12 April 2015 - New Kitchen Floor

We got to go to Utah for Easter/Conference weekend.  The girls had a great time getting eggs ready for painting. 

Minion eggs!

The whole collection.  They did several minions (evil and benign), there's a Nemo, a Ninja Turtle, and a few others as well.

Madeline got an Honor Roll award at school this week.  Smart cookie.

Being the Young Women's president comes with some....perks?  I thought this went out with the 80's.

Since we need to get our house ready to sell in the near future, we finally found the motivation we needed to do something about the kitchen floor.  Here is a shot of floor as it was.

I worked all day Saturday on this project.  I started in the pantry and worked my way out.

After 12 hours of bending, crouching, kneeling, cutting, fitting, etc., the floor was finally done and I was exhausted.  It looks amazing though, so time well spent.

5 April 2015 - Purple Belt

On Wednesday Madeline achieved the rank of purple belt in karate.  She's getting to the point that you mess with her at your own peril ;-)

The girls also planted some flower starts from seed.

They set up some terrarium jars to help get the seeds started more quickly.

27 March 2015 - Cancun Part 4

Friday was our final eco-park, Xplor.  This is more of an adventure park, where we zip lined, drove amphibious vehicles and swam through a cave.  They issue you a helmet when you arrive, and you wear it all day.

There are blue underwater lights that guide you in the cave.  We actually swam through it, and also paddled little rafts through it too.

Here's a shot of one of the zip line runs.  The entire course runs you down more than two dozen zip lines.  I heard someone say 40, but I don't think we did that many.  It may have been as many as 30 though, I lost count. It was so fun.

They also have little hammock zip lines that drop you in the water, which is nice when you get hot.

Finally after a week of non-stop exploring and fun, we spent the final day of our vacation at the Mayan Palace resort where we'd stayed all week.  This is a shot of the girls our balcony.

This is a shot of the resort's private beach.

The girls on one of the snorkel/swim docks at the beach.

The resort is actually situated about halfway between Cancun and a smaller city called Playa del Carmen, in an area referred to as the Riviera Maya.  This is our family at the beach in Playa del Carmen.

The girls playing giant beach chess at the Mayan Palace.

Although almost anything goes in Mexico, there's some things you're not supposed to do.

This is a real crocodile at the resort.

And we couldn't put a cap on our vacation properly without sipping pina coladas at the swim up bar in the pool.  The rum was still gone.

26 March 2015 - Cancun Part 3

Our next eco-park was Xel-ha.  This is a snorkeler's paradise.

The girls were unfortunately nearly eaten by a sea serpent, but Jessica saved them.

The girls sipped complimentary pina coladas next to the lagoon.

Why is the rum gone?!?

 A few of the many fish we swam with.  Joanne found a six foot barracuda.  After that, she was a little freaked out.

A view of the lagoon and the main part of the resort.

On Thursday we went to another Mayan ruin called Tulum.  This one is unique because it is on the side of a cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea.  The ruins are older than those at Chichen Itza, dating back to Book of Mormon times.

A view of The Castle, cliff and beach below.

The girls in front of The Castle.

The Castle with hibiscus and palm trees in front.

Iguanas enjoy hanging out on the warm rocks of the ruins.  These guys are everywhere at Tulum.

24 March 2015 - Cancun Part 2

On Tuesday, we drove about two hours inland to Chichen Itza, the largest and most well preserved ruins of the Mayan empire.

This is the Grand Pyramid at the center of the site.

Serpent carvings are very common throughout the grounds.  It was very hot and humid.  When I looked at this picture, I wondered if Madeline was hanging on her sisters for support.

In addition to snakes, skulls were carved in the stone.  I did my best impression.

This is the ball court where conquered enemies would play 'The Game of Life'.  They'd smack a ball back and forth soccer style, except they could only use their hips.  The losers were usually killed, while the winners got to be slaves.

This was the governor's observation tower for The Game of Life.

After a long hot day of looking at ruins, waiting for my lunch to be served was best accomplished in a hammock.

Fuel to recharge for the two hour drive with my amigos.

22 March 2015 - Cancun Part 1

For Spring Break, we took a family trip to Cancun.  The girls were so excited they were taking pictures before we were even on the ground.

We checked in at the Mayan Palace, where we got to wear a bracelet all week to show we belonged.

On Monday, we went to XCaret, the first of three eco-parks we had planned to visit.

We found some parrots and flamingos.

The girls ready for our XCaret adventure.

We swam in an underground river.  

We checked out the sea turtles.

Our day in the park included a seaside buffet lunch.

Checking out some Mayan ruins.

At the Mariposario (Butterfly Habitat) we found a Blue Morpho willing to pose for us.

We took a rest to watch a cultural dance show.

Goofing around a little.

Coati!

That evening, we watched a Mexico Spectacular show.  Lots of music and dancing and story line -- it was really cool.