Alan turns 8!

We told Alan that he could have a friend party for his 8th birthday and he was so excited!  His birthday was about a week after we got back from our trip and even though I had been planning on it (at least his baptism and that part of it) I kind of let the party part slide until it was almost his birthday.  We gave him a couple of different options and he wanted to go to the movie theater and see the movie Frozen with a few of his friends.  That worked out well for me because I didn't have to do a lot of planning and decorating.  So he invited 4 friends over and we had pizza and pop and then dessert.  This year Alan wanted to have a mock éclair (layers of graham crackers and pudding/whip cream mixture with a chocolate topping) instead of cake.  Starting with Alan and going clockwise: Alan, Justiz, Micah, Conner, Rachel (Conner's age, her mom watched Brooklyn for us so that we could all go to the movie), Paxton, Mara and Ethan:

After that we opened presents and then piled into our two vehicles and went to the theater.  I was a little worried because right before we went I heard that it was a "princess" movie and I wasn't sure how a bunch of 8 year old boys would react.  Luckily the movie was great and all the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, although one got a little scared during certain parts.  Some of Alan's friends were very wiggly but it all worked out.  After that we gave out treat bags and took everyone home.  It was an easy and fun birthday party and Alan loved it.

A couple of presents that he got from family.  A new set of scriptures from his mom and dad and a new scripture bag from Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher:

Here is a little about 8 year old Alan:
Favorite color:  Blue
Favorite song:  A child's prayer
Favorite thing to do:  Spend time with my family
Favorite subject in school:  Science
Favorite food:  Split pea soup
Favorite book:  Harry Potter and Jack and Annie (Magic Tree house books)
What do you want to be when you grow up:  A cop or an artist

While the cats are away the mice will play

 While Reed and I were on vacation Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher came to stay with our kids.  They made this vacation possible - thank you!  It sounds like everyone had fun:

Brooklyn helping make a salad:

Micah showing off his ninja skills

 Grandma said that when she tried to get Brooklyn dressed Brooklyn insisted on putting on a pair of pants, and then a pair of shorts and then her swimming suit.  She spent a lot of the day like that:

 Micah and his lego creation:

 Grandma took Brooklyn in to get her first hair cut.  Now her hair isn't in her eyes.  Brooklyn snuggling with Grandpa and her dolls:

 Micah doing the same thing:

 While we were enjoying the sun and white sand these guys were enjoying the cold and snow:

 Grandma and Grandpa helped them build a snow man:

Micah loves to play tickle chase.  Here is an email from Grandpa that we got while we were gone:
"I was playing a exhausting game with the two of them this morning.  When I sat down on the couch, I exclaimed I had to rest.  Micah of course asked why.  I responded "Because I am old and tired".  Pointing over at Grandma sitting beside me he said, "What about that one".  What a hoot!!"
Grandma and Grandpa also made sure Alan and Conner got to school, and picked them up and helped with homework and made dinner and did laundry and dishes and everything else that is involved in keeping a house running.  Thanks again for taking care of our kiddos.

Vacation Day 9 - Home again!!!

The next day we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel and then we hopped on the shuttle and went back to the airport.  We wandered around for a little while.  One of the things we saw while wandering:

Then we found out our terminal was the very last one in the airport (number 95, I think) so we hurried down there.  It was weird, we actually walked outside, then got on this little ramp and got on the plane.

The flight home was uneventful.  Flying over our city:

We got in to the airport and went down to wait for our bags.  We looked out the window and saw our van pull up so we ran out to meet them.  We gave everyone a big hug - it was so nice to see them again.  My mom had stayed with the kids and took them to church by herself, since we were a day late.  We went back and got out bags.  Then the kids wanted to ride the escalator up to the upper level and we said sure.  Reed was holding Brooklyn and Micah was right behind him but Micah somehow lost his footing and fell part way down the escalator.  It was pretty scary to watch - I don't think I have ever jumped that many stairs at a time.  I picked him up and he had a bruise on his head and a big rip in his pant leg but luckily there was only a long scrape on his leg, so it could have been worse.  When we got home we saw this sign in the window:

We had some dinner and then I drove my mom half way home - Dad came and met us half way.  Thanks again Mom and Dad for holding down the fort - we couldn't have gone without you!  It was nice to get away but nice to come home too.  I guess I was ready to tackle life with a little more energy.  I love these kids:

 I even love them on days like this!

Its nice to be home!

Vacation Day 8 - Homecoming (or so we thought)

 The next day was Saturday.  It had been a wonderful vacation but I was really missing our kids so I was ready to come home.  We went to the buffet one last time for breakfast and then we packed up our stuff.  Our ride came to pick us up at 10 am to take us to the airport.  Our flight didn't leave until 1:00 pm but we were told we needed to be there early to make sure we made it through customs with enough time to spare.  When we got to the airport we waited in a long line to check our bag and then we wandered around, looking at the shops.  We decided to eat lunch there and were shocked at how expensive everything was.  A little bottle of water was 5 dollars!  So we both got a hamburger and that cost us $22 - sheesh!  Then we made our way to our terminal. 

Here is a picture of a plane:

Our tickets said our seats were 1A and 1B.  So as we boarded we saw that we were the first seats in 1st class.  We thought there had been a mistake so we kept going to see if there was also a 1A in the coach section but there wasn't.  So we went back and got settled into first class!  Here is a picture of Reed's legs - we had so much leg room!:

 We couldn't believe our good luck. 

 Then the plane taxied out to the run way.  We had just finished ordering our mid flight snack and decided which movie we were going to watch when the pilot came on and said that they were getting an abnormal reading from part of the plane so we were going to have to sit and wait for a few minutes.  My heart sank - I suspected it would be longer than a few minutes.  After a little bit the pilot came back on and said that one of the pilot's windows was malfunctioning so we would have to get off the airplane while they had someone try to figure out what the problem was.  So they loaded our plane onto two buses and drove us back to the airport.

Everyone coming off the plane and getting onto the bus:  

 When we got to the airport they left us locked on the bus for 15 minutes or so - we started to wonder what was going on.  Then they let us back into the airport and told us to go to another terminal for further instructions.  We made our way in that direction (with all the rest of the passengers) only to find that they had sent us to a very busy part of the terminal.  It was packed wall to wall so they told us to disperse and come back in an hour.  We only had a two hour layover in Denver this time before we had to catch our next flight.  So I called my parents to warn them that we might not make it in time.  Then we wandered around through the crowds:

 Finally we found out that they had discovered the problem (a sensor was broken in one of the windows) and that they were working to fix it but that it would take a couple of hours.  There went our hopes for making it home that day.  I was so disappointed!  We finally boarded the plane again at 5:30pm - about the time that we were supposed to be arriving in Denver.  The flight went smoothly and Reed and I still got to ride in 1st class, which was fun.  It was nice that they served dinner, because Reed and I didn't want to buy anymore food at the airport so we were hungry.  We got into Denver around 9:30 pm and were directed to a help desk.  They gave us a voucher to stay at a nearby hotel and a couple of food vouchers for the airport.  We got our luggage and got on a shuttle with a bunch of our fellow passengers and arrived at our hotel at about 10:45. 

Our room was pretty nice:

 After we checked in we were both hungry so we walked across the street to a diner and ordered some food.  It was delicious!  I think I caught Reed by surprise with the camera!:

Then we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.  Our flight left the next morning at 10:30 am. 

Vacation Day 7

The next day was Friday and our last official vacation day.  We decided that we wanted to try ordering room service for our breakfast so the night before we ordered what we wanted.  We asked them to come at 7:30 am because we wanted an early start on the day and we figured we would be up by then.  We were both in bed asleep when we heard a knock on the door.  Reed scrambled to get dressed and open the door to get our plates.  I guess that was our wake up call!  We both decided on one thing that we really wanted to do before we went home.  Reed wanted to go to a public beach to look for sea shells and I wanted to go sea kayaking.  So after we ate and got ready we walked down to the town to find a public beach.  We wanted to look for sea shells and the beach by our hotel was too rocky - all the shells got smashed. 

We enjoyed just meandering down the beach:

We saw a crab:

Reed found this cool looking bone:

We started to get hot and tired so we headed back.  It was actually sunny and warm on this day - so nice!  We walked back through the town and  stopped at the dolphin marina.  You could pay to spend an hour with some dolphins.  It was cool to see the dolphins but sad to see them stuck in these little pens.  While we were there a family was swimming with the dolphins:

Getting a ride:

Close to our hotel we saw some more iguanas:

Oh, I miss the flowers and bright colors that were all around:

When we got back we changed and rented a sea kayak.  It was fun.  We started off in the lagoon and then we paddled out to the open ocean.  I enjoyed paddling out and then letting the waves carry us back to shore.  We did that for a little bit but Reed said that the up and down of the waves was making him feel a little sick and my hands were getting blisters from paddling so we went back and turned in our kayak.

Then we grabbed a burger and some fries and snacks from the snack bar and found a couple of beach chairs to relax in.  I read for a while and Reed went back to the room to take a nap:

That afternoon we decided to go snorkeling one more time.  This time we swam out in the open ocean but stayed close to the shore.  We found a ton of fish in the area were you could swim between the lagoon and the ocean.

I wouldn't want to step on that:

We love snorkeling!

It started to rain hard while we were snorkeling so when we got out the beach was empty.  When we looked out across the ocean we saw this ship (the only big ship we saw while we were there).  It kind of reminded me of one of the pieces from the battleship game:

Then we went back to our room and showered and got dry and ready for dinner.  I forgot to mention earlier that the dress for the restaurants was supposed to be "casual elegance".  We interpreted that as women wear a skirt or dress and men wear nice pants and a collared shirt, but we saw a big variety in what people wore.  Anyway we were kind of late getting dressed so when we went up to the Mexican restaurant it was full.  We put our names down for later and went to visit the Creperie.  We ordered our favorite dessert - a crepe with peanut butter and fresh fruit.  I also tried tangerine ice cream with blueberry sauce.  It was so good!  I wish we could have tried all of the things on their menu.

After that we wandered around until it was our turn to eat.  The Mexican restaurant was our last restaurant to try.  Reed ordered enchiladas in a mole sauce.  It was different:

I can't remember what mine was called but it was really good:

After that Reed went to buy some souvenirs from the vendors that were set up in the middle of the hotel property.  I let him do that because I was terrible at asking for a lower price and he was really good at it. 

After that decided to try another show.  This time it was a Broadway show.  I got really excited thinking that we were going to see a Broadway show.  It started with this guy with long curly dark hair dressed in a long, shiny, grey tunic dancing on stage to some weird music.  Then the dancers started to perform one or two songs from different shows.  They did songs from Cats, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Wicked and a couple of ones that I didn't recognize.  In between each song the same guy in the grey tunic would come on stage, or run through the audience.  I really couldn't figure out his connection to the show.  Then they just started doing dances to some songs you hear on the radio.  Over all I thought the show was okay, but not great.  

Vacation Day 6

We woke up and ate breakfast and then got ready to go.  Our guide with LDS tours came and picked us up at 9 am.  The drive to Chichen Itza was kind of long - a little more than two hours.  I rained hard on the way there and I was glad we brought our rain jackets.  Luckily when we got there is was cloudy but not raining.  People told us that if it was sunny there it would be really, really hot so I am glad it was cloudy. 
The first thing I noticed when we went into the ruins were the street vendors.  There were SO many of them, selling so many things.  We explored old Chichen Itza first.

An old temple.  Many of the building were carved with a feathered serpent.  The Mayan believed in a God that ruled the earth (the serpent part) and the heavens (the feather part).

An observatory.  We learned that the Mayan were extremely advanced when it came to astronomy.  They could predict solar eclipses very accurately:

A temple to the rain god:

It is amazing to me that these building have stood for more than a thousand years.  The detail in the stones was amazing:

The original wood in some of the doorways was still there. 

Then we moved to the new Chichen Itza.  The main temple was huge!  It was dedicated to the worship of Kukulcan (the same God who is represented by the feathered serpent). 

You used to be able to climb the steps and go inside to see the red jaguar throne but they have it roped off now.  Here is Reed and I in front of the temple.  When we stood in front of the temple our guide had our group clap our hands in unison 5 times.  The sound that comes back to you sounds like a quetzal bird. 

A close up of the heads of the feathered serpents that border the stairs:

At dawn on the spring and autumn equinoxes the sun shines on the corner of the pyramid and casts a shadow that makes it look like a snake is wriggling down the stairs.  Its kind of hard to see in this picture because the stone is all the same color but you can kind of get an idea of what it would look like: 

A couple of years ago they started digging on one side of the pyramid and found a layer of the pyramid that was buried:

Then we saw the Temple of the Warriors.  This shouldn't have come as a surprise but I was a little taken aback at how dark this place was.  We briefly discussed how the Mayan's practiced human sacrifice.  Many of the buildings had something to do with human sacrifice.  At the top of the stairs you can kind of see a u-shaped table between the 2 columns.  That is where they would sacrifice enemy warriors that were captured in battle:

The Temple of the Warriors was surrounded by 1000 pillars that each had a warrior carved into it:

This is the wall of skulls.  After they had sacrificed the warrior they would cut off their heads and mount them on a stick on this wall.  I wasn't clear if they carved a new block for everyone they killed but there were a lot of blocks and each of them has a skull on it:

A close up of part of the wall:

On a building next to this there was some very detailed carvings showing an eagle holding a human heart and eating it and a jaguar holding a human heart and eating it.  The Mayan's believed in sacrificing a person's heart.  The eagle is on the left panel and the jaguar is in the middle: 

Then we went to the ball court.  It was huge!  I am taking the picture one end:

To win the game a team had to hit a rubber ball through one of these rings.  The players could only touch the ball with their hips.  The rings were 20 feet high, so I imagine some of their games went on for a long time.  Some of the panels on the walls in the ball court show a ball player being offered as a sacrifice when the game is over.  It is unclear if a member of the winning team was sacrificed or a member of the losing team was sacrificed:

After that we wandered around a little bit and looked at some of the street vendors wares.  Then we said good bye to Chichen Itza:

After we were done with Chichen Itza our guide took us to a Hacienda, which was basically a really big house.  We ate lunch there and watched some traditional dancing.  Here is a sample of the food:

After lunch it started pouring rain.  We went to a well known cenote called Ik Kil.  It was beautiful - there was an open hole on top that allowed water to trickle down in small water falls and there were long roots hanging down to the water:

We changed into swim suits and walked down the stairs to the bottom.  I decided to jump off the platform.  I am just at the top of the long flight of stairs, standing against the wall.  It wasn't that high but I still had to psyche myself up to jump off:

Splash!  It was nice to just jump in quickly because the water was kind of cool:

At least I didn't have to worry about hitting the bottom:

I did have to worry about touching one of the many little black fish that would swim all around you.  I don't know why but it was a little bit creepy to see all these little fish around you.  It was a beautiful place but it was also very crowded.  Reed and I decided that we liked the first cenotes that we visited on our Mayan adventure because there were no crowds:

After that we got changed and headed back home.  Our guide dropped us off at 7 pm so it was a long day.  After he dropped us off we went out to look for some contact solution.  We were very low when we left to come on the trip but we just figured we would buy some when we got to Mexico.  No such luck.  We looked all over the resort and the little town that was close by and no one sold contact solution.  We were wondering if most people in Mexico have really good eyes or maybe they just wear glasses?  Anyway, we never did find any so we had to make do with what we had.  When we got back to our room we found this mermaid sitting on our bed:

We decided to eat dinner that night at Tapas - the Spanish restaurant.  It was good.  I loved how fancy everything felt.  Here are my appetizers:

I decided to be adventurous and try ox tail.  I know it sounds weird and it would make sense if it was really tough meat but it was actually really tender and quite fatty.  It was fun to try new and different things.  Reed had the pork roast which was also very good.  Here is a picture of the ox tail with sweet potato fries:

After that we went back to our room and went to bed.