Cancun 2008 - Akins the Mexican Celebrity and More

Our trip was mostly perfect. The weather was great, we had no delays in airports in fact even caught a standby and got home 3 hours early, had no major meltdowns during the entire trip and most importantly our 15 year old dog Zach survived the week and has entered another year (a major milestone considering his age and health issues). Akins loved vacation and when asked what part he liked the best he answers "lots". Okay, so no favorite parts just lots of good fun. To lay the trip out would best be done in segments, as it was really quite interesting for several reasons.

Segement One - Akins is now a Mexican Celebrity
Our trip included all inclusive food, activities and drinks at four different resorts, so on night two we decided to venture over to one of the other resorts and attend the weekly welcome show. This happened to be a night of Mariachi music and dancing. Well, at the end of the show they began drawing room numbers for some fairly cheesy prizes for which the winner was to come on stage and in some cases be asked to be a bit silly. The last drawing was you guessed it... our room. So, I shoved Akins off to the stage and he took off running up the steps onto the stage and then "freak out", everyone is looking at him... the music is playing and he is asked to dance. He is frozen in space. "Would you like different music"? the emcee says. Akins nods "Yes". The music stops and "Who Let the Dogs Out" starts pumpin' out very loud! We are thinking, okay he knows this one, but he is still standing frozen and then all of a sudden he busts loose and completely goes crazy on the stage. The crowd goes wild and he continues to dance wild for quite some time! For the rest of the week we were approached by people in large quantities, on the bus, in different resorts, everywhere we go, asking for him to dance, people shaking his hand, women asking for hugs, kisses, you name it! He is the talk of the town. It was unbelievable.

Frozen and Terrified!

Who Let This Dog Out???

Segment Two - The Stalker
Okay, for the first time Lorea and I actually entertained the "notion" of Akins needing a sibling. You know someone to play with while on a trip like this. Ahhh, but not a problem for our kid, he has become a stalker who masterfully has figured out how to join other kids games and make those kids like him so much that by weeks end they are in tears over having to say good-bye. Actually, we were quite pleased to see him figure out how to overcome shyness and socialize on his own. It took a bit of prodding but he figured out how to do this with the boys. Now girls, well next time!

Horning in on a game of basketball with the big boys!

Playing with Antoine!

Antoine and his brothers before saying goodbye.

Playing with Alex from Canada.

Playing with Indy from Sydney Australia

Segment Three - Swim Up Bars
On day three we were laying around one of the pools and all of the resorts have swim up bars so Akins had witnessed this whole thing of swimming up and ordering a drink. He is off in the pool and I said to Lorea "You know I picture him swimming up there and ordering a drink". Well, not more than five minutes later she says "Oh, my God he is up there" I look over and there he was ordering drinks and kickin' at the bar".

The bartender yelled to me "he's asking for Tequilla" (true story)

After placing his order for a Coke.


Segment Four - Church (Scott this is just for you)
Some of you may recall the post a while back where Akins pointed at a Hooters bar and asked if it was a church, to which we said no and Scott (another adoptive parent) had a response that had me dying laughing and I am certain should be a published work. These photos are just for Scott!




Segment Five - The Ladies
It is often we get compliments by people especially women on how beautiful Akins is, but in Mexico it was almost unnerving. The women are completely in awe of him. Touching, hugging, kissing it was crazy! All I can say to really explain this is if I were Akins and I were all grown up I'd move to Mexico!


The working on a free massage.

Getting a free massage.

Segment Six - The Shark
On one of our outings we had the opportunity to meet and well...greet a real live shark. Akins was bounding down into the water before I could even get my shirt off only to nearly change his mind once getting closer and realizing it was big and real. He did it though...

The fear is over!

Belly up!

A little timid here.

Segement Seven - The Yatch
We had the opportunity to go out on a Yatch.

Captian Knupp

Segement Eight - The End
A few extra shots of the fun and adventure!

Water slide - big fun!

Good times!

On the way out to Isla Muerelles (Woman Island)

Snackin' on a lime.

Hey where's my sand castle?

This was a cozy thing to lay out in on the beach. Akins called it a dog bed!

And a beautiful sunset!