Isla Mujeres Part 1... Paradise!

We were so excited to take a family vacation together with the girls, we decided to try somewhere new this time, a little island off the coast of Cancun Mexico called Isla Mujeres. We loved it so much we are planning on going back as soon as we can!

Our first morning on Isla we headed straight for the beach.  We stayed in the Nautibeach Condos on Playa Norte (North Beach).  The girls were a little cautious at first but it didn't take long for them to be covered in sand from head to toe! Here is their first time walking up to the ocean in Mexico, or Eximo if you ask Sophie :)

Oh yeah!

Can't beat this view!
We got to spend some time basking in the sun with the girls playing so good on the beach.

James and Sophia made a stop at the swing bar to get some drinks. The girls loved all of the fruity drinks on Isla!

Bella wanted to pose for pictures after we got cleaned up for dinner.  No rental car on this island, we walked everywhere except for the one day we rented a golf cart to check out the south side of the island.

Our first night we went to dinner at a seafood place on the beach.  With our toes in the sand watching the sunset over Cancun we had cervesas, seafood stuffed fish and garlic grilled fish (Isla's specialty), yum!

One thing I will definitely miss about Isla is the girls being able to play in the sand at most restaurants, it gave us much more than our normal 10 minutes of peace and quiet! Sophie liked to look at the boats, this was our first sunset on Isla Mujeres

On Sunday James was determined to watch the bronco game somewhere, so we explored the north part of the island, checking out the beaches and looking for a place that would play the Bronco game

The cloudy morning was kind of nice with nobody else on the beach!

This was our first time seeing the amazing carribean ocean, the color of the water is so pretty

Finally we ended up at Jax, a place with ocean views, great fish tacos and football playing on the tv, whew!

There was an iguana having lunch with us

The clouds cleared up for an afternoon beach session, we stayed for sunset

Hidalgo is the main street with restaurants and shops, there is usually live music in the evenings along the avenue, great atmosphere!

They really really wanted pictures of the monkey icecream shop, their favorite place on the island!

Another day at the beach!

 Spent the whole day Monday at the beach until we got cleaned up for tacos!
The girls kept us entertained by making silly faces :)

 Bella calls this her "angry eyes!"

 Yum! Steak tacos from Taqueria Medina

Nighty Night girls!

Isla Mujeres Part 2 - Golf Cart Day

We rented a golf cart to tour the island one day, the girls loved going "really fast in the go cart!"

First stop was a breakfast cafe called Mango, we heard about it being the best so we had to stop by!

 Coconut french toast

 Eggs benedict

 With full tummys we hit the road

 Lots of places to stop the cart and check out the waves and beautiful ocean views

 The south tip of the island is called Punta Sur.  It was lots of walkways with cool sculptures and amazing views of the Hotel Zone in Cancun and lots of huge waves and caves.  We had a great time exploring it!

This view was great, nothing but ocean all the way to Cuba

 I got nervous walking on this pathway along the rocky shore, but we made it

 There were several spots with ancient mayan ruins, Isla Mujeres was known as the fertility island, the pirates kept their women here way back in the day, and now it is said that if a woman touches these ruins she will become pregnant, no I did not touch them haha!

 The girls BARELY made it around the punta sur. We expored every single walkway and it ended up being pretty hot and tiresome, poor James had to carry them both for awhile and then we each ended up with one on our shoulders.

Next stop was the Turtle Farm.  Many sea turtles lay their eggs on Isla Mujeres and this place keeps them safe until they hatch and are ready to be released.

 I can't remember his name but the volunteer working their absolutely loved the girls so he gave us a wonderful tour and even let us hold some of the little ones!  The really little guys are only 5 days old!

 This one is 4 months old.

 There was 2 1/2 year old albino turtles

 And an big area open for them to swim out in the ocean

 Here is where the eggs are, sometimes this whole sandy area is full!

 They had some older sea turles who were special needs.

 And land turtles too

We finished off the afternoon at Zamas beach club on the baja.  They had a nice beach and really nice pools.  Of course the shirley temples for the girls were a bonus as well!

 After roasting at punta sur in the morning it felt great to cool off in the pool

 The girls were always excited to get back in the golf cart...

 ...but after 2-3 minutes they fell asleep on our laps!

 We made it back to playa norte just in time too see another beautiful sunset

 And have one last hammock lounge before bed