After almost a week of getting back to normal life, I've finally gotten the chance to catch you all up on our very fun, exciting trip to Cancun, Mexico! This is the balcony from our little condo. It overlooks the beach and all the other hotels. It was so HOT there- about 95 degrees and 90% humidity. We had fun on the beach and playing in the waves (which knocked Larry and I down a few times-it's pretty rough). Our condo was by all the dance clubs and some malls, so we explored those a little when we first arrived.
Our first day of adventures began Monday at an ecopark called Xcaret. They have lots of animals, snorkeling in caves and rivers, and Mexican heritage shows. It was all a lot of fun and it made a very full day. We left at 8 am and got home at midnight.
These guys hung upside down from a giant pole and did all these cool tricks.
Ah! Air conditioning! I felt like I was totally melting a lot of the time we were there. I felt like I was constantly drinking water the whole time we were there. I don't think I've ever sweat that much in my life- I didn't even dare wear makeup because even the sunscreen on my face would drip into my eyes. It was THAT HOT.
This was one of the performers in the huge show that they have at night.
On Tuesday, we did Selvatica. It was a group of 8 of us that did zip lines through the jungle, swimming in a cenote (underground pool), and lunch. Here we are all suited up. We did about 12 lines, and it was fun. Larry did a couple upside-down, and I did a couple "superman"-style.
Larry really wanted to use a Segway, so he rented one to take to the cenote- the rest of us went in the army truck.
The cenote was perfect- nice and refreshing. They had a zipline into the pool and a diving platform. They had a fun rope to sit on and walk on, and even a little bat cave on the side. After the cenote, we had a yummy lunch and then were back to the condo. On this day, we took the bus to the super WalMart to stock up on groceries for the rest of the trip.
Wednesday was awesome. We went snorkeling with Octavio in a reef about 10 minutes out into the carribean. We started with a practice session in a pool for about 30 minutes, then we went out on a little boat to the reef. We quickly got in and descended. Larry was pretty nervous about it, but the practices went so well, that we both felt comfortable quickly. We did 2 dives, the first one was down about 20 -30 feet, the second, around 30-40 feet.
The first really cool thing that we saw was a Baracuda! He even stayed still while we posed.
All the fish swam right by us, and I could ALMOST touch them...
Toward the end of the first dive, I started feeling a little sick and like I needed to eat, so we surfaced and I quickly ate something to calm my stomach. We quickly realized that I was motion sick. After throwing up my little snack over the side of the boat, we suited up really fast to get back into the water (the boat was rocking SO hard, and down in the water, it was nice). On this dive, it got cold, so I stayed a little higher part of the time. The coolest thing we saw on this part was this big sting ray and baby ray. They glided off before we got too close.
We saw lots of schools of fish, lobster, tons of cool coral, and a lot of diverse sea life. It was SO worth the 10 minutes of motion sickness. After coming up, we quickly zipped back to the lagoon, and by the time we got there, I was feeling totally normal. Although, my hair wasn't...
Salt water does weird things to hair...
On Thursday, we went with an LDS tour guide, Helaman to two archeological sites- Equin-Ha? and Chichen-Itza. The first one was cool because we could climb up all the temples. Here was a baptismal font. There were many similarities to see. Helaman was so great with pointing out and explaining the possibilites.
Here's Larry at the top of the main temple. As you can see, there is jungle EVERYWHERE! It was so interesting to also see the mounds of rock and overgrowth on the parts of the temples that they haven't restored yet. At both sites I was amazed at how anyone could fit all the pieces together to reconstruct these sites.
After the best meal on the trip- Lime soup, Chicken fajitas, fruit and lemonade, we visited the main temple at Chichen-Itza. They had all sorts of accessory buildings, including where they play that basketball-like sport with the two tiny hoops up on the wall. It was so interesting to learn about the symbolism.
On Friday, we cancelled our last excursion (another zipline/archeological site/cenote), to just hang out at the beach and pack for our early flight the next day. Larry and I had a lot of fun going out in the early evening looking for shells. Larry loved putting on his goggles and finding shells. We took lots of pictures on our waterproof camera- so we'll post those once they get developed. We also both read a Brandon Sanderson book (Mistborn was so excellent), and I even forced Larry to watch all 6 hours of the BBC Pride and Prejudice!
We left our condo at 5 am, with music from the dance clubs still going strong. We flew into Dallas around 9:30. Larry picked a great hotel, with free shuttles to the airport, awesome breakfast, and within walking distance of the stadium, six flags, and our new favorite place to eat- Steak and Bake. After some yummy burgers, Larry went to Six Flags, while I napped (Heaven!). We met back for dinner, then took a taxi to the stadium. It was absolutely UNreal how huge that place is. We were surrounded by Sooner fans everywhere we went (it was at least a 10-1 ratio). They were all SO NICE to us and many congratulated us afterwards. After wandering around for at least 30 minutes, we found our seats. We sat in one of the corners with most of the BYU fans in the sections surrounding us. It was such a crazy, awesome game!! The perfect end to our anniversary adventure.
Sunday, we picked up the kids from Larry and Lori's house. They didn't miss us much at all- they were having too much fun with grandma, grandpa, Lucy, and Andy. It really was nice to be together again after 8 days. Although, I have to say that I was a little surprised at how little I worried about the kids while we were gone. It was nice to have an adventure with just me and Larry. Maybe in another 10 years we'll get away again...
Spencer was pretty quiet the first morning that I dropped him off for Kindergarten, but he was just bubbly afterwards. I think he didn't quite know what to expect, but now he really likes it. He even gets to ride the bus a whole block home.
Miranda and Derek are really enjoying school. I think it's turned out better than either of them thought! Of course, they haven't started having daily homework yet. I'm enjoying the quieter and cleaner house. It will get even better when I get two mornings a week with just Kara- imagine that!!
