The Last of Mexico

I'm taking a break from my many motherly duties to post the last of the Mexico trip.  You probably don't want to hear anymore about it but I'm writing this for my kids.  Turns out this little blog has morphed into a family journal that my boys love to read!  Besides, I'm sick of thinking about Covid-19 and how it's ruining our lives and the economy.....

Thanks to Randy's mad Spanish-speaking skills, we went on an awesome snorkeling adventure in a boat just for our family.   Our guides drove us an hour down the coastline to a private beach where we could see sting rays and sea turtles swimming below us before we even put on our snorkel masks.  This was the one time where neither Randy or I wanted to stay back with Henry and miss the fun so I gave Henry my phone to play on and he was happy and entertained for the next hour while we snorkeled.  We saw such amazing things and I was so happy my boys got see it all too.  We all touched a sea turtle and swam around with sting rays swarming us.  When we got tired of the water, we played on the beach and soaked in the beauty of our surroundings before one last snorkel dive.

I have too many boys.  This looks like a scene from Lord of the Flies 

Can you believe the color of this water?!  No filter here, it was really that color.  We drove past some amazing looking resorts but they were all swarming with people so although I'm sure there are some better resorts to stay at, ours wasn't crowded which made it even better.

This was Landon's face on day three.  He got sunburned so bad!  Can you see the blister on the end of his nose?  Several more blisters appeared on his cheeks and above his lips.  Turns out as I was slathering all the boys with sunblock on day 1, that he ignored me and jumped in the pool.  His poor, fair skin that hasn't seen the sun in 9 months just fried.  

Here he is, ready to go out in the sun the next day all covered in zinc.  We were all pretty sunburned, even Marcus, but Landon's was so bad!

 Here's proof I went to the beach for a little while before heading back to the pool

Our resort had hammocks everywhere and we really liked these ones over some shallow water. 

I ate fresh salsa and guacamole every day (that was my goal), and Parker decided to try it out.  

Shrimp tacos for dinner three days in a row....yummy!  Randy and I loved that we could order the food while the boys swam in the pool.  When dinner was ready they came running.

 We went to the Coba ruins and climbed to the top of this huge temple.  It was so steep and I was so thankful Randy carried Henry on his back with minimal effort.

 You can see three of my boys somewhere in the middle and Ethan was in a white shirt almost at the top

 Randy is tough and Mexico is flat!

Going down was scary!   The rocks were polished slick from the number of people climbing up and down.  I was relieved and surprised that we made it up and down without any incident.

 Biking through the jungle on old bikes was so much fun.  I felt bad for all the people who chose to walk around instead because it was hot and dusty.

Parker loved biking around wearing his "farmer" hat.  Randy bought it to shade Landon's sunburned face but Landon was too cool for it.

This is the only picture I have of my favorite part of the trip....swimming in the cenotes!  It's freshwater underground caves and I thought it was absolutely amazing to snorkel in such clear, freshwater.  The water was so deep but we could see straight down to the bottom as if it were only a few feet deep.  There were lots of scuba divers going through the underwater caves and tunnels and their flashlights lit up the water so we could see all sorts of fish swimming around us.  Next time we go, we will definitely spend more time doing this.  There are cenotes everywhere there!

The water was too cold for Parker so he hung out while his brothers swam behind that fence in the background.  

Henry was done with the cenotes.  

We spent one day at an adventure park called Xplore, but I don't have any pictures of it.  We spent the day ziplining over the jungle, wandering around lost in what felt like miles of underground tunnels, swam in an underground river filled with stalactites and stalagmites, drove four wheelers through the jungle and in and out of caves, ate all-you-can-eat buffet several times, saw a monkey walking along the sidewalk, and basically had more fun than we thought possible.  

And now our trip is just a distant memory.  Henry makes me tell him the "airplane story" every night as I tuck him into bed.  It's so funny that the trip started and ended with 3 flights to get to our destination so when I tell him about Mexico, all he remembers is flying on airplanes.  And it's pretty cute that he gets the word 'recycle' and 'Mexico' confused.  I guess they sound kind of similar but I sure feel bad when I ask him to take something out to recycling and he thinks we're getting on a plane to Mexico.  

Randy took a good nap on our four hour layover in Denver.  We arrived home safe and sound to a house that was a cozy 48 degrees because I turned off the furnace while we were gone and forgot to call our neighbor to get the heat back on before we got home.  It was not a good way to return from such an incredible trip!

Arizona. It's Hot There

Randy and I flew to Scottsdale, AZ for a dental seminar.  Arizona in August is a bad place to be.  It was 110 degrees!  It was so hot that when we'd get into our car that had been baking in the parking lot all day,  it didn't feel any different than outside.  Everything was as hot as an oven.  But that didn't matter because we spent three days indoors at a seminar where the AC was blasting.  I should've worn a sweater but the cool air kept me from falling asleep.  When we got home, everyone kept asking me how my trip was and seemed to expect me to enthusiastically describe a great vacation.  It was definitely not great but I guess it was a vacation from my kids, so that was nice.  We seriously sat all day long in a seminar.  We went out to dinner one night with a bunch of dental people I didn't know and after an hour of small talk and dental jokes that I didn't understand,  I knew I was in for it.  I finally escaped to the dark (but still hot) parking lot and talked to my sisters via Marco Polo until Randy finally finished dinner.  The best part of the whole trip was going to dinner the next night with Randy's best friend from college and his wife.  The last time we saw them was when Marcus was six weeks old.  Randy and Joe were hilarious and I really hope we have another reason to go to Arizona to visit them.  In the winter, of course.

The very boring dental seminar.  Of the three days of information, I'd say three hours of it was useful.  But they served us great food so there's that.

I took this picture because of the clouds.  They're so tall and puffy!  We don't get clouds like that in WA.

We had time to kill before our flight home so we checked out the Gilbert, AZ temple.  It is huge!

We also met up with good friends from Rhode Island who have moved to Arizona.  It was fun to see them and reminisce about our RI adventures but Randy has the pictures of our friends on his phone and the chances of me actually getting them on the blog are slim to none.  Oh well.

While we were snoring it up in Arizona, my boys were home, hanging out with their cousins and Uncle Toby.  Through a weird series of events, my sister needed me to watch her kids while she and Toby went on an Alaskan cruise and I needed someone to watch my kids while I was in Arizona, but she was at girls camp.  Thus, Uncle Toby ended up taking care of my kids while I was in Arizona and when I returned I took care of his kids while he and April went on a cruise.  Strange but it worked.  

Uncle Toby knows how to play

I loved seeing these pictures of the kids at the beach, watching the Blue Angels fly overhead.  Meanwhile, I was chugging down Diet Dr. Pepper to stay awake at my seminar.

Lake Washington and the Blue Angels

I had a great week entertaining the kids and their cousins.  They were the perfect excuse to get out and do something fun each day.  I love when my sister's family visits us each summer because they love it here and it reminds me of the way I used to feel the first few years of living here.  Now I'm used to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest but when they come I remember not to take it for granted.

Sunday Fun Day

Playing duets together.  They struggled.

We went to Pine Lake almost daily.  My boys get sick of it.  I don't know how that's possible.

We go after the lifeguards leave because that's when the fun begins.  Lifeguards ruin all the fun!

We took them to a nearby farm/petting zoo and this is the awkward photo of that experience.

Summer nights in the backyard are my very favorite.   

Per tradition, we went to Seattle to play in the fountain.  It wasn't warm or sunny but that didn't stop the boys.

Each of these boys doing their own thing and I love it!

The City Center playground never disappoints

After a quick lunch at McDonald's we stopped by a new park in Bellevue that I wanted to try out.  It didn't disappoint!  The playground was huge and there was even a large splash pad area with waterfalls.  The boys had so much fun because they broke all the safety rules which meant the other moms looked at me with horror while their kids wished they could have fun like my boys do.

Ethan the climber.  See that mom looking at me to see if I'm aware of my son's behavior? Yes I was and no I wasn't mad.  See her daughter trying to climb up after Ethan?  Happens every time.

The kids had more fun sliding down next to the slides instead of on them.  Henry was in heaven!

This is Meydenbaur Bay Beach on Lake Washington and it's a new favorite discovery of mine.  We had originally planned to go to Rattlesnake Lake but it was closed because the police were searching for a DEAD BODY!  I'm not even kidding.  How gross is that?  So this beach was Plan B and I was thrilled to discover how awesome it was.  The park is fun, the beach has beautiful views of yachts and mansions ($5-$28 million dollar mansions according to the Zillow app), and the lifeguards allow us to take our paddle boards out.

Eventually the sun came out and we had a great day at the beach.

Henry and Karissa are just the cutest!