¡Queremos Volver!

I tried to get Abbey to post these pictures and write the text but since I took most of the pictures and of course they are mostly of her, she refused to blog this many self portraits. We arrived home from Cancun last night just after midnight (to hold Max until 2AM who was sick, but that's a different story). Cancun, and specifically our hotel, was absolutely amazing. Neither of us had been to Mexico before and the Moon Palace All-Inclusive Resort did not disappoint. It was so nice to spend every day in the sun without a care in the world. If you haven't been to an all-inclusive resort before I can't even begin to explain how great it was. This one had 14 restaurants and then various bars and places for snacks. I lost count of the number of non-alcoholic ______ (insert name of mixed drink here) we had, most of them while swimming or lounging on a chair in, yes in, the pool. There are a lot of pictures to follow but when I took over 500 it was hard to narrow past these 30 or so.

A great little Sushi place but more importantly, the best picture of both of us together.

Waiting for our shuttle to the hotel the first day.

I shot this picture lying in bed. You can't really beat watching the sun emerge from the Carribean Sea ... from bed.

The resort had over 2,000 rooms and miles of paths on which we made tracks between our room, the restaurants, pools, etc... I wish I could say I walked enough to burn all the calories we ate. Abbey would kill me if I included her in this, but I gained 8 lbs in 6 days! On a side note from one of my many random medical facts, it takes an extra 3500 calories to gain 1 pound. That's an extra 28,000 calories in 6 days and that, amigo, es mucho repugnante.


A water for Abbey and yet another Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri for me.

And another...



We spent a day getting to and touring Chichen Itza. It was amazing to see, especially with an LDS perspective. It was the Mayan center of political, religious and military power from about 800 and 1200 A.D. This was well after the final destruction of the Nephites but as the Lamanite descendants intermixed with the other people in the Yucatán I am sure there was Lamanite blood building these temples.This was the largest of 7 mesoamerican ball parks that have been discovered in Chichén, where teams likely tried to pass a ball through that ring and the winning captain was rewarded with decapitation. I guess an honor if you believe in reincarnation.

This was one of two cenotes, a sinkhole containing groundwater, used for drinking or in this case probably human sacrifices.

We couldn't help but get a few things, not at those prices anyway. We did shop right up to the time we were supposed to meet back up with our group only to go out and find no bus. We later found out that they miscounted the passengers, thought everyone was back early and left 15 minutes before the meeting time. Thank you Gorge, our Mexican guide, for leaving us at Chichen Itza! We will always remember you. We fortunately found another bus and a guide who was heading the same direction and who said, "I swear on my mother-in-law's life I will not leave you."

A boy demonstrating some traditional dances at lunch after we met back up with our group and were made fun of by everyone there - not like it was our fault they left us! Another funny story...right after taking this picture I went to find the bathroom. Some people will do anything for a tip. A kid probably about 15 followed me down the hall, stopped me from trying to go into the women's, and then proceeded to lean against the sink and watch me go. I realized he was blocking the paper towel dispenser but was holding a few out for me. It is funny how uncomfortable you can be with someone watching everything you do. I couldn't figure out the sink and sprayed water all of over my pants, which is embarrassing enough when you are alone and not being stocked by a 15-year-old Mexican. After all that, all I could do was open my wallet and tip the kid. I guess if you are ever in Mexico and need a buck the bathroom is a good place to start, especially if you are lucky enough to stumble upon someone as dumb as me.

Okay, one more...

"Do we have to go home?" It wasn't like our boys were missing us or anything. Actually, I don't think they missed us at all thanks to Adam & Emma and my mom. Thank you guys for taking such great care of them! We hope you will do it again very soon.