Cancun

 On December 2nd Ben and I flew to Mexico for a week long trip with his family. We left the kids at home with my mom :) We missed them tremendously but it was a really nice break for all of us, especially after the previous few crazy busy months.

 We mad it! And hoped on a shuttle to our hotel. After checking in we were STARVING so we went for a walk down the street and ate some yummy, and authentic, mexican food. Ben had some type of steak with peppers. I had some black bean soup and little mini carnita taco things. It was really good but definitely had a ethnic taste to it.

 Next we walked around an outdoor mall looking for a certain ATM that is partners with our bank so we could get some pesos without being charged extra fees.

 That night the rest of the family flew in and we took a walk to the beach.

 We headed to bed and woke up the next morning and headed to the pool. We spent most of the next 6 days at the pool or beach. I just laid there, barely even went in the pool. I was so worn out and tired from everything that had been going on I really enjoyed just sitting there reading my books. I read 4 in one week.

 We went out to dinner every night. Everything we ate the whole week was very very good food.

 The hotel restaurant had a Mexican buffet night

 Everyone got massages. I didn't because it weirded me out to have some stranger touch me, but it was fun seeing how much everyone else loved it.

 When we did go out we took the local bus. It was a fun experience. Luckily Marcus speaks Spanish from his mission so he was able to translate and help us get where we wanted to go.

 We went to a brand new Mayan Museum.

 And drank lots of virgin pina coladas and daquries

 Ben even went running with me!

 Our view...

 There were some cool ruins next to our hotel we checked out one day

 We spent one day touring a couple different sites. We had a personal tour guide who was a returned missionary. We went to two seperate sites where they talked about links and similarities to the remains and our Book of Mormon history. Most of the places were dated after Book of Mormon times...like around 700-1200 AD so would have been Lamanite descendants.

 Tulum was the first stop.

 check out that view those lamanites had!!

 Then off to Coba.

 In between we stopped at a local restaurant that had a buffet in the top floor for tourists. It was all authentic mexican and tasted like all the food our Berwyn neighbors feed us. One of the workers warned me about the green salsa being too hot but I ate it just fine since I get it all the time in the states :)

 Then we did a bike tour of the ruins. It felt so good to get out moving after sitting by the pool all week! And it was also fun to bike on a "trail" through woods. Chicago just isn't fun to run/bike in.

 We climbed up these ruins

 And stopped at a market on the way out before heading to a Cenote...an natural underground pool.










One morning Ben woke up early and walked to the beach to see the sunrise. He came across a baby sea turtle trying to get to the ocean. CUTE!

Such a fun trip and a fun way to celebrate our 10 year anniversary later that month. We were excited to be headed home to see the kids but were so sad to leave the warmth, relaxation, and yummy food!