Akumal Trip!!!!

Last week we went to Akumal, Mexico for a fabulous week-long vacation! (Akumal is about an hour south of Cancun.) We stayed at my parents' beach house (thanks Mom and Dad!), and this was the view from our room. Yeah, I could definitely get used to that! It was so much fun! It was the first time in four years that the whole family has been there together because my brothers have been on their missions. So it was great to have everyone there! There are 24 of us now so it was chaos, but complete fun!

This was Kate's first time in the ocean and she absolutely loved it! We couldn't get her out. She wasn't scared of the waves at all.

There were some cold days but lots of sun. The kids loved the pool. TJ and Brenden are fine by themselves, but we started out having to go with Alyssa. By the end of the trip even she was great all on her own...fabulous!!!

See......proof!!!!! (I didn't think it would happen!)

Kate in the sand....she loved it!

Both TJ and Brenden turned into quite the snorkelers. I had my doubts, but they did great and loved it! Yay! Now Justin has some snorkel buddies (since his wife doesn't fit that bill)!

Just keep in mind...he's 8....just a little goof-ball sometimes!

Can you tell she's happy? She would beg everyone to take her down to the ocean. Since it's hard to say no to that face most everyone would give in and take her. Don't let that fool you though......she's a stinker most of the time. She had some rough days (don't remind me about the plane ride home).

He's so cute! I love that kid!

Yeah, we don't know what this is...but she sure enjoyed doing it!

One of my most favorite places to go is Coba. It's a Mayan ruin site. I haven't been there for13 years and Justin hasn't ever been there so I was really excited to go again. When we went 13 years ago they let us climb to the top of the huge pyramid, but I didn't think they would let us now. I was so glad they did so Justin and TJ and Brenden could also experience it.

Have you seen the animated film "The Road to El Dorado?" In that movie there is a scene where the main characters play a game against the gods. Well, here you go! Here is the actual ball court. Awesome, right? It's hard to believe that this took place so long ago.

And....here it is, the huge pyramid! It's hard to tell from the picture how big it is, just try looking at the people and you will see how big it is. Justin, TJ, Brenden, and I climbed to the top, it was awesome!

Great view, right??? Luckily you can't tell from the picture how out of breath we are! J/K, it wasn't that bad.

This little room is at the very top. I have no idea what it was used for, but I think it looks spooky.

More of Kate in the sand.

Our girly-girl. She turned into quite the fish.

One of my other favorite places to go is called Puerto Aventuras. I like it because they do things that you could never do in the U.S. Like having a sea lion on a podium two feet from people. That would never happen here. It was neat. They had the sea lion bark and kiss people and do a little dance.

They also have dolphins in ponds separated only by small fences. You can swim with the dolphins but no one did that this time.

Our friend, the iguana.

The last night most everyone had a pool party and jumped in the pool with their clothes on. Justin and I were party-poopers and did not participate, so luckily other people played with our kids.

Yep, she loved it!

I took almost 300 pics on the trip so this is only a small sample, but we had a fabulous time and had so much fun! Thanks everyone for a great time and thanks Mom and Dad!!! Now back to real life.....