Cancun Favorite Foods 2026

 Harper LOVES eating at a buffet, so our all-inclusive resort was right up her alley.

On our first night, the theme at the buffet was Asian.  Harper loved the ramen bar. 
She made her own ramen with shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, green onions, and hard-boiled eggs.

We found lots of other tasty food too! We cooled off with ice cream by the pool

and tried the ice cream shop at the mall too.

Harper was a big fan of the frozen drinks. Mango or strawberry?  I'll have both!

At the Italian restaurant, Harper loved the giant mozzarella sticks.

Ashley and I agreed that the Mexican restaurant was our favorite.

Harper thought it was pretty good 

but her absolute favorite was La Geisha (Japanese Hibachi).

She tried sushi for the first time

and laughed at the chicken shaped rice.

She tried to catch a ball of rice that the chef tossed to her.

When the chef asked if anyone was celebrating a special occasion, I mentioned that it was Ashley's birthday.  He turned the rice into a Happy Birthday message!

When he saw us taking a selfie, he offered to take the picture for us. 
We are so glad that he jumped in the photo too. We had the best time with Alejandro at La Geisha!

We all agreed that the churros from La Feria won the best food of the trip.
We ordered every single churro on the menu. Harper's favorite was Nutella,
Ashley loved the Oreo churro, and my favorite was the Biscotti churro.

We loved them so much that we went there twice.  We were giggling because not only
did we order every kind of churro (twice), but we ate them all!

Cancun Fun in the Sun 2026

 Last week, we spent some time at one of our favorite Cancun resorts- Iberostar Paraiso Maya.

We had a direct flight and were at the resort by lunchtime. Our room wasn't ready yet,
but we were prepared for that.  We changed into swimsuits and found
a shady palapa by one of the pools while we waited for our room.

The ocean was full of seaweed this year, but the resort has many pools!

We spent most of our time at the pool closest to our room, so Harper wouldn't have to walk far. At 4:00 AM on the day of our Cancun flight, her heel was super red, warm, and very painful. 
We are pretty sure she had bursitis.

 Harper especially enjoyed the wave pool!
We also spent time in the lazy river, but we were having too much fun and forgot to take a photo.

The weather was perfect!  We soaked up the sun but also found plenty of shady areas to cool off in.

We spent most of our days relaxing, floating, and enjoying frozen drinks.

The final match of the FIFA World Cup was at 2pm on Sunday.  We were surprised that
nearly everyone went to watch the game, and we had this whole pool to ourselves!

Harper loved swimming in this small pool right outside our room and

we also spent a lot of time at this quiet pool.

All of the pools were so beautiful! We never got tired of swimming.

Of course, we had to check out the waterslides too!

Harper came down first

and Ashley was right behind her!

Because of the seaweed, we never got in the ocean, but enjoyed some time on the beach anyway!

Idaho Fun!

After Yellowstone, we decided to check Idaho off Harper's list.
We headed to Island Park to make more memories!

There was time for relaxing in the hotel pool.

 
After several early mornings, the girls finally got to sleep in!

Harper is always a big fan of the hotel breakfast buffet!

Since we were in Idaho, we figured it was the perfect place
to enjoy one of Harper's favorite foods -- a baked potato.  

We found out that the Texaco near our hotel sells $1 baked potatoes
every day, so that became our lunch spot!

 After lunch, we went on a canoe float trip down the Henry’s Fork River.

It was absolutely beautiful.

The sky somehow seemed bluer, the mountains were breathtaking, the water was crystal clear, and the scenery was just incredible.

Our adventure included a couple of spots where the water was pretty shallow.  

Harper wasn't worried.  She stayed in the canoe while Ashley and I braved the cold water!

After our canoe adventure we rewarded ourselves with ice cream, 

and we even tried some local Huckleberry chocolates.

I don't even remember what Harper said that got us so tickled,
but we laughed a lot and made some great memories in Idaho!

More Yellowstone Memories!

 On our way to Montana, we had a layover in Las Vegas.  
We had just enough time to grab breakfast at the Chase Sapphire Lounge.

For our first night, we stayed in Gardiner, MT. Since major chains like Hilton or Marriott weren’t an option, we booked the Yellowstone Village Inn. We’re so used to unlocking hotel doors with a digital key on our phones that the check-in process threw us for a loop. This place was delightfully old-school. When the front desk clerk handed us a physical, plastic room key,
Harper stared at it in utter disbelief and exclaimed, "WHAT IS THAT???"
Honestly, I can't blame her—we don't even use a physical key for our own house anymore!

After our old-school night in Gardiner, our next hotel in West Yellowstone was
much more our speed.  We got back to the modern comforts we prefer, but the real highlight of the stay wasn't the digital keys -- it was the indoor pool.  Harper loved flying down the 100-foot waterslide!

The arcade was a fun spot too!

We were glad they had Uno, because we forgot to pack our game.

We checked out the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.

It was nice to get an up-close look at the animals.
This center acts as a sanctuary for wildlife that can no longer survive in the wild.

Harper, watch out for that bear!

No matter where we travel, Harper is always on a mission to find a penny press machine.

The girls found the coziest seat in the gift shop!

Hands down, our absolute favorite meal of the entire trip was at Firehole BBQ Company in West Yellowstone. This spot was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and it completely lived up to the hype! Ashley and I couldn’t get enough of their incredible pulled pork

and Harper was on cloud nine after ordering her ultimate favorite food: a massive loaded baked potato.

Yellowstone was so much fun. The miles were long, but the memories were the best!