Maldives

We had a great time in the Maldives doing all the typical beach things like... playing on the beach. 

Tylor was very curious about the water and the sand and kept himself entertained by splashing and eating sand.  One of the reasons we chose this resort was because it is a kid friendly place with a great kids club that lets you bring (and leave) kids 3 and up (most resorts it 4 or 5 and up). 

Jaydon had a great time at the kids club and it became our morning routine to wake-up,

eat breakfast, play in the sand then I'd head back to the villa to put Tylor down for his nap.  Steve and Jaydon would play at the kids club or on the beach making neat things like sand turtles. 

We'd then meet up for lunch once Tylor was awake and repeat for afternoon nap.  Once he would wake up we head out to dinner and repeat.  For the first few days this is all we did and I napped everytime Tylor did which was great to finally get some sleep. 

The resort had many different restaurants but our favorite ended up being the Italian one.  Lots of good food and a great guitarist which thoroughly entertained the boys. 

All the staff at the restaurants were really great and would go the extra mile to try and make sure Steve and I had a relaxing meal (or at least got to finish our food). 

It seemed every waiter/tress had their own trick whether it was singing or making napkin animals or showing off the resident geckos. 

Some would even give Jaydon a tour of the kitchen and let him go meet the chefs cooking up our dinners in the back.  We really could not say enough great things about them. 
Half way through the vacation we realized that all we had done was eat, sleep and play on the beach so Steve decided to change things up headed out on a fishing charter. 

He was entertained by a pod of dolphins.  They had a good but not great day fishing but did bring home this beautiful fish. 

The resort saved all the fish and cooked it up for us the next day for lunch.  It was exceptionally good and an enormous amount of food. 

We all gorged ourselves on fish, finished off some champagne and had a very good afternoon nap. 
I took the next morning to go snorkeling.  This area of the Maldives atolls is well known for whale sharks and our resort supported the local research center.  The snorkeling trip was to find whale sharks and swim with them but unfortunately we didn't see any that day.  After driving around for a few hours (inhaling diesel fumes) they finally decided to let go out and snorkel for awhile (and I was thoroughly sea sick by then).  Before the trip I had bought a new underwater camera because we seem to have the worst luck with our camera getting jammed up with sand on vacation.  This camera was great because it was sand and shock proof.  However, I discovered that it wasn't exactly waterproof. 

I jumped in the water, took about 6 pictures before bubbles started coming out of the camera - the screen went blank and that was the end of it.  Looking back it's probably just as well we didn't see the whale sharks because then I would have been super mad about the situation or worse off been so distracted with my malfunctioning camera that I wouldn't of enjoyed them at all... 

Back on dry land Jaydon showed me all the hermit crabs he had caught that day. 

And decided to be a bunny at dinner that night thanks to arts and crafts time at the kids club. 

One of the other big attractions for the boys at the resort was the feeding time. 

On the north side of the island they fed the black tip reef sharks every night and on the south side they fed the manta rays. 

Usually this happened during Jaydons nap time but there were a few evening that we were up in time to enjoy the fun. 

Jaydon LOVED feeding all the creatures in the sea and we got a couple of cute videos of him making friends with the locals and feed the sharks and manta rays. 

We got the feeling that they usually don't let the kids do this but he was so into it that they couldn't resist his enthusiasm and the other kids happily joined in (to the parents disgust since it was stinky raw fish with out a sink and water to wash up any where close by). 

When feeding time was over the next bit of fun was catching the crabs that came out of their hiding spots to eat all the fish scraps leftover. 

Jaydon thought catching crabs was great fun and by the end of the trip was very good at it. 

All too soon the trip was over, and on our last day they decorated our room extra special. 

We got some cute pictures of Tylor before the boys spread the beautiful hibiscus flowers every where. 

We said good-bye to our personal butler and Jaydon's favorite best friend on the trip Yousuf. 

Having him around really helped make the trip just as perfect as it could be.  The last morning we were their we woke up extra early and caught our sea plane back to reality. 

Jaydon loved the flight and Tylor put up with it (the earplugs were a fight - again). 

We were sorry to go and our week trip was much too short.  But it was well worth it!