Allen and I recently went to Mexico. It was Fabulous! We thought we would share some of the pictures. We loved that our resort was all inclusive. It was like a cruise on land. Hope you enjoy the pictures
This is our view from our room. Not bad eh?

That is the real color of the water. I did not touch the photo with Photo shop or Picasso
Yellow flag means it is okay to swim in the ocean and a red flag means you aren't supposed to swim but many people still do.

I attempted to run. I had a nice view, but the humidity quickly got the better of me. I don't know if I have ever sweat so much. Gross. Well at least I ran one day.

It was an all inclusive resort for people and for birds.

People would walk around the beach carrying these heads advertising the braids. Allen took the picture to show that you can pay to get your hair braided or cut off.
This was one of Abbi's favorite places. It was a kiddie pool so she and Charlie could stand it. Her favorite game was Splashes Splashes we all fall down.

Allen I spend most of the first day on the beach or in the pool. We put on sunscreen, but not enough. You can't really tell, but my legs were turning into tomatoes.

We got all dressed up to go to the French Restaurant. We loved that we could go order whatever we wanted and did not have to worry about the cost. It was probably the nicest restaurant we will ever go to.

At church Allen was the Ward Pianist. I guess they always hope that one of the tourists knows how to play the piano.

For one of our dinners we went to a Mexican Restaurant where they had singers serenade us. Charlie wasn't so sure he liked their singing.

We took an evening stroll on the beach

On Monday we took an excursion to Chichen Itza. We were glad we went so we could see the more Jungle side of the Yucatan instead of the hotel strip.

This is a water well that was formed due to the limestone. It is about 150 meters deep.

Allen was preparing to jump and he did it!

Then we made it to Chichen Itza. This is the temple of Kukulcan which is the center of Chichen Itza. I thought that this temple was going to be the only ruins that we saw, but there are many ruins there. In fact, just a couple miles away they have discovered more ruins. In 1905, everything was buried and an American bought the land for $70. A year later they found the temple. This temple was recently named one of the new 7 wonders of the world.

Now... some people are a little grossed out by the Mayans... I know that I am. The sacrificing is a little much. Like this alter down below. Built specifically for sacrificing.

This picture shows what happens on the equinox. Notice the shadow and light. It looks like a snake on then has the snake head at the bottom of the steps.

There were a ton of vendors there. We kind of wish we would have got somethings since they were selling goods dirt cheap.

So I think this was the worse place. This is the sacrifice pool. Apparently there are still bones in the pool. GROSS.

This is the observatory. This is where they studied the stars and created their calendars.

And this is the ball game court. I don't know if you can see it, but there is a ring on the wall on the right hand side of the picture. That is the "goal" or "basket." Players had to use their knees and hips to get a 9 lb rubber ball through the ring. I think it is a little bit impossible. And then the captain of the winner's team was sacrificed because they are the one that brought honor to the Gods. Strange Mayans. I have actually taught my students the wrong thing for the last two years. I always thought it was the loser that got sacrificed.

Our tour guide gave a couple of theories about what happened to the Mayans. One of them was they dispersed because of internal conflict. So Allen being the great missionary asked Carlos whether he had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. Carlos who has gone to Chichen Itza every day for the last 10 years had never heard of the Book of Mormon. (Probably because all the Mormons go to Tulum... or so we hear.) Allen explained a little about the Book of Mormon and Carlos said "Isn't that a coincidence" to which Allen replied, "Well, we don't think so." Allen explained that this whole sacrificing thing came later, but it is about people in the America's at the time of Christ. We had an English Book of Mormon unfortunately we did not have a Spanish one. Carlos seemed interested in hearing more, but he did explain his family had two religions: Catholicism and Alcoholism. Well hopefully the missionaries will someday find Carlos.

One of our favorite activities in Mexico was to pass the Frisbee back in forth in the Ocean. That way if I tossed it too far Allen could dive for it and land in the water.

This is our last night on the beach with the Last Family

At Dinner at the Italian Restaurant

Every night we played games with the Lasts.

And on our last day we went snorkeling. It was amazing. We went swimming with thousands of fish. Unfortunately, the last 15 minutes, Allen got a little sea sick. But we are still glad we had that opportunity.

We are a little sad to leave Mexico. Luckily we didn't catch the swine flu.