We took our first vacation with Elsie! We went to Cozumel, Mexico this past week. We had originally planned to go to Mexico last year, but had a change in plans after we found out Elsie was on the way and then the government issued a travel advisory due to H1N1. Ironically, after canceling our trip I ended up with swine flu without going to Mexico!

Several people are curious what it is like to travel with an infant. Well, most of the time she was a rockstar. Three out of the four flights she traveled like a pro, napping or quietly playing. No one wants to hear about the pleasant details, so I'll skip to the terrible. You do not want to be the parent of the crying baby on the plane. Trust me. People already started glaring before we even got on the plane (when the child was as charming as could be). After about 30 minutes of passing our fussy darling among us, Shane was shuffling drinks around when he accidentally spilled Mom's diet pop down my legs, into my socks and shoes. I was halfway between laughter, anger, and tears as I held my crying baby and felt the sticky pop creep further into my shoes. As Shane apologetically tried to use the tiny, thin napkin to clean up the mess, he accidently lifted up the nursing cover nearly exposing my boob for all glaring passengers to see. Needless to say, the rest of the flight was not pleasant. I guess I should be thankful 3 of the 4 flights went off without a hitch because we didn't handle the stress of the bad flight so well.

The reason we wanted to go to Cozumel was to scuba dive. Shane did 6 boat dives, Mom did 2, and I got to do 4. I was especially excited to see sea turtles and my wish came true; I saw several and got close enough to touch two of them! I also saw my first shark! It was a lonely nurse shark hanging out at the bottom of the ocean, under a corral ledge. It took my breathe away as we glided about 5-8 feet above the guy. During the trip, we saw several types of fish, crab, lobster, eels, lionfish, etc.

Shane and I went on one night dive. We got in the water about 10 minutes before dark along with Michelle (a dive buddy from our local dive group) and our divemaster David. We saw octopus, crabs, lobster, eels, and several fish. Before we knew it, it was pitch dark. We were about 40 feet deep, each holding a flashlight searching for ocean life. With the light we could see about 20 feet. If someone found something they'd shake their light around or make a noise for the others to see. All of a sudden I heard a "thud" and then all our lights were shining on a monstrous fish, with something hanging out of his mouth. He opened his large mouth and a stingray came out. I jokingly say this fish was the size of a volkswagen, but I am only half joking! It was a goliath grouper, which easily weighed between 200-300 pounds. We were able to see him for about ten seconds, until he hid under a coral ledge. It was then I realized "What the heck am I doing?" "What if there is another one out there?" "What was that thing?" "Would it eat a human?" "What else is out there lurking and how close have I come to whatever it is?" CREEEEEEEPY. Turns out, our divemaster has only seen seven of these goliath groupers in the past 11 years! Should we count ourselves lucky?!

Elsie got to experience both the ocean and the swimming pool for the first time. She loved them both! How amazing to see her so happy. If only there was a swimming pool on the airplane. Mom and Elsie had a little bonding time, most of which was good. I think Elsie somehow knew Mommy and Daddy saw a big, scary fish so she cried for us the entire time we were gone for the night dive. Sorry, Grandmama! All in all it was a nice vacation that allowed us to spend some quality time together and I'm looking forward to our next vacation to go visit Todd and Paige later this summer. Then, we'll have to plan another dive trip...where to next?