Warning! Long post!! For Christmas our family and my parents went to Mexico! It was such a fun trip and I had been itching to go out of the country for some time now. We love to travel. It was also Leo's first time out of the country! I went when I was 14 with my family and it was interesting to see how much it has all changed (it is A LOT busier).
After traveling all day and getting a good night's rest in our hotel (the bed was SO comfy), we traveled to Tulum to see some Mayan ruins. It is a beautiful place right on the ocean. We had a great tour guide named Jose who gave us the "LDS" version of what he and scholars think. (If you're interested he said that Tulum was actually after the Nephite/Lamanite era but gave some great ideas about where certain areas that could be places in the Book of Mormon) Leo had fun climbing the rocks and gave me a good scare a couple times....
After Tulum, we headed to Coba. This is a less touristy ruins, which is nice. We saw the tallest temple in the Yucatan which is the only one in that area of Mexico you can still climb on (When my family went when I was 14 you could climb on all the ruins in the area). Of course, Ronnie and my dad took Leo up to the top and I was nervous wreck! But they kept Leo safe....
Thought this was ironic ;) (It's a pinata strapped to the back of a bug)
On Christmas day, we took a ferry over to Isla Mujeres. It's a smaller island with pretty beaches and everyone rides in golf carts.
Ronnie bought a coconut from this guy because he was wearing a Kansas State hat. The machete was a nice touch ......
We ate dinner at this nice place El Morterro. The mariachi band was awesome and that was Leo's favorite part (and mine considering he was all over the place!) He danced to their music and it was the cutest thing ever.
The next day we went to Xcaret which is kind of a theme park. We swam in a natural river that was partially underground, walked around and saw the sights and saw some awesome shows showing the Mexican and Mayan heritage.
The next day we just hung out at the hotel enjoying the beach and pool. Awesome.
Our last full day we went to Chitchen Itza. It is a very impressive sight and on the way back from there we stopped and saw a Cenote (an underground pool/cavern thing that Mayans thought were very spiritual)
The trip home was very crazy. Lots of delays, a lady that was not happy about Leo's tantrums on the plane, a canceled flight and a car drive home from Chicago O'hare airport. We looked kinda silly going to get our car rental dressed in our flip flops and short sleeves in the snow (our bags made it home a day after we did). But we made it home and we are so glad we were able to go and have fun as a family!
