The Mixed-Up Adventures of the Merry Mederich's.

All-Inclusive vacations may not be everyone's cup of tea, but over the past 6 years I have developed an appreciation (addiction) for taking a vacation where I don't really have to think much.  Between the demands of marriage, parenting, career, housework, and kids activities, it is really nice to pay a sum of money for your vacation and then just......enjoy!  Many all-inclusive resorts include more than just food and beverage.  There is often entertainment, activities, childcare, fitness classes, and plenty to keep you busy without leaving the property or spending additional money.  If you like, you can also book excursions or explore the local area at an extra expense.  We have rarely opted to do anything extra as we are typically happy to take advantage of the included options.   Listen, in my experience, you get what you pay for with, well, almost everything.  And that goes for all-inclusive resorts.  We have gone low-end, mid-range, and h...

We are on our way home from our 6th Annual Away and it occurred to me that I take the fewest pictures on these trips. I don’t use or look at my phone very much because I like to unplug as much as possible and do “perfect day” activities. That means fewer pictures, but usually more enjoyment.  I think it’s a fun game to explore what would make up an individual’s perfect day. Once you have figured out what a perfect day looks like you can incorporate those types of moments and activities into more of your regular days. For example, my perfect day consists of going for a walk and seeing the beach. I can’t do a beach walk every day, but almost any day I can go for a regular walk and enjoy fresh air and a mental reset. I can create a “perfect day moment.” I have had a lot of perfect day moments the last 5 days and 4 nights at Sun Palace, but notably missing was time with my kids. Therefore, I can’t wait to get home! We arrived to Sun Palace on a Wednesday. Our good friends had been ther...

Ever since the summer of 2017 my husband and I have taken some “adult-only” vacation time away each year. It started with a trip to Italy in celebration of our 10-year wedding anniversary. Then, in 2018, we began taking these “Annual Aways” at all-inclusive resorts. We first stayed at Ocean Maya Royale in 2018, then Único 2087 in 2019, followed by Atelier Playa Mujeres in 2020, and then Le Blanc Los Cabos in 2021. For the three most recent trips we had the good fortune of vacationing with some of our dear friends from Minnesota. It’s such a treat to take these trips with people we love.  During our Le Blanc Los Cabos trip in 2021 Justin and I started talking about how fun it would be to take the kids to an all-inclusive resort and maybe even my parents to thank them for diligently watching our kiddos each time so Justin and I can get away. When we were leaving Le Blanc they offered us a pretty great vacation package at any of their Palace Resorts. We bought two packages on the spot...

My kids are pretty creative and imaginative.  I love this about them.  As I type these words I can hear the three of them playing make believe that they are travelling the world on a hot air balloon, airplane and ship.  Because they have so many creative ideas I have mom guilt about not indulging their every whim.  I try to say "yes" to as much as possible, but I still say "no" plenty. Sometime back in March or April Via made a poster for something called Camp Lunar and posted it in our dining room.  Of course it was a cute idea, but I don't think any of us thought it would happen.  Because these are exactly the types of ideas that don't usually happen. After staring at this poster at every dinner for months I thought, "Why not do a version of this camp?  Why not just take an hour a day for one week and invite our friends over for Camp Lunar?"  So I reached out to the families on the street and they were all down to let their kids participate....