Cabo San Lucas: Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - Friday
Our third day of vacation started in the early morning hours with a very fussy baby. Aden is still up to eat 2-3 times a night and around Midnight he awoke screaming a different cry than usual. I went to retrieve him from his crib and felt his skin burning up. He hasn't been unexposed in the sun one time, so I knew it wasn't from that. It had to be a fever. Poor little dude. Luckily, in my packing on Tuesday I threw bottles of infant and children's Tylenol into my bag at the last second. Aden's fever seemed to go down with medicine, but returned on and off throughout the day on Friday. He showed no other symptoms of sickness (no watery eyes, runny nose or red cheeks or ears) so I'm still not sure if it was a strange bug he picked up traveling or if it's related to teething. At three months old, he seems a bit young for teething but I suppose you never know.

Thankfully, while I was up most of the night with Aden, Tory was fast asleep in Grandma Janie's bed. Vacation has done wonders for tiring her out each night and bedtime is hardly a struggle. Tory slept in Friday morning until 7:30am which is basically Noon in Tory-time. Aden seemed to be feeling okay with Tylenol in his system, so we decided to go out for breakfast at Jarro Cafe, a coffee shop down the street.

This time it was Tory causing us fits when we arrived at the restaurant. I'm not sure if she was tired, or hungry, or just needed a moment to herself to chill. Truthfully, she's done amazingly well on this trip so this little outburst was nothing compared to how it could have been with a change in schedule. The lovely cafe employee must have children because he changed the television from techno beats (ha! - so early in the morning) to Nick Jr. and Tory tuned into her own little world. Meanwhile, Aden hung out in the stroller while Janie, Andi and I enjoyed quiet over coffee, tea and conversation. Andi chiliquenes were really delicious, I had a tasty dish of heurvos rancheros and Janie ordered sweet crepes for herself. I'd recommend Jarro Cafe for a quick and tasty breakfast.

Next, Andi, Tory and I hit the pool while Janie stayed with Aden inside the condo. Our room is literally a hop, skip and a jump away from the pool so I was close by in case Aden's fever returned. The weather was already hot and sunny and our new Canadian friends Antonio and Isabella were at the pool that morning so we chatted and played with the little girls. It's pretty funny, actually, how much of a soap opera the Marina Sol pool area is here. All condo balconies face the pool in the center of the property so you can see right into people's spaces (when the shades are open) and watch what everyone's doing in the pool area. Someone got a new refrigerator? Saw it. New lounge chairs. We saw them bring in 10 of them. All the other guests call Tory by name and everyone here's so friendly with one another. It's nice and homey.

It's funny how much time there is in a day on vacation with kids. After the pool, Andi, Janie and Tory decided to walk around the Cabo San Lucas marina while I stayed back at the condo with Aden. Little Aden isn't seeing much of the city on this trip. Either Janie or I usually stay back with him so he remains indoors while the rest of the group ventures out for a mini excursion.

This is what it looks like parenting a sad, sleepy baby on vacation:

Andi brought back a ham baguette and pizza bread for lunch and two pastries for dessert from the Cabo bakery from their adventure in town. Almost everything we've had to eat so far on this trip has been excellent. Andi calls Cabo San Lucas the Disney World of Mexico because this area's so clean, friendly and has an American vibe. There's every kind of food you'd want within walking distance from our condo including a few Starbucks, McDonalds and Dominos Pizza. This has its advantages as we haven't had to convert our money to Pesos because the Dollar is widely accepted and almost everyone here speaks English.

For dinner Friday evening, we hired a private chef to come into our condo and cook us dinner. Andi met with the chef earlier in the day and determined the menu, then the chef went to local markets around town to hand-select fresh fish and vegetables for our meal. Chef Mario arrived at our place around 4:00pm to begin meal preparations. He invited us to interact with him while we cooked, so we sat around the bar area separating the dining room and the kitchen while he told us stories about his life and culinary background. For dinner, Chef Mario prepared an avocado salad, fresh sea bass caught earlier that day, lobster tails, roasted carrots, bell peppers, zucchini and flan for dessert. It was really fun having someone cook a restaurant-style meal in the comforts of our space, especially since Aden wasn't feeling well and I ended up rocking him throughout the meal. Chef Mario also made Tory a cheese quesadilla and it must have been good because she devoured the entire thing.

Dinner was excellent and I'd highly recommend using Chef Mario's services again. After the chef left, we all turned in for an early night. Tory was asleep in two minutes flat. The sunshine and activities really wear her out.Fortunately, Aden seemed to feel better as the night wore on and by morning, was feeling back to his normal, chipper self.

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Day 4 - Saturday
One of our "bucket list" items on this vacation was to visit a local farmer's market and our Canadian friend Antonio, whom we met at the resort, recommended a wonderful restaurant and organic market at the base of Pedragal, about 15 minutes away from our condo, called Penny Lane. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, vendors line the streets selling fruits, vegetables and meats to locals and visitors alike. Their recommendation was spot-on and breakfast Saturday morning at Penny Lane Restaurant was excellent. Andi ordered gorditas, I had the chilaquiles since Andi's meal had looked so delicious the morning before and Janie ate a shredded beef dish served with tortillas.

Andi and I decided to take Tory out for a little date after breakfast, so we walked down to the marina while Janie stayed back with a sleeping Aden. We strolled along the harbor looking at boats and stopped for frozen yogurt along the way.

We re-heated last night's chef dinner leftovers into quesadillas for lunch then while the kids napped, Andi and I snuck away for a little date of our own. We scored some lounge chairs and watched all the carnage of college Spring Breakers getting jiggy with it on the beach, then bellied up to the bar at Baja Cantina for an adult beverage (or two, because everything's 2 for 1 around here). You know you're officially old when the bartender offers you an extra beer that someone left behind and you refuse it, though you accept the bartender's offer of a bottle of SPF 30 sunscreen the patron had also left behind on the bar. "Yeah, I'll take that!" Andi said. Ha. Who are we anymore?

Neither Janie, Andi or I were feeling very hungry for dinner, so we made Tory a cheese quesadilla in the condo and put the kids to bed shortly after sunset. Janie encouraged Andi and I to go out for the evening and while we were both tired and not really feeling like it, we took her up on the offer. How many times does your babysitter (Grandma) push you out the door for a date night and you're lucky enough to have a gourmet restaurant literally across the street. Andi and I had dinner at Corozon de Alchachofa Restaurant and it turned out to be the best meal we've had on the trip thus far. The ambiance in the restaurant was so romantic with beautiful flowering trees hanging above the tables and candles lit everywhere you looked. The food and the service was even better, if that's possible. Andi and I ordered the restaurant's famous grilled artichoke which was naturally a hit because we love artichokes. Andi ordered grilled shrimp for his main entree and I had homemade fettuccini noodles mixed in an artichoke and bacon alfredo sauce. It was divine. To treat Janie for staying back with the kids, Andi ordered her a grilled artichoke to-go. I don't think to-go service is very popular here, or maybe we haven't found the right Mexican word for it because the waiter was very confused with Andi's request. It didn't help he asked for a "grilled artichoke to-go, to take to his mom across the street." I think the waiter thought we left his mom outside the restaurant on the street corner. Ha!