TULUM and AKUMAL, JUNE 11

This is Collin's long lost cousin. Actually, Lemuel, was spotted the second we walked into Tulum. He is a bishop in Cancun that was hired by a family from Park City to give them tours of the "Book of Mormon" area. They allowed us to crash their party based on"Y" hats. He was a great guide, especially because he was free. The group that hired him paid $100 each for 2 days. We tipped him more than his bishop's salary - 50 pesos.

He and Collin hit it off! He kept reminding Collin that even a Lemuel could end up changing his ways. Lemuel's other sibling FYI: Nefi, Helaman, Moroni, Mosaiah - they ran out good names so he ended up with Lemuel.

This is one of the four guard towers at Tulum.
Natalie, Collin and Sydney with guard tower and the ocean as a background.
This picture was taken to start the morning. By the end of the tour, those smiles were wiped away by the heat, long walk, and the "boring" guy that talk all the time.
These were some from the Park City group who's party we crashed.


This was the whole group from Park City.
This was one of the dwellings that the Maya lived in.
Another guard tower on the west side of the complex.
Another picture of the residence.

The Castille at Tulum. Lemuel called it the "templo" where most guide call it the "castillo". Three figures can be seen above the three doorways which he referred to as the three figures of the godhead.
One of the many iguanas that we saw.
The Castle from straight on.

The next two pictures together. If you look closely, you can see the silhouette of a face on the corner of this building, the eye being a football-shape. There is another one on the other side, too. They are supposed to be representations of the day and night.

A different view of the residence for the Maya.

The Griswolds in Mexico!
Feeding the iguana.
An iguana on one of the ruins.

The kids found a small hermit crab at Tulum. This was one of their highlights of the day.

Sydney was proud of her find. The coconut is about the size of a football.

AKUMAL

After our trip to Tulum we took a road off the beaten path to Akumal. This is the PLACE! The beach and the people were great! We had lunch at a place called the Turtle Bay Cafe and the kids had their favorite - noodles and butter while mom and dad had a breakfast burrito. This is a great little out-of-the-way place. Awesome beach and much less crowded.
This was a really neat little beach town. We would love to stay here. We are going to take Nana and Papa to a place nearby called Laguna Yak-ku.
There are turtles out there. We just didn't see any today.
Everybody is getting in the act of snorkeling.
Sydney and Colling went snorkeling with dad. They said that there were turtles out there but all we saw were a few fish.

Sydney, again afraid to jump into things, ended up enjoying the snorkeling experience. It took Dad three times out and back for her get comfortable with the snorkeling. Once she got the hang of it she didn't want to stop.

Before Tulum: Sydney and I pose in front of Chac Mool - everybodies favorite Mayan character. He is the one who held the still-beating hearts of human sacrifices in the receptacle on his tummy. Yum!

At last the beach....

Day 2 began at 8am with the family heading down to the beach. Collin and Sydney enjoyed the boogie boards that they found in the condo. They really miss Logan and Dresden in this activity, though.

(The picture below was actually taken later in the day in the pool. The kids wanted to swim in an afternoon downpour which felt very nice to all of us. Jay and I watched them from our balcony.)

Funny thing about Sydney: As happy as she looks splashing around in these photos, she was equally as grumpy on the way home. We have discovered her most hated thing in life: sand in her shoes. She chose to walk BAREFOOTED the whole way back to the condo, through filthy, steaming-hot streets rather than wear her water shoes home. Gross! Tomorrow we'll try flip-flops instead.

TALES FROM PDC, DAY ONE oops UNO

As we all recover from the travel day, DAY 1 brought us frustration with the AC unit going out. Not that is was a big deal. However, it did take the local handyman (Miguel) about 6 hours to complete the work. A blown fuse was the culprit. Miguel lived in Minnesota for 18 years, but didn't pick up English very well. He was a really nice guy. We felt really bad for him on the roof most of the day in the heat and humidity. The AC breakdown gave us all the chance to rest, read, and relax.

Sydney completed 115 pages in her school bridge workbook that we got just in case she got bored. (She is having a blast in Mexico.) Collin taught her how to subtract and add double-digit numbers. Collin finished the 4th book of Percy Jackson on the airplane and started book number 5 today.

We got groceries from Mega-Mart(this seems uneventful, but there was actually a happening that we will blog about later). We also walked down to check out the beach, WOW! We also had our first real meal since arriving in Mexico. It was at El Fogon. Oooohhhh was it good! The pork came right off of the spit. It was so good! It included cooked cactus, limes, radishes, hot sauce, chips and 2 beverages for about 140 pesos or $12 including tip. We also stopped at the Paleteria Polar, in English, ICE CREAM SHOP! I don't know what they put in their ice cream but it is addictive. We ended up getting it twice in one day. Of course, it was only 87 degrees with 97 percent humidity. You better eat the ice cream quickly before it melts. The constant sweating takes some time to get used to.

The swimming pool is just perfect. It is a lot like Grandma Jo's but has a bridge that the kids really like. We hit the pool twice today!

We've Arrived!!!

After a very long day travel we finally made it to the condo in Playa del Carmen!!! The kids really did travel well though we heard how bored they were and the question "How much longer will it be?" over and over again.

It seemed to the kids like we were standing in line and waiting all day long. Waiting to check in, waiting to go through security, waiting to get on the plane... (And that was all before we even left Salt Lake!) Then there was all the waiting on the plane to get to Phoenix and during the 4 hour flight to Cancun and getting through customs and immigration and for the shuttle and to get the car and then, the best part of all, waiting in line at (of all places) Wal-Mart because we were starving and almost out of gas - since they didn't give us a full tank at the rental car place and the banks were closed and we hadn't changed any currency yet!

After the long day of travel, our first meal in Mexico did not consist of delicious Mexican cuisine but rather frozen boxes of Red Baron pepperoni pizza, Coca-cola and Cookie Crisp for dessert. The kids were happy, though.

BELOW: Jay trying to look happy our first morning in Playa. He loves the tropics as long as it is air-conditioned . Unfortunately the AC in the living room qluit working. We slept well since the bedrooms have their own (well-working) AC units. Poor Miguel from the Vimex property management company, however, has been working on it for the last few hours (up on the roof where it is even hotter for much of it). The kids slept better and longer than I have ever seen!

Our car for the month is a Dodge Atos. Ever heard of it? Us neither. Amazingly enough, though, it fit all our luggage. Good thing we didn't check any bags. The kids are having to learn how to roll down and roll up car windows - a completely new experience for them.

Collin's green belt testing in Taekwondo

Collin earned his junior green belt last month in Taekwondo. Unfortunately Jay and I couldn't be there for his testing since we were finishing up our open water certification for scuba (yeh!!!). However Nana, Papa, Grandma Jo and Sydney were able to go and support him. Papa even got to hold the board for him to demonstrate his breaking technique. Great job, Collin!!!

Collin loves Taekwondo and has developed an interest in Korean culture and language. He also has a newfound interest in ALL things Portuguese, too. Who knows where that came from?! We are happy to see, though, that he has interest in learning about different cultures and people. He likes to imagine all the possibilities of where he might serve a mission someday. Funny thing is, he will probably end up serving in Detroit.

Scandinavian Days 2010

As is customary over Memorial Day weekend, we headed down south to Ephraim to celebrate Scandinavian Days and Grandpa Bill's birthday. The celebration begins in the morning with the small-town parade down Main Street. The kids get to compete with their cousins and other little ones lined up on the street in grabbing and stuffing as much candy as they can into their bags. This is perhaps the highlight of the holiday for them. After sneaking and eating as much candy as they can on the way back to Grandpa and Grandma's, they then spend the rest of the afternoon on a sugar-induced "high". Running and playing with their cousins in the corral, throwing rocks into the ditch and riding four-wheelers through the hills and town, watching the birds, especially the hummingbirds eat out of Grandma's bird feeder and, of course, as if they hadn't had enough sugar, eating cupcakes and other treats Grandma Ellen bought for them is how it typically goes. The bonus this year: we did make it to town to check out the booths and somehow managed to avoid the carnival for once. The negative: someone thought the kids needed snow cones! I mean, really. How much sugar does a kid need anyway?!

This year, since Collin and Dresden are both eight and in scouts now, we added the activity of shooting the BB gun to the list of must-do's. The boys are both absolutely certain that learning to shoot a gun is a requirement of being a "real" scout and would not want to be held back in their training. Jay, Larry and I had just as much fun shooting the gun.