Party Like a Soccer Mom: March 2009

I know, I know, it's like I dropped off the face of the earth or something! I have severely neglected my poor little blog for the last while - hey, I've been busy, okay? ☺ Sometimes it seems like the merry-go-round of life just keeps going faster and faster, and everything that is not survival-related just gets chucked by the wayside! But, hey, I was out of town for 10 days, so that accounts for some of it, right?

We had a fabulous time in Cancun, Mexico! It was our fifteenth wedding anniversary, so we had to go big on this one. We stayed in a really great hotel that was very modern and Asian inspired, and we had a balcony off of our room that looked out over the ocean.

We loved being able to go out on the balcony and read a book, listening to the ocean and feeling the breezes coming in. It was so relaxing! We even saw a couple of weddings out at that little white pavilion on the peninsula - it was very windy for both of them, however...it looked like they were having a hard time making everything stay put!

We did a lot of sleeping in, relaxing, reading, eating great food, watching TV, talking, taking long walks, and sightseeing. One of our excursions was to the Mayan pyramid ruins, Chichen-Itza. (Or, as they said that the Americans call it, "Chicken Pizza") We learned all about their calendars, traditions, and customs, and saw all the ruins (although you can't climb up them anymore because there has been so much vandalism). The pyramid has 91 steps on each of 4 sides and then there is a big step on the top so that it adds up to 365 - one for each day of the year. They also showed us a special sports court where they would all gather and watch two teams play a game that was kind of similar to basketball. The only difference was that they could only use their elbows, shoulders, head, hips, and knees; and they had to get the ball through a hoop that was sideways up on the wall. The winning team got the "privilege" of being offered as human sacrifices - only the best and brightest for the gods. Yikes! I think if it were me out there playing, I would be doing everything I could to throw the game!

We also saw, on our way to Chichen-Itza, a "cenote", which is a large underground cavern with water in it, and stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and a hole in the top that you can see daylight. We descended down into it on some stairs that they had carved out of the stone (I got a little vertigo), but it sure was amazing to see! Some of the people in our group actually got into the water and swam around.

See the sunlight coming from the hole in the top? And the water splashing that you can see is a little fountain that they added for effect.

Another cool thing we saw that day was a whole field of agave plants, and Mexico is one of the few places that grows it. We have some agave nectar that I use occasionally - they take it from the root of the plant and it is an all natural sugar replacement (great for diabetics, and tastes great too!) It's actually becoming quite a big thing lately.

It was very fun to go to this Mexican buffet restaurant and watch the dancers!

One day we took a ferry over to Isla Mujeres and took a taxi downtown where we did a little shopping on the streets, and also had lunch.

Also while we were on the island, we went swimming with the dolphins, which was super fun. I took this photo afterward when one swam right up to me at the pier.

On the actual night of our anniversary, we went on a dinner cruise around the lagoon and had a steak and lobster dinner on board. They also had all the drinks you wanted (yes, I know the pina coladas have gotten me in trouble before, but this time we made sure they were non-alcoholic!) ☺ The boat was almost like a pirate ship - my kids would have loved it!