My oldest son, Nick and I had an amazing time this past week on our vacation near Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I took him as my guest on this 2024 Stampin’ Up! incentive trip* as a gift to celebrate his 12th grade year and high school graduation. And we both were SOOooo very impressed with the whole experience.

We actually arrived in Mexico a couple days early and stayed at the Occidental at Xcaret Destination Resort nearby to extend our vacation a bit longer & to fit in more experiences.

During our initial stay at the Occidental, we took time to visit Xcaret Park which was included with our stay.

We paid a little extra so we could swim with dolphins.

We also saw lots of animals… sea turtles, manatees, bats in an underground cave, butterflies in a pavilion…

…a jaguar, and sharks.

Back at the resort we saw lots of other animals as well… deer, lizards, agouti, macaws, flamingos, and iguana.

We hung out with other demonstrators who were also staying at this place beforehand. And we ate wonderful foods at the many restaurants. The resort was beautiful, and we were very impressed by everything.

On Monday we transferred to the Xcaret Mexico Resort in one big van with our friends Elaine Schader, her husband Ryan, and their kids Katie, Noona and Nathan for the incentive trip portion of our stay to get pampered by Stampin’ Up!

Check-In was in a special room where we met with Stampin’ Up! board members and staff and where we got to pick out a bunch of gifts.

A big thanks to Sara Douglass for doing such a fantastic job running this amazing company AND for posing with us for this photo.

This is a thoroughly all-inclusive resort that includes transportation and access to all nine uniquely themed parks/tours, several on site restaurants and bars, many pools and water activities, and more! And we were wowed right away as this resort was even more incredible than our first one. I felt like royalty the whole time we were there! Our room was beautiful and had a hammock on the deck with a great view.

Every nook and cranny of the resort was breathtaking, service was always with a smile, the food was unique at every restaurant and every meal, and though we are happy being home now, we already wish we could go back.

We took it easy on Monday, the first day. After we found our room and unpacked, we walked around a bit and explored the resort taking lots of photos along the way and having fun with posing.

We ate lunch as Las Playas, a restaurant near the ocean. Then we found the gym on the opposite end of the resort so Nick knew where to go to work out. (Yep, he kept up with his workouts. He will be competing for his first body building competition in early June!) Then we got in the river that runs through the resort and swam for about an hour. It was SOOooo relaxing!

After that we were hungry again and met up and chatted with friends while we waited for the restaurants to open at 6. Here I am with Alanna Wharf and Julie Davison.

Dinner at the Mercado (and any meal we had here later in the trip) was WONDERFUL.

We got cleaned up from our swim, and then joined fellow demonstrators, their guests, Stampin’ Up! staff, and board members to finish the day having fun at a special Welcome Party. Here we are with Anne Oshiro and her daughter Rebecca.

And here we are posing with Marissa Alvarez, her husband Max, my upline Susan Campfield, and her sister Anne.

I started Tuesday by attending SU’s General Session. (There were times when Nick didn’t join me on the trip so he could fit in a gym workout. This was one of those times.) I sat with good friends Silvia Werner and her husband Uwe during the session. And then afterwards met up and mingled with lots of other demonstrators. Here I am with Kylie and Bruno Bertucci, my new friend Rachel Aziamadi and her husband James,…

…the sweet and caring Natalie Travis,…

…and Emma Goddard and Linda Dalke (laughing it up in the Hospitality Room after spinning for prizes and dropping off swaps).

After returning back to the room to change, Nick and I took off for a full day of ziplining at Xplor which turns into Xplor Fuego at night. Yep…we did a 7-course zipline during the day (which included the highest and longest one in the resort parks) and then returned in the evening with a large group to do that course again in the dark and with “rings of fire!”

After zipling, we all still had energy. I took it easy though and joined half the group for rafting through the caves. Nick kept on with the dare-devil activities and joined the other half to experience an extreme water slide.

We were starving by the time we got back to our room and ordered room service around midnight! Hahaha!

Wednesday was another more low-key day hanging out at the resort. We ate a late breakfast at Trajinera by the infinity pool. Then Nick grabbed us some awesome chairs in the water, and we enjoyed time in this pool meeting lots of new people (a whole wedding party not affiliated with Stampin’ Up!)…

…and connecting with demonstrator friends. Here I am with Irene Wendlandt .

When we got hungry again, we had a small meal at Chabali by the Octopus slide pool in the family area of the resort. They had lots of “kid food” but also appetizing adult choices. Then after more relaxation and getting cleaned up, we joined our friends Silvia and Uwe Werner at Las Cuevas, a Brazilian steakhouse restaurant in the caves for a late dinner.

This is me with Sylvia and Michelle Last during the wait to get in.

And this is us after our amazing meal. We texted this exact photo to my husband who was texting back and wishing he was with us. (He knows Silvia and Uwe well because we stayed with them for a few days in Germany after our Thailand incentive trip.)

We got up early Thursday morning to get transportation to Xenotes. We experienced amazing adventures in these natural cenotes like rapelling (upside-down if we chose), zipping into the water in creative ways, jumping in from far up, kayaking, going into the water on a slide, exploring under the water with masks, and swimming under the stalactites!

There we connected with Marissa and Max Alvarez again and made a new friend, Kari Doyle who is the daughter of fellow demonstrator Susan Nygard.

It was amazing. The photographer who joined us took almost 150 photos that included either Nick or me! And I got brave and brought my iPhone inside a waterproof case. So we had over 200 photos just from this day alone! It was hard to pick which ones to share.

After transporting back to the hotel to clean up, I stopped at the Hospitality room to spin for a prize, pick up swaps, and photograph all the cards. Here are photos of the swap card boards.

Can you find my swap card? I shared it on my blog post on Friday.

Nick and I joined Alanna Wharf and her husband Ryan at Xin Gao for a Japanese dinner that evening.

And then Nick took off again for his 3rd night in a row to hang out late with friends that he had made while on the trip. And Alanna, Ryan and I stayed out late chatting with other demonstrator friends.

On Friday I met up with Susan Campfield and her sister Anne for breakfast at the Bio restaurant while Nick slept. I was so happy to finally try this one out. It’s near Las Cuevas and also inside caves. And the food is all vegan. I tried ALL the smoothies and two different breakfasts. Yum!

Then all three of us ventured to the hospitality room to spin for our last prize and explore things in the lobby area (I did a little shopping and purchased vanilla and some pretty blue and white platters).

I finally met back up with Nick at the infinity pool. After a few hours of relaxing in the water, we got cleaned up for the evening and attended the Stampin’ Up! farewell celebration at Xcaret park which included the famous Xcaret show (where I hung out with Sam Hammond Donald, Sonia Bernard, Sarah Schueler, and other parents with the kids that Nick had connected with all week)…

…and a private party afterwards with food and music.

Here I am with Barbara Greenlee, Elaine Schader, Anne Oshiro, and Sarah Edwards.

And here is a photo of the young people that Nick hung out with often on the trip. He had such a great time!

These are photos of the gifts from Stampin’ Up! Some I received the first day when checking in. Some were gifts left in our room each day.

Here are gifts from the resort.

Here are gifts from fellow demonstrators.

And here are all the swap cards I received.

I felt so blessed to be on this amazing trip with my oldest son. We had a lot of great quality time together and made a lot of memories to last a lifetime.

*Disclaimer: Earning the incentive trip is something very few Stampin’ Up! demonstrators achieve—less than 1%, in fact! I was so excited to be among those that attended this one at the Xcaret Mexico Resort. And I am so grateful for all the support I get from you…my team members, customers, subscribers, viewers, friends, family, etc. Hugs!! And a big thank you!

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