shower, he realized there were no towels in our bathroom except for a stack of about 8 washcloths. Really? Yes, really. 8 washcloths!! Not even folded! Just lying in a stack next to the tub. So, washcloth it was. We went to bed.

In the A.M. I had Tigh look at the washer (he was feeling MUCH better) and he rearranged the clothes as well, started a new cycle and just as the 'Spin' cycle began, there was the loud banging again! SO LOUD! So we called housekeeping. I had no choice at this point. The clothes needed to be washed! They smelled from sitting in the washer all night!

We decided to just hang out at the resort for the day since we were all exhausted from being sick. Tigh went grocery shopping, I slept while Stella slept and by the evening, we were ready for the POOL! (Which I will post about in a bit.)

Once back, I wanted to clean clothes and we realized the room AC was not working. UGH! I felt like we were at a cheap motel! So Tigh called the front desk, who still hadn't fixed the washer. I told him to tell them we wanted a different room. I finally got on the phone and the girl sounded all sweet an innocent, but I laid into her. Typically I don't do such things, but the room was AWFUL! " We need the A/C fixed, the Washer fixed, the fan in the master bathroom fixed and the shower track for the door fixed. I have 2 kids, I can't worry about this ridiculous things when on vacation! I want a new room." and her response was the biggest lie, "We are completely full, ma'am. I'm so sorry!" I responded quickly with saying, "In the down season you are completely booked? That sounds like a lie." And she then told me she could have someone come and fix it all in 10 minutes. I explained I didn't want some repair guy here for hours while on my vacation! I just wanted a normal room! A room that was actually A ROOM!

---update: I never published this forever ago. I just saw it! It's all coming back to me now. No Bueno. That was not a fun experience!!

Disney World

 We have our annual trip to Disney World coming up November 1st. We will be there through the 10th and just in time for the Christmas decorations! We are trying to work it out so we get there on Halloween and make it to the Halloween party! It is so much fun! We went last year and just loved it.

This trip is going to be different, but so much fun! We invited Tigh's parents, his grandparents and his sister and her cute family! It's going to be a full house! This time we are going to be staying the 3 bedroom condominium Villa at the Wyndham Reunion! I LOVE this resort! They have an amazing pool. I will do a full review with pictures once we get back!

I get so excited for the holiday season. Our life gets pretty insane with vacations and holidays, but it's my favorite time of year! Next year we are going to Hawaii twice (we may or may not do Orlando--sad.). Just me and Tigh in the spring at the Hilton Grand Waikikian in a 2 bedroom suite and then in the Fall we are taking his whole family with us! We are staying at the Hilton Grand Lagoon Towers in the 3 bedroom penthouse. We had to book over a year out in order to get it! Should be an excellent, warm way to start the holidays! I love that my husband loves to travel. There is always something to look forward to.

And gosh darn it, he is good at it!

I'll keep you posted.
J.

Long time, huh?

Well hello, there!

Long time, huh?

I was suppose to do a post on Vdara, but there really wasn't anything that fantastic about it. Pretty basic.
Random fac: The hotel was initially built to be condos, so you get full kitchens and all.
Fun Fact: I really liked their hair products. :)

And that's about it! We did see LOVE and it was FUN!

Anyway,
We are heading to Orlando next week!(Notice the countdown widget to the right of the screen) It should be fun and we are staying at a pretty fun place and doing some pretty fun things! It's my daughter's 5th birthday and we have quite a few surprises for her!
We are Staying at The Sheraton Vistana Resort in 2 Bedroom suite! The hubby's parent's are coming along, too! We've stayed hre before and it is beautiful!

Should be a grand time.

Anyway, I'm off to boxing!

See ya soon!

Jacque

Win at the Wynn

Back in February, we went and stayed at the Wynn, Las Vegas. A dear friend was getting married and we came for her wedding! No, not the drive-thru kind ;)

We last minute had to take our kids with us. Since we live just 5 hours from Vegas, we thought we would drive. On top of last minute plans to bring the kids that also meant last minute packing and bottle making and diaper bag preparing and needless to say, we didn't leave until 8...pm. Do the math, include the time-change--it sucked!
But, we rolled into Vegas and found ourselves at the Wynn! We have stayed there before, but never with kids!
The SERVICE  was very fast. Rolling into Vegas at 2 a.m. (Utah time) with two sleepy kids is not an easy task for a mom! However, we got to our room, and realized we had booked a king size bed because it was suppose to be just us. I called housekeeping and within 10 minutes they had a crib for Stella and a very comfy roll-away bed with sheets and blankets for Char. The crib came with a baby bath set that was in a mesh bag and had a rubber ducky, baby lotion, baby shampoo, etc. The sheets were all nicely clean and the girls fell asleep FAST! It really was such a relief. As the trip didn't go as planned in the first place, The Wynn really pulled through and made it EASY! AMAZING! THANK YOU, to the Wynn!

Here are highlights I LOVE about our stay at The Wynn:

The room:

Our view of the strip was spectacular!

The girls sat at the windows (wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling windows)

We saw the pirate show from Treasure Island from our room. We also had a view of their wonderful garden and waterfall below our room: 

It was SO BEAUTIFUL! If I hadn't had the girls with me, I would have gone down and really experienced the gardens and waterfall. My girls would have picked every flower in site!!

I found this picture on Google Images. This is exactly what our room was like! Except our view was of the Strip!Very beautiful! And the beds are AMAZING!!! SO COMFORTABLE!

I also loved the bathroom. Yes, traveling alone I would love this bathroom, but since I had my kiddies with me, it was wonderful! I turned on Spongebob in the bathroom, my daughters sat and watched Spongebob while I got ready and I was able to keep my eye on them the WHOLE TIME! It was so nice and chill. Other resorts, I typically run back and forth to make sure nothing is being drawn on, smashed or ripped. Haha Ok, my kids aren't THAT bad, but when you're in "someone else's house" you take extra precautions! 

Char just chillin on the counter watching Spongebob and eating an oreo. I'm healthy like that.

 Last time we stayed at The Wynn (when it was just me and Tigh) we had a corner suite! It looked like this:

And we saw this:

The Wynn's Cirque show they have is called "La Reve"

(images taken off Google Images...I didn't break the rules and snap pictures during the show!)

And I LOVED IT! 

It's a water show, love story, and dance performance all in one. We had excellent seats and I found it to be a beautiful performance! I was captivated the entire time and was actually sad when it was over. Pretty sure I will beg Tigh to see it again. 

***Now, you might be asking yourself what experience I have in reviewing shows and theatre productions, but I have seen way more musicals and performances than the average person. Let me remind you we go to NYC every year. Looks like I need to start a "shows to see" tab on this here blog!) We leave for Vegas tomorrow morning and I really want to see The Beatles LOVE and Jersey Boys! I will write reviews for those as well. 

But as for La Reve, PROMISE ME YOU WILL SEE IT! And then tell me what you thought. ***

They also have this guy at The Wynn:

Maybe the next time we stay at The Wynn, we will be able to see Mr. Brooks!! 

All-in-all, I want to stay at The Wynn again. I haven't experienced all of the Gardens and I want to, I love that the parking garage is so close to the elevators and with my kids, I don't have to walk through the entire casino to get to our room. I want to try restaurants there, and see La Reve and Garth. 

I give The Wynn a solid 10! For now. I need to experience the rest of the shows and food to finish a FULL review, but I can only imagine it gets better!

Other photos from the trip:

The Wedding we went to. The Hutchison Family! Coolest family in Vegas!

 Char excited I handed the whole bag of cheetos to her. Again, I'm healthy like that..

 Stella crashed!

Stay at The Wynn! And tell them The Timeshare Traveler's Wife sent ya! ;)

UPDATE: My travel Must-Have's

The Sony Camera awesomenes....

Bahamas, Baby!

I give it a solid 9/10!

One of my favorite trips Tigh has taken me on was to the Bahamas!
We stayed for 12 days at the Harborside Resort.
Now, when asked to do this blog and review places we stayed and my tips, etc, I concluded I would be 100% honest. Pros and Cons to each trip will be noted.
Since I wasn't planning on doing reviews on these trips, I never really took photos of our suites or anything. Now, I will be sure to include ALL the info needed!
ANYWAY,
Our trip to Atlantis was stressful at first. This was trip we chose to bring our two daughters on! My baby was only 9 months old, and my sweet Char was 3, almost 4! So, OCD me, I had everything ready to go and then I had a HUNCH to check customs requirements, etc. When we booked our airfare, we asked if our girls needed passports, "Oh no! Not at all," Said the sweet woman on the other end of the phone, "all you need is their birth certificate!" Well, done and done. However, much to my dismay, I did my research, called all sorts of different numbers to verify the terrifying, not-wanting-to-accept info I had just acquired via the Nassau government website, and our sweet girls did, in fact, need passports! Strike me down, so help me, I was in a panic! T-minus 49 hours till departure and having already purchased airfare for our one daughter, PLUS airfare for my sister/trip-nanny, PLUS an additional room for said sister/trip-nanny, leaving the girls home was NOT an option! Especially when you have a 9 month old baby! I was not, in any way, prepared to say goodbye to my sweetie for 12 days! Mom's need time to prepare for these things (ahem, dads...)! So, being as efficient as my Tigh is, we paid the $900 needed to get our girls' passport done via government "express" and they got to us THE DAY we were leaving! 3 p.m. Fed Ex knocked on my door and 10:30 p.m. our flight left! It. Was. Nuts. So, tip #1. MAKE SURE EVERYONE HAS PASSPORTS! Even the babies!
     I don't remember much of the flight. We flew from SLC to Chicago, to Frt. Lauderdale then onto Nassau. Truly, moms, just take melatonin with you to relax your kiddies on these flight. All natural, but a total lifesaver! (for you and everyone else on board!)
      **Awesome side story: On our flight from Florida to Nassau, I had my sweet baby Stella on my lap, and I was seated next to this very deliciously, dark man who was from Nassau. Stella kept STARING! I mean, REALLY staring! I couldn't figure out why at first, but the sweet man piped up and said with a huge grin, "She is cute. And don't worry, there's a first time for everyone..." --Stella had never seen dark skin before! Thank GOODNESS we travel! I informed him we were from Utah and we all died laughing!**

 The ride from the airport to our resort was about 45 minutes. We brought our girls' car seats along which were easy to use in the vans. It cost about $30.

Now, onto the FUN stuff...This was our resort:

Harborside at Atlantis

  ^^ Click and it takes you to Trip Advisor ^^

   
 Atlantis is in the Background, which is amazing! Harborside is the beautifully colored buildings in front. Separating the two is a small body of water you can't see from this view. Shuttles run every 5 minutes and it takes no more than 5 minutes to get to the main building.

Staying at Harborside, daily passes to the Aquaventure Water Park are included (at least for us, they were. terms may change) Go ahead, just TRY to tell me that isn't the dang coolest water park EVER! We had a BLAST!

They have 11 different pool areas throughout the water park. One is JUST FOR KIDS! Which I absolutely loved: 

It's quite large, very shallow waters, but still enough to splash around in. And did I mention the have LIFE JACKETS for the kids at every pool?? Plus life guards. Seriously, talk about putting a mother's heart to rest!

Except, sweet Stella's was too big ;)

You laughed, too...I know it. 

I would recommend one of those swimsuits with built-in life jackets for the younger than 18 months crowd. No, I don't know what they're called...I'm a good mom like that.

Probably our FAVORITE part of the Aquaventure (which is hard to choose, but we like being lazy at times) is their lazy river. Except, it ain't so lazy!  They have a wave generator! So, at one point there are HUGE waves (rarely do you flip over) and then  it slowly dies down. you then come to a point where you can keep being lazy and just floating, or make a swift left into the rapids area. My daughter giggled through ALL of them! There are 3 different ones. once you choose the rapids area, you come to another fork: water coasters or rapids. We would do the water coasters because they ended at the rapids anyway! Char was too little though, so we chose rapids with her.

Once you choose the Water Coasters, you are sitting in a lazy river in line, sometimes not moving, just floating (better than out of the pool, waiting on stairs with a huge tube, right? RIGHT!) You snake your way towards the beginning of the incline. You then turn yourself onto this conveyor belt like what you see at the grocery store at checkout, face forward and enjoy a LONG lazy, scenic ride UP, up, up until the top of the first coaster. You then make the choice to ride that coaster, or hop out and take the stairs to higher slides. The first one is SO FUN!!
I believe it was called The Falls. You can ride in a two-seater tube. You do a big drop, then another quick conveyor belt brings you up again.You go up and down different slopes, twists and turns. It is seriously so fun!

Next time we go, we are taking our camera with us! But, you can search for it on Youtube and see some!

For the pools, I give a solid 10!! You could spend every day at the Aquaventure and still not experience everything. It is packed with fun!

Heading up the conveyor belts to the rapids!

SO RELAXING! But Visually fun!

Pools close at 6pm!


---The other thing we loved was the Aquarium.

 Tigh and Char observing the HUGE Manta Ray

 Some exhibits are hands-on. They allow you to touch, feel, etc. They also have hand-sanitizing stations at each one.

Not only do they have it mystically placed underground, with artifacts, intense decorations and mysterious music, but it is fully stocked with multiple species! Some I had never even heard of! There was most definitely a quicker way to get to Aquaventure than through the Aquarium, but we went that way everyday. Char still says, "Hey mom, remember that fish that looked like..." and she describes an animal we saw there. Great learning experience!

Now, let's talk about SERVICE there...
We got frustrated a few times. Simple things like , "Hey, we need a cord for our internet" took about 4 hours. I talked to a few visitors and they said it was typical. Not that they're lazy, or rude, but the vibe there is so "chill". Nothing is really an "ASAP" deal to them. SO, we bugged them for about 4 hours until we got our internet cord. Tigh DID complain (considering he is not use to this type of attitude when traveling) and they sent us an amazing gift basket with lotions, fruit, nuts, cakes, flowers, waters, treats, etc. Truly, they are all nice there, but don't hesitate to "nag" if you really need something. :)


Our activities were mainly hanging at the water park, pools and beach:

I loved their beach for one reason and that was NO HUGE WAVES! It was perfect for just chillin' with the babes all day. Sweet Stella (9 months old at the time) did get a mouth full of sea water, but she survived!

BEACH KISSES! My favorite...

Charlotte LOVED going out in the evening when all the crabs were trying to crawl away. There are lots of tide pools and baby crabs crawling everywhere! The best is first thing in the AM when the tide has gone out. There are all sorts of creatures chilling close to shore in the shallow waters! Set your alarm early, swing by Starbucks in the Royal Towers and make your way to the beach. Your kids will love it!

 Yes, Those are teeny, tiny crabs! They look like grains of sand! Don't step on 'em! ;)

 Shallow water, several different kinds of fish and if you hold really still, they swim up to you. 

 Across from Starbucks in the Royal Towers is a little market. They have Fish Food for you to use!

Excursions!
Tigh and I LOVE to do excursions. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to do them!
Though my overly-achieved husband has been scuba diving all over the world, he still loves to take me! Wait, I snorkel, not scuba dive. I do have a gift certificate from him sitting on my bulletin for certification, but I somehow always miss the beginning of each class series...No, I'm not scared.

OK, I'm scared.

Moving on...



We did an awesome excursion! It was a snorkeling tour that took you to 3 different snorkeling locations. We did it through Stuart's Cove . They have a shuttle that picks you up at a certain time, and it's about an hour drive to their dock. BUT it is really beautiful scenery. You drive through town, see old, broken down estates, etc. BEAUTIFUL!
The first 2 locations were reefs, where we did see a few shark and several other fish and sea life, but the third was a sunken ship where shark like to feed. This is mainly because these boats take you there, drop a bucket of chum 25 feet below and you hold onto a rope, face in the water and watch 20-25 shark show up and feed! You are only allowed in the water for 5 minutes! SO SCARY! I had to remind myself to be calm and that I could last 5 minutes. AND I DID! Say whaaaaat?! Ya heard me. I lasted 5 minutes. :) I know, I know, you can high-five me later...

Just cuz he's cute. On our way to the first location!

Oh haaaiii....

The blurry, white blob there is a JELLY FISH and they scare the crap outta me. 

He was pointing at something really cool, I know it!
I just can't remember what it was...

 After you're all out of the water, they just start throwing fish in the water and all the shark come to the surface...one accidental slip off the boat into water and you're now the chum. I hyperventilated a little...

Waiting at the dock! Almost time to go.

FOOD/SHOPPING
Ok, so there are grocery services you can use when you stay at Harborside. There IS a shuttle that takes you to the grocery store, but its a pain because you share the shuttle with a ton of people and then you have to lug it all up to your room. BUT, we found this site:
https://www.foodstore2go.com/
THEY DELIVER! You order online and they deliver it to you! And I was so happy because I THOUGHT I had brought enough formula with me for my baby, but turns out, I didn't and they delivered it! Paid the lady a tip and I was good to go!
There were also these great boardwalk shops behind the Royal Towers. Lots of boutiques like Dooney & Bourke , Juicy Couture, etc. It's called Marina Village.
We ate dinner at Johnny Rockets and then shopped all night. There was a live band outside, people dancing, outdoor dining, views of million dollar yachts just chilling along the walk. It's really a fun place to just wander around in the evening.
One evening we went to the Royal Towers Casino to watch some football games (I know, I'm a good wife) and me, being the protein-pig I am needed a burger, or chicken breast, or SOMETHING. Haha Across the way we saw this:

Atlas Bar and Grill

 

Grabbed a menu, saw the burgers they had and immediately put us on the list. Not gonna lie, it was an amazing burger! I got the mushroom, swiss, whatever else was on it burger and it was cooked perfectly! It was about $12, came with fries and a dill pickle. AND the hubs still got to watch his game because there were literally TVs plastered everywhere...and the drunk people were pretty hilarious, too. I GIVE IT 2 THUMBS UP! So delicious and right in the casino against a wall. 

Other random thoughts and pictures:

-Some days, the cruise ships dock and the pools are INSANE! Be prepared for an overabundance of college-aged-but-not-in-college people to hound the pools and bars. It's only for a day, don't fret.

-The Aquariums at night are really freaky, but cool

-It  rains in the mornings and sometimes afternoons. Obviously. It's jungle-ish. Like Hawaii. 

-We didn't need to rent a car. :) 

-

I will add more as I remember! 

Aquarium

Heading towards the rapids!

GO TO ATLANTIS! 

You'll love it!

Love,

Jacque