“Winnie the Pooh has nothing on me!”

It’s been a while since I posted, which is because we (a) drove from Illinois to Texas (b) I covered SXSW (c) I speculated on the Oscars (and wrote about the “Slap Heard Round the World”) (d) celebrated my husband’s birthday (e) celebrated our anniversary and (f) flew to Cancun on April 9th.

Today is April 17th, which is 8 days (or one week) since we left the country. I’ve been pre-occupied with all of the above and ignoring the beauties of the gorgeous Cancun beaches here in Quintana Roo, a place we have visited every year since 1989.

This is our next-to-last year in our penthouse time share at the Royal islander. We arrived here yesterday from one week spent at the Royal Sands down the street, a week spent with 17 family members or hangers-on in attendance in three units.

“My future’s so bright I gotta’ wear shades.”

One of the group is Baby Winnie, who flew in from Denver with her Mom and Dad. Winnie is quite cool and the namesake of her Grandmother Wendy (Daebelliehn) Wilson. We have all been helping keep her happy. We have The Baby Whisperer (Jessica) and my specialty is singing, primarily the litte-known, unpublished “You’re my baby, yes you are, tiny little baby” song that I used to sing to Baby Stacey. Sometimes it calms her. Sometimes, she begins crying harder. (What’s the deal with that?)

Winnie flew in with her Mom (Megan) and her Dad (Aaron) and her Grandpa Mark. She seems quite happy most of the time and has been a real trouper on the trip.

The next youngest of the group would have to be 13-year-old twins Ava and Elise, who have been studying non-stop with various books brought from their Texas classes. Ava and Elise both ate sushi at a Brazilian restaurant in Kukulcaan Plaza and, as a result, both were sick for two days. We wondered about Covid, but both passed their test(s) and, so have the rest of the 15 people who flew back to Austin (Texas), Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, Salem and Boston.

I am trying hard not to get too much sun, as too much radiation is not going to be a good thing prior to “real” radiation in May. Therefore, I am wearing a 50 sun screen, always seeking shady spots, and have

Ava Stacey and Elise enjoy the Cancun weather.

only been in the water once. This was both because of the sun factor and because it has been spring-like in temperature and very windy, until recently. It has now warmed up some.

We have, so far, eaten at the Veranda restaurant affiliated with the Royal Sands, at the Kukulcaan Plaza Brazilian Steakhouse, at Sisal Mexican food restaurant associated with the Royal Sands, at Fred’s, at Puerto Modero Steakhouse, at the downstairs restaurant known as Key Largo, at the Captain’s Cove (where we waited 90 minutes for food) and we’ve ordered one pizza and one friend chicken meal, delivered to the room.

Today is Easter Sunday and we have no reservations and are vegging out, at the moment. Eating out with 17 people involved is quite the undertaking and, right now, aside from some strange hot dogs that my spouse purchased, but does not like, our foodstuffs consist mostly of snacks and various canned beverages. We have various weird things, like orange soda (no idea where that came from), noodles to be used as poker chips (garbage to be), microwave popcorn, a box of candy, one pint of vanilla ice cream that both melted and then refroze while we waited from 11 am. to 2 p.m. to gain entry, and various chips. The apple and banana and grapes represent probably the healthiest choices. We have inherited the detritus from 3 different units, so the items are many and numerous.

Tonight, we plan to wander down to see the work on the Uno concept that the Royal properties plans to open in June. It sounds like a giant step backwards from the full kitchens and sleeps 8 that we have, as they are ripping out all the kitchens, I hear, and making the rooms more like our lock-off side, with just a small microwave and a small refrigerator. All those who participate will have to be on the All Inclusive meal plan, so most of the restaurants I listed above would be off limits unless the guests paid double for the privilege.

Jessica, Stacey, Scott and the apprehensive me.

 

Windy in Cancun for Craig, Stacey, Scott and me. Note the wind blowing my hair all over the place!