More vacation - from Mexico!

I, at least, was disappointed that the Mexican officials hardly glanced at the very expensive passports which we purchased for this trip. But we weren't disappointed in the amazing & gorgeous ruins at Tulum! It was a whirlwind tour of Cozumel, a ferry ride across to the mainland to Playa del Carmen (where we now want to spend a week!), to a guided tour of the archaeological site, and back. We hardly even had time to shop, although the girls got some fun necklaces and Pierce got the coveted Mexican sunglasses (we got a STEAL on some Oakley glasses - $12!)

We had hoped to have time to snorkel at the beaches at Cozumel while we waited for the ferry.  It didn't work out that way - the beach was NOT nice, with broken glass and dangerous sea urchins.  In fact Rebecca was seriously hurt by stepping on a sea urchin and having spines break off in her foot, and evidently almost a week later still has black spots from its venom.  Some other things happened on this beach that I can never speak of again... but it was pretty & the water was an amazing turquoise color, and the kids had fun looking at little hermit crabs.


The ferry ride was a whole new experience also - with some loud Latin music performances (earning some tips) upstairs, and freezing cold downstairs.  The music was better than the cold!  Anyway, we made it to Tulum with our guide, Helaman, who was so interesting and had some great things to say.  This is one of the inner walls to the site (I have a picture of the taller outer wall but maybe didn't shrink it down to post).  The priests lived inside the inner wall, and you can see some of their houses.


A watchtower in the distance, behind another priest's house.  There are 4 watchtowers, and they each have a little tower (to the left here) where the rising/setting sun shines through at a specific date each year.  So cool.


Here is the temple - Helaman had such interesting things to say, but I can't remember it all.  Dad has a CD that he gave us which explains it all again (Dad, can you send me a copy when you have a chance?)




Some really interesting engravings, including the Descending God (Helaman identifies as Christ).


This is a closeup of a preserved painting - you can see it in the picture above.  (My point & shoot camera has a good zoom!)




I love these family pictures that Helaman took.




The site was about to close, but we had just a few minutes to visit this absolutely beautiful beach.


We couldn't resist swimming for the last 10 minutes. :)




So fun, and so sandy!




Sunday was "relax on the cruise ship" day.  (Too bad they didn't have church for us.)  Zoe and Alice went to the kids club and they got the very cutest tiger faces I've ever seen!  Zoe actually transformed into a wild little tiger with this face on.



While Pierce & I were looking for a spoon (for some of the always-available soft-serve ice cream) we discovered that the buffet had a dessert extravaganza!  There was the normal stuff, then all sorts of cakes, candies, ice cream, and a chocolate fountain.  We all went back for some great treats.  I realized later that Zoe had eaten that day before dinner 1) frosted flakes 2) candy.  Mmmmmm.  (No wonder she was so wild!)


Mattie insists that her "giant breakfast" counted as her lunch as well, so it's not like she JUST had chocolate & candy for lunch (like Zoe & I did).




I loved spending time on Deck 3, instead of the top deck, which was crowded and noisy.  Deck 3 was usually pretty deserted, so the kids could run around and play.  Also we saw some great stuff in the water!  We saw a pod of dolphins, jumping and playing.  We saw a sea turtle (Pierce immediately identified it as a hawksbill turtle - I'm never sure how much credence I can give his quick IDs, but he does study marine life extensively, so I should probably just trust him).  Matt saw flying fish way out in the open water, of which I was a little skeptical (just because I was surprised they would be so far out in the open ocean), but then we all saw lots of them the next day.  No whales.




Off in the distance you can see a bit of Cuba.


Still wild!  She ran back & forth, the length of Deck 3 - which is quite long - 4 times in a row.  Fast!


When we got too cold in the shade (it was windy that day) we went up on a lesser-used top deck to sit in the sun.  Zoe and Pierce played, ate hot dogs, and climbed around.  Mattie & Ruby swam in the very small pool. 




Here's how the hot dog turned out.


Then Pierce & I went around taking a few pictures of things we wanted to remember.  He especially liked this waterslide.


We loved the towel animals our room steward left for us.  This is a monkey.


The cabin was small, but not too small!

I probably have some more pictures I should post, but this is what's ready to go at the moment.  It was an amazingly fun trip!  We loved getting to spend time with family and see new places and try new things.

More Florida fun!

We had 2 more days at Disney - one at Epcot and the next at Animal Kingdom.  I didn't edit many pictures from either place, so maybe I need to come back & revisit this later on! 

We enjoyed Epcot very much.  The kids liked the rides (there aren't as many) and the adults loved the countries.  Here we were at the ocean building, where we went on a little ride and saw some manatees, sharks, dolphins, and other marine creatures.  Mattie got to be the "dive buddy captain" in a cool diver lockout demonstration.  She communicated with "Diver Kevin," who was in a big tube filled with water, using dive signals.  Good job Mattie!


In Italy, the girls danced a little bit, and then Dad got tagged to help the performers.  He REALLY didn't want to do that :) but his job turned out to be fine - all he had to do was to hold a picture.  The guys before him had been gotten dressed up by the ladies, so Dad lucked out.


Outside Animal Kingdom, we saw Goofy.  Zoe wasn't very enthusiastic about it.  (I think we saw him again later too, or maybe earlier?)  Goofy really tried to cheer her up but she wasn't having it.


We loved the safari ride - what a great ride that is.  Pierce at first was our photographer, but eventually he got tired of me telling him he was going to drop the camera over the side and SCOOT IN!  And the camera was kind of hard to get to focus on the animal he wanted. (We took our small point & shoot camera instead of my giant one - too heavy!)




Pierce did take this nice picture of Grandma & Grandpa eating lunch.  We wished for plates, but otherwise it was a nice change from cheeseburgers & fries. :)


Ah, and Pierce was an excellent animal photographer when not trying to work from a bumpy bus ride.  Isn't this a great bat picture?  We love the zoo trails in Animal Kingdom.


He took very many tiger pictures - this was my favorite.


Then we went to Dino Land USA.  It's so much fun!  Zoe loved the Triceratops ride.


After Animal Kingdom, we all drove in a van to Miami and got on the cruise ship.  It was a new experience for us, and better than I'd hoped!  The ship was big, busy, and noisy, but the service was great and we did like all that food! :)  Our first port was in Key West, which we loved  We went on a long walk through the old part of town, and ended up at a gorgeous beach/state park.  The kids were in heaven.


We found a lizard climbing on our backpack, and when Zoe came over, it climbed on her too!  She wasn't scared at all, she thought it was funny.  We let "Liz" go on a tree instead.


Even though the water was cold, we rented snorkel gear and they had so much fun snorkeling.  (I decided it was a little too cold to be fun, but maybe I was wrong!)  Mattie was really good at it.  Pierce thought it was too cold, but at the end he was brave enough to swim to a little island, and on the way back to shore he saw a big ray!  He's been talking about it ever since.  Matt and Dad also snorkeled, and I think there were lots of colorful little fish.




The island they snorkeled too.




My happy little Zoe loved the beach so much!  She was fearless, of course, and had a blast jumping in & out of the water, throwing sand in, digging little holes, finding shells, and all sorts of fun.  One funny thing that she did was to bury a special coral piece that Pierce had found (I had given it to her to play with, never thinking she would bury it!)  When I asked her where it was, she said "Ummmm, it's in one of these holes!"  But she never found it. :)

Florida Vacation!

We had such a fantastic time in Florida! We were gone for 10 days, and had so much fun doing lots of fun & new things.  We flew in Saturday night and met Mom & Dad, Chris, Rebecca, Ruby & Alice.  It was great to see everyone!

The next morning we drove to Deland to go to church where Matt served his mission. He gave us a bit of a tour and showed us his apartment and the first door he knocked on. After church we drove to Blue Springs, a beautiful state park where the manatees winter.  Here the kids are playing in a hollow tree they found.



There was an alligator across the spring - Chris wanted to get closer but I don't think he found a good way to do it.


Manatees are hard to photograph from above :) - but here one is!


The water is so clear, it's just beautiful.  There were lots of manatees.


After we checked in to the Disney hotel, we took a bus to Downtown Disney and had dinner at the T-Rex Cafe.  (Really fun, really loud.)  On our way back to the bus the kids found Buzz Lightyear.


The next morning we went to Magic Kingdom!  Mattie told me later that it was her favorite park to spend time in, or maybe she just felt like there was too much fun stuff to do in just one day.  I agree!  We got to a lot of the rides, but no shows, no parade, and we were on the back side of the castle for the fireworks, so we only got to see half the show.  But it was such a fun day!  Zoe wore her Snow White dress, and was a princess all day long.  Here all the kids are in front of the castle.  (Zoe had been dreaming of this castle.)


Just behind the castle, we met Cinderella's Fairy Godmother!  Zoe was too shy to meet her for a picture, but she did talk to her later.  She is watching Cinderella as I type. :)  Of course the other girls were happy to meet her, and of course Pierce was hiding behind a column to avoid it.


Mattie, Ruby, and Pierce on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster.  FUN!  This time, both Pierce & Mattie loved it.  Last time we were at Disney, Mattie did NOT like roller coasters with dark spots.  This time, she went on everything, and loved it all!  Zoe went on this ride too, and seemed to enjoy it, but didn't want to go twice.  One funny thing about Zoe is that she was 3/4" too short for a lot of the rides, so we made her some "ride shoes", which are 2 pairs of flip-flops glued together, making up the requisite height.  She got to do all sorts of fun things with her ride shoes on.


Mattie & Pierce both loved Space Mountain, aren't they brave?  Ruby & Alice did too, and happily Zoe was too short to even try.




What a happy (and sticky) princess!


When we all got tired, we rode the People Mover.  It was fun too!


Zoe REALLY wanted to drive a car, and it turns out she's a great driver!  We waited in a long line for the cars, but it was worth it!  Pierce was faster than us. :)


After the fireworks, we took one last ride on the carousal, and then it was back to the hotel.  More fun tomorrow!

Valentines for the kids

I have plenty of other things to post but there never seems to be time! I guess that's why the old website slowly faded away. :)

We just finished making our valentines for the year, and sent them off to the lab to get printed. The kids like to make these personalized valentines - in fact I was treated to a lecture about how "weird" the valentines are that you buy in the store.  So we tape a piece of candy on these and hopefully their friends are happy to get them.

This one gets a heart taped in the middle.  We added a pink heart there too, so that when the tape is gone, it will still be cute.  The Mattie-heart was Matt's idea - good one, huh!



And for this one we're hoping to get candy with a message printed on front, to put in the thought bubble.


Pierce knew he wanted a bow & arrow picture, because he's going to put a lollipop across it where the arrow should be.  There was a smilier picture that I liked better, but Pierce picked the "serious" one.


I have a few other cute ones that we could have done for Zoe, but this was our favorite.  So fun! 



Now we have to hurry up and get these assembled, so we can get them to the kids' teachers ahead of time. Pierce was a little sad that we'll be gone for Valentines day, until I told him we'll be at Disneyworld instead. That perked him right up. :) Happy Valentines day everybody!