We stayed at the Barcelo (The Colonial, not the Beach Club - there are actually 4 Barcelo resorts together) in March. We went for a wedding (so left the kids at home) on this particular trip, but we have stayed at AI resorts with our kids before (they are 11 and nearly 8). Our friends' stayed at the Beach club, and it seemed much busier and noisier than the Colonial. It *was* spring break time though, so perhaps there will not be as many drunken frat boys when you travel, :) Personally, I love travelling to an AI with the kids (we have been to AI's in the Mayan Riveria, Puerto Vallarta and the Dominican Republic; we also have a timeshare condo that is not AI in Mazatlan that we have been to several times). The buffet restaurants always had lots of choices as far as food goes (my son is a picky eater ), with lots of fresh fruit. The beach front buffets tend to carry lots of "American" food (hot dogs, hamburgers etc) that can be a change from the exotic food overload. The fish is always excellent. The entertainment at the Barcelo ranged from hokey-lame to very good. Pick chairs up higher but in the first row for best air circulation and view - it can be really hot sitting with all of those people. There was some noticeable hurricane damage still in evidence on the ride from Cancun to the resort, but the grounds themselves are in quite good condition. When we were there, there was some construction noise as they were rebuilding the pier/headlands. A lot of the actual sand had been blown off the beach, so it was quite rocky in some areas. Bring water shoes or sandals for the beach. There are plenty of chairs everywhere. The 4 resorts together are *enormous* - they must have close to a mile of beachfront, so there is plenty of room to spread out. Personally, I enjoy beach time with a bood and no one bothering me, so it was easy to get lost away from the other people in our group. There were virtually no beach vendors, which I actually kind of miss. I did find the prices for souveneir junk quite high at the resort, and very high on the shopping day we took to Playa Del Carmen. The fancy jewelery factory (don't be fooled by their promises of seeing "jewelery artisans at work" - it is primarily a giant showroom) near the resort actually had not bad prices, but a very small silver selection in comparison to the gold (mucho $$). We probably would not return to this resort again, but only because of the price, as we tend to be three star travellers, LOL. I don't have anything bad to say about the actual resort itself. Carrie

Seeking, I know what you mean about location. I really really wanted Hawaii...but the flight/travel time was like 12 hours! We just couldn't afford the time spent traveling. I really think this place was reasonable. We paid $5100 for all 5 of us, airfare included, for 6 nights. (But that's with 2 rooms. We wanted the down-time without the kids!) -Free (but limited selection) room service -all you can/drink -superb service. Seriously. These folks were amazing. -plenty of adventures to be had off-site. We went to a place called XCaret, an ecoological park. We snorkeled, swam in these really cool underground rivers, and did more touristy things. The website is GoIberostar.com. Tripadvisor.com also has lots of reviews on them, as well as other photos.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, my MIL was amazing. Her favorite place in the world was in the kitchen, whether it was her own or the church's kitchen. Over the years, she was the chairman of the women's church group that was responsible for the funeral dinners. Right before she died, she told her daughter, "Now, the church ladies are going to want to give a dinner for the family. You let them do it!" They did, too (more ham), and tried to use some of the recipes that Marilla had given them over the years. She also LOVED Christmas. My husband and his sister counted almost 3 dozen tubs of Christmas decorations, not including the 2 artificial trees and a glass curio cabinet filled year round with Santa Claus figurines. That also did not include the 3 dozen+ Christmas sweatshirts that I found in closets and drawers. Because I am the same size as my MIL, and no one else in the family was, I was encouraged to take whatever clothing I wanted, but especially the Christmas sweatshirts. Well, folks, I live in Southern California, and I rarely wear sweatshirts around that time of the year! But I took my favorites. My MIL also had great taste in clothes. For a 78 year old woman, it was fairly young taste too. Yes, you're right, she's like-able and we already miss her terribly. She'd been looking forward to getting to know her California grandson-in-law a little better at the end of the month, and was definitely looking forward to the arrival of another great-grandchild in February (my first grandchild is due then - something we found out just before my MIL passed) - Donna

Oddly enough, some of the locals in my area, (SE Texas) call trifoliate orange a "sour orange". It can be found growing in river bottomlands in the area. Not sure they are native since citrus has been grown as a crop in the area for a long time. Dave, yes, our guide had a good smattering of information but probably was not aware of the details. Still, I'm curious if there is some kind of insect that would eat both but select the palm over the citrus. Perhaps some kind of symbiotic effect or shading once the palms get bigger. They were in a dry period and the citrus looked a bit stressed. One would think the palms would be stealing water from the soil.