DeLappenings: The Net (Vacation) Gain

So...with a few days of reacclimation and recovery, it's time for the wrap-up of our Playa Mujeres getaway.

And because I always try to keep it real and not just post the pretty pictures but also the pain behind some of them, I'll say that there was good, bad, and ugly/funny with the trip--as with anything.

But to paraphrase the hubby's assessment: it was a net gain, ha. Meaning, the work of taking three kiddos aged five and under on an international vacay was outweighed by the fun and the memories.

The Good

Bed Buddies

For the past year or so, the girlies have been able to bunk together on vacations and family visits, and it's just the cutest dang thing evah. No matter how far apart the are at the start of the night, they're attached by the end. And I die.

Fine Flyers

The girlies are also old enough to be fairly entertained on the flight (well, in Chicklet's case, it's at least a possibility, with enough distractions, ha.)

Chicklet is wildly obsessed with the safety instructions on planes and can study them for ages:

And Chica is wildly obsessed with taking photos--silly selfies and all:

I actually adore these window shots she took.

Souvenirs!

The final tally included:

4 necklaces (between the two girlies)

3 bobble-head turtles

1 bracelet

1 snake

1 pull-toy kitty

1 wooden shark

1 stuffed narwhal

1 stuffed alligator

Seashells

I mean...can kiddos ever get enough prizes?? ;) Good thing they're adorable and know how to melt the hearts of grandparents, parents, and aunts. Blesssed, those kiddos are. Very, very blessed.

I die over Chica's serious lips in this next selfie she took of her shell necklace. I mean...die.

The Bad

Now, these items don't have pictures to go with them, and thank heavens for that. But I'll just say we had...

One middle-of-the-night vomit session (poor Chica, who apparently ate too much that evening) that required showers, a trashed nightgown, and a horrific pile of stripped linens for the unfortunate housekeeping personnel who trucked up when we rang. Um...what to do when "soooooo sorry" is not enough when you hand over that festering pile?

And not one, but two, poolside poo episodes that weren't pretty. At all. Like...at all. Especially when one involved a "muddle" trail all the way up to he hotel room.

Oye. (Oye, oye, oye, oye.)

The Ugly

I almost hate to end on the ugly, but, well, it's just a fact that traveling with a rambunctious not-quite-two-year-old Little Man is tough. Like, sometimes titanium tough.

And I have just one word for you: customs.

Or make that two words: customs lines.

We barely made it through the flight home--and wouldn't have if the hubby hadn't managed an ever-loving miracle of getting Little Man a thirty minute cat nap.

But nearly two hours through customs, etc. after the flight? Have mercy (on us!).

But, hey, at least we were wildly entertaining to everyone around us. (Though, for the record, nobody is happy or accommodating in custom lines.)

And--double hey--at least Little Man managed to scratch Daddy up the nose something fierce. So poor Daddy had a blood-soaked undershirt as evidence of the bloodbath, ha.

Never. A. Dull. Day.