WHO: Elaine Cohen, 60, her husband, Don Milotte, 58, of Newburyport; with Cohen's daughter Rachel Goldberg, 35, daughter-in-law Susan Cook, 42, and their sons , Jessup Goldberg Cook, 5, and Elias Goldberg Cook, 1, all of Northampton; and with Milotte's son Ian Milotte, 25, of Kittery, Maine, and daughter Christina Milotte, 27, and her fiance, Jeremy Tooley, 28, of Frederick, Md.
WHERE: Mexico
WHEN: Two weeks in December and January
WHY: To celebrate Cohen's 60th birthday, she and Milotte gave their children a weeklong stay at Costa Azul Adventure Resort (costaazul.com), about an hour north of Puerto Vallarta.
SECOND SIGHT: "We'd been there once before eight years ago with another couple. I like to kayak and my husband surfs. And we were looking for some place casual, where you can be in a bathing suit all day," Cohen said. "The cost is really reasonable. It's all-inclusive, and the rooms face the Pacific."
THE PLACE TO GO: " As soon as you leave the [Puerto Vallarta] airport you go through little towns and right away into a mountain range and the jungle," Cohen said. "The resort is the only one in the area."
WATER WORLD: "I went snorkeling twice, and the kids went horseback riding every night at sunset," Cohen said. "You could actually snorkel in caves. It was kind of scary, but fun." Milotte was out by 7 a.m. nearly every day for a surfing excursion. "They might drive for half an hour to the best beach or take you out on boats to find the local breaks," he said. They went to the Marietta Islands , where humpback whales come to give birth, and saw breaching whales, dolphins, and blue-footed boobies.
SWELL TIME: On a day trip to Yelapa, a village reached only by boat, they walked along a horse path through town before reaching a waterfall. "It was fabulous," Cohen said. "But by the time we left , the wind had picked up and we had to fight 10-foot swells to get out of the bay, so we couldn't cross it." Even along the coast, it was a rocky ride, she said. They reached another town, jumped on a local bus to Puerto Vallarta , and got a taxi to Costa Azul. "That was our big adventure day," she said.
KID STUFF: Preparing for Jessup's fifth birthday, they were surprised to find that the holidays had depleted the piñata supply in the touristy town of Sayulita, so Cohen ended up bargaining for one being used as a restaurant decoration. After loading up on candy to put inside it, they had a party for Jessup and other children at the resort. One of the parents, a professional juggler from California, entertained them.
ON THEIR OWN: The second week, Cohen and Milotte rented a car and drove a few hours south to Barra de Navidad. "It's really a Mexican tourist place, very quaint." They took a boat ride through islands of mangroves and enjoyed dining on the beach. "Sometimes you have a vision of how you want a trip to happen, and this was everything we envisioned," Cohen said.
