Cancun

If you've already read my mom and sister's blogs then this will be almost a duplicate of those. We took our crappy camera and didn't get too many pictures, so I copied all of my mom's from her camera card. Dustin and Erin - I need some pictures from you. I especially want pictures of Jared's sand dolphin and any others of our family that you have.

On Wednesday the 2nd we woke up sometime around 4:30 so that we could start our trek to Cancun. We got on our first flight to Houston where my lucky mom promptly got a temporary grandson plopped down by his wonderful father. The wonderful father proceeded to his seat behind my mom and fell asleep. I'm sure anyone in his row would have been happy to switch spots with him so that his child could sit next to him, but it appeared that to him this was not an option, or he didn't want it to be so that he could get some much needed rest. Luckily little Austin did keep Halle entertained for a lot of the flight.
We arrived in Houston in time to to watch Dustin, Paulette, Erin, and Doug take off on their flight to Cancun and waved at the plane as it left. We promptly sat in the airport for more than 3 hours. Fun. There were two moving walkways in our terminal, so Halle just went round and round on them. We finally got on the flight to Cancun and Halle fell asleep. Wonderful. Once we got to our transportation we were pleasantly surprised to hear that our hotel had been upgraded because they closed our hotel because it's the slow season and since they didn't book enough guests, they just close it and upgrade everyone. Fantastic. So there's a tip for you if you go to Cancun. Go during the slow season, book the cheapest hotel and you just might get upgraded for free! Anyway, then we headed for dinner and went to bed since by that time it was nearly 9:00 PM, yes a long travel day.


Next morning it was straight to the beach.
Ah! It's like being home, just a much prettier version! I loved the Galveston beach when I lived in Houston, even though it's way gross. I love playing in the ocean and jumping in the waves. I can't explain to you my excitement. There were beautiful fish in the ocean that we fed each morning and they would just swim between our legs. Unfortunately I'm like my mom and get a huge itchy rash from the ocean (supposedly from parasites burrowing into your skin, that never happened in Galveston), so after 3 or 4 days I stopped going in the ocean, and still had it when I got home.
We headed for lunch and on our way we were pleasantly surprised to see some men taking pictures of people with a squirrel monkey. If you know me you know I LOVE monkeys, and I dream of having a monkey as a pet. I've never touched a monkey and this was like my dream come true. We got to hold and pet him, and he smelled wonderful, like baby powder and was so soft. I WAS THRILLED!! I just wanted to cuddle him and give him a squeeze (and take him home). The monkey's name is Pinky. Of course we had to buy the picture, so here is a picture of the picture, so it doesn't look very good.
After a wonderful day at the beach and playing in the pool it was time to head to dinner. We got all dressed up (men are required to wear long pants, close toed shoes, and a button up or polo shirt, girls have no dress code except that it can't be a bathing suit).

Our family

Dustin and Paulette

Erin and Doug

Mom and Dad

A magician came by and offered to make Halle something. The only thing I could think of that I saw other children with was a sword. Oh man, that was a bad decision. She obviously knows what a sword is and what you're supposed to do with it. Once dinner was over she was finally allowed to use her sword to fight Erin. Can you see Halle's evil fighting face? She's showing her teeth.

We spent many days playing and relaxing on the beach.

Jared made an awesome sand dolphin that other people were even taking pictures of. We didn't have our camera, so that's why I need pictures from Dustin.

This is Erin with her cool new hat. It was $7 and two hamburgers (free to her of course, but not free to the random people selling stuff), and that was a bargain!

On Sunday we went parasailing with Dustin and Paulette. I've always wanted to go parasailing and I'm so happy I did! Dustin and Paulette went first.

Then it was our turn.

Look how high we are! Coming down:
The swaying in the harnesses up in the air is a bit sickening, but it was still an awesome experience. Once back on dry land we had to lay down for a bit.
Erin let Halle borrow the goggles she bought.

Halle thought that was SO cool. She saw other kids with goggles and wanted her own because she also understood that with them the ocean wouldn't get in her eyes and hurt them and she could open her eyes in the pool.

At the pool Halle and I got pictures with Toucans, but those weren't so good so we didn't buy them and on the beach we got a picture with another monkey, which Doug has pictures of on his camera. We also got pictures with this iguana (Godzilla). Here are pictures of the pictures.

Here we are at the Italian restaurant:

I got buried in the sand, and it was really hard to get all that sand off. I had to go in the ocean, which I was avoiding.

Jared, Halle, and my dad played volleyball.

I watched.

Halle played with Grandma and Grandpa while they were nice enough to let Jared and I have one dinner alone. It was at the French restaurant and it was SO delicious. I would stay at this hotel again just so I could go to the French place again.

More fun pictures from the trip.

The whole family:

Mom and Halle:

Our family on the beach:

A baby gecko that was in our room:

Towel elephant left for us by the maid:

Towel dinosaur:

A cute picture of Erin:

Halle stuffing her face. She was always starved by dinner.

She was obsessed with cleaning the sand off of her constantly. The second she would walk in the sand, she'd turn around and run back to clean it off.

There were 'wild' cats everywhere. The cats only wanted your food, the little kittens enjoyed being loved.

Lovin' the beach!
We had ice cream 3 times each day. Lunch, a snack, and dinner. Halle was in heaven.



I thought their footprints going into the ocean were cute.

Halle's balloons she got at dinner: a swan, dog, and flower (in addition to the sword):

The coatimundis were always along the boardwalk to the ocean begging for food. They were so cute up on their hind legs begging for food, you couldn't resist (even though there were multiple signs telling you NOT to feed the animals).

Halle's tan line. The picture does not do it justice. The child is dark!

Thank you so much to my mom and dad for taking us on this wonderful vacation. It was so much fund to spend time with family and just have a relaxing long vacation. We love you so much.
Next trip: DISNEYLAND. I know you've seen SO many pictures, of that, but this time we're taking the nice camera, so the pictures should be even better. After Disneyland no more vacations for a while, I don't think.