The Ancient Mayan City of Tulum

On our third day at sea we arrived in Cozumel, Mexico. It was a landmark day for me because it marked the first time that I stepped foot on non-U.S. soil with my world traveling husband.

We didn't actually spend much time in Cozumel, we took a Ferry to Tulum within minutes of dis-embarking. This boat ride was 45 minutes of sea sickening wonder. More than one person lost their lunch on this boat, and I was almost one of them.
Ancient Mayan ATM?


Cozumel night life...in the rain.

Cool bus in Tulum

I loved this palm tree, it looked like a character from the book "Where the Wild Things Are."

Beautiful Caribean Sea

Cortes pose

It was very wet during our entire stay in Mexico.

My first international kiss.

This was such an awesome experience for me. Our tour guide was a native Mayan and was very learned in his culture. He told us so many amazing things about these people. The people of the Ancient City of Tulum were one of the only groups in this area that didn't practice human sacrifice, they had a different way of worshiping. As I listened to the guide's discription of their practices, I was amazed at how closely they could be paralleled to some of our own. I couldn't help but get the feeling that I have read about these people before. I wish that I had the time and eloquence to write everything that I heard and felt. These people seem amazing and I wish that I could go back in time and visit with them.

Wall to the city.

Mayan Temple.

Key West

I realize that I probably sound like a kindergarten girl returning home from her first field trip as I recount our snuba experience. It was so exciting for me that I guess I feel kind of like it was my first field trip.

On our second day at sea we were able dis-embark at Key West to do some diving. The water was very choppy that day so a lot of the groups cancelled their under-water excursions. We were lucky and got some pirate-like guides, they weren't about to let a little wind and waves cancel their plans. They took us to a shallow area that was more protected from the wind.

The boat ride to the dive area was an adventure in itself, as we were approaching the area and slowing down a bit, the "captain" pointed out a dolphin about 10 feet away from the boat! As I was trying to retrieve our camera from John's backpack it actually swam under the boat and disappeared into the water. So no evidence of this one, sorry.

Snuba is just like scuba diving except instead of carrying the air tanks on your back, they float on a little raft at the surface. Your breathing devices are attached to long hoses that connect you to your air supply, ours were about 20 feet long. At first it was a little uncomfortable, but we got accustomed to it quickly.

Our guide took us past some live sponges that we could touch, and we were able to see quite a few fish and coral. It was a bit disorienting under the water, so when a nurse shark (about 4 feet long) swam just a few feet away from John, he wasn't looking in the right direction. The rest of us saw it though. It freaked me out, even though our guide had told us before-hand that they weren't dangerous to humans. They feed mostly on lobsters and other bottom dwelling creatures. The last thing that I was able to see was a sting ray. It was just camped out on the ocean floor. I thought that it was dead, and being the scaredy-cat that I am, I wasn't about to make sure. When we all got back onto the boat our guide told us that he had actually seen two stingrays camped out on the bottom, and yes, they were alive.

We didn't get any underwater pictures, but here is an Internet picture of a nurse shark.

Afterwards, we were able to walk around Key West for a while, we bought some authentic Key lime pie, and we saw the REAL Sponge Bob. We couldn't resist getting our pictures taken with him. He looks happy doesn't he? So were we.

Getting there was half the fun

A few months ago, John and I decided that it was time to have some fun. John has been wanting to take me on an international trip ever since he started traveling, and I have been wanting go on a cruise since...forever. So, we decided to take a step into the unknown and book a cruise to the Western Caribbean. John took last week off of work and we said good-by to my mom, a stocked refrigerator, an empty laundry room, and our four lovely and lively children. Then we spent an entire five days enjoying some adventures together. Unfortunately, as usual, our fun surpassed our ability to take good pictures. So just trust me, it was wonderful.

Me, trying to take a "serious" picture on the ferry to Tulum.

After looking at the "serious" picture.

At the airport, I had to tease John a little bit about the "naked machine" made by L-3 communications (where he works). Leave it to a bunch of engineers to create an x-Ray vision device.

This is how I spent my time in the airport, crocheting a hat for my neighbor's new baby. I wish I would have taken a picture of the finished product, it was cute.

It was REALLY windy at the front of the ship during our last day at sea.

Did I mention it was windy?

There were a few moments of beautiful, non-windy, warm weather, so we took advantage of it and spent some time lounging on the deck.

It was beautiful!

There is more to come, but I need to get back to my duties today, I will try to post more tomorrow.

Quick, easy and cheap art...

I told my sister that I would show her my latest project, and I am so proud of myself that I decided to blog it too. I got my inspiration from this recent temple picture that I did at a class a while ago. I was amazed at how simple moulding and mod podge could make a picture look so great. So, I took out an old cheap print that John and I got from an online poster company about 8 years ago. It is called "praying man", John fell in love with the real expensive painting while he was on his mission. He was impressed by the humility and gratitude shown for simple things. I was never happy with the way it was framed though. I didn't take a ton of pictures of the process, so I am just going to explain it here for my sister's sake.

1. Cut backer board to glue the picture onto, leave about 3 inches on each edge. I left about 4, but my moulding was 4 1/2 inches wide.
2. Cut moulding to the right size with a chop saw, try to be more exact than I was.
2. Get a small sample tin of any color of satin latex paint, and paint the moulding with a sponge brush.
3. While it is drying spread mod podge on the backer board and place the picture on top. Work quickly from the center out with a flat edge scraper to get all of the bubbles out (I used one of the Pampered chef stoneware scrapers.) Work it longer than you think you need to ;) A little bit of scuffing on the picture actually looks pretty good when it is finished.
4. Let it dry for at least 45 minutes to prevent sagging when you roll mod podge on the top. I used a nappy roller to roll mod podge over the top, and I still had a little sagging even after waiting 45 minutes. It worried me, but the next morning after it had dried it looked perfect.
5. After your paint on the moulding is dry, hold the corners tightly together and staple them a few times along the seam. Be careful not to let the staples go through the thinner parts of the moulding.
6. Place the moulding over the picture and staple it into place from the back. You can use staples it you want, but my backer board was too dense so I found that the brads worked better.
7. Put a picture hanger into place...and TaDaa...you have art.

I realized after hanging it on the wall that I needed to paint the back of the moulding and the edge of the backer board to make it look better from the side. I still need to do this.

Over all I am so happy with how it turned out. I feel good enough about how it looks to happily hang it in our dinning room--something that John has wished all along.

Bunnies Bunnies Everywhere...

I didn't get any good pictures of Easter morning, for one simple reason, Hannah woke up at 5:30 a.m. Soon after, she woke everybody else up (that is, everybody but mom and dad). As a result, by the time I got out of bed, Easter grass and chocolate wrappers were everywhere and Lucy and Maddie were completely covered in chocolate drool. So I guess you could say they loved Easter. It was a wonderful day, and conference was beautiful. Hannah spent most of her Easter weekend printing things off of this website,

http://www.thetoymaker.com/2Toys.html

It is such a fun website, and just down Hannah's alley. I love the vintage look of their paper toys. It is times like this that I wish we had a color printer.

April Fools

John's Brother, Bill, and his family have some of the best ideas. One of the times that we were invited over to their house for dinner, we were treated to a mystery menu dinner. We were each given a menu with crazy choices on it and were told to choose our meal for the night. We were served by their children, and were treated like royalty, it was such a fun meal. This year I decided to treat our children to a mystery dinner. Unfortunately John had to work late that night, so I decided to act as the waitress for the entire meal and eat afterwards. Our children were actually less crazy at the table than usual, and the meal was pretty simple.

Hannah eating her Hillbilly teeth, second course.

Johnny and his meany greanies, second course. I am tempted to serve the vegetables before the main dish from now on, I was amazed at how much more they ate when that was all they had in front of them.

Maddie and her Sweetie Bell Tea, the new and improved April meal (as opposed to leftovers from the night before), and her fingernails a la ape (Scoops corn chips).

Lucy and her dihydrogen monoxide drink, and new and improved April Meal (taco soup) and wavy scraps (sun chips).