Mexico Vacation

 Continuing our tradition from last year, we took a little vacation in February to someplace warmer while leaving Eliana with her grandparents.  Last year it was Arizona, and this year we flew all the way to Mexico!  We stayed at the Dreams Resort and Spa in Tulum, Mexico, just a little south of Cancun and the Rivera Maya.  We had a great time!  The weather was perfect (sunny and 80s every day), the resort was beautiful, and we had a very relaxing time.  We went off of the resort a couple of times.  Once to go snorkeling on Akumal Beach with sea turtles, then eating lunch on the beach, and then to the ancient city of Tulum with Mayan ruins.  And then again to downtown modern day Tulum to go to mass at the Catholic Church there.  Mass was really neat, as it was filled with locals, especially children.  The mass was in Spanish, so I didn't understand as much as David, but I could see the joy in the children and families there.  The atmosphere at mass was so different than it is in America at times.  Everyone seemed so involved in the mass.  The priest would ask questions and the kids would shout out the answers.  I'm glad we got a little taste of Mexico there, as opposed to the resort which was very Americanized.  I was slightly worried about traveling while pregnant, but neither David nor I suffered any distress from traveling to Mexico.  I loved this vacation!!

Eating lunch at the Seaside Grill, with the beach right behind me.

Most evenings David would play a game or two of soccer on the beach.  I loved listening to them play because I would hear several different languages all united in their love for soccer.

David is wearing the white shirt.

The pool with swim up bar.  The "bar" that I frequented the most was CoCo's Smoothies :)

The chapel on the resort.  Isn't it beautiful?

The view of our hotel's main balcony and lobby at night.  Our room was actually just to the left of the balcony on the third floor.  One evening there was a wedding that had a little reception on the balcony.  They had a Mariachi Band that I enjoyed listening to from our room balcony.

The beach where we ate lunch on our snorkeling and Mayan ruins adventure.

The Mayan ruins in Tulum.

One of the carvings on the side of the Artist's House.  It is the Descending god.

David standing in front of the Governor's house I think.

We saw lots of iguanas on our vacation.

The ruins were surrounded by a stone wall on three sides and the gulf on the fourth.  This is the Wind Temple.  It had a window in it that was shaped in such a way that when the wind was blowing hard, it would whistle very loudly.  This was like a siren for the Mayans to warn them of a possible hurricane approaching.

A face on the corner of a building.

The main castle along with a temple on the left.  That temple would align perfectly with the sun on the summer equinox, and the sun would shine through a window making a special star shaped light.

This was the view from our room of the main garden courtyard.  If you look closely, you can see the ocean just above the trees on the left.  In the morning, before the fountains were turned on, I could hear the ocean too.  Tulum is an hour behind Columbus, so I was up every morning for the sunrise (can't get off a toddler's schedule even on vacation).  So beautiful!

The sunrise!