CANCUN!!!

Carson and I went to Cancun last week for our 10-year anniversary (which was actually in May). Carson's mom stayed with the kids so we got to enjoy each other's company with a little peace and quiet! I'm going to try to tell the short version on the blog so you won't be bored to death but I will include a lot of pictures.

Day 1: our flights got bumped, we slept 4 hours at a hotel by the airport, I almost passed out standing in line for my breakfast (gotta love being pregnant), we flew separately but got there at the same time and it was very hot and humid but beautiful!!! We had a very yummy dinner at our hotel that had some very interesting modern decor:

Then we went out walking to check out the "hotel zone" and took a bus to the downtown area. There were guys who would jump on the buses and play their guitars and sing:

Everywhere we went was decorated for their Independence Day:

And there were so many beautiful flowering trees:

One thing that was interesting was the groundcovers - this one is just a thick grass but some of the others were more different than what we have here, and the crazy thing is how spongey they were to walk on.

We stopped off at Wal-Mart to pick up some snacks and breakfast stuff and had to take a picture of the enormous oil aisle:

Day 2: We took a ferry out to the nearby island, Isla Mujeres. It was much less commercialized and we really liked it.

We ate lunch at a place right on the beach:

And watched a little boy running around trying to find someone who would pay him to shine their shoes with his little portable stand - it reminded us of how good kids have it here in the US!

We went out on a little boat with a guy named Alex to go snorkeling along the coral reef off the coast of the island:

All the other tourists in the boat were from Mexico. One woman and her young daughter weren't going to snorkel so Alex threw some crackers in the water so they could see the fish.

We floated along the reef checking out the tropical fish until we reached this lighthouse.

Day 3: We rented a car and went to the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, but I can't find the pictures right now so I'll have to blog about that later.

Day 4: We had to listen to a timeshare presentation in the morning to get 5 nights for the price of 1 at our hotel, and we were super tired anyway, so after that we went swimming in the pool and in the ocean. Our snorkeling gear really came in handy when Carson lost his prescription sunglasses in the ocean!

We started to fall asleep outside so we headed up to our room and wound up sleeping for 4 hours! After that we got on the bus to downtown Cancun and ate at an Argentine steakhouse.

Day 5: We finally got to sleep in and then took a couple of buses to get to Akumal, which is a small village between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. We went snorkeling at the Yal-Ku lagoon which is famous for sea turtles, but it must have been the wrong time of year because we didn't see any and neither had anyone else that we asked. But there were tons of tropical fish and we took pictures with an underwater camera but we'll have to post them later when we get the film developed (when was the last time we had to do that?)

There were these huge beach houses along the coast of Akumal, maybe someday we'll get some friends together and rent one!

It was overcast but still the lagoon was very beautiful and secluded:

There were fossilized coral and shells above the water line:

And it was beautifully landscaped with all kind of tropical plants:

We had to go down to Tulum to catch the bus back to Cancun, so we ate there at this place:

We were feeling pretty sick to our stomachs so we had a hard time getting the food down even though it was delicious. The waitress/cook with a baby on her hip was very bold and told us that eating so slowly was a sign we didn't like the food. We tried to convince her that we really did like it! I was surprised to hear the theme song for "iCarly," a show I watch here with the kids. It was pretty funny to listen to it dubbed over in Spanish. I had a yummy virgin Margarita that was perfectly sour.

One of my favorite things about the highway (which is definitely not a freeway because it has high speeds one minute and severe speed bumps the next) was the signage. This one says "Despues de un acidente, ya nada es igual" = "After an accident, nothing is the same." Others said "Don't throw rocks over the pavement," "Drive carefully, your family awaits you" and my favorite: "Don't mistreat the signs."

Day 6: We had to get up super early (4:30 Cancun time =2:30 Pacific Time) to get to the airport for our flights. I flew home through Houston and got to visit my friend Anna and see her house and her family. Carson flew to Utah and went straight to the BYU/Florida State game. My mother-in-law met me at the airport with the kids in the car and then stayed there to catch her flight back to Utah. Here are the kids in their new tee shirts (Trey is being a lizard and Becks is being a shark):

Beckham trying out Carson's snorkeling gear:

And Beckham thought it would be fun to take a picture of me jumping right back into real life and changing Caeden's diaper: I'm sure Carson will want to add his own take on it later, but there's the quick synopsis of our trip! We have always wanted to visit somewhere tropical and see what warm ocean water is like and it was great to have a break from how crazy things have been and just spend some time together! Thanks Carson for planning it and Cerola for watching the kids!!!