A Birthday shout out for Ty!

Ty - We are sorry we are not there to call and sing you happy birthday! Hopefully this little, silly, video will put a smile on your face! We love you! We hope you had a wonderful birthday! We can't believe you are already 10 years old!

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Well today was the day we all knew would come much too quickly! Our last day! We checked out at 11:00 am and had our bags stored while we took the bus to town. We were finally successful finding the lighthouse!

Thanks to Corrine's detective skills we finally found it. It is located by the Dreams Resort (a really nice place - we all decided we could easily handle staying there!) They wouldn't let us get any closer.

After pictures we went and found something to eat. Then off to Casa Maya to get our things and head to the airport. We were very impressed with the airport. Everything went so smoothly and quickly. Melinda and Kate's flight left earlier than ours (by about 90 minutes). Corrine and I arrived home to Camarillo about 11:40 pm (thanks dad for coming to get us). We left about 45 minutes late from Cancun. Getting through customs took a little longer, but we are happy to be sleeping in our own (soft) beds tonight! We have had a wonderful trip/celebration for Kate's 30th birthday! I hope you enjoyed the journey with us!

Now the day is over

Well today is a first. We have been coming to Mexico yearly since 1999 during this month. We have yet to have a day 'ruined' by rain. However, this morning when we looked out the window to determine where Corrine was going to go down and get seats, this is the sky we saw! How rude! Our last day here and it is cloudy, windy & raining! Well, we decided to make the best of it. We all stayed in the room and relaxed and read - this was actually much needed as yesterday we were all REALLY burnt well! We were grateful we decided not to do another tour yesterday (which turned out to be our last sun day) or today.

About noon Melinda decided we should take a walk so we did. We walked down the beach from our hotel and enjoyed the sand in our toes, etc. The rain had stopped and so it was nice - just windy. Barlow boys - this picture is for you!

After we walked about 45 minutes Melinda's positive attitude (she did the positive, positive, positive dance) caused the sun to peek its head through the clouds. We were all excited! Kate and I stayed down with the chairs while Melinda and Corrine changed. We then switched places. By the time Kate and I came back, the sun was gone. We lasted about an hour or so but this was what laying out looked like today! Well, we did have lunch, our drinks and we had a good laugh too - okay, so I am the one that had the laugh. I got in a giggle and I couldn't stop. When the waiter brought our food over I had him giggling at me! Oh, well! It was good for the stomach muscles, right?

Yes, those are my typical infected legs. Once again I have horrible looking legs thanks to the bug bites I get. For whatever reason, they like me! No one else has bites!

Tonight we went in town earlier than usual. We enjoyed our steak dinner and took our time eating. We walked around and did our shopping. Can't believe we have been here a week and we are heading home tomorrow! Time flies! We will check out at 11:00 am, go to town for lunch and then head to the airport about 1:00 pm. Melinda and Kate's flight leaves about an hour before ours. HASTA LAVISTA!

A day of Sun!

Today we stayed back here at the hotel. It was VERY hot! We are all quite pink & red and we feel like we are little ovens tonight! Thanks to Melinda & Kate we got good seats.

Tonight we went to town via a taxi to La Parilla. We were told on our way here this was the best play for fajitas - Kate really wanted 'the best' ones she could have! She was not disappointed. We also had pina coladas and a strawberry daiquiri. Finally we found a place with good drinks. One of the things we were disappointed in here is the drinks. They just don't make them like Costa Vida does!

I ordered a Caesar salad and they made it right in front of us. The restaurant is a Mayan one and so the people are all Mayan. I look like a giant compared to them! Kate really wanted me to take this picture since I am the shortest of the group of us.

Tonight we are all sitting in the lobby so I can use the computer (which has taken SO long to do anything and causing me great frustration) and playing Phase 10 together. It is VERY hot. Tomorrow will be another sun day!

A Visit to Chichen Itza

Well we had a great tour today! It was a long day but plenty worth it. We had great tour guides as well. We left the hotel about 9:30 am. It is just under three hours to get out to Chichen Itza. We rode in air conditioned buses and the ride out really went quite quickly. We were able to see the countryside and so it was enjoyable. On the way out one of the tour guides gave us some of the history of the area and the Mayan people. This was very interesting. We arrived there just before noon. They divided our group to English & Spanish so they didn't have to translate everything twice. We spent about 1 1/2 hours with our tour guide - he did a great job with the history and his English was good too. It was very, very hot! We took water spray bottles to keep cool throughout the day.

After we had about 45 minutes of free time and then we left the area. We were taken to a private Cenote or under water river. We were given the opportunity to swim. Since we only had about 45 minutes the four of us chose not to - we didn't want to be wet for the rest of the day. It was absolutely beautiful there! We took a lot of pictures.

After the Cenote we were taken to a Mayan village were we had some time to shop if we wanted to do so. We each bought our name in a necklace - written in Mayan. We were given a meal at this location as well. It was really good. Corrine & Kate really enjoyed it a lot. They also had some of the natives do a typical Mayan dance for us as well. After dinner we headed back to Chichen Itza for the night time light show. We wore headphones. It was okay, but basically reviewed the history of the area. After watching so many LDS pagents, we felt a little disappointed. What it did show us was how good our tour guide was.

We left there about 8:00 pm, and it was close to 11:00 pm when we returned back. We are hot, tired and dirty, but had a great day!

A day in the sun

This morning we started our day with a wonderful timeshare presentation. One thing that is annoying - even as owners - these guys always want you to listen to the presentation, etc. We decided to do it because it would save us each $90 in the activities we were doing. The lady also committed to us it would only be 90 minutes. We figured if we were all together we could hold them to it. They included breakfast. Well, after six different people each gave us their "spiel" we were able to leave on time. However, it only happened because we made it VERY clear to them we were not going to be buying a thing! They were not that thrilled, but oh, well!

Today was a lay out day in the sun. Corrine & Melinda enjoyed a massage and both came back with smiles. One thing we have noticed different than in PV - they have enough employees to have six of them try to sell us their timeshare, but only two for hundreds of guests who want food or drinks! Needless to say, the service here is much different! However, the sun is still hot and we all got color today! :)

Tonight we went to an Argentine Steak House. We ordered the empanadas in honor of McKay. We tried one with beef and one with cheese & spinach. We all prefered the beef. We all ordered steaks and for the most part enjoyed them.
After dinner we walked around the area before finding the bus back. Tonight we went further in to the hotel area and we found LOTS of people. Now we can understand why people call it Little Vegas - lots of lights, clubs, dancing, music, etc. Just not my style!

A Day in Cozumel

Today was the 'hurry up and wait day'. The alarm went off at 5:45 am in order to be in the lobby by 7:00 am. We took a day trip to the island of Cozumel. After waiting here, loading a bus, waiting again and loading another bus we arrived at Playa de Carmen (about one hour drive from Cancun) where we got on a ferry to Cozumel. The ferry ride was about 35 minutes. It was a little choppy. We all took our medicine and unfortunately the 'may cause drowziness' part of the medicine really hit Corrine & Kate. This picture was taken just before we got on the ferry.

This is a picture of the water as we left Playa de Carmen and headed to Cozumel. This is an island resort area and is home to the rich and famous tourists. Prices were higher there and the cruise ships stop there. Two were in port. We had heard the snorkeling here was the best so we wanted to give it a try. Well, we were not disappointed in the snorkeling. I have only been in Puerto Vallarta and it wasn't that great. However, here it was absolutely amazing! The water is so clear! We were on a little 12 passenger boat with four other snorklers and two people accompanying their friends but not going in. Melinda and I were extremely nervous. However, I jumped in and had a great time. We stayed in one location for about 30 minutes and then got in the boat (that was hillarious!) and went a little further and got back in. The second stop we were at Paradise Reef, which is apparently a well-known spot. There were other boats there but not too many that we couldn't enjoy ourselves. Our guide did a great job. He dove down deep and would feed the fish to bring them closer to us. There were several scuba divers there as well.

After we came back to land we were fed fajitas at Mr Chile's. It was part of the tour. It was good. Kate really liked the fresh salsa. After lunch we had about two hours of free time. Unfortunately the part of the island we were on was not good for the beaches and so we were not able to lay out and relax like we thought we would be able to. We did a little shopping and relaxing until it was time to head back to the ferry. It was a full 12 hour day as we didn't return back to our hotel until 7:20 pm. Since we all wanted to shower before we did anything else we ordered room service and decided to relax here. Tomorrow is a 'hotel' day. Oh, by the way, the best pictures of today are yet to come - Kate bought a water camera and took pictures. We also got a picture of all of us in our gear from under the water - yes, we bought the picture they sold us! Check back later to see if it gets posted. :)

I had to include this one. They had these colorful statues of marine animals all the way up the board walk area. We thought they were hilarious so I wanted to show you.

A Sunday Shoutout

This morning we took a taxi to Sacrament Meeting. We were greeted by the elders - one from SLC the other a native. We found out there are three stakes in Cancun and the surrounding area. Pretty cool! This is the Mexico Meridia mission. We enjoyed being at the meeting. It was much larger than the ward in PV. Also, there was a choral group from Utah State University there and they sang the rest hymn (in English). It was beautiful.

This building is much bigger than the one we go to in PV. There were a lot of members there today and we couldn't help but think of Brock today. :)

Dad, the church building here has gates all around it too. However, not the spikes sticking up on the top of the fence. We walked back to the main road to find the bus back. It took us through the city and past a Catholic church building. There were a lot of people out and about. We walked through a flea market area and one of the members told us it was the old city center. We took the bus back to Casa Maya. It is much cheaper and we enjoy using the bus. By going in to town to church, taking the bus, etc. it gives us a better opportunity to see how the people live. Being on the hotel strip is like being at the Vegas strip. You don't feel like you are really in Mexico.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing here at Casa Maya. The sun is definately hot here! The beach here is a public beach and A LOT of the locals were here swimming, etc. The sand is soft and beautiful and the water is so clear! We decided not to go in town for dinner tonight. We enjoyed the Italian buffet here. Tomorrow we are going to Cozumel tomorrow and we have to leave at 7:00 am. So, we are ready to call it a night tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day from Mexico!

This morning we all enjoyed the opportunity to sleep with no alarm set at all! Oh, yeah! About 10:30 am we decided it was time to start getting ready. We were able to get permission for a late check out at 1:00. Melinda arrived to the hotel about 11:45 am and as expected, she was very tired. However, a quick shower did enough to give her a new shot in the arm.

Since we slept through breakfast, we were all very ready for lunch and so once again, Marriott provided us a meal. Does fajitas and a club sandwich sound familiar? They had balloons set up ready for the holiday. We decided it was picture worthy. :)

Corrine made Kate a fleece blanket with hearts on it for her 'birthday' here in Cancun. It made for a great birthday/Valentine's gift.

We took two taxis from the Courtyard to Casa Maya. Corrine was in the front taxi and yes, she did get a picture of it from the car. Melinda and I were in the taxi behind them and when our driver was wondering why the other taxi was going slow Melinda and I started laughing knowing Corrine was taking a picture.

Here is the the picture from our room. We are on the top (eigth) floor with an ocean view and a nice balcony. There are two double beds, a double murphy bed and a full kitchen. It is great!

Here is a picture of the ocean from our balcony! We are ready to take a swim!

We decided to walk around the place so we could become acquainted with where things are located. We found this happy spot! Oh yeah!

This is the place we are staying in from the water looking up to our room.

A trip to Mexico would not be complete without a sunset picture for Corrine. Since we are on the ocean side, it is a little harder to get, but she managed to get a picture tonight.

We took the bus in to town and had our Valentine's dinner at La Dolce Vita - an Italian place. It was funny because there were only 'gringos' there! It was good food and we splurged on dessert too. After dinner we got back on the bus and headed to Wal-Mart. With a full kitchen in our room we figured we would get some food. We ran in to another LDS couple at Wal-Mart (he was wearing a BYU shirt). We stopped and visited for a few minutes. They are from Orem and will go home on Monday.

Well, don't expect this many pictures every night. The computer is VERY slow here. Also, I can't check the computer as often because the set up here is different. I have to pay to use the wireless 'hotspot' and I am sitting down in the lobby to do it. Kate came with me to keep me company. The walkie talkies are great! Glad we have them.

Cancun -The Barlows have arrived!

Corrine & I left LAX and Kate from SLC - off on our adventure to celebrate Kate's 30th birthday! Our flights were relatively uneventful. (Yes, mom, I survived and the medicine helped.) Kate arrived about 90 minutes before us. The process was similar to Puerto Vallarta. The immigration line was VERY long, but it moved relatively quickly. The customs line wasn't too bad. We were very grateful all our our luggage arrived! Yeah!

We were greeted by the 'sea' of timeshare sales people - all trying to 'help' you out - for a price. No, thank you. We went outside to find the HUMID weather and wait for the Marriott shuttle. After waiting somewhat patiently (I wasn't so much) we finally got a shuttle about 45 minutes later. We were told the wrong place to wait. Oh, well! I guess we are on 'vacation time.' The hotel is about 5 miles from the airport and it is VERY nice! Thanks, Zack!

Kate was VERY hungry and so after putting our stuff in our room we ate at the restaurant here at the hotel. Kate and Corrine enjoyed the fajitas (something Kate has told us she may eat every day) and I had the club sandwich (which I may eat everyday).

We are now in our room and getting ready to call it a night. Kate is looking over the various tours to decide which we will do. Melinda and I need to be a little concerned - she is a lot more adventurous than us! Shark encounters and an underwater scooter ride are her kind of fun! Help!

Tomorrow the life of the party arrives - we just call her Melinda. We are looking forward to her being here! Stay tuned for more details to come!

A birthday shout out to Michelle!

Here is a little shout out for our sister, Michelle! Happy birthday! (We thought the shells would be nicer to look at than our pj wearing, no makeup, hair a mess, faces.

A little sacrifice for the vacation

So, I have spent the last few days getting ready for our trip to Cancun. My bag has been mostly packed. I am using a large duffel bag. It was in my room and my little toe decided to collide with the bag. I know we all think we break our toes when we stub them, but this time I am quite confident I did. I had Corrine take a picture.