Cancun Day 4 and 5

February 10, 2013 - We woke up and headed down for breakfast around 8:30 a.m.  After breakfast we found out that there wasn't an opening on the snorkeling tour.  We decided to hang around our resort swimming instead of going into Playa with a snorkeling group we weren't sure if were certified or safe. 

We headed over to the beach area.  It was very crowded and a pretty small are beach wise.  Byron and I got in and head fun swimming out to the farthest place that we could swim within the resort.  Byron went all the way and I almost did.  We had fun playing in the water for about 1 hour and decided to get out.  We couldn't see enough fish while in the water to justify getting the snorkel equipment.  Instead we were going to walk around the beach area.  After getting our clothes on, we saw this huge school of fish right by where we had been previously while in the water.  They were actually pretty large fish - a pretty blue color.  There were quite a few people snorkeling enjoying themselves.  We then walked over to a different area out by where the ball were where we could go no further.  We saw about 4 very long and thin fish almost translucent in color (about 18-24 inches long).  We later found out that these are called pencil fish.  They were so darn cool!  I wish we had seen them while in the water.  We saw on coming upon a lady that was snorkeling.  She all of a sudden saw it while about 5 feet away, lifted her head out of the water, yelled and started going the other way.  Byron and I just laughed - we could see it coming and mile away.

We enjoyed walking around a little while longer then headed back to our room to shower.  While I was waiting for Byron to get ready, I went out onto our balcony with my camera to see what I might find.  I found so many birds of beautiful colors flying past.  I also saw a woodpecker land next to our neighbor's balcony and start knocking on the wood with it's beak.  I only got one picture of a bird that kept on perching close in a tree unfortunately.  The others were too hard to get or I didn't have a good enough view. 

We ate lunch and took a taxi to Playa Del Carmen for some shopping.  The people are ruthless when they bargain.  If you show any interest in any item at all they keep asking, "How much do you want it for" going lower and lower.  Byron was all over this getting them lower by the minute.  I think he likes the game of seeing how low he can get more than actually purchasing an item.  We ended up getting a hammock that started at $85 USD for $25 USD.  I am excited to have it.  We also got the boys all necklaces and shirts and Camille a skirt and ring.  We had fun shopping for a couple of hours.

After we were done, we headed back to our hotel.  It took about 8 minutes to get to our hotel from Playa.  We got dinner, watched some TV, ventured back out again and now are back in our room. 

Camille called on Byron's phone and before I could answer she hung up and started calling on mine.  Out of stress I answered the phone since I knew it would be costing a lot of money.  She had some questions for a report she has due tomorrow.  We talked for about 2 1/2 minutes.  I am glad she called to get help.  She was writing a page on Harold Beck's WWII experience for the play she is in, POW. 

I got a nice text from Genevieve saying, "Things are still great.  Had a fun day yesterday that tired us all out and just working on getting ready for church now.  So impressed with how fast Bradley got ready without help or reminding!  Such good kids.  Hope you're having a great time!"  Always such a great feeling to get a text like this while on a trip.  My kids definitely have their moments, but nice to know they are behaving relatively well while we are away. 

 The pretty bird I saw from my balcony.

 Some food that Byron tried while in Cancun - he has no problem tasting new foods.

February 11, 2013 - We woke up, packed our things up and went over to breakfast.  We came back to grab our luggage before checking out of our room.  We went to the main lobby to wait for our shuttle to come to take us to the airport.  We waited and waited and still no shuttle.  We had paid online for this service and were frustrated that we were about to miss our flight due to them being so late.  After calling them, we finally got picked up with about 1 1/2 hours till we flew out.   The airport is 1 hour away so we were pretty stressed.  I guess they had bad traffic which made them late. 

The hammock we purchased yesterday was too large to fit in our luggage so I got to carry it on.  It was a little pain to deal with (something we didn't think about when we were buying it). 

The trip was pretty fast, but so nice to get away.  I love traveling to warm climates during the winter - the winters in Utah seem to last way too long :).  I also love having Byron all to myself.  The kids had a great time with Michael and Genevieve.  They made a cute video "In the Suun They Melted "which is a really fun medley of songs. 

Cancun Day 3

February 9, 2013 - We went to bed so early last night.  Byron was out by 9:05 p.m. and I turned off the TV at 9:30 p.m. to sleep.  We both slept great - till almost 9 a.m.  It is so nice waking up without an alarm and without kids.  We headed over to the breakfast buffet.  I loved trying a nutella chocolate crepe and all of the yummy fruit.  Byron loved the sausage, hash browns and eggs. 

We bought our Xcaret tickets and headed over to the park.  We rode a 5 minute boat ride to the entrance since it is right outside of our hotel.  It almost felt like a gondola ride.  We enjoyed going down Paradise River.  We decided we weren't going to go swimming while at Xcaret this time around.  The cold cenote water would have been so nice and refreshing, but it was also nice to just spend time seeing the different attractions.  We loved the turtles, coral reef aquarium, Mayan village, butterfly pavilion, rotating scenic tower and the monkeys.  We also loved sitting by the beach under an umbrella eating nachos for a snack.  We pretty much always had a drink of some sort to hydrate as it was so humid and hot. 

We went back to our hotel around 3 p.m. for lunch.  Then we went down to the beach to reserve a snorkeling expedition for tomorrow.  They were all booked so hopefully we can find one out of Playa tomorrow.

We went back to Xcaret to see the Horse Expedition.  Last time we were here we weren't able to see this show, so we made sure we had front row seats this time around.  It was awesome seeing so many girls riding horses and also a guy that was doing roping tricks.  After we walked over to the Spectacular Show.  We saw people lining the path for the show with fire and costumes.  It looked amazing!  It was as awesome as we remembered it being before.  I loved the ball game and when they had a ball on fire.  Then the "stamping" dance was so amazing.  Anytime the performers all clogged around on stage or played the drums it sounded so cool.  The grand finale was also great.

My feet were so soar when we stood up.  I could barely walk.  We went to the gift shop for a little bit then headed back to our hotel for dinner.  After dinner we were planning on swimming, but it closed at 8 p.m. 

Cancun Day 1 and 2

Feb. 7, 2013 - Michael and Genevieve came over to our house around 4:00 p.m. to watch our children while we went on a quick get-a-way.  After some explanation we left around 4:30 p.m. for the airport.  We flew out at 7:00 p.m. to spend the night in Denver.  We bought a Fun Jet package that started in Denver and flew to Cancun.  Byron used some of his United miles to get us to Denver.  The Denver airport is absolutely massive!  We stayed at the Town Place Suites which is a Marriott.  It was really a fun European feeling place.  We got to bed around 11:30 p.m.

Feb. 8, 2013 - I woke up at 7:02 a.m. to a text from Carter on my I-phone saying "Good morning Mom!"  This boys is loving this IPod Touch just a little too much!  We had our shuttle waiting at 8:00 a.m. to go back to the airport for our 10:55 a.m. flight.  We ended up getting a window and aisle seat with nobody in between us.  It was so nice to not be sitting next to somebody else.  During the 3 hour flight, we watched "Count of Monte Cristo" on Byron's Ipad mini.  It was nice to speed up the flight time.  I moved over to the window seat upon landing so I could take some fun pictures of Cancun from the air.  Cancun airport is absolutely crazy!  People are pushed through customs with long lines then we can't get away from people trying to grab us for the time shares.  We finally made it out to the shuttles where we had reserved one to get a ride 1 hour away to our hotel - The Occidental at Xcaret.  The guy that drove us was really nice.  Byron had fun talking to him in Spanish practically our whole drive.

Our hotel is really nice.  It is very tropical.  Our room has tile floors.  We have a balcony that over looks green trees.  I walked outside to see what the view was from our balcony, when I noticed a lady next door sitting on her balcony.  She said that you can see monkeys swinging through the trees.  I am excited to sit out here to see if I can really see them.

Our hotel is an all-inclusive resort so the food is free.  We ventured out from our room to get dinner at 5:30 p.m.  We are in building 21 and at the entrance to our building there were some workers feeding a huge rodent looking thing.  I grabbed my iPhone and snapped a picture. 

We ate at a buffet style place next to the pool.  We only had about 15 minutes to eat before it closed.  The fruit and pizza were my favorite.  I was eating so fast I couldn't really enjoy it.  Afterwards we took a tram over to the beach area.  The sun was almost down so we didn't have the best views.  It was so gorgeous.  I look forward to seeing it during the day.  We walked around for about 1 1/2 hours checking out the resort.  We watched a little bit of "Tangled" on a large screen while drinking a pina colada.  It is so humid that the drink was very refreshing.  We decided to call it a night around 7:30 p.m.

It has been so hard not getting Wi-Fi.  My dad went in for an angiogram today and I have no clue how the procedure went.  He was admitted at the "U" last night and went in at 10 a.m. for the procedure.  We took off for Cancun before he came out of the procedure so all day I have been wondering how it went.  Byron and I broke down to get Wi-Fi for 1 hour.  It cost $11 - pretty crazy.  I guess I have gotten so dependent on the Internet that it is hard to be without it.  I found out my dad's surgery went well and that he is recuperating in his hotel room.

 rodent by our hotel building

Cousins, Scouts and Sego Lily Teachers

 We always look forward to having family come over.  For Christmas Byron & I had Allyson's family.  We gave them a day away with some gift cards.  It was fun to have their children over.  They were all great to watch and so delightful to be around.  Myles spent about the whole time clearing the trampoline of snow one shovel full at a time.  Eliza and Rose had fun doing stickers and other girl stuff - which isn't very common in this house.  Cute Briant was so fun to be with and the kids loved taking turns holding him.  Eliza or Rose had the idea of putting snow in bags.  This kept all 3(Bradley, Eliza and Rose) entertained for quite some time.

Carter and Parker attended a Webelos Day Camp at our Stake Center.  They loved being able to make different things.  They did Showman and Craftsman activity badges. 

 Carter with a cool instrument he made and Parker with his rocket.

For Parent Teacher Conferences I always look forward to hearing how my kids are doing in school.  Bradley has progressed so much the past year.  He loves school and has the most amazing teacher - Mrs. Narvaez.  He has taken off on reading and really enjoys doing math.  He is also a great friend to those in his class.  His teacher sent me an email recently about a kid in his class who was struggling every day with having his mom leave.  This is the email from her, "Hi Tricia.  I wanted to let you knowhow wonderful Bradley is!  One of my students has a hard time this past week.  As we were lining up for recess I heard Bradley invite this student to play with him.  I am so proud of him for being so kind to this other boy."  I am so glad Bradley notices those around him and jumps in to help if need be.  This kid and Bradley have become really great friends this year.   Below is a cute penguin that was on the wall outside of his classroom.

I cannot say enough about Mrs. Knutti - she is such an amazing teacher also.  I am really not sure how I got to be so lucky but my kids truly have amazing teachers.  She is so great with Carter and Parker and knows just how to help them enjoy learning.  She makes me laugh every time we talk about how fun it is to have these two in her class.  She said that most twins will help each other out with assignments but these two act like each is on their own in class.  They typically don't help each other which I would actually consider good.  It is great that they are their own separate being with different strengths and weaknesses.  Carter with blue stripe in shirt.  Below was a paper they both worked on together that was hanging in the hall at school.

Bradley celebrated his 100 days of school and was so excited to earn more spirit sticks.  He had a party at school and loved it.

Byron Singapore trip

Byron once again had a business trip to Singapore.  He left on January 29 and returned on February 3.  He was able to escape the cold frigid temperatures to enjoy a very nice 85 degree weather with tons of humidity.  Below are some cool pictures Byron took while there.  I cannot believe how crowded it is - He also was able to attend a Night Safari - he had never done this before.  He drove around in a safari bus enjoying the night life of different animals.  He really was glad he was able to do this.  He took a lot of pictures, but they all turned out pretty dark.  He also saw a show that he called absolutely amazing!