Cancun!!

Just to warn you, there are A LOT of pictures… I took a lot and I just couldn’t choose! Two days after Christmas we left the kids in Washington with Nana and Grandpa and took off to CANCUN with my whole family! The flight there was really long but we didn’t even mind because we were so excited! (But I did already miss the kids really bad. They are usually always with me and I feel weird not having anyone to take care of!) We flew through the night and got there the next morning. Our rooms were really nice!

Not wanting to waste any time, we started playing right away. We got lunch and then went to play in the ocean, which was right outside of our hotel! The water is turquoise… sooo beautiful! And it was warm too! We collected sea shells and Alissa found a shark tooth! (At least that is what we thought it was!) 

Afterwards my sisters and I took a bath in our giant bath tub. It wasn't the only time either, for our "pre-dinner" one night we got hamburgers and took a bath while we ate them. Now that's how you vacation!

We got dressed and walked down the streets to the flea markets. I’ve never been so pressured in my life… man those guys are pushy! One local pointed to my stomach and asked me “Where’s the baby’s Daddy?” I pointed “Over there.” And he rubbed my tummy and said “I’ll be your Mexican baby’s daddy!” Uhhh ok! There are signs everywhere warning about the crocodiles in the Lagoon. Our driver told us that a drunk man fell asleep on the sidewalk and a crocodile came out and bit off his arm!  When we were walking down the sidewalk Nathan threw a big rock into the bushes and made my Dad jump a foot into the air! We kept looking but we never saw one!

The next day we hopped in a van for an all day tour of the Mayan ruins. First we went to Tulum and learned lots of neat stuff about the Mayans. It was an LDS tour so our guide was able to bring a gospel perspective into what she was saying. It was such a hot day, I thought I was going to melt!

We stopped off for a yummy Mexican lunch and then went to Coba where we got to ride bikes to the different ruins and got to walk to the top of a giant temple. It was really steep and was scary coming down! Chelsea almost chickened out about a fourth of the way up and we had to drag her along!

After that we got to go swimming in a ceynote. It was a cool cave with an underground river running through it. They had a really high dive and everyone was feeling pretty brave… not me though!

 The next day we took a boat through the lagoon and then went kayaking.

Teresa accidentally swung her oar and smacked one of the staff in the stomach... he was pretending he couldn't breathe... at least I think he was pretending!

A little bit later we went on a “jungle tour” and got to drive our own little motor boats. It was a windy day so there were lots of waves and it was so much fun! (Alissa and Teresa were too scared to drive their own so they hopped into the back of ours!)  We drove through the lagoon out into the ocean to go snorkeling on the coral reef.  We saw tons of brightly colored fish and even a manta ray!

The spent almost the entire next day on a catamaran. It took us from the main land to and island called Isla Mujures.

 We got to hold a shark… I think it was a catfish shark…but I still felt pretty brave! :)

And then we got to walk around the island to see all the little shops. I wish we got longer there because everything was really authentic and it was fun to walk up and down the streets. If we'd had more time we would have been able to rent golf carts to cruise around the island. 

We got some yummy ice cream because the dessert at the hotel just wasn't cutting it!

 Next we stopped to go snorkeling. We saw tons of barracuda’s and there was a  little current so you could just keep your face in the water and it would push you along.

We hopped back on the catamaran and cruised down the side of the island and stopped at a pretty place on the beach to eat lunch. After lunch we laid on the beach and in hammocks… it was perfect weather and was so peaceful! 

We took the catamaran most of the way back to the main land where we stopped and tried to do a form of parasailing… but there wasn’t enough wind so they said we could jump into the ocean to swim instead. All I could think was “Sharks!” but my Dad was one of the first ones to jump in! He was followed by Jason and Ryan, the rest of us chickened out!

Me, Chelsea, and Laura dancing the "Cha-Cha"

This guy was one of the guys running the catamaran tour. He had a major crush on Chelsea and called Jason his "future brother-in-law" haha!

 On the bus ride home (The bus drivers there are seriously crazy drivers!) a bus behind ours laid on their horn for like 5 minutes straight while our bus was loading. Just after we got on the road, the other bus tried to cut in front of ours and smashed into the side of us! It was crazy!

When we got back we all showered and walked down the street for an authentic Mexican dinner. I was afraid to order but ended up getting a chicken burrito that was sooo yummy! We planned on playing in the ocean (even at night it was warm!) and staying up late because it was New Year’s Eve but after a full day in the sun we were all pretty tired. So we called room service and asked them to bring us an array of desserts. (We found that desserts are not nearly as sweet in Mexico as they are in the U.S.) Afterwards we all crashed around 11:00. We’re so lame!


The next morning was our last day there so we wanted to fit as many activities in as we could but we found that the city pretty much shut down on New Year’s… no one was working! So instead we took a walk on the beach and ate lunch and drank pina coladas by the pool. Their pina coladas were amazing. I think I ordered one at every meal. At 1:00 we had to head to the airport… I wasn’t ready to leave the beautiful ocean and warm weather but I missed my kids like crazy. Our flight back was more direct and our travel time was a whole lot less than on the way there… thank goodness. Our first flight was delayed because the gas meter was broken so we sat on the plane for an hour before we took off. When we got off the plane we only had 30 minutes until our next flight left and we had to go through customs and recheck our luggage. I said “We WON’T miss this flight, I want to see my kids!” so we ran through the giant airport (I didn’t even put my shoes back on after going through security) to barely make our flight. It took me a while to catch my breath after getting on the plane! Our luggage didn’t have time to make it onto the plane so we didn’t get it until the next evening but at least we made it! I was sooo excited to see my kids! We didn't get back to the house until 1:30 in the morning. Conner heard us come into the room and said "Hi Mom, Hi Dad." and rolled over and fell back asleep!

We had an AMAZING vacation! We filled our days with tons of activities. I’m glad we didn’t waste any of our time down there. I also have such a fun family, we always have so much fun together! I don’t know when the next time will be that we’ll be able to do something so cool! It was a perfect time to go before the baby # 3 makes her arrival! A few more random pictures: